PCI Express 3.0 expansion slot. How does the PCI Express interface differ from PCI? History of the appearance of the expansion slot

If we are talking about the PCI Express (PCI-E) bus, then perhaps first of all what we see among others similar solutions- Effectiveness. This daily bus improves computer productivity and improves graphics brightness.

We stretch out a lot of rocks to connect a video card up to motherboard, the PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus was used, and it was also used to connect other devices, such as an interconnect and a sound card.

The axis and slots look like this:

PCI-Express actually became the next generation of the PCI bus, introducing improved functionality and productivity. Vaughn, vikoristovaya sequential connection, where there are a number of lines, the skin of which leads to a similar device, then. The skin peripheral device removes the moisture line, which therefore increases the productivity of the computer.

PCI-Express supports hot connections, consumes less energy, and controls the integrity of the data being transferred. Besides, there is a lot of confusion with PCI bus drivers. Another miraculous feature of this tire is its scalability. The pci express card connects and operates in any slot of similar or greater capacity. It is absolutely certain that this function will be secure in the near future.

The traditional type of PCI slot is suitable for basic audio/video functions. With the AGP bus, the circuitry for working with multimedia data has been improved, and the capacity of audio/video data has also significantly increased. It was not long before the advances in microarchitecture of processors began to increasingly demonstrate the power of the PCI bus, as the latest and newest computer models at that time literally weighed down.

Characteristics building capacity PCI-E bus

You can connect x1 to x32 (32 lines) from one double-directed line. The line operates on the principle of point to point. Current versions provide much greater capacity, equal to its predecessors. x16 can be used to connect a video card, and x1 and x2 can be used to connect a phone card.

The axis looks like slots x1 and pci express x16

PCI-E
Number of lines x1 x2 x4 x8 x16 x32
Smug width 500 Mb/s 1000 Mb/s 2000 Mb/s 4000 Mb/s 8000 Mb/s 16000 Mb/s

PCI-E versions and insanity

When it comes to computers, the mystery about versions is associated with problems of insanity. I, as if it were different current technology, PCI-E is gradually developing and modernizing. The remaining available option is pci express 3.0, but the PCI-E bus version 4.0 is currently being developed, which will appear around 2015 (pci express 2.0 is practically obsolete).
Take a look at I'll step on the table PCI-E value.
Versions PCI-E 3.0 2.0 1.1
Passport capacity
(X16) 32 Gb/s 16 Gb/s 8 Gb/s
Data transmission speed 8.0 GT/s 5.0 GT/s 2.5 GT/s

The PCI-E version does not have any impact on the functionality of the card. The greatest steamed rice this interface There is a real twist in making it easy and efficient to synchronize with a wide variety of map options, regardless of the version interface. Then you can insert a card of another or third version into the PCI-Express slot of the first version and it will work, even at the expense of productivity. So, in the PCI-E slot of the third version, you can install a card of the first version of PCI-Express. Currently, all current models of video cards from NVIDIA and AMD are compatible with such a bus.

And the price for a snack:

If you want to talk about any interfaces in context computer systems, We need to be very respectful so as not to “run into” stupid interfaces for these very components within the system.

Fortunately, if you use a PCI-Express interface to connect a video card, there will be practically no problems with inconsistency. Let’s take a closer look at this statistic and also talk about what PCI-Express is all about.

Why do you need PCI-Express and what is it?

Let’s start, as always, from the very beginning. PCI-Express (PCI-E) interface- This is the mutual relationship, in this context, which consists of the bus controller and the bus slot (Fig. 2) on motherboard(yakscho zagalniti).

This high-performance protocol is being tested, as it is more suitable for connecting a video card to the system. Apparently, the motherboard has an output PCI-Express slot where the video adapter is installed. Previously, video cards were connected via AGP interface Alas, what interface, just seeming: “stopped grabbing”, to the aid of the PCI-E, about report characteristics what we'll talk about now.

