PCIe
Technology & Computing abbreviation · Computer Hardware
| Stands for | Peripheral Component Interconnect Express |
|---|---|
| Categories | Technology & Computing |
PCIe stands for Peripheral Component Interconnect Express, a computer hardware abbreviation.
High-speed serial expansion bus that connects graphics cards, NVMe SSDs, network cards and other add-in cards to the motherboard through lanes, labeled x1, x4, x8 or x16. Each generation doubles per-lane bandwidth: about 2 GB/s per lane for PCIe 4.0 and 4 GB/s for 5.0.
Example: The graphics card goes in the top PCIe x16 slot, which connects directly to the CPU.
Usage notes
The PCI-SIG released PCIe 1.0 in 2003, replacing PCI and AGP. PCIe 6.0 (2022) adopted PAM4 signaling, and the PCIe 7.0 specification followed in 2025 at 128 GT/s per lane. Cards and slots are backward- and forward-compatible, running at the slower generation and fewest lanes they share. Also written PCI-E and PCI Express; pronounced "P-C-I-E".