PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) is a high-speed data transfer technology that provides a fast and efficient way for a computer to interface with peripheral devices. PCIe was designed to replace the older PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) technology, which was limited by its slow speed and narrow bandwidth. The newest version of PCIe is the fifth generation (PCIe 5.0), but there are also four previous generations of the technology that are still widely used today. Here are the main differences between each generation of PCIe:
PCIe 1.0
This was the first generation of PCIe, and it was released in 2003. It had a data transfer rate of 2.5 Gbps (gigabits per second) per lane, with up to 64 lanes being supported. This was a significant improvement over PCI, which had a maximum data transfer rate of 133 Mbps (megabits per second).
PCIe 2.0
This generation was released in 2007, and it doubled the data transfer rate of PCIe 1.0 to 5 Gbps per lane. This meant that devices could transfer data much faster, which was especially important for high-speed peripherals like graphics cards and network adapters.
PCIe 3.0
This generation was released in 2010, and it doubled the data transfer rate of PCIe 2.0 to 8 Gbps per lane. This allowed for even faster transfer speeds, and it made it possible for devices to transfer large amounts of data more quickly.
PCIe 4.0
This generation was released in 2017, and it doubled the data transfer rate of PCIe 3.0 to 16 Gbps per lane. This was a significant improvement over previous generations, and it allowed for faster data transfer between devices and the computer.
PCIe 5.0
This is the latest generation of PCIe, and it was released in 2019. It doubles the data transfer rate of PCIe 4.0 to 32 Gbps per lane, which makes it the fastest version of PCIe yet. This makes it ideal for use with high-speed devices like NVMe solid-state drives (SSDs), which require fast data transfer rates in order to function at their full potential.
Conclusion
In conclusion, each generation of PCIe has brought significant improvements to the technology, and each one has allowed for faster data transfer rates and increased efficiency. With the latest version of PCIe being the fastest yet, it provides a fast and efficient way for devices to transfer data to and from a computer.
The difference between the PCIe generations
If you need to max out the throughput of network cards with 100Gb/s or higher speed, you should select a motherboard with PCIe 4.0 or 5.0. The same applies to NVMe and GPUs. Read more about the speed difference below.