Fig.2 (PCI-Express 3.0 slots on the motherboard)

Main characteristics of PCI-Express (1.0, 2.0 and 3.0)

Regardless of those whose names PCI and PCI-Express are very similar, their principles of communication (interaction) are radically different. The PCI-Express connector has a line - a bidirectional serial connection of the “point-to-point” type, these lines can be spliced. With video cards and motherboards (not supported by Cross Fire and SLI) that support PCI-Express x16 (or more), you can easily guess that there are 16 such lines (Fig. 3), often on motherboards with PCI-E 1.0 , it was possible to create another x8 slot for robots in SLI modes or Cross Fire.

Well, in PCI, the device is connected to the original 32-bit parallel bus.

Small 3. Butt of slots with different number of lines

(as stated earlier, the most commonly used vikory is x16)


The interface bandwidth should be set to 2.5 Gbit/s. We need this data in order to make changes to this parameter in different versions of PCI-E.

Dali, version 1.0 has evolved into PCI-E 2.0. As a result of this redesign, we got twice as much bandwidth, so 5 Gbit/s, but we would like to point out that graphics adapters didn’t play a big role in productivity, since it’s just a version of the interface. Most of the productivity lies in the video card itself, the version of the interface can be improved a little or the data transfer is reduced (in this type there is no “tampering”, and there is a huge reserve).

So in 2010, as a reserve, the interface will be split up PCI-E 3.0, on Narazi This is the case with all new systems, and if you still have 1.0 or 2.0, then don’t lie – we’ll talk below about the obvious stupidity different versions.

For version PCI-E 3.0, the throughput has doubled compared to version 2.0. There were also a lot of technical changes made there.

Until 2015 the rock will be born PCI-E 4.0, Which is absolutely not surprising for the dynamic IT industry.

Well then, let’s finish with these versions and bandwidth figures, and let’s break down the even more important power supply of different versions of PCI-Express.

Great value of PCI-Express versions 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0

This food is rich, especially when select video card for the flow system So as we are satisfied with the system motherboard Since it supports PCI-Express 1.0, it is doubtful whether a video card with PCI-Express 2.0 or 3.0 will work correctly? So, if they are accepted, the distributors will say so, as they ensured this madness. The only thing is that the video card cannot fully open in all its glory, otherwise the loss of productivity, in most cases, will be insignificant.


To be precise, you can safely install video cards with the PCI-E 1.0 interface in motherboards that support PCI-E 3.0 or 2.0, there will be no interference here, so rest assured not from the drive of capacity. Since, especially with other factors, everything is different, such factors can be insufficiently covered pushing block food and drink

Zagalom, we had a good talk about PCI-Express, so that we can help you avoid any ambiguities and doubts about the insanity and complexity of PCI-E versions.

This article provides information about the reasons for the success of the PCI bus and also describes the high-performance technology that is replacing it - the PCI Express bus. We will also look at the history of development, hardware and software levels of the PCI Express bus, the features of its implementation and its advantages.

Koli on the cob of the 1990s rocks. she showed up, then for her technical characteristics I literally overhauled all the buses that had been in use up to that point, such as ISA, EISA, MCA and VL-bus. At that time, the PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus, which operated at a frequency of 33 MHz, was good for most peripheral devices. But today’s situation has changed a lot. First of all, the clock frequencies of the processor and memory have significantly increased. For example, the clock frequency of processors has increased from 33 MHz to several GHz, while the operating frequency of PCI has increased to 66 MHz. The advent of technologies such as Gigabit Ethernet and IEEE 1394B meant that the entire bandwidth of the PCI bus could be used to serve one single device based on these technologies.

Given that the PCI architecture has a low advantage compared to its predecessors, it would be irrational to reconsider. First of all, it does not depend on the type of processor that supports buffer isolation, bus mastering technology and PnP technology. Buffer isolation means that the PCI bus is independent from the internal processor bus, which allows the processor bus to function independently of the speed and complexity of the system bus. New technologies for storing buses in peripheral devices have eliminated the ability to completely override the process of transferring data over the bus, instead obtaining assistance from the central processor, which would have an impact on system productivity. I'm sorry, Plug and Play support allows you to work automatic adjustment and the configuration of devices that need to be used with it, and the connection between jumpers and jumpers, which inevitably promised life to the owners of ISA devices.

