PCI Express (PCIe) is a computer expansion card standard and is used most often for video cards. PCIe has several different versions with varying speeds.
The different versions are compatible with each other, but a faster card will not work in a slower slot. A card must also be inserted into the proper size slot; for example, a half-height card will not fit into a full-size slot.
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There are three basic sizes of PCIe slots on a motherboard: x16, x8, and x4. An x16 slot is the largest and can fit any size card.
An x8 slot is slightly smaller and can fit an x8 or smaller card. An x4 slot is the smallest and can only fit an x4 or smaller card.
The number after the “x” indicates how many lanes the PCIe slot has. A lane is a pair of wires that sends data back and forth.
The more lanes a PCIe slot has, the more data it can send at one time, and the faster it can send it. Most motherboards have at least one x16 PCIe slot for a video card and one or more x1 slots for smaller cards such as networking cards and sound cards.
The newest version of PCIe is version 4.0, which was released in 2017. It doubles the data transfer rate of PCIe 3.0 while still being backward compatible with older versions.
Version 4.0 slots are identified by their black color, while older versions are colored white or brownish-gold.
PCIe slots are used for a variety of purposes, most commonly to add graphics cards, sound cards, and network cards to a computer system. They come in different sizes—x16, x8, and x4—and have different numbers of lanes that determine how much data they can send at one time. The newest version of PCIe is 4.
0, which was released in 2017 and doubles the data transfer rate of 3.0 while still being compatible with older versions.
