👉 PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) is a high-speed, parallel bus architecture developed by Intel and others to facilitate communication between computer components and the main processor. Unlike older buses such as ISA (Integrated System Architecture), PCI offers significantly higher data transfer rates, making it ideal for modern high-performance applications like graphics processing units (GPUs), network cards, and solid-state drives (SSDs). PCI uses a structured design with dedicated lanes for data transfer, allowing multiple devices to be connected simultaneously and communicate efficiently. This architecture supports advanced features such as hot-plugging, where devices can be added or removed without shutting down the system, and it has evolved through various generations (PCIe) to accommodate increasing bandwidth demands and reduce latency, making it a cornerstone of modern computing infrastructure.
