PCI Express, also known as PCIE, or PCI-E, is essentially an
expansion card format, which is capable of operating at very high speeds, that
connects a computer to its attached peripherals. PCI stands for Peripheral Component
Interconnect.
There are three interface types: SATA, SAS, and PCIE. SATA
stands for Serial Advanced Technology Attachment, it is limited to 32 requests,
and is generally less scalable than other interface, but is optimal for light
workloads such as those found on desktop PCs and other embedded applications.
SAS, or Serial Attached SCSI, is traditionally used for enterprise storage, can
handle up to 256 requests, and is highly scalable.
Unlike the other two interfaces, PCIE is specifically
designed to be an I/O, or input output interface between peripheral components
inside a system, rather than a storage interface it is an expansion interface,
and require a driver to function. They are also the fastest of the three, and
are located closest to the CPU, which makes them even more ideal for I/O application
acceleration or even as a caching solution.
PCIE’s are designed to replace the older model PCI, PCI-X
and AGP. There are many improvements that have been made over the old models,
including higher maximum system throughput, a lower I/O pin total count number,
as well as smaller physically, and better at performance scaling. They also
have more detailed detection of errors, and a better reporting mechanism called
AER, or Advanced Error Reporting. Most of the more recent PCIE’s are able to
support I/O virtualization hardware.
PCIE interfaces are becoming more and more popular, acceleration
of performance in servers and workstations are making them high in demand.
Manufacturers of PCIE interfaces are making innovative changes and working to
improve them in order to meet serviceability and storage requirements for their
customers and consumers.
To learn more about PCIE Interfaces, click here!
