PCI Express 2.0 Ratified

[Michael]

The PCI Express 2.0 specification has been ratified by the PCI Express Special Interest Group. The most notable benefit of PCI-E v2.0 is doubling the interconnect bit-rate to 5Gbps. With the PCI Express 2.0 standard, the bandwidth for a PCI Express x16 slot is now at 16Gbps! Other improvements in this latest standard include dynamic link speed management, link bandwidth notification, capability structure expansion, access control services, completion timeout control, function-level reset, and power limit redefinition. More on the PCI-E 2.0 specification can be read at PCI-SIG (http://www.pcisig.com/specifications/pciexpress/base2).

http://www.phoronix.com/?page=news_item&px=NDM4OQ
http://www.pcisig.com/specifications/pciexpress/base2

[Xemanth]

Are PCI-Express v2 graphic cards compatible with v1 slot ?

[1c3d0g]

That is a damn good question which I've been wondering about myself...

[Michael]

Are PCI-Express v2 graphic cards compatible with v1 slot ?

I believe that PCI Express v2.0 cards will NOT work in a PCI Express v1.0 slot. I haven't read completely through the new specs yet but I believe a PCI-E 1.0 card will work in a PCI-E 2.0 slot, but not the other way around.

[Moustacha]

How long do you think it will take for boards to come out with PCIe 2?

[Michael]

2008 more than likely.

[glussier]

2008 more than likely.

Intel Bearlake's chipset, which should be available Q2 2007 will suppot pcie2: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/02/16/intel_ich9_info/

Note that pcie2 is backward compatible with pcie1, which means that pcie1 devices will work in pcie2 slots, but not the opposite.

[Michael]

Intel Bearlake's chipset, which should be available Q2 2007 will suppot pcie2: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/02/16/intel_ich9_info/

Note that pcie2 is backward compatible with pcie1, which means that pcie1 devices will work in pcie2 slots, but not the opposite.

Yes for supportive motherboards, but a native PCI-E v2.0 graphics card may be a different story.