What is PCI Express?
PCI Express is a serial-based technology, where data can be sent over the bus in 2 different directions at once. Each 1x lane in PCI Express can transmit in both directions at once. PCI Express bandwidth, however, is not shared the same way as in PCI, so there is less congestion on the bus.
How does this affect you?
PC manufacturers continue to decrease the number of PCI slots, as they transition from legacy PCI to PCI Express. If you recently purchased a new PC, you may have noticed the traditional PCI board does not fit in the new PCI Express expansion slots.
But the size isn't the only thing that's changed. If you use a PCI board, you've been utilizing a parallel bus system on the motherboard. PCI Express employs a serial-based technology, similar to USB.
In addition to the bus technology upgrades, such as faster speeds and deeper FIFO rates, the PCI Express board touts many advantages over the traditional PCI card including point-to-point link dedicated to each device, instead of PCI shared bus; lower latency in server architectures due to a more |
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| The difference lies within the boards... |
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Figure 1a - PCI Serial Board |
Figure 1b - NEW PCI Express
Serial Board |
One visual difference between the two,
is the size of the gold fingers, or edge connectors. In Figure 1a, the DSC-100 has larger gold fingers. |
Figure 1b depicts a PCI Express serial board with smaller gold fingers. If you would use a PCI Express slot, the DS-PCIE-100 model is compatible to the
DSC-100 |
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