• PCi express bandwidth. PCI, PCI Express buses and their undoubted success

    PCI Express was born on July 22, 2002. Its creator was Intel Corporation, and it was on this day that its technical documentation became available. Until this point, at the development stage, the “bus” had the designation 3GIO (third generation input-output). These two names were branded by PCI SIG (the organization that now promotes this standard).

    PCIe is a high-performance point-to-point connection that replaced the PCI bus (read as PiSiI). Physically different in that does not use common dedicated lines for communication with the processor, but has its own for each connected device. Signal transmission voltage is 0.8 volts. Each channel represents two physical conductors (four contacts). When transmitting information, eight bits are encoded into ten, which provides good protection against interference.

    Its common software model is similar to its predecessor. For data transmission, which in this case is carried out sequentially, a physical protocol with high bandwidth is used. Used to connect high-performance peripheral devices. The pseudobus has been assigned the role of a local data exchange channel.

    Differences between PCI Express and PCI

    PCI is primarily a bus, that is, a common channel that is shared by all devices connected to it. And PCI Express - for each device has its own paths, which are physically designed. Continuity of the digital structure of information transfer simplifies adaptation existing products previously produced to work with the old tire. In production, it turns out that it is enough to make minor amendments to the design and you can produce the same variety, but with a new interface.

    Operating principle, compatibility

    Being two-way, the connection transmits data serially in batch mode. Throughput depends on the implementation in each specific case. PCI Express can be one (1x), two or more transport lines (2X, 4X, 6x, 8x, 12x, 16x, 32x), which determines the length of the slot on the motherboard. It is typical that the equipment is capable of working with any of them, but expansion cards adapted for serious speeds cannot physically fit into less productive slots, simply not matching in size. Although, on the contrary, less productive expansion boards that have short contact groups easily fit into larger ones and work correctly.

    In the table we have provided a summary table of the ratio number of lines and bandwidth:

    Available now several specifications tires:

    • PCI Express 1.0 and 1.1. The first and least productive solutions, which are now practically not used. They are stored on old boards that are still in use.
    • 2.0. All performance-determining qualities have been reworked and improved, logical protocols have been improved, communication management has been comprehensively optimized, and auto-detection of plug-in modules has been improved.
    • External cable specificationPCIe. Allows you to connect equipment with a cable up to 10 m long.
    • 2.1. An intermediate analogue of 2.0 with some advanced features preceding the appearance of 3.0.
    • 3.0. Speeds of 8 gigatransactions per second (GT/s) are made possible thanks to the new 128b/130b encryption system. Thus, the difference between pci 2.0 and 3.0 is in encryption and data transfer speed.
    • 4.0. The standard was recently approved - October 5, 2017. Compared to the previous one, the speed is doubled. Individual indicators related to virtualization have increased, and the transmission of data packets has been optimized.
    • 5.0. The release is tentatively planned for winter-spring 2019. Expanded support for applications that visualize virtual reality is announced.

    Existing connectors and types of ports

    There are many connection ports for the interface. Let's look at some of the most common ones:

    • MiniPCI-E (M.2). A common bus for some of the most common computer protocols and devices with x1 and x4 PCIe interfaces.
    • ExpressCard. A similar connector, but with a bus output only for x1 PCIe.
    • AdvancedTCA, MicroTCA – ports for communication equipment.
    • MobilePCIExpressModule (MXM) – developed by NVIDIA for connecting video cards.
    • StackPC – for creating supercomputers, allows you to scale computing devices.

    How to find out the PCI Express version on your motherboard

    It is usually written near the slot itself on the motherboard, but can be written elsewhere. Still often write on the packaging motherboard and indicated in the manual. You can go to the official website and enter the serial number of the motherboard into the search, or try to search for the specification by name and revision (variety).

    The most common peripherals for the most productive x16 slots are video cards and SSD drives. Controllers such as additional USB, SATA and similar high-speed ports or various adapters, such as sound, music cards, Wi-Fi modules, are also not uncommon.

