As the gaming industry continues to advance, the hardware industry must also do its part and implement improvements in the components that are required to enable its execution. This is how within this area we find PCI Express 5.0, which represents a significant advance within this standard, offering substantial improvements compared to PCIe 4.0.

In this post, we will help you understand how this new generation of PCIe impacts the performance of games and your PC system in general. Join us.

 

 

Brief Description of PCIe

In case you didn't know, PCI Express is the name given to a high-speed interface standard whose job is to allow components such as graphics cards, SSDs, and other peripherals to connect to the motherboard. An interesting fact is that each generation of PCIe that comes out doubles the bandwidth of the previous version. Let's see:

• PCIe 3.0: Offers a maximum bandwidth of 8 GT/s (gigatransfers per second) per lane
• PCIe 4.0: Doubles this figure to 16 GT/s
• PCIe 5.0: Doubles it further to 32 GT/s
• PCIe 6.0: Expected to reach 64 GT/s

But this is not due to a whim of the manufacturers. It is done to give this standard the power needed to adapt to the growing data demands of modern games and applications.

 

 

The impact of PCIe 5.0 on Gaming Performance

In theory, PCIe 5.0 bandwidth brings increased speed to the data transfer process between the CPU, GPU, and storage devices. This interaction produces additional performance that can be leveraged by SSDs to reduce load times and improve the transmission of assets in games.

Within a game, asset streaming saves memory by loading areas of the world at different resolutions depending on how far away the player is from them. And while PCIe 4.0 SSDs can reach speeds of up to 7 GB/s, PCIe 5.0 SSDs can theoretically reach up to 14 GB/s.

And while these speeds may seem impressive to you, many current games don't fully occupy the bandwidth provided by PCIe 4.0.

Despite the above, adopting PCIe 5.0 is one of the best decisions you can make for your gaming PC. More and more game developers are designing titles that use faster storage solutions and higher data throughput.

So, having a motherboard that has integrated PCIe 5.0 will make your PC be ready to handle these advances without any problems. Plus, it is expected that upcoming graphics cards will take full advantage of the capabilities of this standard, which could lead to significant performance improvements in future game titles.

 

Latency Considerations

But increasing bandwidth in the new PCIe generations is not the only thing developers focusing their attention on.

Another aspect taken into account is latency, which represents a critical factor in gaming performance. In this regard, the latency in PCIe 5.0 is low and remains at the same level as previous generations. So, developers ensure that any speed increases made within this standard do not degrade responsiveness during gameplay.

 

 

The Transition to PCIe 6.0

The entry onto the scene of PCIe 6.0 brought with it even greater advances. One was the change from traditional NRZ (non-return-to-zero) signaling to PAM-4 (pulse amplitude modulation). This change allows the data rate to double without causing a significant increase in latency, thus transmitting four values instead of two in the same time interval.

This means that PCIe 6.0 will theoretically be capable of 64 GT/s, which will facilitate high-bandwidth gaming and virtual reality, as well as high-resolution content creation.

 

Implications for Gaming Performance

PCIe 6.0 is still some time away. However, it is substantial to glimpse its potential impact on gaming performance. Its implementation would produce an exponential increase in performance and simultaneous data transfer. Game content would load faster and more efficiently.

In addition, PCIe 6.0 would provide a robust data pipeline that would help maintain smooth performance without stuttering or lag, which would be suitable for processing more complex games with larger open worlds and detailed textures.

As with PCIe 5.0, the adoption of motherboards with PCIe 6.0 will enable compatibility with future GPU and storage solutions capable of taking full advantage of the bandwidth offered by this standard.

 

 

Overall Impact of the PCIe Standard on System Performance

Increased gaming performance will not be the only benefit you will gain by adopting the new PCIe generations as they will also have a positive impact on overall system efficiency. Join us to see what other aspects will benefit:

 

Multi-device management

Having more bandwidth available thanks to the new generations of PCIe can be very helpful as systems scale in complexity and integrate multiple GPUs or NVMe SSDs. It would prevent bottlenecks from occurring by having multiple devices trying to communicate simultaneously with the CPU.

An advanced generation of PCIe would allow a system with multiple NVMe drives connected through PCIe lanes to perform their operations while maintaining optimal performance and without the risk of bottlenecks.

 

Enhanced Peripheral Support

Streaming capture cards and high-speed network cards are advances brought by peripheral technology. For them to work optimally without slowing down other system components, a robust next-generation PCIe interface is required.

 

Real-world Gaming Performance Considerations

While the theoretical advantages offered by the new generations of PCIe are significant, real-world testing reveals nuanced results in different gaming scenarios. Let's see:

 

Current GPU limitations.

Many modern GPUs still operate effectively within PCIe 4.0 bandwidth limits during typical gaming scenarios at resolutions such as 1080p or even some at 1440p.

  

Marginal gains

Performance tests performed on different PCIe generations resulted in findings that despite the improvements evidenced in frame rates when moving from PCIe 3.0 to 4.0 and even from 4.0 to 5.0 under certain conditions (especially with high-end GPUs) these were slight. Often less than a few percentage points under typical gaming workloads.

 

The impact of PCIe generations on Gaming Performance: Final Words

Arguably, the emergence of PCIe 5.0 and PCIe 6.0 within the PCI Express standard is a significant leap forward in terms of the potential performance they offer in both data transfer and overall system efficiency. This will undoubtedly be welcomed by gamers and will motivate manufacturers to continue working to enhance its capabilities.

And although current gaming workloads do not take full advantage of the benefits provided by the latest generations of PCIe, we recommend that if you have the opportunity to invest in hardware compatible with these standards do not think twice. This will make your system ready to adapt to advanced graphics quality games and more complex environments that will be developed in the future.