PCI Express 3.0 Spec Delayed Until 2010, Products Until 2011

So, there's good news for those hoping to make their existing machinelast a little bit longer. And there's bad news for those always lookingfor the next big leap in computing technology. The PCI SIG, the workinggroup responsible for the forward movement of the PCI bus, has justconfirmed that the release of PCIe 3.0 will be delayed by a significantamount.

The standard was originally expected to be ratified by the end of thisyear, yet now the specification isn't apt to be passed off until Q22010. You might say that Q2 2010 doesn't feel that far away, and in oureyes, you'd be right. But remember, that's the date that thespecification will be passed off; it'll be some time yet before actualPCI Express 3.0 products are produced after the coding is signed offon.  In fact, some estimates suggest that it could be late 2011 beforePCIe 3.0 wares are on sale to the general public, which means that PCIe2.0 just got a new lease on life.


If you're curious about the reasons behind the delay, the answer ispretty simple: the PCI SIG wishes to perfectly maintain backwardscompatibility with PCIe 1.0 and 2.0. Also of note, it's taking a longtime to verify products in the lab, and honestly, we'd rather theseguys and gals get things right than push out a buggy protocol thatcauses all sorts of issues with expansion cards. So yeah, it'llprobably be 2011 before you buy your first PCIe 3.0 GPU, but at leastyou can snag up that GTX 295 now without worrying over it become evenmore outdated even quicker.