Albatron has developed an AGP-to-PCI-Express (PCIe) bridge card called the ATOP, which allows users to use an AGP 8x VGA card on a PCIe motherboard. Consumers have been hesitant to upgrade to motherboards with the PCIe standard because it means needing to purchase a new expensive PCIe graphics card. The new solution with the ATOP bridge is currently only available for the Albatron AGP 8x 6200A low-profile card. According to a source at Albatron, the ATOP bridge will only add around US$20 to the current prices for AGP 8x cards.



The AGP 8x 6200A card piggybacks on the ATOP card's AGP 8x slot located on the top edge. The ATOP card is then plugged into the motherboard's PCIe slot.