Upgrade dilemma-- get AGP 8x or PCI Express?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

I'm debating whether I should buy a PCI Express motherboard (and new
graphics card), or upgrade to an AGP motherboard and stick with my FX5700
for a bit.

I'd be happy with PCI Express, except I'd also like an Athlon 64 processor,
and there don't seem to be any AMD/PCI Express motherboards out yet, nor
will there be any until Q1 2005 I hear. On the other hand, if I buy an AGP
motherboard and decide to upgrade my card in a year, will Nvidia have
stopped making AGP cards by then? Does anyone know what Nvidia's plans are
for AGP the next year or two? Thanks for the advice and any discussion.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

Jim Bancroft wrote:

>
> I'm debating whether I should buy a PCI Express motherboard (and new
> graphics card), or upgrade to an AGP motherboard and stick with my FX5700
> for a bit.
>
> I'd be happy with PCI Express, except I'd also like an Athlon 64
> processor, and there don't seem to be any AMD/PCI Express motherboards out
> yet, nor
> will there be any until Q1 2005 I hear. On the other hand, if I buy an
> AGP motherboard and decide to upgrade my card in a year, will Nvidia have
> stopped making AGP cards by then? Does anyone know what Nvidia's plans
> are
> for AGP the next year or two? Thanks for the advice and any discussion.

You won't find any Athlon 64 PCI Express machines until the Nforce 4 chipset
ships.

Personally I'd hold off on PCI Express until the second generation of PCI
Express hardware ships--bound to be bugs in the first generation. It's
unlikely in the extreme that nvidia will cease to produce AGP hardware in
the next year or so.

--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

On Sat, 09 Oct 2004 05:55:01 GMT, "Jim Bancroft"
<bobsambles@nospam.yahoo.com> wrote:

>
>I'm debating whether I should buy a PCI Express motherboard (and new
>graphics card), or upgrade to an AGP motherboard and stick with my FX5700
>for a bit.
>
>I'd be happy with PCI Express, except I'd also like an Athlon 64 processor,
>and there don't seem to be any AMD/PCI Express motherboards out yet, nor
>will there be any until Q1 2005 I hear. On the other hand, if I buy an AGP
>motherboard and decide to upgrade my card in a year, will Nvidia have
>stopped making AGP cards by then? Does anyone know what Nvidia's plans are
>for AGP the next year or two? Thanks for the advice and any discussion.
>

No fear. The peripheral upgrade market is vast, and many people
are holding off buying PCI Express until the prices fall to reasonable
levels.

Dunno what you already have, but here is a steal while
you are waiting for full-fledged PCI Express at economic
prices (-- middle to end of next year probably.):-

At Fry's this weekend there is a sale of the 3.2GHz Prescott
(478-pin, boxed) and the ECS 848P-A motherboard bundled for $189.

The ECS 848P-A in the bundle is Prescott-compatible -- there
is a large label on the box saying "Intel Prescott CPU Support"
Don't let anybody pawn off an older version. 2-channel SATA
(non-RAID) and normal dual-channel PATA ( up to 4 devices)
It should also include 10/100LAN and integrated Realtek audio.
Check the label on the side of the box for these includes.

The Intel 848 is the single-channel DDR version of the 865 chip-set,
and the board will only accommodate 2 DIMM, so do not
get a DIMM of size less than 512Meg --- Kingston Value-ram
PC3200 512Meg, normally $79.99, goes on sale frequently
@ $59.99 after mail-in rebate. Since the board is single-channel,
you only need buy 1 DIMM to start.

I got this bundle 3 weeks ago ( on sale at $199 then) to upgrade
a computer for my son. Works like a dream. You may need to
upgrade your power-supply for Prescott, particularly the +12V,
which should not be less than 18A total for CPU, GPU and
peripheral demands. And if you ever intend to upgrade to the
6800, get a PS with at least 20amps available on +12V.

You will need a power-supply with the +12V 4-pin square
Molex connector to supply the CPU regulator power.

John Lewis

>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

"Jim Bancroft" <bobsambles@nospam.yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:V2L9d.8685$nj.4180@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com...
>
> I'm debating whether I should buy a PCI Express motherboard (and new
> graphics card), or upgrade to an AGP motherboard and stick with my FX5700
> for a bit.
>
> I'd be happy with PCI Express, except I'd also like an Athlon 64
> processor,
> and there don't seem to be any AMD/PCI Express motherboards out yet, nor
> will there be any until Q1 2005 I hear. On the other hand, if I buy an
> AGP
> motherboard and decide to upgrade my card in a year, will Nvidia have
> stopped making AGP cards by then? Does anyone know what Nvidia's plans
> are
> for AGP the next year or two? Thanks for the advice and any discussion.
>
>
>

AGP will co-exist with PCI-E. Majority of the market still in AGP bandwagen.

CapFusion,...

 

[littleberry]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

John, I also got one of these boards (848P-A) with a 3.00G (Prescott)
P4 and it is working OK with some irritating problems. One, I cannot
get USB2 installed on Win2000 SP3. The supplied CD just won't install
for the USB2 drivers. Their website (www.ecs.com.tw) has new drivers
for Win98 or WinME only, and I am wondering if there is any way at all
to get USB2 to work. I tried to use the USB that is working with a
USB2 device (an IDE-USB2 adapter),
but it wouldn't work). If you are able to get USB2 working, either on
Win2000 or on Win98SE, please tell me how. I also couldn't find any
writeups on how to interpret the bootup beeps (I had trouble at first
with boot up beeps - I never figured out what it was, but, after
re-inserting everything they went away) - I emailed ECS but so far no
response. Do you know where they tell about the bootup error beep
codes? Any experience you have with this board - I am all ears -
littleberry


john.dsl@verizon.net (John Lewis) wrote in message news:<41681b40.2500556@news.verizon.net>...