    Video card

    Hard drive

    Wireless adapter

    PCI Express pinout

    It is easier to comprehensively show the location of communication line outputs using the example of the lines of the largest and fastest port.

    PCI-Express 16x slot contact group device:

    The PCIe connection has proven its effectiveness. It meets all modern requirements for information transfer speed and operational stability. Possessing huge potential modernization allows you to maintain the compatibility of numerous devices of different generations: controllers, adapters. In addition, it serves as a broad channel for increasing computing power. A special and unexpected place for the application of this technology is the telecommunications sector.

    Introduced in 2002, this type of transport data is still the most relevant, widespread, continuously developing and still promising.

    If you ask which interface should be used for a solid-state drive that supports the NVMe protocol, then any person (who even knows what NVMe is) will answer: of course PCIe 3.0 x4! True, he will most likely have difficulties with justification. At best, we will get the answer that such drives support PCIe 3.0 x4, and interface bandwidth matters. It is, but all the talk about it began only when some drives in some operations became cramped within the framework of “regular” SATA. But between its 600 MB/s and the (equally theoretical) 4 GB/s of the PCIe 3.0 x4 interface there is simply an abyss, filled with a ton of options! What if one PCIe 3.0 line is enough, since this is already one and a half times larger than SATA600? Adding fuel to the fire are controller manufacturers who are threatening to switch to PCIe 3.0 x2 in budget products, as well as the fact that many users do not have such and such. More precisely, theoretically there are, but they can be released only by reconfiguring the system or even changing something in it that you don’t want to do. But I want to buy a top-end solid-state drive, but there are fears that there will be no benefit at all from this (even moral satisfaction from the results of test utilities).

    But is this true or not? In other words, is it really necessary to focus exclusively on the supported operating mode - or is it still possible in practice? give up principles? This is exactly what we decided to check today. Let the check be quick and not pretend to be exhaustive, but the information received should be enough (as it seems to us) at least to think about it... For now, let's briefly get acquainted with the theory.

    PCI Express: existing standards and their bandwidth

    Let's start with what PCIe is and at what speed this interface operates. It is often called a “bus,” which is somewhat ideologically incorrect: as such, there is no bus to which all devices are connected. In reality there is a set of point-to-point connections (similar to many other serial interfaces) with a controller in the middle and devices attached to it (each of which could itself be a next-level hub).

    The first version of PCI Express appeared almost 15 years ago. The focus on use inside a computer (often within the same board) made it possible to make the standard high-speed: 2.5 gigatransactions per second. Because the interface is serial and full-duplex, a single PCIe lane (x1; effectively an atomic unit) provides data transfer speeds of up to 5 Gbps. However, in each direction it is only half of this, i.e. 2.5 Gbps, and this is the full speed of the interface, not the “useful” one: to improve reliability, each byte is encoded with 10 bits, so the theoretical throughput of one PCIe line 1.x is approximately 250 MB/s each way. In practice, it is still necessary to transfer service information, and in the end it is more correct to talk about ≈200 MB/s of user data transfer. Which, however, at that time not only covered the needs of most devices, but also provided a solid reserve: just remember that the predecessor of PCIe in the segment of mass system interfaces, namely the PCI bus, provided a throughput of 133 MB/s. And even if we consider not only mass implementation, but also all PCI options, the maximum was 533 MB/s, and for the entire bus, i.e., such a PS was divided into all devices connected to it. Here, 250 MB/s (since for PCI, too, the total and not the useful throughput is usually given) per line - in exclusive use. And for devices that need more, it was initially possible to aggregate several lines into a single interface, in powers of two - from 2 to 32, i.e., the x32 version provided for by the standard could transmit up to 8 GB/s in each direction. In personal computers, x32 was not used due to the complexity of creating and wiring the corresponding controllers and devices, so the maximum option was 16 lines. It was (and is still used) mainly by video cards, since most devices do not require so much. In general, for a considerable number of them, one line is enough, but some successfully use both x4 and x8: just on the storage topic - RAID controllers or SSDs.

