Can a PCI video card actually be faster than an AGP?

Question

I'm talking specifically about comparing my current 7800GS 256mb card that is in my AGP 4x/8x slot (the rest of the system is a gigabyte K8NS mobo, 2g ram, Athlon64 3700 OC'd to 4200 on liquid, sata WD Raptor HD) to upgrade to a new card (since I have almost the fastest AGP card I can find) and I found a PCI card (I have no express slots) which is a GeForce 9500GT 1gb 128-bit.

If it weren't for the interface I wouldn't doubt that a 9500GT 1gb is going to SMOKE a 7800gs 256mb. I just want to make sure I don't have a bottleneck with this PCI interface versus the AGP, which would make this a waste of money.

I can afford a $90 video upgrade, but I can't afford the new motherboard/cpu/ram/video card upgrade (read: new build). I know the CPU is the next limiting factor... but like I said, I just can't go any faster without switching sockets (754... regrettably)

Answer 1

PCI has limited bandwidth so there will still be a major bottleneck, I would go AGP. This question has been asked many times on yahoo answers already.



https://answersrip.com/question/index?qid=20090203182703AAtVEA4

Answer 2

I don't think in any scenario a PCI card will be faster then your AGP 8x slot, the reason they initially moved from PCI to the AGP ( Accelerated graphics port) was just that.. It's faster and can handle more data at once. You're PCI bus only runs at umm I think 33mhz and won't ever address the information quick enough. And by the way the 9500 GT is a PCI-E 1x card whether or not that'll work I don't know. If you are looking to upgrade you can probably pick up a higher end motherboard that will support PCI-E 16x and also support your ram and cpu at the same time , then giving you more room to upgrade later. The most cost effiecient way to upgrade though is not piece by piece it's all at once and then use it until it reaches the limits of what you need it to do.

Answer 3

Well your right about one thing, a PCI and AGP are really not to much different. But PCI Express is Double the speed of AGP totally smoking it. Untill your planning on doing a total system overhaul then I would say don't upgrade

Answer 4

Well PCI now a days are way better. AGP is obsolete.