Despite PCI's runaway success, it faces serious problems. Among them are limited capacity, lack of data transmission functions in real time and the lack of support for new-generation edge technologies.

Equal characteristics different standards PCI

It should be noted that the actual throughput may be less than the theoretical one due to the principle of the protocol and the specifics of the bus topology. In addition, the total throughput of the data is distributed between all the devices connected to it, so as more devices sit on the bus, less bandwidth goes to each of them.

Such standards as PCI-X and AGP have a major drawback - low clock speed. However, the increase clock frequency In these implementations, it was caused by a change in the effective bus voltage and the number of outlets.

The new generation of bus - PCI Express (or PCI-E for short), was first introduced in 2004 and was faced with all the same problems that its predecessor faced. Today, most new computers are equipped with a PCI Express bus. Although standard PCI slots are also present, the time is not far off when the bus becomes a thing of the past.

PCI Express architecture

The architecture of the bus has a rich structure, as shown in the baby.

The bus supports the PCI addressing model, which allows all drivers and programs currently running on it to work with it. In addition, the PCI Express bus uses the standard PnP mechanism to transfer data to the latest standard.

Let's take a look at the different levels of PCI-E organization. On the software plane of the bus, read/write requests are formed, which are transmitted to the transport plane using a special packet protocol. The consistency of the data ensures the speed of coding and ensures the integrity of the data. The basic hardware line consists of a sub-linked simplex channel, which consists of transmitting and receiving pairs, which are also called a line. The overall bus speed of 2.5 Gb/s means that the throughput of the PCI Express skin line is 250 Mb/s on the skin side. Based on the protocol, approximately 200 Mb/s is available for the device. This bandwidth is 2-4 times higher than that available for PCI devices. And, in case of PCI substitution, since the bandwidth of the data is distributed among many devices, it is always given to each device.

Today there are a number of versions of the PCI Express standard that are limited by their bandwidth.

PCI Express x16 bus throughput for different versions of PCI-E, Gb/s:

  • 32/64
  • 64/128
  • 128/256

PCI-E bus format

At the moment, different options for PCI Express formats are available, depending on the platform – desktop computer, laptop or server. Servers that require more bandwidth will have more PCI-E slots, and these slots will have more slots. greater quantity happy lines. On the contrary, laptops can only have one line for mid-range devices.

Video card with PCI Express x16 interface.

PCI Express expansion cards are very similar to PCI cards, however, the PCI-E slots are separated from the slots, which allows for support when the card does not fit into the slots through vibration or transportation. There are a number of form factors of PCI Express slots, the size of which can accommodate the number of lines that are being installed. For example, a bus with 16 lanes is designated as PCI Express x16. Although the total number of lines can reach 32, most motherboards these days are equipped with a PCI Express x16 bus.

Cards of smaller form factors can be connected to connectors for larger ones without harm for practicality. For example, a PCI Express x1 card can be connected to a PCI Express x16 slot. As with the PCI bus connector, you can use a PCI Express connector to connect devices as required.

External appearance of roses different types on the motherboard From top to bottom: PCI-X slot, PCI Express x8 slot, PCI slot, PCI Express x16 slot.

Express Card

The Express Card standard provides a very simple way to add ownership to the system. The target market for Express Card modules is laptops and small PCs. In addition to traditional expansion cards desktop computers, the Express card can be connected to the system whenever the computer is running.

One of the popular types of Express Card is the PCI Express Mini Card, which is designed as a replacement for Mini PCI form factor cards. A card created in this format supports both PCI Express and USB 2.0. The dimensions of the PCI Express Mini Card are 30×56 mm. PCI Express Mini Card can be connected to PCI Express x1.

Advantages of PCI-E

PCI Express technology has made it possible to take advantage of PCI in the next five areas:

  1. Great productivity. Due to the fact that there is only one line of bandwidth, PCI Express is twice as powerful as PCI. In this case, the capacity of the building increases proportionally to the number of lines on the bus, the maximum number of which can reach 32. An additional advantage is that information on the bus can be transmitted simultaneously in both directions kah.
  2. Forgiveness of introduction and presentation. PCI Express takes advantage of buses such as AGP and PCI-X and has a less complex architecture, as well as equal ease of implementation.
  3. Bagatory architecture. PCI Express proposes an architecture that can be updated to new technologies and does not require significant software updates.
  4. New generation technologies introduced/developed. PCI Express provides new capabilities for data capture using additional technology for instant data transfers, which ensures timely capture of information.
  5. Simplicity of Wikoristanny. PCI-E will significantly simplify the updating and expansion of the system. Additional Express card formats, such as ExpressCard, significantly increase the ability to add high-speed peripheral devices to servers and laptops.

