PEX8603, PCI Express Gen 2 Switch, 3 Lanes, 3 Ports

© PLX Technology, www.plxtech.com

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8/17/2011, Version 1.1

Flexible Port Configurations

The PEX8603 flexible architecture supports a number of port

configurations as required by the target applications as shown in

figure 1 below.

Figure 1. Port Configurations

SerDes Power and Signal Management

The PEX8603 provides low power capability that is fully

compliant with the PCI Express power management

specification. In addition, the SerDes physical links can be

turned off when unused for even lower power. The PEX8603

supports software control of the SerDes outputs to allow

optimization of power and signal strength in a system. The PLX

SerDes implementation supports four levels of power – off, low,

typical, and high. The SerDes block also supports loop-back

modes and advanced reporting of error conditions, which

enables efficient debug and management of the entire system.

Port Arbitration and QoS

The PEX8603 switch supports hardware fixed Round-Robin

Ingress Port Arbitration. The PEX8603 also supports Eight

Traffic Classes (TCs) as defined in the PCIe specification.

Applications

Suitable for fan-out, consumer, control plane applications,

and embedded systems, PEX8603 is suited for a wide variety

of form factors and applications.

Dual-Band Wireless Adapter

The PEX8603 switch, with its small package and low power can

be used in consumer applications such as a dual-band wireless

adapter.

Figure 2. Dual-band Wireless Adapter

With WAKE#/Beacon support integrated in the switch, the

PEX8603 is well suited for low power consumer applications

such as that described in Figure 2 of a dual-band wireless

adapter.

Modem Set-top Box

With its small footprint, the PEX8603 is ideal for consumer

applications. Figure 3 shows a high level diagram for a modem

set-top box. The PEX8603 provides connectivity to a WiFi

controller for immediate use as well as future expansion.

Figure 3. Modem Set-top Box Block Diagram

Fan-Out

The PEX8603 can be used in as a fan-out switch to provide

additional x1ports. The PEX8603 SerDes can function at

2.5GT/s or 5

Figure 4. Fan-out

Bandwidth Bridge

There are three PCIe lanes available in the PEX8603. Each one

can represent an individual port or alternatively two can be

joined to form a x2 port. A x2 port can provide double the

bandwidth of a x1 port when all lanes are operating at the same

data rates (all at 2.5GT/s or 5.0GT/s). In some instances, the

need to match the bandwidth between devices running at

different data rates (2.5GT/s vs 5.0GT/s) is required to sustain

the performance of the faster device. Figure 5 provides an

PEX 8603

x1

x1

x1

PEX 8603

x2

x1

x1

x1

..

PEX 8603

PCH

CPU

2.5GT/s; 5.0GT/s

Gen1

x1