Skip to main content

Here’s why PCIe 7 will be a major upgrade when it comes to your PC

PCIexpress 7, or PCIe 7, is the next (next) generation of PCI Express technology that will increase the available bandwidth for all add-in cards on your desktop PC. I know, I know — you may still be working on upgrading to PCIe 5. Don’t worry, this one’s at least a couple of years away.

But when it does land, it promises to unlock the potential for even greater graphics performance, and open up future generation NVMe SSDs for even faster read and write speeds. In total, it’ll quadruple the available bandwidth over existing PCIe 5 slots, along with making improvements to efficiency and latency. Here’s everything we know about PCI Express 7 so far.

MSI MEG X670E Godlike motherboard.
MSI

What is PCIe 7?

PCI Express 7 is an upcoming generation of expansion port for computer motherboards. It’s an advanced version of existing PCI Express connectors that allow graphics cards and other add-in cards, like USB hubs and high-speed network cards, to connect to the computer.

Recommended Videos

The latest publicly available generation of PCI Express technology at the time of writing is PCIe 5. It’s found on some motherboards and there is a limited range of NVMe SSDs which can utilize its high-bandwidth connection. Modern graphics cards are compatible with PCIe 5, but they do not require it to run at peak performance.

The next-generation of PCI Express will be PCIe 6, with PCIe 7 set to follow it sometime later.

PCI SIG PCIe speed chart.
PCI SIG

How fast is PCIe 7?

PCIexpress 7’s has a per lane transfer rate of 128 Gbps. That’s double that of PCIe 6, and quadruple that of PCIe 5.

In a standard graphics card x16 slot, this would work out to a total bandwidth of 512 GBps. The PCI SIG interest group that defines and develops PCIe technology, claims that PCIe 7 will also benefit from reduced latency and improved power efficiency. It will also be backward compatible with all previous generations of PCIe technology.

PCI SIG believes that PCIe 7 will be utilized for high-end graphics cards, but also for enabling up to 800 Gbps Ethernet connections, and artificial intelligence calculations.

A big benefit of this high per-lane data rate, however, will be in enabling higher-speed connections in smaller PCIe slots. A PCIe 7 x1 slot will offer the same bandwidth as a PCIe 4 x16 slot, making it possible for high-speed drives and even graphics cards to utilize smaller PCIe connections for more compact computing.

When will PCIe 7 be available?

PCIe 6 was announced in 2022 and will see the first products and devices that support its debut towards the end of 2023. PCIe 7 is currently slated for a 2025 debut, so it may not be until 2026 that we see the first PCIe 7 supporting products launch.

Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale is a freelance evergreen writer and occasional section coordinator, covering how to guides, best-of lists, and…
Prime Day is over, but this powerful Dell laptop is still at its lowest price
The Dell Vostro 3530 laptop on a white background.

Prime Day is already over, but that doesn't mean that there are no more laptop deals for you to shop on Amazon. Here's one that caught our eye -- the Dell Vostro 3530 with 32GB of RAM for its lowest-ever price of $649, following a 28% discount on its original price of $899. This limited-time offer of $250 off may not last much longer though, so if you want to take advantage of this bargain, we highly recommend that you finalize your purchase for this device as soon as you can.

Buy Now

Read more
This Lenovo all-in-one computer is 30% off even though Prime Day has ended
The Lenovo V100 All-in-One Desktop Computer on a white background.

Even though Prime Day is already finished, there are still some excellent desktop computer deals on Amazon. If you don't have much space, or you just want to avoid clutter, you should take a look at the Lenovo V100 All-in-One PC. From its original price of $800, it's all the way down to just $560 following a 30% discount. The offer for this machine will only be available for a limited time though, so you need to act fast and proceed with the transaction immediately to secure the savings of $240.

Buy Now

Read more
The new Reachy Mini robot can let kids turn play into innovation
The Reachy Mini robot.

The Reachy Mini is an exciting new desktop robot aimed primarily at developers, educators, students, and enthusiasts, or basically anyone interested in creative coding.

There are actually two of them -- Reachy Mini Lite ($299) and Reachy Mini Wireless ($449) -- and both were developed by the prominent AI platform Hugging Face following its recent acquisition of Pollen Robotics. 

Read more