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Intel® Developer Network for PCI Express* Architecture

Introduced by Intel in 2004, PCI Express* is a standards-based bidirectional, point-to-point serial interconnect, capable of high-bandwidth data transfers. Designed to replace the more limited PCI expansion bus, PCI Express supports enhanced features such as power management, hot swappable devices, and has the ability to handle both host-directed and peer-to-peer data transfers. PCI Express can also emulate network environments by sending data between two points without routing it back and forth through the host chip.

A new era in I/O performance

Enabling greater bandwidth and performance, PCI Express helps simplify board design and is scalable for future increases in processor speeds and advances in high-performance computing (HPC) and high-end graphics.

Upgraded in 2007, PCI Express 2.0 doubled the data transfer rate over its predecessor for a transfer rate of up to 16 gigabytes per second (x16 PCIe channel). Providing backwards compatibility with version 1.0, PCI Express 2.0 provides:

  • PCI software compatibility
  • Scalable performance
  • High-bandwidth, low pin-count implementations
  • Cost effective silicon component designs
  • Low overhead, low latency data transfers
  • Maximized interconnect efficiency

PCI Express* in-depth

Learn what you need to know about the third generation PCI Express I/O interconnect (PDF 743KB).

Developer resources

Join the Intel® Developer Network for PCI Express* and develop your solution faster and easier than ever before.

The future of PCI Express

Hardware and processing support will be required in order to meet the increasing demand for richer application content. PCI Express allows for increased performance and scalability for years to come. It's an ideal unifying solution in the development of a broad range of platforms including desktop and mobile, server and workstation, communications, and embedded devices.

As a flexible, low-cost solution, PCI Express is broadly adopted and software compatible with all existing PCI-based software to enable smooth integration in future systems. Next-generation PCI Express 3.0 will offer full backwards compatibility with previous generations along with a host of new and improved features including these and more:

  • Twice the transfer rate of PCI Express 2.0 with up to 32 gigabit per second transfer rates (x16 PCIe channel)
  • Lower latencies
  • Increased bandwidth for encoding efficiencies
  • Decreased power requirements

Compatibility, scalability, and forward-thinking design

Intel along with industry leaders work together to ensure the PCI standard is based on a robust specification to ensure compatibility for a multitude of products including CPUs, chipsets, chip-level interconnects, adapter cards, and device drivers. Providing extensive resources to developers, Intel and the PCI-SIG delivers specifications that are ultimately moving the industry towards more forward-thinking, scalable designs.

PCI Express Architecture Resources

Join the Intel® Developer Network for PCI Express* Architecture to help you innovate faster and easier with access to whitepapers, specification drafts and more.

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