AGP 4x vs. 8x

[jaroddog]

I'm wanting to increase my gaming performance. I've got an AMD Athlon XP 2800+. I've been having blue screen issues. I'm thinking they're due to motherboard. It's either that or the processor. I've isolated all other possibilities. I'm assuming it to be a mobo problem. Now, I've got another mobo I can swap out, but it's only AGP 4x. I'm wanting to get a 6600GT instead of my current Geforce2 MX400 to hold me over until I can build a new system next year. How much of a performance hit would I take from running a 6600GT in 4x instead of 8x? I might send my other mobo back to chaintech to get it serviced, but the model i've got (7NJL6) is infamous for it's problems and I'd imagine a replacement would probably be the same. So I might end up sticking with the AGP 4x mobo, which is why I want to know if this will compromise my gaming experience?

 

[someone153]

You probley will some some decrese beacuse it will have less of a transfer rate.

 

[howard_hopkinso]

The difference between AGP4X, and AGP8X, is very negligible, at most.

So you should be fine with your existing mobo, and graphics card.

Regards Howard

 

[kodrutz]

The greatest difference between AGP 4X and 8X is the voltage delivered to the videocard and the theoretical data rate. When it comes to practice, the difference is something like 0.x%.

I have an AGP 8X Radeon 9200 card running on AGP 4X for two years now, and it always worked perfectly. The performance is exactly the same as it was running with AGP 8X enabled. It is possible that the bandwidth difference start to hit your performance when running at insane resolutions with AA & AF enabled, but the hit would still be negligible.

 

[jaroddog]

So I probably shouldn't worry about it, right? I figure my Barton cpu still has some life in it, and I want to get the most out of it until I build a computer based on the new AMD platform.

Thanks,
Jarod

 

[kodrutz]

Don't worry, be happy!

I will keep my T-Bred B0 running until it's going to be as old as an 286 CPU now