Source :
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...129TX1K0000532
The final basic version of PCI Express 2.0, an update to the high-speed peripheral interconnect introduced in 2002, is just months away.
On Monday, the special interest group that owns and manages PCI specifications announced the release of candidate revision 0.9 to its members for a final evaluation.
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After a 60-day period of review and comment, the base version of PCI Express 2.0 should be ready by year's end, the PCI SIG said, although it's unlikely to appear in any products before 2007.
Taking center stage among the other enhancements planned for PCI Express 2.0 is a doubling of the bit rate to from 2.5 gigabits per second to 5 Gbit/s. But there are also a number of planned improvements in the works for both the protocol and software layers of the architecture as well.
In addition to connecting with plug-in slots, the PCI Express Cable specification will allow PCI devices to connect using copper cables as long as 10 meters long, and with data transfer speeds of 2.5 Gbits/s per line.
Because almost all of today's high-end graphics cards use PCI Express, PCI-SIG is working on a new specification that will deliver increased power to the graphics card in the system, essentially extending the existing 150-watt power supply to 225 or 300 watts of power.
Also in the works are slot power limit changes that will permit high-powered slots that support those latter mentioned high-performance graphics cards, as well as speed signaling controls that will allow the software to determine whether a device can operate at a specific signaling rate.
According to PCI-SIG, the base 2.0 specification will be backwards compatible with all existing PCI Express 1.0 and 1.1 systems, supporting both 2.5 Gbits/s and 5 Gbit/s signaling rates.
PCI Express 2.0 Due By Year's End
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