In a significant development for the tech industry, PCI Express 7.0 has officially been announced by the PCI-SIG, following its initial announcement in 2022. The release comes with high expectations as it promises to revolutionize data transfer rates and connectivity solutions. The formal specification is now available to PCI-SIG members, marking a crucial milestone in the evolution of high-speed data standards.
The PCI Express 7.0 specification boasts an impressive raw bit rate of 128 GT/s, enabling bi-directional data transfer speeds of up to 512 GB/s in an x16 configuration. This advancement is set to significantly enhance performance across various applications, including AI and machine learning, cloud computing, 800G Ethernet, and even quantum computing.
One of the standout features of PCI Express 7.0 is its use of PAM4 signaling, which improves power efficiency while maintaining backward compatibility with previous PCIe revisions. This ensures that developers and businesses can adopt the latest technology without sacrificing their existing infrastructure.
In conjunction with the release of PCI Express 7.0, the PCI-SIG has also unveiled the PCIe Optical Interconnect Solution. This innovative specification is designed to enhance the performance of PCIe technology further and builds on the foundations laid by PCIe 6.4 and PCIe 7.0.
The new optical interconnect solution offers a PCIe retimer-based approach that facilitates PCIe technology over optical fiber. This advancement extends the reach of PCI Express across server racks and pads, allowing for enhanced multiplexing capabilities and additional features that were previously unattainable.
The article was penned by Michael Larabel, the principal author of Phoronix.com, a site dedicated to enhancing the Linux hardware experience. Since its inception in 2004, Michael has authored over 20,000 articles on various subjects, including Linux hardware support, performance metrics, and graphics drivers. He is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org, which are key tools in automated benchmarking.
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