    Time did not stand still, and about 10 years ago the second version of PCIe appeared. The improvements were not only about speeds, but a step forward was also taken in this regard - the interface began to provide 5 gigatransactions per second while maintaining the same encoding scheme, i.e., the throughput was doubled. And it doubled again in 2010: PCIe 3.0 provides 8 (rather than 10) gigatransactions per second, but the redundancy has been reduced - now 130 bits are used to encode 128, not 160 as before. In principle, the PCIe 4.0 version with another doubling of speeds is already ready to appear on paper, but we are unlikely to see it in hardware in the near future. In fact, PCIe 3.0 is still used in many platforms in conjunction with PCIe 2.0, because the performance of the latter is simply... not needed for many applications. And where needed, the good old method of line aggregation works. Only each of them has become four times faster over the past years, i.e. PCIe 3.0 x4 is PCIe 1.0 x16, the fastest slot in computers of the mid-2000s. This option is supported by top-end SSD controllers, and it is recommended to use it. It is clear that if such an opportunity exists, a lot is not a little. What if she doesn't exist? Will there be any problems, and if so, what are they? This is the question we have to deal with.

    Testing methodology

    It is not difficult to carry out tests with different versions of the PCIe standard: almost all controllers allow you to use not only the one they support, but also all earlier ones. It’s more difficult with the number of lanes: we wanted to directly test options with one or two PCIe lanes. The Asus H97-Pro Gamer board we usually use on the Intel H97 chipset does not support the full set, but in addition to the x16 “processor” slot (which is usually used), it has another one that operates in PCIe 2.0 x2 or x4 modes. We used this trio, adding to it the PCIe 2.0 “processor” slot mode in order to evaluate whether there was a difference. Still, in this case, there are no extraneous “intermediaries” between the processor and the SSD, but when working with a “chipset” slot, there is: the chipset itself, which is actually connected to the processor by the same PCIe 2.0 x4. It was possible to add several more operating modes, but we were still going to conduct the main part of the study on another system.

    The fact is that we decided to take this opportunity and at the same time check one “urban legend”, namely the belief about the usefulness of using top processors for testing drives. So we took the eight-core Core i7-5960X - a relative of the Core i3-4170 usually used in tests (these are Haswell and Haswell-E), but which has four times more cores. In addition, the Asus Sabertooth X99 board found in the bins is useful to us today due to the presence of a PCIe x4 slot, which in fact can work as x1 or x2. In this system, we tested three x4 options (PCIe 1.0/2.0/3.0) from the processor and chipset PCIe 1.0 x1, PCIe 1.0 x2, PCIe 2.0 x1 and PCIe 2.0 x2 (in all cases, chipset configurations are marked in the diagrams with (c)). Does it make sense to turn to the first version of PCIe now, given the fact that there is hardly a single board that supports only this version of the standard and can boot from an NVMe device? From a practical point of view, no, but to check the a priori assumed ratio of PCIe 1.1 x4 = PCIe 2.0 x2 and the like, it will be useful to us. If the test shows that the bus scalability corresponds to the theory, then it doesn’t matter that we have not yet been able to obtain practically significant ways to connect PCIe 3.0 x1/x2: the first will be identical to PCIe 1.1 x4 or PCIe 2.0 x2, and the second - PCIe 2.0 x4 . And we have them.

    In terms of software, we limited ourselves to only Anvil’s Storage Utilities 1.1.0: it measures a variety of low-level characteristics of drives quite well, and we don’t need anything else. Quite the contrary: any influence of other components of the system is extremely undesirable, so low-level synthetics have no alternative for our purposes.

