what is a pcie slot

A PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) slot is a point of connection between a computers motherboard and its peripheral components. PCIe is a standardized interface for motherboard components, including graphics, memory, and storage. PCIe slots come in different physical configurations, including x1, x4, x8, and x16, with x16 being the most popular. The number after the "x" indicates how many lanes the slot has, and a PCIe x1 slot has one lane, while a PCIe x16 slot has 16 lanes. PCIe slots allow for higher bandwidth, faster speed, lower latency, and more utility than older bus standards like PCI and AGP. PCIe cards or expansion cards are hardware that can be added to a device through PCIe slots, such as graphics cards, CPUs, solid-state drives (SSDs), or HDDs. PCIe is backwards compatible with previous PCIe generations and includes new features, such as electrical changes to improve signal integrity.