The end of PCI?

I think PCI will still be around for a while. Considering that many sound cards and wifi cards still utilize it, I don't see it going away anytime soon.
 
I rather like PCI. I think PCI could have gone a lot further if they had standardized on 66Mhz (a 32-bit, 66Mhz slot has more bandwidth than a PCIe 1.0 1x slot).
 
GotNoRice said:
I rather like PCI. I think PCI could have gone a lot further if they had standardized on 66Mhz (a 32-bit, 66Mhz slot has more bandwidth than a PCIe 1.0 1x slot).
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Then of course upcoming PCIe 3.0 x1 slots will blow the bandwidth of those PCI slots away :)

Don't forget that PCI is a shared bus either. What is provided as the bandwidth of the PCI bus is shared between all PCI devices installed, including onboard NIC, audio and such. PCIe is point to point and thus every device installed has the same amount of bandwidth available.
 
Since PCI use the 5V rail for power I doubt its life would be much longer even if it trumped PCIe 1.0 in bandwidth, modifying the existing slot to accept the now-standard 12V loads meant it wouldn't be compatible with older PCI devices without an complicated new revision anyways. Besides, the potential of PCI is much lower than PCIe.

The fact that with PCIe replacing AGP in graphics cards and itself being a "one-slot fits all" solution, PCIe's popularity (and the demise of PCI) in the consumer market isnt surprising.
 
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When I buy new boards, I prefer these with a PS/2 keyboard port, parallel and serial port. And none of that stupid angle sata port crap too. Preferred configuration would be (from top)
PCIe x16 elec.
Whatever
Whatever
PCIe
PCIe (that can fit upto x16 mechanical. opening at back of slot is fine. It'll be good for putting in a PhysX card, oh I mean an nVidia card x1 or x2 is fine:D)
PCI
PCI
 
I always prefer pcie for addons, usually because its above the first pcie x16 slot, because its small compared to PCI. And you always need a wireless card. Its just damned wireless n pcie cards seem hard to find recently (I have to use a laptop card).
PCI slots are usually buried in useless places between graphics card tween slots, so you either have to watercool or buy lower end graphics cards to fit them in.
But bandwidth doesn't really matter for low bandwidth tasks such as sound and wireless. n is only 300mbit/s.
 
I've seen the end of PCI for a long time coming when I first saw PCI-e come out. I actually thought the transition would be much faster; but then, I thought a lot of tech would evolve faster as well to utilize the new bandwidth availability. A lot of current tech still uses PCI, so I see no reason to get rid of it just yet. Minimize, maybe, but not eliminate. Especially since it costs extra money to rework a card that's already in PCI format to a PCI-e 1x format that may or may not work as well. PCI is still cheaper than PCI-e in many things; probably for this reason (with the main example being sound cards, and a secondary being NICs and wireless cards). I agree with DeathPrincess: I'm trying to find a wireless-N card for my new PC that I'm building next week but having a lot of trouble finding a PCI-e one, let alone from a brand I would trust!

I still have IDE drives myself. My DVD burner is also IDE, and it's still kicking just fine. It's not broken; why "fix" it? DVD burning and reading doesn't come anywhere near SATA levels. Blu-ray, yes, but I like my DVDs to last a little while so I write them at slower speeds (4x usually).

COM ports are still in use. Anyone around here use a plotter lately? What ports do they use these days? Lots of plotters for large CAD drawings use COM. It's a great port for when you just want to spit out data and not worry about a response.

Another thing I think people are just missing in this post are the fact that many businesses buy consumer computers for their employees. I work at a plant and we use PLCs for a lot of things. The EE brings his laptop out to parts of the plant to interface with the PLCs, using various ports on his laptop to do so, but his laptop is from 2006. I doubt he'd have the ports he has if the company decided to upgrade his laptop. Suddenly, spending $500 on a new laptop for one person costs thousands to replace and recode all the PLCs in the plant that use "legacy" connections? I agree that tech needs to move forward, but I don't see the point in eliminating all backwards compatibility.

k I think I've rambled enough hah :)
 
yeah I think I am going to have a problem when I rebuild this pc this weekend, my router requires a com serial connection to use its debug tool, my other pc and laptop dont have a com port so I will have a problem when I upgrade.
 