Visnovok

PCI Express is a bus technology for connecting peripheral devices, which replaced technologies such as ISA, AGP and PCI. This operation significantly increases the productivity of the computer, as well as the ability of the user to expand and update the system.

WiFi modules and other similar devices. The development of this bus was started by Intel in 2002. The non-profit organization PCI Special Interest Group is currently developing new versions of this bus.

In fact, the PCI Express bus has completely replaced older buses such as AGP, PCI and PCI-X. The PCI Express bus is located at the bottom of the motherboard in a horizontal position.

PCI Express is a bus based on the PCI bus. The main differences between PCI Express and PCI are physical. While PCI uses a mirror bus, PCI Express has a mirror-type topology. The device is connected to the main switch with the same connections.

The PCI Express software model largely replicates the PCI model. Therefore, most existing PCI controllers can easily be upgraded to the PCI Express bus.

PCI Express and PCI slots on the motherboard

In addition, the PCI Express bus supports new features such as:

  • Hot connection of devices;
  • The speed of data exchange is guaranteed;
  • Energy management;
  • Controlling the integrity of the information being transmitted;

How the PCI Express bus works

To connect devices, the PCI Express bus is serially bidirectional. In this case, you can connect one (x1) or ten (x2, x4, x8, x12, x16 and x32) rounded lines. The more such lines are used, the greater the transfer speed the PCI Express bus can provide. Depending on the number of lines that are supported, the size of the type on the motherboard will vary. There are slots with one (x1), two (x4) and sixteen (x16) lines.

Initial demonstration of the dimensions of the PCI Express slot

In this case, any PCI Express device can run in any slot, since the slot has more lines. This allows you to install a PCI Express card with an x1 slot into an x16 slot on the motherboard.

PCI Express bandwidth depends on the number of lines and bus version.

One-sided/offensively in Gbit/s

Number of lines

PCIe 1.0 2/4 4/8 8/16 16/32 24/48 32/64 64/128
PCIe 2.0 4/8 8/16 16/32 32/64 48/96 64/128 128/256
PCIe 3.0 8/16 16/32 32/64 64/128 96/192 128/256 256/512
PCIe 4.0 16/32 32/64 64/128 128/256 192/384 256/512 512/1024

Applications of PCI Express devices

We are currently using PCI Express to connect discrete video cards. From the moment these buses appear, all video cards use them themselves.

GIGABYTE video card GeForce GTX 770

However, this is not all that the PCI Express bus contains. The producers of other components are victorious.

SUS Xonar DX sound card

SSD storage device OCZ Z-Drive R4 Enterprise

Locomotive moving on new version PCI Express may appear in non-video cards, as some amateurs believe computer games, A hem adaptersі solid state accumulators. Suchasni central processors place integrated PCI Express controllers with a limited number of available lines. For example, since the motherboard has a lot of expansion slots, which can be purchased at full speed, then USB port Those other “other benefits” are lost on smaller PCI Express lines. The replacement of additional switches inevitably results in an increase in the motherboard's performance.

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According to the German website Heise Online, at IDF 2016 Synopsys demonstrated a system with support for the PCI Express 4.0 interface. Tsey standard transfers information at speeds of up to 16 giga transactions per second, twice as fast as PCI Express 3.0. The interface will continue to use copper conductors in the version of PCI Express 5.0, which is already being broken down by PCI-SIG - just because it is cheaper, do not switch to optics. Obviously, the transmission fluidity will be greatly affected by the connection voltage. With PCI Express 4.0, the maximum speed is no longer achieved if you use G-like adapter cards without active repeaters. With PCI Express 5.0, the problem will be even worse.