cheap pci e board

[Pete]

im looking for a good performance but not expensive pci express motherboard
i dont know how much i am going to have to pay becuase so far i can not find them on any of the sites i buy of
but i was going to go for nf7-s untill i found out about 6600gts
can someone give me some education about pretty much everything pci e related?
thanks

[mike_w]

If you really want a 6600GT, you could always wait a bit for the AGP versions. Of course, you'll be stuck with AGP and Socket A (assuming you go for the NF7-S), meaning that you might have to upgrade most your system next time you do a big upgrade - new socket, so new CPU and motherboard, and PCI-E means a new graphics card. If you do choose a 6600GT, it should last quite a while so long as you don't mind turning graphics down.

[Pete]

nah i dont mind turning the graphics down
as long as it isnt hl2
will the agp version be at the same speeds?
because if so ill prolly get one of them
thanks

[mike_w]

nah i dont mind turning the graphics down
as long as it isnt hl2
will the agp version be at the same speeds?
because if so ill prolly get one of them
thanks

I'd expect 6600GTs on AGP to be just as fast as on PCI-E. Although AGP 8x is slower than PCI-E, current cards don't nearly take up all of the bandwidth of AGP 8x, so reducing it from PCI-E to AGP 8x shouldn't make an impact on performance.

[StormPC]

PCI-E is new tech...no such thing as "cheap and new" in the computer business.

Sounds like PCI-E is not in your near future.

PCI-E is useless now. It promises some really good stuff in the future but the first implementations of it will not be very good compared to the stuff we'll see six months from now.

The fastest videocards in the world do not really have the capability to take advantage of the extra bandwidth PCI-E will offer. A 6600GTS PCI-E then is nothing more than a ploy by manyfacturers to get more of your money for that which will not increase the performance of your computer in any way.

Save your pennies and buy a cheap A64 board and a Sempron 3100+ or A64 2800+ or better. Then you'll be set to take advantage of Windows XP x64 Edition. When we start using 64 bit operating systems we will see a huge and immediate performance increase in almost everything, but if you have a P4 or XP you'll be needing a CPU and motherboard still.

[Pete]

alrighty
will do
im guessing all the above gear will set me back bout a grand at the mo?
Pete

[StormPC]

It depends on what you have already. What are you looking to buy exactly? Motherboard, CPU and VC only or do you need more than that? Also are we talking US or UK?

NewEgg has a Sempron 3100+, DFI Lanparty S754 and nVidia 6800 GT for $639.00 US, and for $8.00 more you can have an Athlon64 2800+.

[Pete]

were talking UK...sorry
atm i have a pretty banged together comp
ti4200
512mb ram
a psu that claims to be 400w p4 one
kg7 raid
amd1800+ @ 1.53

so as you can see i honestly need new everything but really i just wanna get a new mobo gpu and psu atm and cpu, but that will end up being everything by next year....hopefully
bed time now
thanks

[Rave]

AFAIK nobody intends to make a PCIE chipset for the Athlon XP. You'll have to upgrade to P4 or A64 if you want PCIE.

My advice if you want a quick upgrade for HL2 is to flog your Ti4200 for £25-30, then buy a 9700 or 9700 Pro from Retek for £60-70. See if you can OC the 1800 a bit, and you should have a pretty reasonable system for HL2. Another 256 or 512 of RAM probably wouldn't hurt, though. If you want to buy a whole new setup, you're better off waiting until after Christmas, prices always drop then and the new technology will have been out a month or two and any problems will be starting to come to light.