© PLX Technology, www.plxtech.com

Page 1 of 5

10/20/2010, Version 1.0

PEX 8712, PCI Express Gen 3 Switch, 12 Lanes, 3 Ports

Figure 1. Common Port Configurations

PEX 8712

x4

PEX 8712

x4

PEX 8712

x4 Gen 2

PEX 8712

x4

x4

x4

x2

x2

NT

x8 Gen 1

x4

Highlights

PEX 8712 General Features

o

12-lane, 3-port PCIe Gen 3 switch

-

Integrate 8.0 GT/s SerDes

d

19 x 19mm

o

o

Typical Power: 3.5 Watts

res

PEX 8712 Key Featu

o

a

St ndards Compliant

-

PCI Express Base Specification, r3.0

)

(compatible w/ PCIe r1.0a/1.1 & 2.0

ec, r1.2

-

PCI Power Management Sp

-

Microsoft Vista Compliant

ices

-

Supports Access Control Serv

-

Dynamic link-width control

peed control

-

Dynamic SerDes s

o

gh

Hi

Performance

♦

performancePAK

ng (bandwidth throttling)

Read Paci

Multicast

t Pool

Dynamic Buffer/FC Credi

ic

-

Non-blocking switch fabr

-

Full line rate on all ports

-

Packet Cut-Thru with 112ns max packet

latency (x4 to x4)

-

2KB Max Payload Size

o

Flexible Configuration

-

Ports configurable as x1, x2, x4, x8

-

Registers configurable with strapping

2

t software

pins, EEPROM, I C, or hos

-

Lane and polarity reversal

-

Compatible with PCIe 1.0a PM

o

Multi-Host & Fail-Over Support

sparent (NT) port

-

Configurable Non-Tran

-

Failover with NT port

-

Two upstream/Host ports with 1+1

eam port

failover to the other upstr

o

Quality of Service (QoS)

-

Eight traffic classes per port

-

Weighted round-robin source

port arbitration

o

ailability, Serviceability

Reliability, Av

♦ visionPAK

Per Port Performance Monitoring

header counters

Per port payload &

SerDes Eye Capture

PCIe Packet Generator

Error Injection and Loopback

nals

-

3 Hot Plug Ports with native HP Sig

-

All ports hot plug capable thru I

port)

(Hot Plug Controller on every

bit support

-

ECRC and Poison

-

Data Path parity

-

Memory (RAM) Error Correction

ignals

-

INTA# and FATAL_ERR# s

-

Advanced Error Reporting

-

ailable

Port Status bits and GPIO av

• Per port error diagnostics

-

JTAG AC/DC boundary scan

The ExpressLane™ PEX 8712 device offers Multi-Host PCI Express

switching capability enabling users to connect multiple hosts to their

respective endpoints via scalable, high bandwidth, non-blocking

interconnection to a wide variety of applications including servers,

storage, communications, and graphics platforms. The PEX 8712 is

well suited for fan-out, aggregation, and peer-to-peer traffic patterns.

Multi-Host Architecture

The PEX 8712 employs an enhanced version of PLX’s field tested PEX 8612

PCIe switch architecture, which allows users to configure the device in legacy

single-host mode or multi-host mode with two host ports capable of 1+1 (one

active & one backup) host failover. This powerful architectural enhancement

enables users to build PCIe based systems to support high-availability,

failover, redundant, or clustered systems.

High Performance & Low Packet Latency

The PEX 8712 architecture supports packet cut-thru with a maximum

latency of 112ns (x4 to x4). This, combined with large packet memory,

flexible common buffer/FC credit pool and non-blocking internal switch

architecture, provides full line rate on all ports for performance-hungry

applications such as servers and switch fabrics. The low latency enables

applications to achieve high throughput and performance. In addition to low

latency, the device supports a packet payload size of up to 2048 bytes,

enabling the user to achieve even higher throughput.

Data Integrity

The PEX 8712 provides end-to-end CRC (ECRC) protection and Poison bit

support to enable designs that require end-to-end data integrity. PLX also

supports data path parity and memory (RAM) error correction circuitry

throughout the internal data paths as packets pass through the switch.

Flexible Configuration

The PEX 8712’s 3 ports can be

configured to lane widths of x1,

x2, x4, or x8. Flexible buffer

allocation, along with the device's

flexible packet flow control,

maximizes

throughput

for

applications where more traffic

flows in the downstream, rather

than upstream, direction. Any

port can be designated as the

upstream port, which can be

changed dynamically. Figure 1

shows some of the PEX 8712’s

common port configurations in

legacy Single-Host mode.