>
> At Fry's this weekend there is a sale of the 3.2GHz Prescott
> (478-pin, boxed) and the ECS 848P-A motherboard bundled for $189.
>
> The ECS 848P-A in the bundle is Prescott-compatible -- there
> is a large label on the box saying "Intel Prescott CPU Support"
> Don't let anybody pawn off an older version. 2-channel SATA
> (non-RAID) and normal dual-channel PATA ( up to 4 devices)
> It should also include 10/100LAN and integrated Realtek audio.
> Check the label on the side of the box for these includes.
>
> The Intel 848 is the single-channel DDR version of the 865 chip-set,
> and the board will only accommodate 2 DIMM, so do not
> get a DIMM of size less than 512Meg --- Kingston Value-ram
> PC3200 512Meg, normally $79.99, goes on sale frequently
> @ $59.99 after mail-in rebate. Since the board is single-channel,
> you only need buy 1 DIMM to start.
>
> I got this bundle 3 weeks ago ( on sale at $199 then) to upgrade
> a computer for my son. Works like a dream. You may need to
> upgrade your power-supply for Prescott, particularly the +12V,
> which should not be less than 18A total for CPU, GPU and
> peripheral demands. And if you ever intend to upgrade to the
> 6800, get a PS with at least 20amps available on +12V.
>
> You will need a power-supply with the +12V 4-pin square
> Molex connector to supply the CPU regulator power.
>
> John Lewis
>
> >
> >

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

Install the MoBo utility driver first then the USB -
http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWeb/Products/ProductsDetail.aspx?MenuID=93&LanID=0&DetailID=475&DetailName=Driver
and any other driver.

CapFusion,...



"Littleberry" <davsf@neto.com> wrote in message
news:bd00fe19.0410191802.1c25555@posting.google.com...
> John, I also got one of these boards (848P-A) with a 3.00G (Prescott)
> P4 and it is working OK with some irritating problems. One, I cannot
> get USB2 installed on Win2000 SP3. The supplied CD just won't install
> for the USB2 drivers. Their website (www.ecs.com.tw) has new drivers
> for Win98 or WinME only, and I am wondering if there is any way at all
> to get USB2 to work. I tried to use the USB that is working with a
> USB2 device (an IDE-USB2 adapter),
> but it wouldn't work). If you are able to get USB2 working, either on
> Win2000 or on Win98SE, please tell me how. I also couldn't find any
> writeups on how to interpret the bootup beeps (I had trouble at first
> with boot up beeps - I never figured out what it was, but, after
> re-inserting everything they went away) - I emailed ECS but so far no
> response. Do you know where they tell about the bootup error beep
> codes? Any experience you have with this board - I am all ears -
> littleberry
>
>
> john.dsl@verizon.net (John Lewis) wrote in message
> news:<41681b40.2500556@news.verizon.net>...
>
>>
>> At Fry's this weekend there is a sale of the 3.2GHz Prescott
>> (478-pin, boxed) and the ECS 848P-A motherboard bundled for $189.
>>
>> The ECS 848P-A in the bundle is Prescott-compatible -- there
>> is a large label on the box saying "Intel Prescott CPU Support"
>> Don't let anybody pawn off an older version. 2-channel SATA
>> (non-RAID) and normal dual-channel PATA ( up to 4 devices)
>> It should also include 10/100LAN and integrated Realtek audio.
>> Check the label on the side of the box for these includes.
>>
>> The Intel 848 is the single-channel DDR version of the 865 chip-set,
>> and the board will only accommodate 2 DIMM, so do not
>> get a DIMM of size less than 512Meg --- Kingston Value-ram
>> PC3200 512Meg, normally $79.99, goes on sale frequently
>> @ $59.99 after mail-in rebate. Since the board is single-channel,
>> you only need buy 1 DIMM to start.
>>
>> I got this bundle 3 weeks ago ( on sale at $199 then) to upgrade
>> a computer for my son. Works like a dream. You may need to
>> upgrade your power-supply for Prescott, particularly the +12V,
>> which should not be less than 18A total for CPU, GPU and
>> peripheral demands. And if you ever intend to upgrade to the
>> 6800, get a PS with at least 20amps available on +12V.
>>
>> You will need a power-supply with the +12V 4-pin square
>> Molex connector to supply the CPU regulator power.
>>
>> John Lewis
>>
>> >
>> >

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

Littleberry wrote:
> John, I also got one of these boards (848P-A) with a 3.00G (Prescott)
> P4 and it is working OK with some irritating problems. One, I cannot
> get USB2 installed on Win2000 SP3. The supplied CD just won't install
> for the USB2 drivers. Their website (www.ecs.com.tw) has new drivers
> for Win98 or WinME only, and I am wondering if there is any way at all
> to get USB2 to work. I tried to use the USB that is working with a
> USB2 device (an IDE-USB2 adapter),
> but it wouldn't work). If you are able to get USB2 working, either on
> Win2000 or on Win98SE, please tell me how. I also couldn't find any
> writeups on how to interpret the bootup beeps (I had trouble at first
> with boot up beeps - I never figured out what it was, but, after
> re-inserting everything they went away) - I emailed ECS but so far no
> response. Do you know where they tell about the bootup error beep
> codes? Any experience you have with this board - I am all ears -
> littleberry

Windows 2000 should have built-in drivers for USB 2.0, but I believe you
may need SP4 to get support for it.

--
Robert Hancock Saskatoon, SK, Canada
To email, remove "nospam" from hancockr@nospamshaw.ca
Home Page: http://www.roberthancock.com/