PCI-E what's the low down?

landtank · 02-02-07, 06:08 PM

The only thing stoppng me from going to Vista is my graphics card. What is the deal with PCI-E cards. Is this a new bus or do they plug into a standard PCI slot?

Jomama · 02-02-07, 06:14 PM

PCI-E is the relatively new standard "slot" for video cards...

First there was PCI, then AGP, now we're on to PCI-E..

If your a gamer, I would wait, by most accounts Vista is not scoring very high on the gaming side, and there are some pretty serious driver issues with Nvidia stuff..

NaterGator · 02-02-07, 06:14 PM

PCI-E is a high bandwidth serial bus. It is totally different from yesteryears PCI slots.

PCI-E conversion usually means new mobo, new video card, new power supply, new ram, new CPU, new HDDs.

It is worth it though, if you are on an aging AGP system.

EDIT: Yes and stay away from nVidia. Their driver team seems to be going down the pooper, and without good drivers a system is useless. (I can't run new FSM packages because of them

)

landtank · 02-02-07, 06:45 PM

That is what I figured. I'll just have to get a better AGP. No gaming here but the system is just short of Vista and I thought I'd check it out.

NaterGator · 02-02-07, 06:51 PM

What are the specs?

I'm not so sure I would drop the coin into an AGP card thinking it will solve your vista woes. Unless you built an AGP system RIGHT before AGP was phased down it probably is way below what you'll want to be running.

A decent PCI-E "vista ready" system wouldn't be too expensive. Could def be done for less than $7-800 for what will undoubtedly perform better than what you've got now.

landtank · 02-02-07, 07:28 PM

I ran a couple of Vista check utilities and both said everything was fine except the video card.

Basic run down:

Asus P4P800SE MB
2 gig ram dual channel pc3200
3.0 prescott processor with HT and 1 mb cache
U160 scsi drives

Radeon 9200, the dog of bunch

NaterGator · 02-02-07, 07:32 PM

Ram is pretty good (2 gig helps)
Prescott = huge meh. Thats not gonna be the high point of your system by any stretch. SCSI drive = good. Could use those in new compy too

Personally if I were you I would hold out as long as possible and get a new mobo, psu, core2 cpu, ddr2, and a pci-e card. Your computer would be worlds faster, the dual core core2 chips are a peach.

I promise you, vista a complete dog. I'm currently running it on a 2.4GHz dual core Athlon64 with a Radeon X800 XT Platinum Ed, 1gig of pc4800. My whole system is extremely overclocked with a very elaborate water cooling system and I can still feel vista dogging me. Oh, and my entire raid array is completely offline (thanks nVidia). You don't want to underestimate Vista's demands, they are many (but worth it!)

landtank · 02-02-07, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NaterGator

Prescott = huge meh.

care to translate this into english

NaterGator · 02-02-07, 07:41 PM

It will be very underwhelming on Vista. An unusually long pipeline and huge heat output... it is sufficient for Vista in the same way that a stock Jeep Cherokee is sufficient for offroading... yeah it works, but just.

landtank · 02-02-07, 07:47 PM

With MS recommending 1Ghz processors for even the ultimate version I thought I was ok.

NaterGator · 02-02-07, 07:50 PM

Yeah, that would be like trying to race a Geo Metro on the Nurburgring....

The gist is this: Vista licensing is such that you have one install on one machine and if you change a certain number of components (or your motherboard) you are forced to reactivate or buy a new license, depending. You want to be set before you make the upgrade... and now is a pretty good time to spiff up your machine a little, Core2 was the offspring of alot of competition from AMD and is a really solid showing from Intel. It may be a while before AMD can offer up that kind of competition again, so your dollar currently goes a long way when buying performance these days, and may not go as far in the future.

But thats just my two cents

landtank · 02-02-07, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NaterGator

The gist is this: Vista licensing is such that you have one install on one machine and if you change a certain number of components (or your motherboard) you are forced to reactivate or buy a new license, depending.

Oh really

NaterGator · 02-02-07, 07:54 PM

Well, thats what the EULA states. Apparently they will reactivate over the phone a few times, however technically Vista's EULA is by far the most strict and if they chose to enforce it upgrading components will be very arduous.

landtank · 02-02-07, 08:00 PM

Still kind of on the fence anyway. I have two scsi drives, one which is for data, Ghost the boot drive onto the second and buy a SATA drive for data storage and then upgrade to see what happens. I want an easy road home.

NaterGator · 02-02-07, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by landtank

Still kind of on the fence anyway. I have two scsi drives, one which is for data, Ghost the boot drive onto the second and buy a SATA drive for data storage and then upgrade to see what happens. I want an easy road home.

A heads up: also technically activating a Vista upgrade inactivates the old copy of Windows XP it replaces (so WGA will not work for windows update if you try to go back, etc) so just keep that in mind and maybe get a full copy, not upgrade if thats important to you

PS: I really like Vista and for me it's been great. Not everybody shares my opinion though.