PCI-SIG confirms next-next-gen PCIe 8.0 spec v0.3: future-gen Gen8 SSDs will pump 256GB/sec

PCI-SIG announced the next-next-gen PCIe 8.0 specification last month, but now the body that controls the PCIe standard has released PCIe 8.0 specification, version 3.0 to its members.

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The next-next-gen PCIe 8.0 standard won't be for consumers and gamers right away but it is being tailor-made for super-intensive workloads like AI, quantum computing, and more. Right now, PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 5.0 are more than enough for virtually all gamers as the latest GPUs don't fully saturate the bandwidth available to PCIe 5.0.

Meanwhile, Gen4 SSDs still pump over 7GB/sec and Gen5 SSDs pump an even faster 14GB/sec+, which is way more than enough for gamers and average users. PCIe 6.0 isn't coming until after 2030 and by then, more users will be on the Gen5 standard without a need to do 32GB/sec+ reads from their SSDs let alone GPUs using the full bandwidth of a PCIe 6.0 x16 port.

PCIe 8.0 will be out of the ovens of PCI-SIG by 2028, with some of the key features of PCIe 8.0 being Signal Technology, as well as the continuation of Pulse Amplitude Modulation 4-level (PAM4) signaling, which is also used for PCIe 6.0 and PCIe 7.0. PCIe 8.0 has been designed to support emerging technologies like AI, machine learning, high-speed networking, edge computing, and quantum computing.

PCIe 8.0 Specification Feature Objectives:

• Delivering 256.0 GT/s raw bit rate and up to 1.0 TB/s bi-directionally via x16 configuration
• Reviewing new connector technology
• Confirming latency and FEC targets will be achieved
• Ensuring reliability targets are met
• Maintaining backwards compatibility with previous generations of PCIe technology
• Developing protocol enhancements to improve bandwidth
• Continuing to emphasize techniques to reduce power