@ti was knocking an AGP-PCi bridge because :
a.it increased cost [ by like 5 US]
b. the processor was STILL limited to an AGP bus even though it is on PCI
c. it decreased performance because it added ping time .
the 6800 ultra PCI is like 25mhz overclocked from the 6800 AGP, and its still SLOWER . Not to mention how EXPENSIVE it was to make one, 6800 ultras are rare, 6800 PCI ultras are almost non existant .
A PCI-AGP bridge allows us poor/cheap gamers to keep our currant systems and upgrade to the latest video cards . It may be slightly more expensive than a PCI-X but its still ALOT cheaper than getting a whole new system .
It will be SLOWER than PCI-x cards by a bit .. but it could be offset by AGP overclocking and GPU overclocking.
Nvidia was being CHEAP by doing this , a poor attempt to launch into a new market, ATI is doing this so that us AGP people will not need a brand new system for a good while to come .