What advantages are there for using PCI-X?
A. PCI-X is backwards compatible with 64-bit, 66MHZ PCI. It can up to double the speed of a 64-bit, 66MHZ PCI by doubling the clock to up to 133 MHZ and allows more loads (cards) on the PCI bus. It also imposes new restrictions on retries and wait states for burst transfers — thereby decreasing latency and improving performance. Typically, 2 cards running at 100 MHZ can be installed on a given PCI-X bus segment. There are system boards available from Intel, SuperMicro and other vendors with PCI-X slots and multiple PCI-X bus segments. Our newer cards including the models 6162, 5262 and 5362 dual-port’s feature a PCI-X bus interface.
