Understanding Performance of PCI Express Systems
Alex Goldhammer, John Ayer · 2008
PCI Express ® technology, which is a serialized point-to-point interconnect protocol, provides a high-bandwidth scalable solution for reliable data transport. Although PCI Express system transfer rates can seem extremely fast compared to those of its predecessor, PCI, users should understand the difference in raw bit rate movement versus data transfer performance. This white paper explores factors of the PCI Express technology that can impact performance. It also provides guidance on how to estimate the performance of a system. The white paper concludes with performance measurements gathered from two systems using the Endpoint Block Plus wrapper with the Virtex®-5 FPGA Integrated Endpoint Block for PCI Express designs. © 2008 Xilinx, Inc. XILINX, the Xilinx logo, Virtex, Spartan, ISE, and other designated brands included herein are trademarks of Xilinx in the United States and other countries. PCI, PCIe, and PCI Express are trademarks of PCI-SIG and used under license. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.