"Allow drives to exceed 8GB/s when using a PCIe 4.0 x8 link." That seems very low when you look at what can be achieved with a PCIe 3.0 x4 link which is around 3.5GB/s.
It also appears to be related to the compatibility built in here. They claim that controllers on market will work with these switches, perhaps that figure for bandwidth is only for the specific use case of a controller designed for PCIe 3.0 used on these new 4.0 chipsets.
On second reading I think Dan had it right, that quoted speed is for the 3016 controller. It may be just a quick and dirty port of existing functionality to support 4.0 interface, but it's a new controller nonetheless
It's might be a mistype in the text, AFAIK PCIe 4.0 will double the speed of PCIe 3.0, so PCIe 3.0 8 lanes can already reach 8GB/s in paper (a little less in real world) so PCIe 4.0 8 lanes could reach 16GB/s
Most NVMe's are based on M.2 or U.2 PCIe 3.0 4 lanes, they maxes out at 3.x GB/s which is plausible as the bus theoretical limit is 4GB/s, so with PCIe 4.0, those 4 lanes could reach 8GB/s.
The move to 4.0 will double Thunderbolt bandwidth without increasing the lanes. "When" we finally get this on the x86 side of things the increase will greatly help move things forward. GPU's probably won't see any benefit but connected devices and possibly an increase to DMI 4.0 (possibly) would boost areas that could use it like interconnects. I think this is more an interesting sign that vendors know where they need to be come the end of this year and are beginning to head there.
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
8 Comments
Back to Article
smilingcrow - Friday, August 3, 2018 - link
"Allow drives to exceed 8GB/s when using a PCIe 4.0 x8 link."That seems very low when you look at what can be achieved with a PCIe 3.0 x4 link which is around 3.5GB/s.
DanNeely - Friday, August 3, 2018 - link
Might not be the clearest wording, but I think the intent was to say it'd be faster than the theoretical note quite 8GB/s from a PCIe3 x8 line.FullmetalTitan - Friday, August 3, 2018 - link
It also appears to be related to the compatibility built in here. They claim that controllers on market will work with these switches, perhaps that figure for bandwidth is only for the specific use case of a controller designed for PCIe 3.0 used on these new 4.0 chipsets.FullmetalTitan - Friday, August 3, 2018 - link
On second reading I think Dan had it right, that quoted speed is for the 3016 controller. It may be just a quick and dirty port of existing functionality to support 4.0 interface, but it's a new controller nonethelessXajel - Monday, August 6, 2018 - link
It's might be a mistype in the text, AFAIK PCIe 4.0 will double the speed of PCIe 3.0, so PCIe 3.0 8 lanes can already reach 8GB/s in paper (a little less in real world) so PCIe 4.0 8 lanes could reach 16GB/sMost NVMe's are based on M.2 or U.2 PCIe 3.0 4 lanes, they maxes out at 3.x GB/s which is plausible as the bus theoretical limit is 4GB/s, so with PCIe 4.0, those 4 lanes could reach 8GB/s.
Triklops - Friday, August 3, 2018 - link
Is it just me or does the font used in the 'Microsemi' logo look strikingly similar to that of 'Microsoft'?!bubblyboo - Friday, August 3, 2018 - link
Microsoft doesn't use that font anymore though. Should be back in pre-XP era. Logo colors are also the same, just swapped.FXi - Monday, August 6, 2018 - link
The move to 4.0 will double Thunderbolt bandwidth without increasing the lanes. "When" we finally get this on the x86 side of things the increase will greatly help move things forward. GPU's probably won't see any benefit but connected devices and possibly an increase to DMI 4.0 (possibly) would boost areas that could use it like interconnects. I think this is more an interesting sign that vendors know where they need to be come the end of this year and are beginning to head there.