PCI stands for Peripheral Component Interconnect, and it is a common connection interface attaching different computer components to a motherboard. It was introduced back in the early 90’s by a group of engineers in Intel, AMD, and other companies.

2. PCI stands for Peripheral Component Interconnect, and it is a common connection
interface attaching different computer components to a motherboard. It was
introduced back in the early 90’s by a group of engineers in Intel, AMD, and other
companies. The PCI bus was available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The
technology went through several updates to evolve to PCI Express®, which is
under constant development through generations.

3. PCIe® was initially named as HSI (for High-Speed Interconnect), and later 3GIO
(for 3rd Generation I/O) before getting the PCI-SIG name PCI Express®. PCI
Express® provides a point-to-point interconnect solution for communication
between two devices.

4. PCIe® Gen1 was introduced in 2003
and supported a transfer rate of
2.5GT/s and a data rate of 250MB/s
per lane. With technological
improvements, people began looking
for higher speed and performance.

5. This led to the introduction of PCIe® Gen 2 came with
5.0GT/s per lane transfer speed and double the
throughput to 500MB/s per lane along with several
feature improvements. This version was however
backward-compatible with the earlier version.

6. The third generation of PCIe® was
introduced in 2010 as the
requirement to handle more
complex data demanded enhanced
power and speed. This was a
revolutionary product with a bit rate
of 8GT/s. This was quite enough to
transfer a 30GB HD movie in less
than a second.

7. The requirement for speed and
accuracy didn't stop there.
Artificial intelligence that helps
in developing and executing
decisions with accuracy far
beyond human capabilities and
Big Data analysis that
computes forecast models at
blinding speeds using
dedicated GPU from AMD,
NVIDIA, Qualcomm, etc.
started catching the trend,
which led to the introduction
of PCIe® 4.0 in 2017.

8. This generation offered improved flexibility, scalability, and lower power with 16GT/s bit
rate which was double the bandwidth offered by PCI Express 3.0.

9. Earlier in 2019,
PCIe® introduced its latest
version, PCIe® 5.0, with 32GT/s
transfer rate. It also has
improved signal integrity and is
backward-compatible with
CEM connectors for add-in
cards.

10. PCI-SIG has
already
announced the
progress of PCI
Express 6.0
specification
which is expected
to launch by early
2021 doubling the
data rate to
64GT/s.

11. Amphenol ICC has supported these improvements in developing solutions for each
generation and has evolved along. Our solutions include :
PCIe® Gen 3 Card Edge
PCIe® M.2 Gen 3 and Gen 4 Card Edge
PCI Express® Gen 4 and Gen 5 Card Edge

12. For more interesting topics and updates please visit:
www.amphenol-icc.com/connect