The PCI-E standard has been with us for 11 years now but it will be here to stay – the popular expansion bus standard will get its latest update in year 2017 in the form of PCI-E 4.0.
Just like before PCI-E 4.0 will offer an increase in the data transfer speed – buses using PCI-E 4.0 will be able to transfer up to 16 Gbit/sec per lane, which is two times higher than what PCI-E 3.0 offers. The new PCI-E 4.0 will keep backward and forward compatibility in both software support and used mechanical interface so transferring older hardware to the new bus should not be a problem. This will also be the last PCI-E standard to use copper contacts; PCI-E 5.0 will use optical data paths when it comes in the distant future. There will be power consumption optimizations as well. The final PCI-E 4.0 specifications will be published no earlier than year 2017 and the development of this version will take the longest due to unknown reasons.
It is too early to talk about motherboards with PCI-E 4.0 slots right now but the first models with this technology will appear in 2017 at the earliest as well.
Source: Technologyx.com