However, x16 can use either 8 or 16 PCIe lanes. Other PCIe slots use the remaining lanes. PCIe x4 means this slot uses four lanes to transfer its data. There can be four, eight, sixteen, or thirty-two lanes of PCIe on a motherboard.

PCIe lanes act as the medium through which PCIe slots transfer data to the motherboard. Some may think that PCIe lanes and PCIe slots are the same. For less tech-savvy readers, this means that the internal components connected to their respective PCIe slots will perform a lot better.įurthermore, when you have a graphics card connected to a higher version of PCIe, your games will also run at higher Frames Per Second (FPS), giving you a smooth experience. However, the PCIe version is not to be confused with PCIe lanes, which we will discuss later in the article.īasically, with each generation of PCIe, you will have greater bandwidth, transfer rate, and frequency. PCIe versionsĪs of date, we have five versions of PCIe, PCIe 1.0 to 5.0. Well, one specific reason is that the PCIe offers high-speed data transfer that components, such as the GPU, require constantly. You may wonder why we use PCIe to connect vital computer components. PCIe, or the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express, acts as an interface that connects various internal PC components such as the graphics card, SSD (Solid State Drive), sound card, NIC (Network Interface Card) card, etc.

Before we start, let us see what a PCIe is. Today we are here to discuss the difference between PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 2.0. When buying a motherboard or a graphics card, have you ever wondered what the PCIe versions represent? Clearly, the higher number is better, but what does it mean to have a PCIe with a higher version?

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