PCI-SIG presents PCIe 7.0 specs with 512 GB/s bandwidth

This year, consumer computers are making the jump to PCIe 5.0, with the first GPUs and NVMe SSDs supporting this standard expected to launch in the coming months. While the new standard will theoretically double the bandwidth of the PCIe 4.0 specs, PCI-SIG - the organization that develops and maintains the PCIe standard - is already planning for the seventh iteration of the “interconnect of choice.” A preliminary draft for the PCIe 7.0 specs was presented at the PCI-SIG Developers Conference 2022 as part of the 30-year anniversary celebration.

The usual release cadence of three years is to be maintained, so the finalized PCIe 7.0 specs are targeted to be available by 2025. However, commercial availability is expected by 2028, if previous versions are any indication. Some of the more prominent features that will be offered with the seventh interaction include:

• 128 GT/s raw bit rate and up to 512 GB/s bi-directional bandwidth via x16 lanes
• PAM4 (Pulse Amplitude Modulation with 4 levels) signaling
• increased focus on channel parameters, low-latency and high-reliability
• power efficiency improvements
• backwards compatibility with all previous PCIe versions

The PCIe 7.0 specs are also geared towards data-intensive applications and markets like 800 Gb Ethernet, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML), High Performance Computing (HPC), Quantum Computing, Hyperscale Data Centers and the Cloud.

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