You are installing a new video card into a PCIe slot. What is the combined total throughput of a PCIe 2.0 x16 slot?
A. 500 MBps
B. 1 GBps
C. 16 GBps
D. 32 GBps
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
The correct answer is D. 32 GBps.
Explanation:
PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) is a high-speed interface standard used for connecting various hardware components to the motherboard, such as graphics cards, storage devices, and networking cards. PCIe 2.0 is one of the generations of PCIe, offering a particular throughput or data transfer rate.
- PCIe 2.0 x16 refers to the specific configuration of the slot:
- PCIe 2.0: This is the second generation of the PCIe standard.
- x16: This indicates that the slot has 16 data lanes. The “x” in “x16” refers to the number of lanes that are used to transmit data. A higher number of lanes allows for higher data throughput.
Each PCIe lane in PCIe 2.0 can transfer data at a rate of 500 MBps (megabytes per second) in each direction. Since PCIe 2.0 has a theoretical maximum throughput of 500 MBps per lane, the throughput of a PCIe 2.0 x16 slot, which has 16 lanes, is calculated as follows:
[
500 \, \text{MBps} \times 16 = 8,000 \, \text{MBps} = 8 \, \text{GBps} \text{ (gigabytes per second)}.
]
However, when considering the total combined throughput in both directions (bi-directional), this value doubles:
[
8 \, \text{GBps} \times 2 = 16 \, \text{GBps}.
]
Thus, the combined throughput of a PCIe 2.0 x16 slot is 16 GBps. Therefore, the correct answer is C. 16 GBps.
To summarize:
- A PCIe 2.0 x16 slot offers 8 GBps in one direction.
- 16 GBps is the total throughput when considering both the upstream and downstream data paths, making C the correct answer.