Interface
An interface that connects a PCI controller to a motherboard.
— PCI-E (PCI Express). An interface that is actually a modern standard for motherboards and peripherals connected to them, including PCI controllers. It is the heir to PCI-E, noticeably surpasses it both in terms of data transfer speed and additional functionality. Note that "motherboards" and peripherals for them can use a different number of PCI-E lines — for controllers, in particular, options
1x,
2x,
4x and
8x are relevant. At the same time, the first three values are found among expansion cards, but 8 PCI-E lanes are used mainly in RAID controllers (see "Type"). Also note that more lines means not only higher speed, but also a larger connector size. As a result, a board with a smaller number of lines can be connected to a slot with numerous channels (for example, a 1x board in a 4x connector), but not vice versa. As for bandwidth, it depends on the PCI-E version and is slightly less than 1 GB / s per line for PCI-E 3.0 and slightly less than 2 GB / s per line for PCI-E 4.0.
— PCI. Due to the advent of the more advanced PCI-E standard, this interface is now considered obsolete. However, it provides data transfer rates up to 533 Mbps, which is quite enough for tasks that do not involve the need to quickly transfer large amounts of information. Another
...advantage is that when connected to such a connector, faster PCI-E slots remain free, which can be useful for other system components. As a result, PCI connectors are still used in modern motherboards, and controllers with such a connection can also be found on the market.USB 3.2 gen1
The number of
USB 3.2 gen1 connectors on the external panel of the controller.
USB (all versions) is the most popular modern interface for connecting external peripherals. USB 3.2 gen1 (formerly known as USB 3.1 gen1 and USB 3.0) is the successor to the popular USB 2.0 standard, introducing 10x faster data transfer rates (up to 4.8Gbps) as well as more power for peripherals. Some connectors may even provide support for USB Power Delivery technology, which allows you to deliver power up to 100 W per connector (although Power Delivery is not strictly required, it is better to specify it separately). Anyway, the USB 3.2 gen1 interface is extremely popular in modern computers and peripherals.
Separately, it is worth noting that the connection in the USB 3.2 gen1 format can also be carried out via USB-C connectors. However, such connectors are specified separately in the characteristics of PCI controllers (see below), in this case, classic, full-size USB sockets are meant (the so-called USB A ).
USB 3.2 gen2
The number of
USB 3.2 gen2 connectors on the external panel of the controller.
USB (all versions) is the most popular modern interface for connecting external peripherals. And USB 3.2 gen1 (formerly known as USB 3.1 gen2 and USB 3.1) is a further development of this interface after USB 3.2 gen1 (see above). In this version, the maximum data transfer rate has increased to 10 Gbps; in addition, connectors of this type may provide support for USB Power Delivery technology, which allows you to output power up to 100 W per connector. (However, the presence of Power Delivery is not strictly required, it is better to specify it separately).
Separately, it is worth noting that the connection in USB 3.2 gen2 format can also be carried out via USB-C connectors. However, such connectors are practically not found in PCI controllers, so in this case we mean classic, full-sized USB sockets (the so-called USB A).
