Pci exrpess wait?

Chris-ATI

n00b
Joined
Dec 10, 2003
Messages
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Should i wait for PCI express to come out or should i upgrade now?

i currently have a 1.1gig amd thunderbird
398mb pc133 SDRAM
Geforce4ti4200
crappy Eathernet
and some soundcard thats not intigrated
 
Originally posted by Chris-ATI
Should i wait for PCI express to come out or should i upgrade now?

i currently have a 1.1gig amd thunderbird
398mb pc133 SDRAM
Geforce4ti4200
crappy Eathernet
and some soundcard thats not intigrated

Personally, I would upgrade now because the longer you wait, the more new stuff passes you by.
 
PCI express MIGHT come out into mainstream next year (as in 2005). Generally speaking, drastic changes to hardware like this take a while. I mean SATA drives, which only needed an adapter to be converted to EIDE, didn't come into being well over a year after "release." You'll probably want to upgrade sometime shortly after the Doom3/HL2 release, whichever comes first.
 
Depends on how you answer this question: Can you play all the games that you want to play? Are you happy with the visual quality?

For me, with a ATI 8500 or GeForce 4600, I do just fine. I plan on upgrading middle of the year. I can play any game I want, with good visual quality. My Dad has a 9700 Pro, and yes it's faster and looks better. But, I'm not hurting right now. It all depends on what games you play.

But, my system isn't slow: 2.53 P4, 512MB PC3200, GeForce4 4600 video...
 
The decision to upgrade really depends on what you can afford, and how unhappy you are with your current set-up.
I wouldn't base the decision on what new thing is coming around the corner someday - there will always be something bigger, better, and faster on the horizon.
 
It is going to be at least 1 year after PCI Express is released in OEM boxes before anyone comes close to taking advantage of the new interface. All that bandwidth is just extra right now.

I wouldn't worry about it yet. There is mention of a few boards with AGP and PCI Express, that sounds like the route to take for upgrading headroom... but by the time the video cards can really use PCI E, the system will be too slow to take advantage of it.
 
i dunno how big a difference you would see if you just got a new gfx card, a cpu upgrade might be more beneficial. i would say get a new cpu/mobo/ram. then when doom 3 / hl2 are actually released, go pick up a new gfx card.
 
I'll check out PCI Express when I check out 64-Bit.. 2005-2006. I dont see it necessary. AMD64 // P4 EE are unproven, new, and still have bugs in them.

I don't see any sense in running *16x* AGP (PCI EX) when my 8x card isn't being touched right now. Same as my processor and my rig.
 
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