PCI Express

Shayne White · Post by **Shayne White** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 3:31 am

I've just been reading up on PCI Express. It is SO COOL! The first generation speed is 3GB/s! Is that unbelievable? Who said they wanted FireWire??

It also introduces a "switch" architecture which enables the cards to perform certain actions, such as communicating each other, without sending data to the host bus. It's also replacing AGP. It's also replacing CardBus for laptops, giving them an amazingly fast I/O port. I just can't wait to see everyone, including CreamWare, migrate to PCI Express. It is most definitely the way to go.

By the way, it's completely compatible with current OSes and software, which means that it shouldn't be too difficult for CW to upgrade their cards. It's also designed to run alongside current PCI, which is good for our old, slow cards.

CreamWare had better jump on the bandwagon pretty soon after the motherboards come out in the summer. They'll probably get a lot of good press if they do that. They shouldn't do it too soon, though, or there won't be enough people with PCI Express boards to buy the cards. It's all about timing.

Shayne

bassdude · Post by **bassdude** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 5:16 am

I'm with you Shayne! I think Firewire is too limited bandwidth wise. So support for more than 1 Firewire port will be necessary. Especially if you are talking 96kHz 24bit wise which everything seems to heading towards these days (who knows why if you have HQ convertors in the first place!).
I also think that firwire/USB2 will have a similiar shelf life to PCI-express only to be replaced by something else eventually!
We'll see in the end I suppose.

spoimala · Post by **spoimala** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 5:28 am

Shayne, have a look at the forum, I've many times revealed my eagerness towards this technology

Being compatible with current OS's is a little obscure... being totally different kind of tech (it's serial compared to current parallel, connectors are different etc)

But YES, this is the future!

(Do not confuse it with PCI-X which is incompetent compared to pci express)

Shayne White · Post by **Shayne White** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 1:21 pm

Intel themselves said it's completely compatible with all current software, but current software might not be able to make use of all its "special features." That's why Microsoft touts "PCI Express support" in Longhorn, because it'll take advantage of the new technology (whatever it may be).

Shayne

sharcsound · Post by **sharcsound** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 3:11 pm

In my congrats to Frank in the CreamWare Reloaded thread I said "and please don't forget about upgrading the Sharcs and that the future belongs to PCI Express." Frank picked this up and said that PCI-X was important to consider as it wasn't far away. I'm sure he was referring to PCI Express, which is definitely the future that I am looking forward to. This huge bandwidth will be a dream. I want my next Pulsar card to be Pulsar PCI Express.

Shane, if you can put some links up to spread info on PCI Express, I'm sure it will bring the awareness level up to a ground swell.

sharcsound · Post by **sharcsound** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 3:26 pm

PCs containing PCI Express links are expected to start showing up in the second quarter. A new version of the HyperTransport specification debuted Monday. When embodied in chips, HyperTransport 2.0 will be capable of transferring up to 22.4 gigabytes of data per second, according to Mario Cavalli, general manager of the HyperTransport Technology Consortium. There are three versions of the specification: the slowest runs at 1GHz, while the fastest churns (and hence transfers more aggregate data) at 1.4GHz. The current HyperTransport specification hits a maximum of 12.8 gigabytes per second while running at 800MHz.
To pave the way for adoption, HyperTransport 2.0 will map to PCI Express, which means that HyperTransport can be used with PCI Express compatible parts. The two technologies aren't necessarily direct competitors, but they can be used for the same functions. The new specification is also backward-compatible. (CNET News.com)