PCI-E 8x expansion cards

PCI-E 8x

— connection via PCI-E interface using 8 lines (data transmission channels); the most advanced PCI-E format found in modern controllers.

PCI-E is the main modern interface for connecting expansion cards to the motherboard. And on the one hand, the data transfer rate depends on the number of lines, on the other hand, the connection features: the more channels, the faster this version of PCI-E and the larger the connector it will need. In this case, a component with a smaller number of lines can be connected to a connector with numerous lines, but not vice versa; so a controller with this interface is quite suitable for both PCI-E 8x and 16x slots.

As for the speed, it depends on the interface version: PCI-E 3.0 provides a little less than 1 GB / s per line, PCI-E 4.0 — a little less than 2 GB. So for PCI-E 8x, the speeds are about 8 GB / s and 16 GB / s, respectively. For expansion boards (see "Type"), such capabilities are generally unnecessary, so this type of connection is found exclusively in RAID controllers that have to process significant amounts of data.