When we talk about the PCIe interface of a motherboard, the first thing that comes to mind for most users is that it is used to connect a graphics card, since it is the connection that superior performance offers compared to the rest of what can be found on any motherboard, however, a graphics card is not the only type of component that can be connected.
It is important to keep in mind that there are different types of PCIe ports, from PCIe x1 to PCIe x16, including PCIe x4 and PCIe x8, and, depending on the age of our card, we can find a type PCIe connection or another. , For example. So, not all cards that we can connect to a PC are necessarily compatible with all devices.
PCIe cards
If we want improve internet connection speed or local network of our PC, we can use a USB key or a Wi-Fi card using a PCIe interface. This type of card includes several antennas, so they will always offer us greater coverage.
Additionally, by offering a wider bandwidth, we will always benefit from the best connection speed that our router is able to offer. While it’s true that they’re a little more expensive than traditional USB drives, it’s definitely worth paying a little more for the difference.
Just as we can also add Wi-Fi connectivity to our card using the PCIe interface, we can also improve or add, if it no longer works, Ethernet connectivity using a network card.
Another interesting option for giving output to the PCIe interface is found in add USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports
If we want to improve the storage speed of our PC, the best way to do it is to use M2 units. If our PC does not have one, we can use an expansion card that uses the PCIe 4.0 interface and to which we can connect M2 storage units. Some models, like the ASUS Hyper, allow us to connect up to 4 M2 units with form factors 2242, 2260, 2280 and 22110, and are compatible with RAID on cards compatible with Intel and AMD processors.
If our needs are not so high and a simple M2 disk is more than enough, we can use this PCIe NVMe adapter with includes heat sink
We can also use PCIe connection to increase the number of SATA connections from any PC, an ideal function if we need to connect several storage units to our PC and with native connections we don’t even have it initially.
In addition to all types of PCIe cards that can be found on the market, we can also use this port to connect a Sound charter to expand the capabilities of our PC, the manufacturer Creative being one of the most recommended since it also allows us to use it for professional audio input.
You can also find PCIe cards for capture video signal from other devices such as consoles, camcorders or any other capable of transferring the image mainly through an HDMI connection, although we can also find models with older RCA type connections.