    We used a 240 GB Patriot Hellfire as a “working fluid”. As it was established during testing, this is not a performance record-holder, but its speed characteristics are quite consistent with the results of the best SSDs of the same class and the same capacity. Yes, and there are already slower devices on the market, and there will be more and more of them. In principle, it would be possible to repeat the tests with something faster, but, in our opinion, there is no need for this - the results are predictable. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, but let’s see what we got.

    Test results

    When testing Hellfire, we noticed that the maximum speed for sequential operations can only be “squeezed out” of a multi-threaded load, so this also needs to be taken into account for the future: the theoretical throughput is only theoretical, because the “real” data received in different programs under different scenarios will no longer depend on it, but on these very programs and scenarios - in the case, of course, when force majeure circumstances do not interfere :) These are exactly the circumstances we are now observing: it has already been said above that PCIe 1.x x1 is ≈200 MB/s, and that's exactly what we see. Two PCIe 1.x lanes or one PCIe 2.0 lanes are twice as fast, and that's exactly what we're seeing. Four PCIe 1.x lanes, two PCIe 2.0 or one PCIe 3.0 are even twice as fast, which was confirmed for the first two options, so the third is unlikely to be different. That is, in principle, scalability, as expected, is ideal: the operations are linear, flash handles them well, so the interface matters. Flash stops cope well to PCIe 2.0 x4 for recording (which means PCIe 3.0 x2 is also suitable). Reading “may” be more, but the last step already gives one and a half, and not twofold (as it potentially should be) increase. We also note that there is no noticeable difference between the chipset and processor controllers, and between platforms as well. However, LGA2011-3 is a little ahead, but only slightly.

    Everything is smooth and beautiful. But does not tear templates: the maximum in these tests is only slightly more than 500 MB/s, and even SATA600 or (in today’s testing) PCIe 1.0 x4 / PCIe 2.0 x2 / PCIe 3.0 x1. That’s right: don’t be alarmed by the release of budget controllers for PCIe x2 or the presence of only so many lines (and the 2.0 version of the standard) in the M.2 slots on some boards when more is not needed. Sometimes you don’t need that much: maximum results were achieved with a queue of 16 commands, which is not typical for mass-produced software. More often there is a queue with 1-4 commands, and for this you can get by with one line of the very first PCIe and even the very first SATA. However, there are overheads and other things, so a fast interface is useful. However, being too fast is perhaps not harmful.

    Also, in this test the platforms behave differently, and with a single command queue - fundamentally differently. The “trouble” is not that many cores are bad. They are not used here anyway, except perhaps one, and not so much that the boost mode is fully deployed. So we have a difference of about 20% in core frequency and one and a half times in cache memory - in Haswell-E it operates at a lower frequency, and not synchronously with the cores. In general, a top-end platform can only be useful for knocking out the maximum “Yops” through the most multi-threaded mode with a large command queue depth. The only pity is that from the point of view of practical work, this is completely spherical synthetics in a vacuum :)

    On the recording, the situation has not changed fundamentally - in every sense. But what’s funny is that on both systems the PCIe 2.0 x4 mode in the “processor” slot turned out to be the fastest. On both! And with multiple checks/rechecks. At this point you can’t help but think about whether you need these are your new standards Or is it better not to rush anywhere at all...

    When working with blocks of different sizes, the theoretical idyll is shattered by the fact that increasing the speed of the interface still makes sense. The resulting figures are such that a couple of PCIe 2.0 lanes would be enough, but in reality in this case the performance is lower than that of PCIe 3.0 x4, albeit not by several times. And in general, here the budget platform “clogs” the top one to a much greater extent. But it is precisely this kind of operation that is found mainly in application software, i.e. this diagram is the closest to reality. As a result, it is not surprising that thick interfaces and fashionable protocols do not provide any “wow” effect. More precisely, those switching from mechanics will be given, but exactly the same as any solid-state drive with any interface will provide him.

