TABLE OF CONTENTS Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with the plan.
Tom Landry
This chapter looks more closely at the aspects behind planning and defining PCI Express-based products from two different perspectives. The first example represents the challenges and decisions a component manufacturer must make in developing a PCI Express based device. There are some unique aspects PCI Express presents to silicon device manufacturers. The second example takes a look at the challenges and decisions a motherboard manufacturer must make in using PCI Express devices.
The first example presents a PC graphics manufacturer as a case study. This section of the chapter covers the decisions implementers must make and the tradeoffs they are faced with in developing new products. This section highlights some of the unique challenges PCI Express poses beyond historical graphics evolution.
As covered in Chapter 4, graphics is a unique application that has continuously evolved with faster and faster interfaces. Figure 14.1 shows the bandwidth evolution as discussed in Chapter 4 (Note the PCI Express bandwidth is shown for one direction in Figure 14.1). PC graphics is an application where suppliers can achieve higher prices on initial implementations to recoup the development costs associated with new development.
Several factors affect the decision-making process for implementers. The decision of whether to buy or make the new...
