What Is PCIe Card? Everything You Need to Know About PCI Express Card | FS Community (2024)

What Is PCIe Card? Everything You Need to Know About PCI Express Card | FS Community (1)

PCI Express (PCIe) standard's emergence is to meet the needs for higher bandwidth, greater flexibility, and better performance of networking devices. PCIe has been fully developed and widely applied in many network devices after debut, especially for the PCIe card. What is PCI express card? How many types of PCIe cards are there? What does PCIe x8, or PCIe x16 mean? Can I use a PCIe 3.0 card in a 2.0 slot? How to find the best PCI express card? Find the answers in this post.

What Is PCIe Card?

PCIe card (aka PCI Express card, PCIe-based card) refers to a kind of network adapter with a PCIe interface, used in motherboard-level connections as an expansion card interface. Specifically, PCIe-based expansion cards are designed to fit into PCIe-based slots in the motherboard of devices like host, server, and network switch. Most recent PC's motherboards have PCIe slots just for PCIe cards to be installed in the corresponding PCIe slot. (The slot is as wide as or wider than the card.)

PCI vs PCI-X vs PCI-E are the three versions of network adapters with different designs and topologies. The latest PCIe card has made improvements and become an inevitable trend when choosing network cards.

Further learning: PCI vs PCI-X vs PCI-E, Why Choose PCI-E Card?

How Does a PCIe Card Work?

Instead of performing like a bus that handles data from multiple sources, a PCI Express card can achieve a series of point-to-point connections via switches to control where the data needs to go. After inserting a PCIe network card, a logical connection will be formed between the slot and the card to communicate, which is called an interconnect or link, enabling a point-to-point communication channel between two PCIe ports and allowing both of them to send and receive ordinary PCI requests and interrupts.

As the following diagram illustrates, the PCIe slot contains one or more lanes. For the x2 link, each lane is composed of two different data transferring pairs, one pair for transmitting data and the other for receiving data. Therefore, each lane consists of four wires or signal traces.

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How Many Types of PCIe Cards are there?

Based on PCIe Card Sizes

The size of any PCI Express card is normally indicated by the number of lanes. Generally speaking, there are five physical sizes of PCIe cards: x1, x4, x8, x16, and x32. (FYI, PCIe x32 does exist with a maximum of 32 lanes, but it's ultra-rare and not mainstream.) The number after the "x" refers to the number of lanes in the PCIe slot. For example, a PCIe x4 card means the card has four lanes.

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In applications, you will need to insert the PCIe card into a PCIe slot of a host or server with the same size and configurations of that card. However, confronted with cases like slot shortage, the PCIe card also can be fitted into a wider slot. For instance, you can place a PCIe x8 card into a PCIe x16 slot when the PCIe x8 slot has been occupied, but that card will always run in PCIe x8 mode. For more details about the PCIe card sizes, you can refer to the following table.

PCIe Slot WidthNumbers of PinsLength
PCIe x11825 mm
PCIe x42139 mm
PCIe x84956 mm
PCIe x168289 mm

Based on PCIe Card Versions

PCIe 1.0 was initially launched in 2003. To meet the growing demands for higher bandwidth, four successive versions have been introduced to the market including PCIe 2.0, PCIe 3.0, PCIe 4.0, and PCIe 5.0. The PCIe 6.0 will come in the not-so-distant future. Five versions of PCIe cards are applied accordingly to the five standard generations: PCIe 1.x, PCIe 2.x, PCIe 3.x, PCIe 4.x, and PCIe 5.x. PCIe 6.x is to be issued in around 2021.

It's worth mentioning that all PCIe card versions are backward compatible. That is to say, any version of the PCIe card and motherboard can work together in the mode of the lowest version. In the following table, a comparison of transfer rates among five typical PCIe versions (take the original version n.0 for example) has been listed for your better understanding.

VersionIntroducedTransfer rate
(throughput, x1)
Transfer rate
(througput, x16)
Line code
PCIe 1.020032.5 GT/s (250 MB/s)40 GT/s (4.0 GB/s)8b/10b
PCIe 2.020075.0 GT/s (500 MB/s)80 GT/s (8.0 GB/s)8b/10b
PCIe 3.020108.0 GT/s (984.6 MB/s)128 GT/s (15.75 GB/s)128b/130b
PCIe 4.0201716.0 GT/s (1969 MB/s)256 GT/s (31.51 GB/s)128b/130b
PPCIe 5.0201932.0 GT/s (3938 MB/s)512 GT/s (63.02 GB/s)128b/130b

How to Select a Desirable PCIe Card?

First and foremost, to use a PCI Express card, your computer must have at least one available PCI Express slot. If you're applying a wired network without purchasing a designed system, then you should look for some PCIe cards. Some factors need to be paid attention to when selecting a suitable PCIe card:

  • PCIe Card Version and Slot Width: make sure that the PCI Express card type is compatible with your current equipment and network environment.

  • Protocol Standard: whether the card supports standards you need like RDMA, RoCE, iSCSI, and FCoE is necessary to know before buying.

  • Controller: chips from Intel, Broadcom, Mellanox, and Realtek are the trend.

After nailing down the above mentioned three factors, there are still some variants that influence your choices like transmission speed, port number, connector type, operating system, brand, and price, etc.

NIC Card Buying Guide: How to Choose A Network Card?

Bottom Line

The high-end software continues to evolve at breakneck speed to meet more demands, being the impetus for ongoing breakthroughs in PCIe performance. Obeying the de facto PCIe standard, the new invention of PCIe cards like PCIe 4.x, PCIe 5.x, and the unborn PCIe 6.x has proven to narrow the development gap between PCIe-based cards and hosts, possessing great potential.

