The finalised PCIe 5.0 specification might be less than a month old, but the PCI-SIG already has plans for the next version of the technology-- PCIe 6.0, an update doubling the bandwidth to 64 GT/s while maintaining backwards compatibility.
In total, PCIe 6.0 promises data rates of up to 256GB/s in a x16 configuration. It uses PAM-4 (Pulse Amplitude Modulation with 4 levels) encoding and leverages existing 56G PAM-4, and includes low-latency Forward Error Correction (FEC) with additional mechanisms to improve bandwidth efficiency. As mentioned earlier, PCIe 6.0 also aims to maintain backwards compatibility with all previous PCIe generations.
“Continuing the trend we set with the PCIe 5.0 specification, the PCIe 6.0 specification is on a fast timeline,” the PCI-SIG says. “Due to the continued commitment of our member companies, we are on pace to double the bandwidth yet again in a time frame that will meet industry demand for throughput.”
The PCI-SIG plans to finalise the PCIe 6.0 specification by 2021.
Go PCI-SIG Announces Upcoming PCI Express 6.0 Specification to Reach 64 GT/s