    Total

    To make it easier to perceive the picture of the hospital as a whole, we used the score given by the program (total - for reading and writing), normalizing it according to the PCIe 2.0 x4 “chipset” mode: at the moment it is the most widely available, since it is found even on LGA1155 or AMD platforms without the need to “offend” the video card. In addition, it is equivalent to PCIe 3.0 x2, which budget controllers are preparing to master. And on the new AMD AM4 platform, again, this is exactly the mode that can be obtained without affecting the discrete video card.

    So what do we see? The use of PCIe 3.0 x4, if possible, is certainly preferable, but not necessary: ​​it brings literally 10% additional performance to mid-class NVMe drives (in its initially top segment). And even then - due to operations that are generally not so common in practice. Why is this particular option implemented in this case? Firstly, there was such an opportunity, but the reserve is not enough for the pocket. Secondly, there are drives even faster than our test Patriot Hellfire. Thirdly, there are areas of activity where “atypical” loads for a desktop system are quite typical. Moreover, this is where the performance of the data storage system, or at least the ability to make part of it very fast, is most critical. But this does not apply to ordinary personal computers.

    In them, as we see, the use of PCIe 2.0 x2 (or, accordingly, PCIe 3.0 x1) does not lead to a dramatic decrease in performance - only by 15-20%. And this despite the fact that in this case we limited the potential capabilities of the controller by four times! For many operations this throughput is sufficient. One PCIe 2.0 line is no longer enough, so it makes sense for controllers to support PCIe 3.0 - and given the severe shortage of lines in a modern system, this will work well. In addition, the x4 width is useful - even if there is no support for modern versions of PCIe in the system, it will still allow you to work at normal speed (albeit slower than it could potentially) if there is a more or less wide slot.

    In principle, a large number of scenarios in which the flash memory itself turns out to be the bottleneck (yes, this is possible and is inherent not only in mechanics) leads to the fact that the four lanes of the third version of PCIe on this drive are about 3.5 times faster than the first one - the theoretical throughput of these two cases differs by 16 times. Which, of course, does not mean that you need to rush to master very slow interfaces - their time is gone forever. It’s just that many of the possibilities of fast interfaces can only be realized in the future. Or in conditions that an ordinary user of an ordinary computer will never directly encounter in his life (with the exception of those who like to compare themselves with who knows what). Actually, that's all.

    Almost all modern motherboards are currently equipped with a PCI-E x16 expansion slot. This is not surprising: a discrete graphics accelerator is installed in it, without which creating a productive personal computer is generally impossible. It is its background history, technical specifications and possible operating modes that will be discussed in the future.

    Background to the appearance of the expansion slot

    In the early 2000s, with the AGP expansion slot, which at that time was used for installation, a situation arose when the maximum level of performance was reached and its capabilities were no longer sufficient. As a result of this, the PCI-SIG consortium was created, which began developing the software and hardware components of the future slot for installing graphics accelerators. The fruit of his creativity was the first PCI Express 16x 1.0 specification in 2002.

    To ensure compatibility between the two discrete graphics adapter installation ports that existed at that time, some companies developed special devices that made it possible to install outdated graphics solutions in a new expansion slot. In the language of professionals, this development had its own name - PCI-E x16/AGP adapter. Its main purpose is to minimize the cost of upgrading a PC by using components from the previous configuration of the system unit. But this practice did not become widespread due to the fact that entry-level video cards on the new interface had a cost almost equal to the price of the adapter.

    In parallel with this, simpler modifications of this expansion slot were created for external controllers, which replaced the PCI ports familiar at that time. Despite their external similarity, these devices were significantly different. If AGP and PCI could boast of parallel information transfer, then PCI Express was a serial interface. Its higher performance was ensured by a significantly increased data transfer rate in duplex mode (information in this case could be transmitted in two directions at once).

