Windows 7 - PCI Express Developing Blazing-Fast External Standard

Brink · 06-24-2011

Quote:

They say you can never have too much of a good thing. That theory's being put to the test by computer transfer technology. We've already got FireWire, USB, Ethernet, eSATA, et cetera, et cetera. Now, an old contender is entering the field sporting new technology; the PCI Special Interest Group recently announced that they're developing a new standard for an external, cabled version of the formerly internal-only PCI Express. Watch out, Intel – this tech's set to collide with Thunderbolt in the marketplace.

Read more at: Maximum PC | PCI Express Developing Blazing-Fast External Standard

Maguscreed · 06-24-2011

Sweet

PwnFrnzy · 06-25-2011

That is amazing, that would open a whole new world for people using computers sporting AGP x8, it would be a big seller to laptop users too.

seekermeister · 06-25-2011

The things that confuses me, is that I always thought that the only difference between an internal PCIe, and an eSTATA circuit was just the shape and location of the connectors.

Andywoof · 06-25-2011

havent seen a new development in that area for ages !!!!! Keento see somthing new come up

alphanumeric · 06-25-2011

Quote: Originally Posted by PwnFrnzy

That is amazing, that would open a whole new world for people using computers sporting AGP x8, it would be a big seller to laptop users too.

I'm not sure I get what you mean by that comment? I don't think this will be something you could easily add to motherboard that doesn't have a PCIe slot or a laptop that didn't come with it built in the first place. I have to admit though that I just summed though the posted article. It does sound interesting though.

Phone Man · 06-25-2011

Quote: Originally Posted by seekermeister

The things that confuses me, is that I always thought that the only difference between an internal PCIe, and an eSTATA circuit was just the shape and location of the connectors.

They are two different bus types. The PCIe is the main peripheral bus from the CPU or motherboard chipset. The eSATA is a serial buss used in HDD and CD/DVD equipment. You may be thinking of the internal SATA bus.

Jim

whs · 06-25-2011

Quote: Originally Posted by seekermeister

The things that confuses me, is that I always thought that the only difference between an internal PCIe, and an eSTATA circuit was just the shape and location of the connectors.

I think you confuse PCI-e and Sata. eSata and Sata are about the same which is 3Gb/sec or 6Gb/sec. But e.g. PCI-e 4x is 10Gb/sec and x8 and x16 are faster again. Here is some comparative performance data expressed in MBs: What is PCI Express? A Layman's Guide to High Speed PCI-E Technology-Best Computer Online Store Houston Buy Discount Prices Texas-Directron.com

Maguscreed · 06-25-2011

yeah but if you were going somewhere else you could just plug your graphics into another computer.
The whole thing could go in a handy little carry box. It would also put the video airflow seperate from the rest of the machine allowing it to run cooler.

Phone Man · 06-26-2011

It looks like they are planning a 4x (4 lanes) external interface but using PCIe-3 which will make it equivalent to todays PCIe-2 8x so it should work OK for a video card. I believe they had an external standard back in 2007 but it never really took off. Don't know what speed it was are how many lanes. Probably when it is released Thunderbolt may have its optical version out which can scale to 100Gbs. At present Thunderbolt using copper runs 2 lanes at 10Gbs each.

Thunderbolt - 2 lanes at 10Gbs = 20Gbs
Ext PCIe-3 - 4 lanes at 8Gbs = 32Gbs

Jim