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PCI Express 6 spec promises massive headroom for AI and storage
PCI Express 5.0 has barely been finalized, but that isn't stopping its creators from dreaming about what comes next. The PCI Special Interest Group has unveiled a PCI Express 6.0 specification that should deliver up to a blistering 256GB per second across 16 lanes -- that's twice as fast as the yet-to-ship PCIe 5.0 spec, and four times as much as the 4.0 spec that's only just reaching computers. The PCI-SIG aims to achieve the feat by using Pulse Amplitude Modulation technology that can carry twice as much data as existing methods without needing to double the transmission bandwidth and use ridiculously high frequencies.
PCIe 4.0 inches towards reality, hits 16 gigatransfers per second (that's a thing, right?)
Don't get too excited just yet, but PCIe 4.0 is coming. PCI-SIG, the body that governs the standard, has announced the next evolution of the interface, which should start popping up in servers, desktops, laptops and even tablets around 2015. Sadly, details are pretty slim on the slot -- final specs aren't expected to be announced before 2014. All we know is that PCIe 4.0 will be able to perform 16 gigatransfers per second (GT/s), which tells us only slightly more than jack squat. It simply means that a PCIe 4.0 card will be capable of transferring 16 billion discrete chunks of data per second, twice that of PCIe 3.0. What that doesn't tell us though, is the size of those chunks. If they're the same size, 4.0 will provide double the current bit rate of 1 GB/s per-lane. If, for some reason, the channel width were halved there would be no speed increase -- but we seriously doubt that's the case. So, will we be looking at 32 GB/s PCIe 4.0 x16 GPUs in a few years? That is a definite maybe.
PCI Express cables could take us to 32Gbps speeds by 2013
Thought Thunderbolt was the only superfast interconnect in town? Well, it is and will be for a little while yet, but the PCI Special Interest Group has just held its annual meeting and developer conference in California, where plans for a 32Gbps PCIe cable were revealed. Details are still fluid on precisely what such a connector would look like and do, but the expectation is that it'll be built out of copper wire, will be flatter and thinner than Thunderbolt's rotund construction, and will be able to channel power as well as data through to devices up to 10 feet (3m) away. Targeting consumer applications, and extra skinny tablets and laptops in particular, this cabled variety of PCI Express will start off based on the 3.0 spec in 2013, but will then move on from there to PCI Express 4.0 and, potentially, optical data conveyance. Oh yes, PCIe 4.0 also got announced by the PCI SIG, though that's at least four years away at this point -- no need to sweat about having it in your next motherboard, not yet anyway.
PCI Express makes the 3.0 leap, doubles bandwidth over PCIe 2.0 spec
First Bluetooth, then USB and now PCI Express. It's clearly the era of version 3.0, and given that the PCI Express specification has been humming along at 2.0 speeds for over two years now, we'd say an update was definitely due. Thankfully, the PCI-SIG has announced the availability of the PCIe Base 3.0 specification to its members today, and the highlights are certainly notable. There's a new 128b/130b encoding scheme and a data rate of 8 gigatransfers per second (GT/s), doubling the interconnect bandwidth over the PCIe 2.0 specification. And since we're sure you're fretting it, we'll go ahead and affirm that it maintains backward compatibility with previous PCIe architectures. We're also told that based on this data rate expansion, "it is possible for products designed to the PCIe 3.0 architecture to achieve bandwidth near 1 gigabyte per second (GB/s) in one direction on a single-lane (x1) configuration and scale to an aggregate approaching 32 GB/s on a sixteen-lane (x16) configuration." A lot of technobabble, sure, but one thing's for sure: your next graphics card is bound to murder your current one if paired with a PCIe 3.0 motherboard.
PCI Express 3.0 specification formally delayed, products pushed to 2011
We've been enjoying (or just dealing with, depending on perspective) PCI Express 2.0 since early 2007, and it now looks as if we may still be utilizing said protocol come early 2011. Way back in June of '08, we began to hear whispers that the next iteration of the technology would be finalized by the end of this year, but now the PCI SIG has formally delayed the release of the specification until the second quarter of 2010. What does that mean for the consumer? Try coping with the fact that you won't see a PCIe 3.0 product until 2011. As the story goes, the delay was needed in order to "maintain backward compatibility with current PCI Express standards," and while the technical details of all that may interest some, it's the awfully unfortunate setback that's most notable here. But hey, at least all those PCIe 1.0 cards that are still totally relevant will work with your next (next-next?) PC![Via Reg Hardware]
PCI Express 3.0 details surface
PCI 2.0's doubled-up speed boost was something to celebrate, but think again if you're looking for such a bump with PCI Express 3.0. The PCI SIG started eking out some details about the new standards, and as of now it looks like PCI express 3.0 will see transfers speeds of 8-gigatransfers per second, compared to 2.0's 5.0-gigatransfers per second. Channel width and transfer protocol will ultimately determine the amount of information transferred, of course, so the new standard could have some tricks up its sleeves. The good news is that PCI Express 3.0 will use the same connector and will be backwards-compatible with 2.0. PCI Express' specifications should be complete in 2009 with a rollout in 2010, so don't go stressing about your motherboard's I/O options just yet.
PCI Express goes 2.0, transfer rate doubles
Folks sure busted out the champagne when PCI Express took the wand from AGP, and while this announcement isn't quite as monumental, doubling transfer speeds ain't nothing to balk at. PCI-SIG, the higher-ups involved in rolling out new PCI Express protocols, unveiled today the PCIe Base 2.0 specifications, which noted that the "interconnect bit rate" would be heading from 2.5GT/s to 5GT/s to better "support high-bandwidth applications." The primary benefits extending from the revamped standard include "faster signaling, increasing the aggregate bandwidth of a 16-lane link to approximately 16 Gbps," and of course, the backwards compatibility with current PCIe 1.1 products. Notably, Intel's "Bearlake" family of chipsets will purportedly support PCI Express 2.0, and if all goes as planned, should start shipping "next quarter."[Via RegHardware]