    Transfer rate and encryption method

    In the designation of the PCI-E x16 interface, the number indicates the number of lanes used for data transfer. In this case, there are 16 of them. Each of them, in turn, consists of 2 pairs of wires for transmitting information. As noted, higher speed is ensured by the fact that these pairs operate in full duplex mode. That is, the transfer of information can go in two directions at once.

    To protect against possible loss or distortion of transmitted data, this interface uses a special information protection system called 8V/10V. This designation is deciphered as follows: for the correct and correct transmission of 8 bits of data, they must be supplemented with 2 service bits to perform a correctness check. In this case, the system is forced to transmit 20 percent of service information, which does not carry a useful load for the computer user. But this is the price for reliable and stable operation of the graphics subsystem of a personal computer, and there is certainly no way to do without it.

    PCI-E versions

    The PCI-E x16 connector is externally the same on all motherboards. Only the speed of information transfer in each case may differ significantly. As a result, the performance of the device is also different. And the modifications for this graphical interface are as follows:

    • 1st PCI modification - Express x16 v. 1.0 had a theoretical throughput of 8 Gb/s.
    • 2nd generation PCI - Express x16 v. 2.0 already boasted twice the throughput of 16 Gb/s.
    • A similar trend has already continued for the third version of this interface. In this case, this figure was set at 64 Gb/s.

    It is impossible to distinguish visually by the location of the contacts. At the same time, they are compatible with each other. For example, if you install a graphics adapter card in a version 3.0 slot that meets the 2.0 specifications at the physical level, then the entire processing system will automatically switch to the lowest speed mode (that is, 2.0) and will continue to function with a throughput of 64 Gb/s .

    First generation PCI Express

    As noted earlier, PCI Express was first introduced in 2002. Its release marked the emergence of personal computers with multiple graphics adapters, which, moreover, could boast increased performance even with one accelerator installed. The AGP 8X standard allowed for a throughput of 2.1 Gb/s, and the first revision of PCI Express - 8 Gb/s.

    Of course, there is no need to talk about an eightfold increase. 20 percent of the increase was used to transfer service information, which made it possible to find errors.

    Second modification of PCI-E

    The first generation of this one was replaced in 2007 by PCI-E 2.0 x16. 2nd generation video cards, as noted earlier, were physically and software compatible with the first modification of this interface. Only in this case the performance of the graphics system was significantly reduced to the level of the PCI Express 1.0 16x interface version.

    Theoretically, the information transfer limit in this case was equal to 16 Gb/s. But 20 percent of the resulting increase was spent on proprietary information. As a result, in the first case, the actual transfer was equal to: 8 Gb/s - (8 Gb/s x 20%: 100%) = 6.4 Gb/s. And for the second execution of the graphical interface, this value was already this: 16 Gb/s - (16 Gb/s x 20%: 100%) = 12.8 Gb/s. Dividing 12.8 Gb/s by 6.4 Gb/s, we get a real practical performance increase of 2 times between the 1st and 2nd versions of PCI Express.

    Third generation

    The last and most current update of this interface was released in 2010. The peak speed of PCI-E x16 in this case has increased to 64 Gb/s, and the maximum power of the graphics adapter without additional power in this case can be equal to 75 W.

    Configuration options with multiple graphics accelerators in one PC. Their pros and cons

    One of the most important innovations of this interface is the ability to have multiple x16 graphics adapters at once. In this case, video cards are combined with each other and form, essentially, a single device. Their overall performance is summed up, and this allows you to significantly increase the performance of your PC in terms of processing the output image. For solutions from NVidia, this mode is called SLI, and for graphics processors from AMD - CrossFire.

    The future of this standard

    The PCI-E x16 slot will certainly not change in the foreseeable future. This will allow more powerful video cards to be used as part of outdated PCs and thereby carry out a gradual upgrade of the computer system. Now the specifications for the 4th version of this data transfer method are being worked out. For graphics adapters in this case, a maximum of 128 GB/s will be provided. This will allow you to display the image on the monitor screen in “4K” quality or more.

