Know How PCI-E Card Can Boost Your Computer’s Performance

PCI Express or more technically, Peripheral Component Interconnect Express is a connection standard for a computer’s internal devices. PCI-E generally refers to expansion slots on a computer’s motherboard on which a PCI-E card can be inserted to improve its performance. The interface standard was developed to enable high-speed connections for various PC components. A computer motherboard may contain any number of PCI-E slots, which can be used to add different types of PCI-E cards, ranging from GPUs or video cards/graphic cards to RAID cards, SSD (Solid State Drive) add-ons, WI-FI cards, and many other types of PC enhancements.

 

PCI-E slots may also come in varying physical configurations, ranging from x1 to x32—referring to the number of lanes the slot provides. Lanes determine how (fast) data travels to and from a PCI-E card. In essence, an x1 PCI-E slot contains one lane, which can move data at a speed of one bit per cycle. An x2 PCI-E slot contains two lanes, and can therefore transfer data at 2 bps—and so on. While it is possible to insert an x1 PCI-E card into a higher slot, the card will still receive less bandwidth. Just the same, you may insert a higher-bit card into a lower count slot, but it will only receive as much bandwidth as the slot can provide. To use PCI-E slots and cards to their full potential, it is best to use the appropriate slot for the right card.

 

The PCI-E interface enables high bandwidth communication between devices and the motherboard along with other hardware. While PCI-E works internally, there are also external versions of PCI-E express interface although they are quite uncommon. External PCI Express device configurations typically require a special type of cable to connect the external device being used on a computer via the external port. 

 

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