Is AGP 8x worth the wait?

[nvnews-reader]

I’ve been thinking about getting a new computer. :) Is it worth waiting for AGP 8x mobos?

I’m probably just going to put a GF4 4200 card in it and upgrade to NV30 next year. (If there are NV30 AGP 4x cards :eek: ) Will there be a huge difference in speed?

Thanks.

[Pakman]

I'd recommend that you wait for AMD Hammer motherboards. They will surely be AGP 8X. There will also surely be Hammer nForce boards coming out too. AGP 8X will be a little faster, but it's the next generation CPU's that you should be thinking about. They will definately be much faster than anything on the market now.

[StealthHawk]

it's all a big question of when they will be available in bulk though :o

[pgn.inertia]

I thought all AGP 8x motherboards were backwards compatible with earlier AGP standards, as with the 3.3V standard...

[TheOneKEA]

I know AGP Pro is backward compatible, but I don't know about AGP8X.

[nvnews-reader]

I did some looking last night and found the sis648
http://www17.tomshardware.com/mainboard/02q3/020720/index.html

It’s got AGP8X. Serial-ATA, DDR400(probably 333 for me), USB-2.0,and Firewire. :D

I think I might get that one by shuttle. Does shuttle make good boards?

But I also saw that there is a SIS655 that is a follow on to the 648. It’s supposed to include dual channel DDR and come out in 3rd quarter. I guess that means there won’t be any for sale until Christmas. :(

I don't know if I can wait for Hammer. They prob will delay it until next march. Intel and amd are always delaying chips.

[Pakman]

Then get an nForce2. It's AGP 8X compatable and will have great memory architechture, good sound etc. Best bet now if you gotta upgrade immediately.

[TheOneKEA]

Does anyone know when VIA will make a chipset with Serial ATA?

[netviper13]

I'm sure either KT400a, or whatever their next chipset will be will have support for it.

[SavagePaladin]

serial ATA WILL be on some nForce 2 motherboards, from what I saw.
the AGP 3.0 standard (8x) is compatible with 2.0, but most definitely not 1.0, I believe