What Is PCIe Card? Everything You Need to Know About PCI Express Card | FS Community (2024)

FAQs

What Is PCIe Card? Everything You Need to Know About PCI Express Card | FS Community? ›

PCIe card (aka PCI Express card, PCIe-based card) refers to a kind of network adapter with a PCIe interface, used in motherboard-level connections as an expansion card interface.

What is a PCIe card? ›

A PCIe card, also known as a PCI Express card, is an expansion card that connects to a computer's motherboard using a PCIe slot. These cards are used to enhance the functionality of a computer system by adding various capabilities that are not integrated into the motherboard itself.

What are the key features of PCI Express PCIe? ›

Every high-performance computer motherboard has a number of PCIe slots you can use to add GPUs, RAID cards, WiFi cards, or SSD (solid-state drive) add-on cards. The primary benefits of PCIe are that it offers higher bandwidth, faster speed, lower latency, and more utility.

What is the difference between PCI and PCIe cards? ›

Comparison of PCI and PCIe:

PCI is a parallel interface whereas PCIe is a serial interface. PCI uses individual buses for each of the devices connected to it instead of a shared one like what PCIe uses. The difference in speed between a standard PCI interface and 16 slot PCIe is large.

What is the use of PCIe network card? ›

It is designed to connect a computer to a network, allowing it to communicate with other devices and access the internet. PCIe stands for Peripheral Component Interconnect Express, which is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard.

Where does PCIe connect to? ›

The PCIe cables go to your graphics card, and the cable marked CPU will mount in your motherboards 8-pin header. You are also able to split the CPU cable in two should your motherboard only have room for a 4-pin connector.

Is PCIe important? ›

Newer PCIe standards mean a higher-bandwidth connection to GPUs, SSDs, and other peripherals. All generations of PCIe are backwards compatible, so there's no reason not to upgrade.

For which purpose do we use PCIe? ›

PCIe is short for “peripheral component interconnect express” and it's primarily used as a standardized interface for motherboard components including graphics, memory, and storage.

How does the PCIe work? ›

With PCIe, data is transferred over two signal pairs: two wires for transmitting and two wires for receiving. Each set of signal pairs is called a lane, and each lane is able to send and receive eight-bit data packets simultaneously between two points. PCI Express slots are configured on a motherboard.

What is the basic understanding of PCIe? ›

In its simplest form, PCIe is a point-to-point connection between two PCIe compatible devices, typically a motherboard and an expansion card or storage device such as an SSD or hard drive. The connection uses differential signaling to transmit data over separate pairs of copper wires, allowing for speeds up to 16 GT/s.

What are the four main slots of a PCIe? ›

Card and slot types exist for x1, x4, x8, and x16 links. Matrox has several PCIe x16 graphics cards, including the quad-output D1450 PCIe x16, and D1480 PCIe x16, the quad-output M9148 LP PCIe x16, and eight-output M9188 PCIe x16.

How to tell if PCI or PCIe? ›

This slot can be differentiated from others (particularly 32 bit PCI) by its physical size. All connectors on a PCI-E slot are noticeably smaller, and it is set farther into the motherboard than other PCI slots.

Which PCIe is better? ›

PCIe 4.0 is twice as fast as PCIe 3.0. PCIe 4.0 has a 16 GT/s data rate, compared to its predecessor's 8 GT/s. In addition, each PCIe 4.0 lane configuration supports double the bandwidth of PCIe 3.0, maxing out at 32 GB/s in a 16-lane slot, or 64 GB/s with bidirectional travel considered.

Does it matter what PCIe slot I use? ›

Depending on your graphics card and motherboard, some of the PCI-e slots on your motherboard will be specifically meant for use with your primary graphics card. This is because not all slots are created equal, with some slots offering the full x16 lanes, while others will have only x8 lanes, or even just x4 lanes.

What are the advantages of PCIe? ›

PCIe Express offers several key advantages over traditional PCI buses. It provides higher data transfer rates, lower latency, improved scalability with multiple lanes, and support for hot-plugging and power management.

Who uses PCIe? ›

PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) is a type of connection used for high-speed data transfer between electronic components. It's most commonly found in desktop and mobile computers, as well as server systems, but can also be found in other devices such as set-top boxes and gaming consoles.

Which is better PCIe or SSD? ›

SATA SSDs have much better hardware capabilities than PCIe, but PCIe generally delivers superior performance. While SATA SSDs offer speeds of 600 MBps, they are not nearly as fast as speeds offered by PCIe SSDs. If maximum performance for frequent file transfers is needed, PCIe is likely the most efficient option.

Can you put a PCIe 4.0 card in a 3.0 slot? ›

Is PCIe Gen 4 backward compatible? PCIe Gen 4 is backward compatible, so a PCIe Gen 4 device connected to a PCIe Gen 3 system will function normally at PCIe Gen 3 speeds. That means if you purchase a PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD today, you can use it immediately in your current system even if it does not support PCIe Gen 4.

Is A PCIe the same as a SSD? ›

PCIe or Peripheral Component Interconnect Express SSDs are more desirable and expensive than SATA SSDs. PCIe SSDs have a more direct connection to your system's motherboard. It is commonly used with devices that need extremely fast data connections — like a graphics card.

Do I need PCIe on my computer? ›

PCIe slots allow your motherboard to connect with your PC's most critical components and provide key functionality. They also supply you with numerous customization and upgrade options when you're ready to venture beyond preloaded features like graphics and storage.

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