AGP 8x vs 4x difference

[dpbement]

How much difference is there running a card that supports AGP 8x on a system that only supports AGP 4x?

I understand the increase in throughput capability, but how does this translate in real life or in 3D Mark 2001SE score? Does 8x vs 4x make any difference really? My moboard only supports AGP4x and I wonder if I had one that was identical except it supported 8x if I'd see much of a performance increase in 3D apps/games.

Thanks.

[Riptide]

The simple and short answer is no. You would not see any difference. Maybe about a 50 point increase in your 3dmark scores, if that.

[StealthHawk]

AGP 8x offers 0-5% performance improvement over AGP 4x. don't worry about it, it's just a marketing tool.

[Grechie]

what if i bought a AGP8x 3d card on a 4X motherboard, will it work the video card only on 4x? or wouldnt it fit or work?

[dpbement]

The video card will run at 4x. It will fit too. I think some older 2x or 1x cards had different power requirements so they would not fit. I think that's what that notch is for at the back of the pci connector--to keep one from putting a new video card in a really old motherboard. In any case, your 8x card will work at 4x on your 4x motherboard.

[Dazz]

Yes thats correct AGP 2x/1x 1.0 system won't work with the 8x video cards and will infact fry the card.

[butter]

i ran a geforce3 in a p3 440bx mobo for a year and a tech guy at visiontek told me when i called about tvout that my geforce3 is incompatible with a p3 system and that everyone's is suppose to fry after u put it in. is he wrong or am i lucky?

[R.Carter]

Originally posted by butter
i ran a geforce3 in a p3 440bx mobo for a year and a tech guy at visiontek told me when i called about tvout that my geforce3 is incompatible with a p3 system and that everyone's is suppose to fry after u put it in. is he wrong or am i lucky?

The 440BX AGPset supports AGP 1.0 (AGP-1X/2X 3.3v) spec.

I think the main problem is with newer AGP4x chipsets that do NOT support the older AGP 2X/3.3v ONLY cards. If you insert one of these older video cards into a newer motherboard you could damage your AGP4x/1.5v motherboard and / or video card.

I think that AGP4X/1.5v only cards are keyed differently and so shouldn't fit into a AGP2x/3.3v only slots.

However, if your GeForce3 card supports AGP 2X operation then it should support 3.3v operation and work fine in a 440BX motherboard.