PCI-SIG, the organization that developed the widely used PCI Express (PCIe) standard, today announced the formal release of the PCIe 6.0 specification, which supports data transfer rates of up to 64 GT/s. For nearly two decades, PCI Express has been the de facto connectivity standard. PCIe 6.0 doubles the bandwidth and power efficiency of PCIe 5.0 (32 GT/s), while maintaining low latency and low bandwidth overhead.
PCI-SIG is pleased to announce the release of the PCIe 6.0 specification less than three years after the PCIe 5.0 specification," said Al Yanes, PCI-SIG Chairperson and President. "PCIe 6.0 technology is the cost-effective and scalable interconnect solution that will continue to impact data-intensive markets like data center, artificial intelligence/machine learning, HPC, automotive, IoT, and military/aerospace, while also protecting industry investments by maintaining backwards compatibility with all previous generations of PCIe technology."
PCIe 6.0 Specification Features
- 64 GT/s raw data rate and up to 256 GB/s via x16 configuration
- Pulse Amplitude Modulation with 4 levels (PAM4) signaling and leverages existing PAM4 already available in the industry
- Lightweight Forward Error Correct (FEC) and Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) mitigate the bit error rate increase associated with PAM4 signaling
- Flit (flow control unit) based encoding supports PAM4 modulation and enables more than double the bandwidth gain
- Updated Packet layout used in Flit Mode to provide additional functionality and simplify processing
- Maintains backwards compatibility with all previous generations of PCIe technology
"With the PCI Express SSD market forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 40% to over 800 exabytes by 2025, PCI-SIG continues to meet the future needs of storage applications," said Greg Wong, Founder and Principal Analyst, Forward Insights. "With the storage industry transitioning to PCIe 4.0 technology and on the cusp of introducing PCIe 5.0 technology, companies will begin adopting PCIe 6.0 technology in their roadmaps to future-proof their products and take advantage of the high bandwidth and low latency that PCI Express technology offers."
PCI-SIG Announces PCIe 6.0 Specification: 64 GT/s Per Lane
