Upgrading to PCI-Express.

Converge · 25 Jun 2006 at 19:55

Hi guys,

Im going to be upgrading my old agp system to PCI-E, and i've got a few questions that you could be so kind as to answer for me

(Background Info)

My system:
3.2Ghz P4 HT, Socket 478.
Asus P4P800-E Deluxe Motherboard
ATI X850XT 256Mb
2Gb DDR Ram (4x 512mb) 3200 Crucial brand.

First off...

My main problem is that my CPU is the old socket 478 spec. Are there any motherboards out there that are PCI-E and still take that CPU? As i cant afford to upgrade my motherboard, gfx and CPU (seems annoying having to upgrade that as 3.2Ghz is still very nice) so i just want to upgrade the 1st two mentioned.

Secondly...

I want to buy a PCI-E gfx card such as the Sapphire ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-112-SP)

Does it have a certain specification it has to meet? :confused:

As i have heard about the newer PCI-E motherboards using PCI x16 or something, whereas the older ones use x1, whats the difference? 16 times the speed/transfer rates? Does that mean my future gfx card wont run as well etc?

Also, i bought a 480W Antec TrueBlue PSU a year ago, will that support PCI-E as it doesnt say in the instructions, but i bought it when PCI-E was available but a bit expensive still. :confused:

Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thanks!

P.S the memory would still be ok yeah?

Darkwave · 25 Jun 2006 at 20:03

PCI-E 16x and PCI 1x are completely different, a PCI-E graphics card won't fit in a PCI 1x slot since it's about an inch wide, and wouldn't work even if it could.

As long as you get a motherboard with a PCI-E 16x slot (I'd suggest getting an nForce4/NF4 motherboard) then you'll have no problems. Your PSU ans memory should also be absolutely fine.

hp7909 · 25 Jun 2006 at 20:13

Is your reason only wanting to move to PCI Express? or Is the PC feeling sluggish/etc? If so, I suggest your better off spending/saving up & moving to a more modern Socket (e.g. 775) & chip (Conroe A.K.A. Intel Core 2 Duo's round the corner)

x1 is a type of PCIe slot & not something older. Along this, in size there's the slightly larger x4, x8 & then x16 which is favoured mostly by graphic cards. Apprently PCIe cards designed for x1 can work on the larger slots.

PSU should be fine, better if its ATX 2.0 but doesn't really matter.

MeatLoaf · 25 Jun 2006 at 21:11

Whats your budget?

Hoe about the 3700+ SD thats on offer this week and an Asrock dual, that will allow you to use your X850 until you can get a PCI-E gfx card? Would cost approx £130.

A 7600GT can be gad for about £117 from here, making the total upgrade cost about £247

You can then flog your existing gear to recoup quite a bit of that cost.

Or do what i do, sell your old stuff first, then put the rest to it. Dosent cost a lot then either

jamie2497 · 25 Jun 2006 at 21:16

There are a couple of motherboards made by Asus and Asrock that support 478 and pci express but Unfortunately on 2 of the boards (i think) the X16 pci express only runs at X4 and the most of the recent graphics cards require the full X16.

Here are the boards

ASROCK P4DUAL-915GL
ASUS P4GD1
ASROCK P4Dual-880Pro
ASUS Motherboard P4v800d-x

hope it helps.

Indy500 · 25 Jun 2006 at 21:18

Theres also an Asus hybrid AGP\PCI-E board for 478 based on VIA PT880, and an xpress200 m-atx 478 board (2 pci, 1 pci-e 1x, 1 pci-e 16x), onboard X300 graphics.

Converge · 25 Jun 2006 at 21:22

ok guys, thanks for all your help, in response to one of the posts, yeah my pc is seeming to become a bit sluggish... ah well i think i may have to bite the bullet and buy a new CPU as well, it'll last me a good while then too i guess, duel core is the way forward too it seems

Darkwave · 25 Jun 2006 at 21:37

jamie2497 said:
Unfortunately on 2 of the boards (i think) the X16 pci express only runs at X4 and the most of the recent graphics cards require the full X16.

Just picking nits here, best to ignore me, but graphics cards can run fine in PCI-E 4x speeds as long as they're in a 16x slot. We're nowhere near using the full bandwidth of 16x PCI-E yet.

Blokey57 said:
ok guys, thanks for all your help, in response to one of the posts, yeah my pc is seeming to become a bit sluggish... ah well i think i may have to bite the bullet and buy a new CPU as well, it'll last me a good while then too i guess, duel core is the way forward too it seems

Aye, a full upgrade would probably be best. If you wait a month or two then pretty much everything out right now is going to drop in price, including the latest Intel processors which are currently the best performers available.

jamie2497 · 25 Jun 2006 at 22:05

Úlfhednar said:
Just picking nits here, best to ignore me, but graphics cards can run fine in PCI-E 4x speeds as long as they're in a 16x slot. We're nowhere near using the full bandwidth of 16x PCI-E yet.

Really? Im sure i read that graphics cards use more than 4X speeds? Hopefully your right then i can upgrade aswell!

Converge · 26 Jun 2006 at 00:19

hi again, well i've decided i want to get the following:

Graphics Card: Sapphire ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-112-SP)

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 940 Dual Core "LGA775 Presler" 3.2GHz (800FSB) - Retail (CP-113-IN)

and then.... im not sure what motherboard to get, i want a mid-high range board, not one thats got lots of fancy stuff im never gonna use, but one thats a good performer and a high quality build. and it may as well be 16x PCI, so it's futureproofed a bit

Any suggestions?

Thanks again, all your helps been great!

Converge · 26 Jun 2006 at 21:16

No one able to suggest something for me?

Sorry, i know its pretty simple, but i dont wanna get a board thats not gonna last a few upgrades of other parts, any helpers?

Thanks

Indy500 · 26 Jun 2006 at 21:29

Wait for the 965\975 chipset motherboards.

fenderbass86 · 26 Jun 2006 at 21:29

The X1900XT you chose is decent, but I really think you should go with the E6400 Conroe over the Pentium 940.

The E6400 is on par with the FX60/FX62 but FAR cheaper. As previously said, get a 965P motherboard when they come about. They should be well priced and not over the top like you wanted.

Naffa · 26 Jun 2006 at 21:31

The E6400 is more than on par with a nice overclock. These cpus truely are the bees knees.. They're cheap, fast as hell and are really efficient.. Meaning they're cooler as well. What more could you want?

fenderbass86 · 26 Jun 2006 at 21:38

naffa said:
The E6400 is more than on par with a nice overclock. These cpus truely are the bees knees.. They're cheap, fast as hell and are really efficient.. Meaning they're cooler as well. What more could you want?

A sexy Intel rep to hug and kiss me when she delivers it to me, then says "that was for getting Intel back on it's feet".

Converge · 27 Jun 2006 at 00:53

im a bit of a wimp when it comes to overclocking... meaning i dont do it, call me stupid, but im just like that

Also. surely with these new motherboards i would need DDR 2 memory?
That's more pennies from my pocket