No, PCI 4.x is not dead. It's still in use and being developed for future standards.
No, PCI 4.x is not dead. It's still in use and being developed for future standards.
Hello, In September last year Marvell released their initial PCI 5.x SSD controller. Today Samsung revealed their first PCI-5.0 SSD aimed at enterprise-level systems. They also mentioned PCI 5.x would launch around June 2022 alongside Intel’s Sapphire Rapids. PCI 3.x was introduced back in 2004, while PCI 4.x became available late 2019. PCI 5.x is expected within the next six months... So, should we consider upgrading to PCI 4.x now or wait for the latest high-performance options?
PCIe 3.0 became available around 2010, while PCIe 2.0 was introduced in 2007.
Yes, that's accurate... My first PCI 3 setup was in 2009... But it looks like technology is advancing much more quickly now. Intel Z690 with PCI 5.x support is available, and AMD Lake 12th generation with PCI 5 is already on the market... New AMD ZEN4 will back PCI5 officially next January... It seems like PCI4.x hardware is becoming harder to find in stores because of the pandemic. Some companies, like Kioxia, are considering avoiding large PCI4.x ecosystems...
PCIe maintains compatibility in both directions. Each update introduces new capabilities, yet the main focus remains on boosting data transfer rates. The total bandwidth per lane can be adjusted by combining or splitting lanes to suit specific needs. For instance, a PCIe 4.0 graphics card might operate effectively with just eight or even four lanes, depending on the GPU model. Similarly, NVMe SSDs can leverage multiple lanes to achieve higher speeds without requiring full PCIe 4.0 or 5.0 capabilities. Newer drives for PCIe 5.0 are typically designed for enterprise use, especially in servers, and will come at a premium price. Consumer-grade devices rarely utilize PCIe 4.0 or 5.0 speeds, except perhaps in niche scenarios where higher performance is desired. Even then, such devices would only run at half the advertised speed if forced into a PCIe 4.0 port. While PCIe 4.0 technology continues to be produced, it won't replace older standards like PCIe 3.0 or 2.0; instead, it will coexist with them. The market will still support lower-speed options, much like USB 2.0 peripherals remain relevant for basic tasks.
It could be that we overlook generation 4. If they simply add generation 6 the following year, it might just be a way to annoy people. xP as mentioned before, some aspects aren't fully aimed at consumers, so there might be a limited period for PCIe generation 4. Not certain. Also, pricing is unclear—what the actual advantage will be for us isn't obvious yet. Perhaps it would be more useful for future ideas about direct data streaming between GPU and storage.
It will likely cost more to use a PCIe 5.0 controller on the GPU compared to PCIe 4.0, so they should continue using PCIe 4.0 when bandwidth is sufficient. The advantage of PCIe 5.0 seems to be increased bandwidth reaching the chipset, allowing more 3.0 and 4.0 devices to connect without overloading it. This could be especially helpful in laptops where we might see more multiple Thunderbolt ports without performance issues.
Well, thank you for your feedback. The availability details caught me off guard—I hadn’t thought about capacity versus speed. For Samsung, it seems they’re promoting consumer-grade PCIe 5.0 SSDs starting next June! It looks like PCI4 might be phasing out soon. Geek doesn’t focus much on price, so that’s not a big concern for me. For instance, France offers FTTH up to 10G speeds... I’m happy about the PCI3 MVNe SSD performance while downloading. The 56K modem is still decent, and VDSL2 remains available too.
Sounds like a nightmare to be honest, on the current consumer builds. Like some issues around PCIe gen 4 that has been for a while? Or to more demand on these chipsets or controllers and that they would need to meet said specs? And hope the chip doesnt break *looks at watercooling motherboards*
Bandwidth is definitely relevant. As mentioned, I’m already experiencing FTTH speeds up to 8 Gb/s. My PCI3 SSD is reaching its limit...