PCI Express 2.0 specifications have been finalized!

The PCI Special Interest Group (PCI-SIG) has recently finalized the PCI Express 2.0 specifications.

PCI Express 2.0 has made the biggest advancement in data transfer rate: this value has doubled compared to the previous PCIe 1.0 and 1.1, bringing the bandwidth from 2,5 Gb / s to 5 Gb / s. Of course, the new standard is backward compatible with the previous ones, so it also handles older PCIe-connected devices, but in this case, of course, increased bandwidth is out of the question.

In numbers, this means that a PCI Express 1.1 x8 is capable of nearly the same speed as a PCI Express 2.0 x4. In addition, doubled data rates play an extremely important role as a cost-cutting factor.

In addition to the increase in bandwidth, one of the most notable innovations is that there will be software intervention that allows you to adjust the connection speed on the fly, and even get feedback from the devices so you can be aware of the current data transfer rate.

It is definitely worth mentioning the possibility of cable connection, which means that the hardware does not have to take up space in the motherboard socket, so you can also connect an external device to the PCIe 2.0 socket, true, in this case the bandwidth is PCI Express 1.0 / 1.1 level, ie 2,5 , Falls back to 10 Gb / s. Unfortunately, this speed is guaranteed by a maximum cable length of XNUMX meters.

One of the most important aspects of video cards is that they can get about 2.0-250 watts of power through PCIe 300, compared to the previous 75I of PCI Express. This can disconnect the power connector from some graphics controllers, or at least reduce their number if not.