    Results

    Be that as it may, PCI-E x16 is currently the only graphics slot and interface. It will be relevant for quite a long time. Its parameters allow you to create both entry-level computer systems and high-performance PCs with several accelerators. It is precisely due to this flexibility that no significant changes are expected in this niche.

    "Manhunt1908“The motherboard’s support for the new PCI Express v.3.0 standard is actually not its competitive advantage.” Basically, it turns out that PCI Express 3.0 does not actually have any real advantages, and it will not increase the speed in modern games. then no one needs or is interested in it anymore, there is no growth, which means it sucks, but in addition to the gaming functions of the PCI Express v.3.0 standard, it also has other functions, in particular USB 3.0 directly depends on the motherboard with PCI Express support function v.3.0, they themselves say that, Well, the presence of two or four USB 3.0 ports in a computer, by today’s standards, is simply necessary, 3.0 is much faster than 2.0, many have tested this in practice. Whatever one may say, a motherboard with PCI Express v. 3.0 is needed, a lot of the latest technologies are tied to this particular standard. It’s unlikely that anyone would refuse to have such a long list on board their motherboard, given below!
    SupremeFX IV
    Perfect Sound
    This motherboard boasts a high-quality audio system based on the built-in SupremeFX IV sound card, marked on the printed circuit board with a special line. High-capacity capacitors and electromagnetic shielding contribute to the highest sound quality. Additionally, the SupremeFX IV includes a dedicated headphone amplifier.

    GameFirst II
    The GameFirst II function based on cFos Traffic Shaping technology will help set the priority of Internet channel use by various applications. Having received maximum priority, online games will work as quickly as possible, without annoying “lags,” and other online applications that have a low priority for using the Internet channel will not interfere with them. There is a user-friendly ROG-style GUI to access this feature.

    Gigabit Ethernet Controller
    Intel network controllers are famous for their stable and efficient operation with low CPU load.

    mPCIe Combo Adapter and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth 4.0 Controller
    To save the main expansion slots, this motherboard is equipped with a special additional slot with an mPCIe Combo adapter, to which you can connect devices with mSATA interfaces (for example, a solid-state drive) and mPCIe (wireless adapters Wi-Fi, 3G/4G, GPS, etc. .). Moreover, the package already includes an mPCIe card with support for Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0.

    Fusion Thermo Cooling System
    To cool the power system elements on this motherboard, a special ROG Fusion Thermo cooler is used, which consists of a copper water block, massive radiators and a heat pipe. Thus, it can be used both as part of a liquid cooling system and for conventional cooling with fans. > Find out more
    ROG Connect

    Interface for overclocking and configuration ROG Connect
    Using the ROG Connect function, you can monitor the status of your computer and configure its settings in real time using a laptop by connecting the latter to the main system via a USB cable.

    Extreme Engine Digi+ II
    Highly efficient digital power system
    The Extreme Engine Digi+ II power management system delivers highly efficient operation thanks to variable frequency pulse width modulation of the processor and memory digital voltage regulators. It also uses high quality capacitors from Japanese manufacturers. A reliable and powerful power supply system is the key to successful operation of a computer in overclocking mode!

    ROG CPU-Z
    New face of a famous utility
    ROG CPU-Z is a customized version of the famous information utility from CPUID. It provides the same functionality and accuracy of system data as the original, but has a unique Republic of Gamers style interface. With ROG CPU-Z you can get complete information about the processor and some other components of your computer.

    Multi-GPU technologies
    LucidLogix Virtu MVP
    High speed in graphics applications
    LucidLogix Virtu MVP technology is software for Windows 7 that automatically switches between the processor's integrated graphics core and a discrete graphics card. By putting the discrete video card into sleep mode at times when its resources are not needed, energy savings are achieved, the noise level from the computer is reduced and the temperature inside the system unit is reduced, which contributes to a more favorable operating mode for all components. In addition, you can use the integrated graphics core to accelerate the main graphics card, which allows you to increase performance by 60% (based on tests in 3DMark Vantage). It is also worth noting that this technology is fully compatible with the Intel Quick Sync 2.0 fast video transcoding function.

