With the Nv40 etc out today in US and tomorrow (well actually its probably tommorrow now for most of you ) if i wanted to buy one would i need a motherboard with PCI or PCI-Express? Is there any difference? Could someone give me a full run-down on what i need for a nice working PCI-Express card! Also i have already decided to join the nVidia boat so don't go on about how using a Radion would be better

Thanks...

its being "unveiled" not sold.... probably wont be available for a while because no PCI-Express boards are available yet either.... Yes PCI-Express will be a new slot same as a PCI though so it will be backwards compatible with current PCI devices, so yes you'll need a PCIE board, but theyre not out. I'm sure it will be announced when they start being released.

PCI express is going to be released on motherboards this fall. It is NOT backwards compatible with PCI. However, it will replace AGP and PCI because it is much faster. There are adapters to connect your PCI and AGP cards to PCI Express, but you will still have only AGP and PCI speeds as if it were a normal mobo. If you plan to go PCI Express when it comes out start saving now because all of the cards(sound, video, NIC, etc) will have to be PCI Express and will be more expensive.

PCI cards (video cards, network cards, etc) WILL WORK in pci express slots.... PCI Express cards will not work in current PCI slots. <-- Fact... all of it. Motherboards will continue to have AGP and PCI slots for a long time, its impractical to completely phase out both busses. Sorry but you're wrong tenmiles.

I dun know, is it worth it? I heard that the PCIE version of 6800 is just gonna be as fast as the normal AGP speeds.. is this true?

So basically if i want a PCI-Express m/b then i will have to wait until fall, so thats...5 months true?

pretty much. the 6800 is gonna be out in a few months and the PCIE version of it will be out 2 months after the AGP release.

Nvidia won't be using TRUE PCIX. They will be using a bridged version that just adapts the AGP version to the new slot.

when is the 6800 suppose to be out... june?

perhaps, but yea, sometime around June or July with the PCI-E version of it coming a few months after the initial AGP release.

So when are we looking at the first PCI-E motherboards? August or later?

The Geforce 6800 will start being sold at the end of May, and it will be the AGP version, so no need to get a new mobo. The PCI-E version will come out this summer along with the PCI-E mobos. It will basically be the same because Nvidia is just porting them.

bangbang023, you are an idiot. If you actually read that article it said that PCI and PCIX are interchangable. They said that current PCI cards won't be able to work in a PCI-E slot, it's completely different architecture. If you've seen the pictures the slot isn't even the same size. You could get it to work if you had a bridge though.

Troa34, sorry to say, but you are the one that is wrong. Get the facts first.

PCI-E will eventually replace both busses, mainly because it can run at different speeds, like AGP.

hmm, I've read both now, I'll check on the dates of the different articles I've read.

I read this on the VIA site...

http://www.via.com.tw/en/pci-express/intro.jsp

So the AGP version is out May. So basically what you people are saying is that if i get a mobo now then it won't really matter because pci-e isn't that good? Please just answer this question:

Should i build a pc now or in fall? This is about pci-e not any other technology? Will there be any way to upgrade pci to pci-e?

well, it's not that PCIE is not good, it's just that 6800 will not be TRUE PCIE, I suggest you still wait just incase you decide to upgrade something in 2005 or 2006 (by then true PCIE components will definately be available.)

I'm going to go for it now and then in time i will be able to upgrade my pc to fit the needs of an up to date pc. Thanks guys for the advice.

but that's the thing, if you get a non PCIE mobo so close to it's release, you won't be able to use top of the line components anymore because you are lacking PCIE support, unless you want to upgrade your mobo again in 6 months or less.

Logically, PCIE supporting mobos should be out BEFORE the PCIE version of the 6800, there's no way nvidia would ship hardware that has no mobo supporting it.

on another note, I think you should wait and see what ATI brings out, it's gonna be over 600MHz, a beast to say the least. (it rhymes!) Give them a chance, you don't want to blow all your money on something only to find the competting brand was much better.

p.s. how can you go for it now? the AGP version of 6800 isnt even out. you've got to wait at least 2 more months either way.

Will the new pci-e motherboards be BTX or ATX? Looks like i had to decide to build a pc right in the middle of a massive change. Seems that building a pc is off again.

probably find that the pcie bi-directionals will come more as a product of a successful btx market growth.

huh?

I doubt that they'll just make a hard trasnsition strictly to BTX but as with every sort of tech integrate it, use both, and slowly phase the oldschool out.

Ah, so what you are saying (in my dumbed down language) is that there will be ATX mobo's with pci-express but then gradually you will see more and more BTX and then eventually nearly all mobo's will be BTX. I think this topic should be renamed 'Various Questions' because i got another one- is BTX actually that bigger thing? If i want a case which is ATX should i get rid of the case and wait longer for a BTX mobo or just go with the ATX mobo? I read in 'Micro-Mart' that ATX and BTX cases and mobo's will be different so an ATX won't fit into a BTX case. Enough acronyms! What exactly do they stand for anyway?

Im still asking myself should i order this ATX case or wait a bit?

Best to wait till the new products become available imo.

PCIexpress is an architecture not a slot on a motherboard, as such it will be capable of improved bandwidth and data transmission.

The mobo manufactures' will prolly release boards with PCI and PCIexpress slots / in a variety of flavours for some time, just like when PCI replaced ISA, so don't worry about backward compatibility for your current cards, just buy a mobo that supports the hardware set you wan to carry forward.

It seems clear though from reading the PCIexpress home site that the now architecture will allow for radically different hardware layout arrangements. For that reason it would be best to wait and see what styles emerge.
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I've already ordered, i get the ATX case today, well i should!

I always try not to bring back old topics, but i need an update on this.

Are there any release dates yet..and where can i get myself one???

I heard that one is coming out 21st June or something, but i cant seem to find it, also remember (though i believe this makes no difference) that i am going for the nVidia 6800.

I don't know about motherboards, but Gigabyte and ASUS showed off their PCI-E X800s off at a recent convention in taiwan.

Yeah in like 2 or 3 weeks you should start seeing them for sale online and a couple of more weeks for your B&M stores....

Cool, any makes mentioned? (Asus etc)