Know How PCI-E Card Can Boost Your Computer’s Performance

1. Know How PCI-E Card Can Boost Your Computer’s Performance PCI Express or more technically, Peripheral Component Interconnect Express is a connection standard for a computer’s internal devices. PCI-E generally refers to expansion slots on a computer’s motherboard on which a PCI-E card can be inserted to improve its performance. The interface standard was developed to enable high-speed connections for various PC components. A computer motherboard may contain any number of PCI-E slots, which can be used to add different types of PCI-E cards, ranging from GPUs or video cards/graphic cards to RAID cards, SSD (Solid State Drive) add-ons, WI-FI cards, and many other types of PC enhancements. PCI-E slots may also come in varying physical configurations, ranging from x1 to x32— referring to the number of lanes the slot provides. Lanes determine how (fast) data travels to and from a PCI-E card. In essence, an x1 PCI-E slot contains one lane, which can move data at a speed of one bit per cycle. An x2 PCI-E slot contains two lanes, and can therefore transfer data at 2 bps—and so on. While it is possible to insert an x1 PCI-E card into a higher slot, the card will still receive less bandwidth. Just the same, you may insert a higher-bit card into a lower count slot, but it will only receive as much bandwidth as the slot can provide. To use PCI-E slots and cards to their full potential, it is best to use the appropriate slot for the right card. The PCI-E interface enables high bandwidth communication between devices and the motherboard along with other hardware. While PCI-E works internally, there are also external versions of PCI-E express interface although they are quite uncommon. External PCI Express device configurations typically require a special type of cable to connect the external device being used on a computer via the external port.