PCI express is the new style video card out on the market today. Due to PCI express video cards having better performance and speed than PCI and AGP cards, it is slowly taking over the market today. PCI express can have up to 70 times the bandwidth over PCI. For all you non computer geeks out there bandwidth is the amount of information that can be transmitted in a fixed amount of time. PCI-e video cards gives you extremely high bandwidth at a low cost.
This new style of video card gives you better power management, truly scalable configurations, faster graphics, and better system performance. A PCI Express video card is one of the best and easiest upgrades you can do if you want your computer to run faster and more efficient. PCI Express Video Cards will work on current operating systems, like Windows XP, because PCI Express software is compatible with PCI. If you are going to upgrade to PCI Express make sure your motherboard has a PCI Express slot.
PCI Express Connectors and Ports
When looking to buy a PCI express style video card, be aware that there are four different types of mechanical board connectors (x1, x4, x8, and x16). The bandwidth for these connectors ranges from 500MB/s to 8GB/s (x1 being the slowest). There are also a variety of video ports offered; some are VGA (video graphics array), VIVO (video in/video out), and DVI (digital video interface).
SLI: Dual PCI Express Video Cards
Along with the PCI express video card being invented, SLI (Scalable Link Interface) has hit the market. SLI allows two video cards of the same model to be linked together on the main board. SLI is proprietary to nvidia video cards and often improves system performance up to two times faster. If you are going to upgrade to SLI make sure your PCI express video cards, main board, and power supply are sli ready.
|