It would have been great if COM had been updated some more to stay relevant to more people, or maybe if a backwards-compatible successor had arrived. USB isn't that great if you just want to hook up a piece of equipment as pointed out already.
 
Good riddance I say. It's not like they couldn't manufacture add-on boards for PCI-E that they currently make for PCI.
 
PCI is a bottleneck in today's systems....it needs to go the way of the dodo bird.....

USB can handle most wireless needs and audio is pretty good on intergrated solutions so reasons to keep it around are getting pretty slim
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
it needs to go the way of the dodo bird.....
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Eaten into extinction? Mmmm PCB *nom nom nom*
USB can handle most wireless needs and audio is pretty good on intergrated solutions so reasons to keep it around are getting pretty slim
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I'd rather not have a wireless fob sticking out of my PC where something can hit it and damage it: I have that problem enough with USB drives. If it can be in my case, then I want it there instead.

I agree for most people that integrated audio has vastly improved, but the point of a dedicated audio card now (it seems) is for the expansion into specialized use. Those audio cards also come with a lot of nice software/driver functions that just don't come with the onboard chips. As long those cards are updated to PCI-e 1x and the legacy PCI slots are filled by PCI-e 1x slots, then yeah, manufacturers should start phasing out PCI (if they haven't already).
 
Intel is starting to end support with the H67, P67 and H61 chipsets. Q67, Q65 and B65 will retain it when they are released, but the end is near.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mainbo...ng_PCI_Bus_with_Select_6_Series_Chipsets.html

It's time. Most people do not use pci soundcards these days as the onboard is good enough. I haven't used a pci slot for anything other than tv tuners or a nic in years, and both either have cheap pci express alternatives or is handled by onboard equipment.
 
Ryokurin said:
Intel is starting to end support with the H67, P67 and H61 chipsets. Q67, Q65 and B65 will retain it when they are released, but the end is near.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mainbo...ng_PCI_Bus_with_Select_6_Series_Chipsets.html

It's time. Most people do not use pci soundcards these days as the onboard is good enough. I haven't used a pci slot for anything other than tv tuners or a nic in years, and both either have cheap pci express alternatives or is handled by onboard equipment.
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onboard is poor, it gives sound yes but compared to proper sound cards its not in the same league.
 
Most good wireless cards and good audio cards come in PCIE.

I am an audiophile and I would never use an audio card. I would much rather have a separate component (i.e. receiver/sound processor/DAC).



Wyluliraven said:
While it is possible that PCI will be phased out by the majority of the motherboard manufacturers, I would not be surprised if a handful of them create a line of boards, or even just single model numbers, that will continue to utilize PCI.

Like what was already said by Jshay, a lot of audio cards use the PCI bus, and audiophiles are an incredibly picky bunch when it comes to which card they continue to use. Also, WiFi expansion cards are usually PCI, but only some have started the PCI-e migration.

Thanks for the link, it was a decent read.
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I dont see a super purpose for pci-e 1x (not refering to x16/x8 slots).

Gb ethernet and decent audio comes onboard. For "audiophiles" generally PCI is fine.

The same cant be said for parallel/FDCs/serial though.




I just can't make an honest case as to why PCI should be phased out. Because it's "newer"? So was rambus.

Im not trying to make the case that PCI-E is the same trainwreck rambus was. Just thinking out loud.
 
pci is a dead platform. Just like AGP. I mean shit, it is still alive. AGP was around since 98.
 
ShuttleLuv said:
pci is a dead platform. Just like AGP. I mean shit, it is still alive. AGP was around since 98.
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AGP could have been around longer, with the use of AGP-PCIe bridge chips, but I know of only one mainboard which did this, one from Asrock. The switch from AGP to PCIe was if anything one of the more dramatic in the history of computer buses. AGP of course was just a hack of PCI, leading to a horrific lob-sided, asymmetric bus (host to adapter was fast, other way was slower than a snail caught in jelly). Its saving grace was being more efficient than PCI for videocards due to faster access between host and adapter. Didn't mean that PCIe is infinitely more graceful and everyone was happy to move on :)

PCI, like PCIe is a general-purpose interface for adapters. The points where it fails is latency, total bandwidth (shared among all devices) and complexity. PCIe is easier, faster, more elegant, requires fewer traces and doesn't require the same fat connector on the PCB each time. It will take time for PCI adapters to go the way of ISA, though. Meaning a long, excruciating and above all sluggish migration.
 
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