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PCI Express Buying Guide

So you’ve decided you want to upgrade and buy new hardware utilizing the new PCI Express standard. This buying guide will give you some tips to help you make the right decision. For more detailed information on PCI Express please see our article Understanding PCI Express.

Choosing a Motherboard

Choosing a motherboard is the same as it always is… many options from many manufacturers. With PCI Express you already have a couple of chipsets available to choose from within the mainstream manufacturers. Currently Intel based boards are the only ones available. AMD based PCI express boards will be available later this quarter or early first quarter 2005.

915 Chipsets

Motherboards utilizing the 915 chipset come in two flavors. G and P. 915G motherboards have integrated video available. 915P does not. The other important aspect of the 915 motherboards is they can utilize either DDR or DDR2 memory. Some manufacturers have even built boards that can utilize both. If you want to make your transition to PCI express a little less financially painful, this can be a good route to go because you can utilize existing DDR memory if you have it.

925 Chipsets

The 925X and 925XE motherboards also have a few subtle differences. These boards only use DDR2 memory. The real difference comes in the front side bus. The 925X utilizes an 800MHz bus and the 925XE a 1066MHz bus. The most important fact you should remember here is processors are not forward or backwards compatible between the two. An 800MHz bus P4 WILL NOT work on a 925XE board and vice-versa. We even tried placing the new 1066MHz P4 on a 925X motherboard and upon boot the processor will not post. For most everyone, the 925X is the chipset you should look at. The 925XE motherboards are going to be similarly priced and have probably the same exact manufacturer features as the 925X. The real difference is in the processor cost. Initial benchmarks do not put the 1066MHz bus set up that much ahead of the 800MHz bus with existing hardware. If you have the cash to burn, might just be worth it. Be on the lookout for UpgradeAdvisor.com’s Ultimate Gaming Machine based on the 1066MHz processor and 925XE chipset.

A couple of great options for motherboards you should consider are the Albatron PX915G Pro for the 915 chipset, the Gigabyte GA-8ANXP-D for a 925X motherboard, or the Gigabyte GA-8AENXP-D for the new 925XE chipset.

Choosing a Processor

Choosing a processor for your new PCI Express motherboard is relatively simple. You just have to decide how much you want to spend. Prices for the LGA775 processors range from around $160 for a 2.8GHz to $450 for the 3.6GHZ. The Extreme Edition processors are still around $1,000 and the new 1066MHz processor hasn’t been officially released yet, but pricing will be near or above the $1,000 mark.

For Intel based 915 and 925X Motherboards you can use any of the P4 LGA775 800 MHz front side bus processors. You cannot use the new 1066MHz processor on these motherboards. For the 925XE Motherboards you have to have the new P4 3.46GHz Extreme Edition 1066 MHz front side bus processor.

Currently for AMD Processors, there is not a motherboard publicly available.

Choosing a Video Card

Choosing a PCI Express video card is very much the same as it always is. You primarily have ATI and nVidia based units to choose from. You have your entry level, mid level, and high end cards. The real factors you should consider when buying a video card is what it will be used for and what your budget is.

If you are just a basic computer user that surfs the internet and uses basic office applications, entry level to mid level is all you need. If you game or do a lot with graphics and multimedia type projects, the determining factor will be your budget.

As always, there are excellent video cards available in both nVidia and ATI solutions. Within the manufacturers that partner with these two companies you will have various levels of quality so contact us if you would like help determining whose video card you should buy.

Adding It All Up

PCI Express is the wave of the future. If you have existing DDR memory that will run at the right speeds of these new motherboards, then you might want to consider a motherboard utilizing the 915 chipset. If not and you plan on buying new memory, we recommend jumping to the 925X chipset motherboards and buying DDR2 memory. Is the 1066MHz front side bus worth investing in now? Probably not for most users.

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