Final PCIe 6.0 draft specification released, full version could be only months away

[Daniel Sims]

Something to look forward to: The PCI Special Interest Group (PCI-SIG) this week released the 0.9 draft specification for PCIe 6.0, which will be the final draft before the full 1.0 release. Though this is a major step forward, it will still be a long while yet before PCIe 6.0 actually gets into the hands of consumers.

PCI-SIG made the announcement on its website that it has reached the final step before it can release the full specification for manufacturers to start making hardware that supports PCIe 6.0. The 0.7 specification was released last November. PCI-SIG president Al Yanes told The Register that the final 1.0 release is currently scheduled for the end of this year or early 2022.

In consumer PCs, PCIe is the technology that connects certain pieces of hardware like graphics cards, SSDs, and other components to motherboards. Each version of PCIe has had more bandwidth for faster connections than the last. PCIe 6.0 is set to double the bandwidth of PCIe 5.0, promising up to 64 gigatransfers per second and up to 256 GB/s though x16 configuration. It will also include flow control unit-based (FLIT) encoding and Low-latency Forward Error Correction (FEC). The FEC will have additional mechanisms to improve bandwidth efficiency. PCIe 6.0 will be backwards compatible with previous generations.

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Even when PCI-SIG releases the full specification, we'll still be a long way from actually seeing it in consumer hardware. "The rule of thumb is that we typically see products utilizing the latest PCIe architecture 12 to 18 months after final specification release," Yanes said to The Register.

The latest processors and graphics cards from companies like AMD, Intel, and Nvidia have only just started to adopt PCIe 4.0, and the same goes for the latest SSDs. The specifications for PCIe 5.0 came out in 2019, but hardware manufacturers are still preparing to upgrade all their products to that generation.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/91662-final-pcie-60-draft-specification-released-full-version.html

 

[VitalyT]

It will still be a long while yet before PCIe 6.0 actually gets into the hands of consumers

Depends on the consumers. PCIe 5.0 for instance, has been in the server market for a while now. And I'm pretty sure PCIe 6.0 will be in the server market early next year. General market though won't see it for a few good years, I'd say.

I am however surprised that AMD still won't include PCIe 5.0 into the upcoming Threadriper update. That's an odd one, makes the update hardly interesting.

 

[Lordfreak]

I don't even know how 4.0 taste like.

 

[wiyosaya]

Well, if prices should ever normalize, maybe PCIe 6.0 will be available in the consumer realm by that time. For me, it is somewhat more incentive to wait to upgrade. While the PCIe 4.0 NVME drives are impressive (speaking from personal experience since I built a PC last year for my wife with a 4.0 NVME drive and a Ryzen 3800), we still have yet to see GPUs implementing it. So, it might be years before GPUs catch up.

 

[VitalyT]

I built a PC last year for my wife with a 4.0 NVME drive and a Ryzen 3800), we still have yet to see GPUs implementing it.

All modern video cards are PCIe 4.0, and tests showed they perform slightly better, but not by much. TechSpot has done it also (below). So what are you talking about?

 

[Cycloid Torus]

And I am still on PCIe 2.

 

[hahahanoobs]

PCIe standard is moving very fast indeed.

Datacenter, Cloud and HPC be looking to ramp things up I assume.

 

[hahahanoobs]

I don't even know how 4.0 taste like.

I have a gen 3 GPU, riser cable and NVMe running off gen 4 cpu lanes and chipset is gen 2 on an X470 mobo.

It's a mess! I'll get to gen 4 device in a year or two!

 

[Bulllee]

Been almost 12 months since I built a machine.
Cost me a small fortune then.
Out of the game now though.
Do not mention the altervinite ....shoosh.

 

[Adi6293]

Depends on the consumers. PCIe 5.0 for instance, has been in the server market for a while now. And I'm pretty sure PCIe 6.0 will be in the server market early next year. General market though won't see it for a few good years, I'd say.

I am however surprised that AMD still won't include PCIe 5.0 into the upcoming Threadriper update. That's an odd one, makes the update hardly interesting.

It's just not needed, 4.0 is plenty for another few years and before it is needed new Threadripper will be out that will actually benefit from it

 

[wiyosaya]

All modern video cards are PCIe 4.0, and tests showed they perform slightly better, but not by much. TechSpot has done it also (below). So what are you talking about?

Sorry, man. I guess I have been in a vacuum.

 

[Cenesca]

Just bought an Asus PCIe3 laptop (2021 model)

 

[kiwigraeme]

Any word when we will get pcie 7.0?

 

[Mr Majestyk]

This is getting like 7 minute abs, until someone comes along with 6 minute abs.

 

[Danny101]

We should be good for another 20 years. I'm still on PCIe 3.0 and still haven't even reached bottleneck status yet. Won't be upgrading for a while anyway.