Expansion cards with PCIe 8x interface

PCIe 8x

— connection through a PCIe interface using 8 lanes (data transmission channels); the most advanced PCIe format found in modern controllers.

PCIe is the main modern interface for connecting expansion cards to the motherboard. The number of lanes determines, on the one hand, the data transfer speed, and on the other, connection features: the more channels, the faster the version of PCIe and the larger socket it will require. However, a component with a smaller number of lanes can be connected to a socket with a larger number of lanes, but not vice versa; thus, a controller with this interface is quite suitable for both PCIe 8x and 16x sockets.

As for the speed, it depends on the interface version: PCIe 3.0 provides just under 1 GB/s per lane, PCIe 4.0 — just under 2 GB. Thus, for PCIe 8x, the operating speeds are around 8 GB/s and 16 GB/s, respectively. For expansion cards (see "Type"), such capabilities are generally excessive, so this type of connection is found exclusively in RAID controllers, which have to handle significant amounts of data.