What is PCI-E technology?

[icymood]

Hi guys!

Can someone elaborate PCI-E technology?
How PCI-E works?
What is its advantages and disadvantages?
What are the current motherboards uses PCI-E?
What peripherals (video cards) and brands are now available with PCI-E technology?

Thanks! =)

 

[Jassi]

The answers to all of your questions can be found here

Seriously, i would love to know too

 

[SleepWalkerX]

check out the anandtech article.

http://anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=1830

 

[uOpt]

The one sentense summary is that, apart from high base speed, the slots do not share a bus anymore, so each card can go full speed even if other cards are active. In PCI and PCI-X they would share their bandwidth.

I am not aware of consumer I/O cards for PCI express yet, but there are some mainboard which have onboard PCI-e gigabit ethernet. Beware that there are also boards with onboard PCI gigabit ethernet which will lead you into the same bus block again.

 

[Jeffyboy]

If I were to guess... I would say it would be similair to SATA.. using a differential wire pair which allows you to transmit faster. 16x or 8x or 1x would probably determine the number of wire pairs you're using maybe?

Jeff

 

[Tab]

Why do we need to replace AGP? Why? Why? Why?

 

[Burbot]

Why do we need to replace AGP? Why? Why? Why?

Because certain sleazy companies want gullible customers to pay more for devices that support yet another pointless (E)TLA.

 

[AndyHui]

Originally posted by: Tabb
Why do we need to replace AGP? Why? Why? Why?

It's not just AGP. It also includes PCI and all the other proprietary interconnects like CSA for LAN.

 

[Tab]

So, you're saying that PCI/AGP are somehow interconnected and if we take one out the other goes with as well? What I don't understand why bother with the huge amounts of bandwidth for PCI-E when we don't even fully use AGP 8x?

 

[AndyHui]

Not exactly. AGP is a PCI slot on steroids. They use the same underlying technology, although they are two physically separate buses in current AGP/PCI chipsets. PCI Express provides a single solution to replace all such different buses. The more buses you have, the higher costs go.

If you read the article that I wrote linked above, you will see why PCI isn't enough. If you have a look at our latest reviews regarding the nVidia 6200 with TurboCache, you will also see the advantages that PCI Exress presents.

 

[artikk]

Originally posted by: Burbot

Why do we need to replace AGP? Why? Why? Why?

Because certain sleazy companies want gullible customers to pay more for devices that support yet another pointless (E)TLA.

It's actually because AGP has a limited bandwith which is going to be too low for the next gen cards in 2010s. In this case the manufacturers plan for the future to prevent a disaster( low bandwith video agp slot) The bandwith and design in Pci Express cards will also allow for the longevity of video cards:a standard to last.The bandwith put up by PCI Express insures a future for video cards for all Do it Yourself PC enthsusiasts and makes it easier on the manufcaturers by providing them with the same design//standard for video cards unlike what Intel/Amd have done with their cpu sockets.

 

[Tab]

Originally posted by: AndyHui
Not exactly. AGP is a PCI slot on steroids. They use the same underlying technology, although they are two physically separate buses in current AGP/PCI chipsets. PCI Express provides a single solution to replace all such different buses. The more buses you have, the higher costs go.

If you read the article that I wrote linked above, you will see why PCI isn't enough. If you have a look at our latest reviews regarding the nVidia 6200 with TurboCache, you will also see the advantages that PCI Exress presents.

Thats still a small niche, well maybe not. Still, why not have a x8 slot? Or lets discuss AGP. What programs actually use AGP 8x let alone 4x? Whats the point in having it?