dreamliner77 said:
PCI Express will be faster, when it is actually implented correctly. The cards are basically just AGP technology with a new buss.
You must've thought that ISA was good enough when PCI hit the scene
There was a major improvment right from the start when PCI hit the scene, if you recall, over ISA.
Using PCI, a computer can support both new PCI cards while continuing to support ISA expansion cards. PCI is designed to be synchronized with the clock speed of the microprocessor. PCI transmits 32 bits at a time in a 124-pin connection and 64 bits in a 188-pin connection in an expanded implementation. PCI uses all active paths to transmit both address and data signals, sending the address on one clock cycle and data on the next.
While ISA allows 16 bits at a time to flow between the motherboard circuitry and an expansion slot card and its associated device(s).
The greatest showing of these marked improvments was in modems and sound cards. With PCI you now can have full 32 bit and full 64bit sound that was not previously available (due to ISA's 16bit architecture) at a quality level even worth having. While many souces attempted to simulate 32 bit sound by TDM of the 16bit sound source in never really worked very well.
The tech upgrade from ISA to PCI yeilded instant results, yet with AGP to PCI-X the result so far, is showing minimal at best.
Now it does come down to, Is the test just premature? Or is it that current Mobo technology just hasn't been developed enough to use the new technology? Or is there going to be an actual application in video graphics that can/will benifit from it?
I guess what I am trying to get at is, Is there a need for PCI-X, or will there be a need for it? And what will it take to get PCI-X to the point where it really does make the difference over AGP?