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I still haven't installed Doom 3 yet because I want the best experience possible. I'm thinking about doing an upgrade October 1 and have been doing a fair amount of reading on the new stuff lately.
I just haven't been able to figure out if PCI-X Nvidia cards actually exist yet...
Expect them to start showing up in force at the end of september would be my guess. Ive seen but a couple reviews of the PCIe variant 6800's. 6800's are by themselves in short supply but that has been improving every week.
End of this month is when u will start seeing early reviews of the DUAL PCIe SLI!!! capable boards based on via's new chipset for both AMD and P4.
I still havent heard when Nvidia's going to come out with ther Nforce PCIe chipset boards id guess it wont be to long. Old school gamers know what SLI can bring to the table and they will buy em up i predict.
ONe other interesting note is that the 6600's are also SLI capable! this is a sub 200 card mind u. One must also consider that SLI is not limited to 2 cards one can in fact run more. interesting stuff!
Next few months could be very exciting times to upgrade. October is when im looking to go socket939 PCIe and GT or better as well man. Its a good time to be patient tho as there will be a fall refresh of cards and cpu's to go with the new mobo's. If you want a cheap fix find a 5900NU or 9800pro on the web for 200 bux to hold yah over. Doom3 looks incredible and plays just fine on these cards. 200bucks vs PCIe mobo and 6800card = 700bucks!
Annecdote: I've been able to pretty much max the game out with the 6800 GT (and that config memory setting.) Ultra, 1280x1024, 2x AA... with very high framerates.
In a recent PC Gamer, the id guys said that the game would play no better under PCI Xpress, so don't wait for that if you're only interested in the effect in Doom 3.
In the CompUSA add yesterday, they have the 6800GT for $399, but you do get DoomIII for free instantly no mail away.
That probably explains why I was able to get it for $340 (no Doom 3)... The CompUSA I was at didn't have the game yet (although Best Buy did) so I think they cut me a dealio.
A teaser ripped from techreport today:
NVIDIA hints at SLI chipset plans
by Scott Wasson - 11:21 am, August 16, 2004
Amid the hubbub over the introduction of the GeForce 6600 line and the GeForce 6600GT's ability to work in an SLI configuration, folks from NVIDIA were dropping hints like mad at Quakecon about the company's plans for its next-gen Athlon 64 chipset with PCI Express support. NVIDIA is obviously working on a north bridge chip that will allow dual PCI Express graphics slots, and the company is confidently predicting SLI performance markedly superior to the dual Xeon-based motherboards that are powering the first SLI demo systems.
This confidence suggests that, just maybe, NVIDIA already has this chipset working well enough to measure its performance. Of course, we've already seen how the NVIDIA has been able to optimize its chipsets and GPUs to work together, and we may be in for more of the same with the next nForce. The Athlon 64's exceptional performance in gaming and graphics benchmarks probably won't hurt, either. I'd expect SLI-ready mobos based on the new NVIDIA chipset to cost a fraction of the price of dual Xeon boards, as well.
Once SLI arrives in force, one burning question would-be upgraders will have to debate is whether to opt for a single GeForce 6800GT card or grab a pair of GeForce 6600GTs and run them in SLI. I'd place my bets on the GeForce 6800GT being the better option all around, but folks from NVIDIA said performance between the two options was very close.
Get into A64 dual channel latest chipset goodness with 1 GT for now add one later oh man talk about serious horsepower... just like the voodoo days ahh memories..
Yes,, This read like back to the Future... SLI (smile) Good read Crusier, Thanks
Sonic - Per your request...here's the quote from PC Gamer. Robert Duffy, lead programmer, id Software:
Q: Assuming that the only difference between the two systems is their graphics interfaces, will a PCI Express-based PC run Doom 3 faster than an AGP-based system?
A: PCI Express should make no notable difference.
its well known that there is no difference at this time between AGP and PCIe generally speaking. Drivers, chipsets and the cards themselves are in beta stages.
To elaborate further the current GPU's have not been designed to take full advantage of PCIe anyway they simply use agp to PCIe bridges built into either the chip itself or the flip chip package so that they are just compatable. In some instances there are benchmarks that do in fact show a notible difference but for most people its not much relevance at this time.
Its quite likely however that the next generation of video cards will in fact take much greater advantage of this untapped bandwidth.
In reguards to buying PCIe now one should consider that the most current generation of graphics cards are EXtremely CPU limited and they will benifit greatly from a future CPU upgrades. For budget minded folks with video cards being priced so outrageous making the decision to hold out and buy PCIe could be a very smart move. Buying the the fastest CPU and mobo within your budget to run with these new cards could go a long way towards extending the value of em. Fastest mobo's in the near future will be PCIe supporting boards surely.
if your due for an overall system upgrade then waiting for this fall could be a very good idea whether your on a budget or not. At which time a mobo supporting say... SLI would be a cheap item also all things considered ;)
Pay a visit to xtremesystems.org forums if you want to see into the future somewhat speedwise disreguarding the general increases brought forth by new chipsets and GPU's etc. These guys take current CHipsets, RAM, GPU's and CPU's to levels the average joe wont be able to buy for years.
Obviously the technology will eventually have benefits. However it will not increase the Doom 3 playing experience (or so say the creators.)
Bill
PCIe explained
at this point in time even if you could buy a PCIe mobo worth a shit your correct. If your doing a full system upgrade soon waiting a month wont you hurt a bit. Could be quite smart in fact. PCI bus is currently choking on itself. If yah dont upgrade twice a year id buy latest tech to be safe for sure reguardless. More options later on.