    When it comes to any interfaces in the context of computer systems, you need to be very careful not to “run into” incompatible interfaces for the same components within the system.

    Fortunately, when it comes to the PCI-Express interface for connecting a video card, there will be practically no problems with incompatibility. In this article we will look at this in more detail, and also talk about what this very PCI-Express is.

    Why is PCI-Express needed and what is it?

    Let's start, as usual, with the very basics. PCI-Express (PCI-E) interface- this is a means of interaction, in this context, consisting of a bus controller and the corresponding slot (Fig. 2) on motherboard(to generalize).

    This high-performance protocol is used, as noted above, to connect a video card to the system. Accordingly, the motherboard has a corresponding PCI-Express slot, where the video adapter is installed. Previously, video cards were connected via the AGP interface, but when this interface, simply put, “was no longer enough,” PCI-E came to the rescue, the detailed characteristics of which we will now talk about.

    Fig.2 (PCI-Express 3.0 slots on the motherboard)

    Key Characteristics of PCI-Express (1.0, 2.0 and 3.0)

    Despite the fact that the names PCI and PCI-Express are very similar, their connection (interaction) principles are radically different. In the case of PCI-Express, a line is used - a bidirectional serial connection, of the point-to-point type; there can be several of these lines. In the case of video cards and motherboards (we do not take into account Cross Fire and SLI) that support PCI-Express x16 (that is, the majority), you can easily guess that there are 16 such lines (Fig. 3), quite often on motherboards with PCI- E 1.0, it was possible to see a second x8 slot for operation in SLI or Cross Fire mode.

    Well, in PCI, the device is connected to a common 32-bit parallel bus.

    Rice. 3. Example of slots with different numbers of lines

    (as mentioned earlier, x16 is most often used)


    The interface bandwidth is 2.5 Gbit/s. We need this data to track changes in this parameter in different versions of PCI-E.

    Further, version 1.0 evolved into PCI-E 2.0. As a result of this transformation, we received twice the throughput, that is, 5 Gbit/s, but I would like to note that the graphics adapters did not gain much in performance, since this is just a version of the interface. Most of the performance depends on the video card itself; the interface version can only slightly improve or slow down data transfer (in this case there is no “braking”, and there is a good margin).

    In the same way, in 2010, with a reserve, the interface was developed PCI-E 3.0, at the moment it is used in all new systems, but if you still have 1.0 or 2.0, then do not worry - below we will talk about the relative backward compatibility of different versions.

    With PCI-E 3.0, the bandwidth has been doubled compared to version 2.0. There were also a lot of technical changes made there.

    Expected to be born by 2015 PCI-E 4.0, which is absolutely not surprising for the dynamic IT industry.

    Well, okay, let's finish with these versions and bandwidth figures, and let's touch on the very important issue of backward compatibility of different versions of PCI-Express.

    Backwards compatible with PCI-Express 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 versions

    This question worries many, especially when choosing a video card for the current system. Since being content with a system with a motherboard that supports PCI-Express 1.0, doubts arise whether a video card with PCI-Express 2.0 or 3.0 will work correctly? Yes, it will be, at least that’s what the developers who ensured this compatibility promise. The only thing is that the video card will not be able to fully reveal itself in all its glory, but the performance losses, in most cases, will be insignificant.


    On the contrary, you can safely install video cards with a PCI-E 1.0 interface in motherboards that support PCI-E 3.0 or 2.0; there are no restrictions at all, so rest assured about compatibility. If, of course, everything is in order with other factors, these include an insufficiently powerful power supply, etc.

    Overall, we've talked quite a bit about PCI-Express, which should help you clear up a lot of confusion and doubt about compatibility and understanding the differences between PCI-E versions.

    Read more: