The Complete PCI Express Reference: Design Implications for Hardware and Software Developers (Engineer to Engineer series) [Paperback]

Ed Solari (Author), Brad Congdon (Author), David Clark (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Engineer to Engineer series | Publication Date: September 2003

Allowing a hardware or software developer to know that their PCI Express design is correct and complete, this complete reference is designed to help the engineer complete a design in minimal time. Provided are illustrations and cross references that are not found in the official PCI Express specifications and a complete overview of PCI Express architecture. Specific topics addressed include routing, transaction packets, traffic classes and virtual channels, flow control and arbitration, and layering. Also provided in information on slot power, interrupts, lock protocol, and a complete overview of mechanical and electrical requirements. PCI Express configuration structure and registers are referenced as well.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Very comprehensive . . . a great resource . . . an excellent overview of the architecture . . . very clear about the advantages of PCI Express." -- Marc Pyne, program marketing manager, Texas Instruments

About the Author

Edward Solari has worked for both Intel and Hewlett-Packard. He was a member of the IEEE P996 Working Group, which developed the IEEE's AT bus standard. He has also worked closely with the PCI Special Interest Group and has been involved in the development of PCI chip sets. He is the author of PCI & PCI-X Hardware and Software Architecture and Design and holds multiple patents.

Brad Congdon is a staff engineer at Intel Corporation, where he has worked on a variety of component, board, and system designs, most recently leading the development of a PCI Express chip set. He holds three U.S. patents in the areas of server architecture and component design, with other patents pending.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1056 pages
• Publisher: Intel Press (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971786194
• ISBN-13: 978-0971786196
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.6 x 2.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,191,378 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Book Is Inadequate In All of its Objectives, July 27, 2004

By 

nom_de_plume "mr_untel" (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete PCI Express Reference: Design Implications for Hardware and Software Developers (Engineer to Engineer series) (Paperback)

I bought this book a few week ago. It is horrible.
There are so many mistakes I sincerely doubt the book has
gone through an editorial review or more than
a cursory reread by the authors. Typos, obvious cut and paste
errors, bad diagrams. The presentation of the material is also
very poor. In explaining various topics it makes uses of many
terms and concepts before they are even defined.

The book is also extremely repetitive in that
it reintroduces the same concepts over and over again. At first
I would reread paragraphs to determine if I had missed
something new in what appeared to be repetitive. After wasting
too much time I now just move on. The book could have been much
more succinct and concise. Instead it is very tedious and discouraging. The numerous errors leave the reader second
guessing his or her understanding of chapters previouly read.

I am a designer by trade and there is no way I would
design anything using this text as a reference. Intel press
has miserably failed in screening this book from publication.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complete PCI Express Reference, October 8, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Complete PCI Express Reference: Design Implications for Hardware and Software Developers (Engineer to Engineer series) (Paperback)

This book provides much more information than the specification. I know one of the engineers that wrote the specification and I for his sake I hate to admit that this book does a much better job. When I use the specification I have to look at all pages in the specification to find all information on each topic. This book has done this work by grouping into chapters these topics and adding design information. It saved me weeks of design work and it helped me understand the specification. I do have to admit that without the book I don't think I would have understood the specification.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complete PCI Express Reference, September 21, 2003

By 

"sam12sato" (Redmond, WA, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete PCI Express Reference: Design Implications for Hardware and Software Developers (Engineer to Engineer series) (Paperback)

This is absolute must have book for any hardware or software engineer working on PCI Express. It has excellent detailed block diagrams, many tables, and extensive flowcharts which are very useful engineering aids. It appears all are beyond the specification and not simply a copy of the specification. It is very well rewritten and removes the guess work of what the specification was defining and provides the details the specification should have provided. It appears that Intel printed this book in addition to their introduction book to provide a single source for complete information and appears to have provided the authors with inside information. This book is so complete in protocol and architecture one does not even need to get the specification for these topics. The error and link state chapters and general architecture are excellent and far beyond anything in the specification. The book does provide an overview of the mechanical and the electrical waveforms for component devices, but refers to the specification for details of these topics. A friend who was technical reviewer of this book lent me electronic files of this book as a favor and I found it so useful I ordered a hardcopy.