PCI Express

Hey,

I have a new motherboard , the ASUS P4P800 Deluxe Edition
P4 3.0 GHZ 800 FSB
512 DDR 400 Ram
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 128 mb ddr

Could you explain exactly what PCI express is??

I wanted to change my video card and get a new ati either the x series
or the 9800 series. But now since i have heard about the pci express
motherboards and cards, i am wondering what would be the differences
between switching to PCI Express or just upgrading my video card?

What are the advantages of PCI Express?

Would you be able to find all cards (video, sound, modem) with PCI
Express capability now?

Last thing, Does your card have to be PCI Express to run on a PCI
Express motherboard or can you run older cards on these new
motherboards?

Thanks

Now, I can't answer all of your questions, but I can answer some.
I don't know if you could find PCI-Express cards for all the different
kinds of cards one needs, but you don't really have to because most of
the PCI-Express motherboards I've seen only have 1 16XPCI-Express
slot, and some 1XPCI-Express slots(I'm not sure what they're for.)
What I do know is that most likely one would use the graphics card in
the PCI-Express slot, and the PCI-Express motherboards I've seen all
have a couple PCI slots for your modem, sound-card, etc.
Also, please correct me if I'm wrong, I think I read that you can use
PCI plug-in cards in a PCI-Express slot. I'll check to make sure this
is true.
-David
(Cloud_Strife) wrote in message . com...
Hey,

I have a new motherboard , the ASUS P4P800 Deluxe Edition
P4 3.0 GHZ 800 FSB
512 DDR 400 Ram
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 128 mb ddr

Could you explain exactly what PCI express is??

I wanted to change my video card and get a new ati either the x series
or the 9800 series. But now since i have heard about the pci express
motherboards and cards, i am wondering what would be the differences
between switching to PCI Express or just upgrading my video card?

What are the advantages of PCI Express?

Would you be able to find all cards (video, sound, modem) with PCI
Express capability now?

Last thing, Does your card have to be PCI Express to run on a PCI
Express motherboard or can you run older cards on these new
motherboards?

Thanks

(David) wrote in message . com...
What I do know is that most likely one would use the graphics card in
the PCI-Express slot, and the PCI-Express motherboards I've seen all
have a couple PCI slots for your modem, sound-card, etc.

http://arstechnica.com/paedia/p/pci-express/pcie-1.html

Nice primer on PCI Express. Tremendous bandwidth advantage over AGP
8x (2GB/s) and can aggregate as needed (that x16 means it is
aggregating 16 channels or "lanes" of bandwidth, which add up to a
total peak bandwidth of 4GB/s in one direction (supports full
duplexing for 8GB/s for applications that transfer data back to the
PCI Express device). Pretty much it's the desire (not _need_ for
video card throughput that is driving this.

Also, please correct me if I'm wrong, I think I read that you can use
PCI plug-in cards in a PCI-Express slot. I'll check to make sure this
is true.

From the article, it appears PCI Express will be backward compatible
with today's PCI devices.

(Cloud_Strife) wrote in message . com...
I wanted to change my video card and get a new ati either the x series
or the 9800 series. But now since i have heard about the pci express
motherboards and cards, i am wondering what would be the differences
between switching to PCI Express or just upgrading my video card?

heh, if your board supports it, and you have the money, and you need
the latest graphics peformance - get a PCI Express vid card. But
first, check this out:
http://www20.graphics.tomshardware.c...0/pcie-02.html

There were little differences between AGP 4x and 8x graphics
performance in demanding games testing. Doubling 8x performance via
PCI Express won't add much, other than unused bandwidth :-)