PCI Express and AGP are graphic video cards that are used to enhance the performance of the computer. These video cards come in use mostly for gamers and online players.
Computers are nowadays used to do many things such as business proceedings, communications, etc. They provide faster connections to the computers and make them easier to use.
PCI Express vs AGP
The difference between PCI Express and AGP is that AGP can handle only video or 3-D like graphic data whereas PCI Express doesn’t have such restrictions like the data used to transfer. They are both video cards used to mainly transfer data and increase the transferring efficiency of data commonly seen in the possession of online gamers..
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PCI Express is a bus type that has been acknowledged widely for its technological advancement in transmitting data of all types. It is not common for video cards to be able to transfer data in such an efficient manner as that of the PCI Express.
Such transmission rate has increased its sales value in the market and among professional gamers online.
AGP is another type of video card that aids in mainly the transfer of data. The data that is usually transmitted using AGP is limited to either video or a graphical form of information.
This is a huge drawback and has therefore degraded the market value of the AGPs in the manufacturing outlets.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | PCI Express | AGP |
|---|---|---|
| Full Form | Peripheral Component Interconnect | Accelerated Graphics Port |
| Speed in Transferring | Fast | Comparatively slow |
| Components | Isolated | Joined |
| Can Transfer All Forms of Data | Yes | No, only graphical |
| Common Slot Color | White or other colors | Brown |
What is PCI Express?
PCI Express stands for Peripheral Component Interconnect which is additional hardware added to a computer system to aid gamers or to help in transferring data.
PCI Express is most commonly bought by users to increase the efficiency of the data transferring capacity of the system.
This is a bus that is connected to a computer externally through slots. This connection helps in associating the user’s personal computer with a network of similar personal computers.
Such networks prove helpful to transfer data within a network or related systems that might all belong to a specific business unit or a company.
A person can share all the data that resides in his/her computer with others irrespective of the nature of the data. This means that the data could be videos, photos, documents, or in any other form and it could be shared without any hassle.
A PCI Express is an upgraded version of the older PCI bus and has come along with many technological improvements.
PCI Express is not a part of the parallel technology that allows the transfers of data in only one direction and doesn’t allow the data to be transferred in two or more directions and causing congestion in the bandwidth and delaying the data transfer.
PCI Express is created by serial technology that allows all forms of information and data in more than one direction. This is efficient in reducing the data traffic in the given bandwidth for each specific device.
PCI Express is generally considered faster than most video cards that help in data transfer.
The card in its exterior is an assemblage of many components that are not exactly joined to create a single piece of hardware. This can also be explained as that all the components are not connected or joined to the slot.
The space between the bracket and the connector is limited and therefore limits the number of devices that could be connected. Only devices with slim connection cables can be connected in between the space of the connector and bracket.
Another great advantage of PCI Express is that it fits into slots that are either perfectly its size or on slots that are bigger.
The speed of data transmission is high for PCI Express as it has lower data traffic with bigger bandwidth. The highest speed that it can go at is 16x.
What is AGP?
AGP stands for Accelerated Graphics Port. This name itself shows that they mainly deal with graphical data and their similar type of data transfer.
It was primarily in use during the 2000s as there began a rise in demand for graphical or 3D type video cards that could come in handy for online gamers.
These video cards turned out to be high in demand among the gaming community and even among the general population to help themselves create a highly efficient data transfer system.
The reason for such demands specifically among gamers was to help themselves cope with the newly introduced games that were mostly either graphical or in 3D format.
AGP doesn’t transfer files that are anything other than video or even 3D form data containing ones. The card as a whole can be seen as a single unit as each component is fixated onto the slot and is not individually separated.
The physical distance between the connector and the bracket in an AGP card is quite large and therefore this is instrumental in allowing any device with small or big cables to be connected with ease to the AGP.
AGP was initially developed by Intel and the ownership was later on transferred. The speed of data transfer is small and the number of speeds is 4 with the highest being 8x.
Main Differences Between PCI Express and AGP
- While AGP usually deals with the data transfer of graphical and 3D format files alone, the PCI Express can transfer all kinds of data including photos, videos, and documents.
- PCI Express has a huge data transfer speed with the maximum being 16x as this is facilitated by the large bandwidth whereas in AGP the data transferring speed is quite low as their allotted bandwidth is limited.
- The outer card in the case of AGP is a single unit and is all joined to the slot while that of PCI Express is a bunch of isolated components.
- PCI Express cards can fit into slots that are either their correct size or even into bigger slots as the hardware is advanced and has better properties whereas, on the other hand, AGP can only fit into its designated slots.
- The distance between the bracket and connector in AGP is quite large while that in PCI Express is small.
- https://users.cs.jmu.edu/abzugcx/Public/Student-Produced-Term-Projects/Computer-Organization-2004-SPRING/AcceleratedGraphicsPort-by-Patrick-Curtin-James-Dieteman-Christopher-Sanford-2004-Spring.doc
- https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10586-013-0280-9.pdf
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Sandeep Bhandari holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computers from Thapar University (2006). He has 20 years of experience in the technology field. He has a keen interest in various technical fields, including database systems, computer networks, and programming. You can read more about him on his bio page.
