PXI Express Compatibility

In an effort to incorporate PCI Express signaling into PXI, the PXI Systems Alliance (pxisa.org) has defined a modification for PXI modules. On modified PXI modules, or PXI Express-compatible modules, the top rear connector is replaced with a smaller connector.

PXI Express-compatible modules preserve the following features:

• PXI chassis compatibility—You can install PXI Express-compatible modules in all existing PXI and PXI hybrid chassis. PXI hybrid chassis have slots that can accept either a PXI Express compatible or a PXI Express module. To determine if you have a PXI hybrid chassis, refer to your chassis documentation. For more information about PXI hybrid chassis, refer to the PXI Express FAQ on the NI Developer Zone Web site.
• Software compatibility—PXI Express compatibility does not require any changes to existing applications and/or driver software.
• Specifications—PXI Express compatibility does not alter module specifications.
• PXI communication—PXI Express compatibility preserves the speed and capability of all PXI communication.
• PXI timing and triggering—PXI Express compatibility supports existing PXI timing and PXI triggering capabilities.

Note  For future compatibility, PXI Express-compatible modules do not support 64-bit PCI or the local bus configurations.

For more information about PXI Express-compatible modules, visit ni.com/info and enter the following info code exphwr.

A comparision of a PXI and a PXI Express-compatible module is shown in the following figure.

1  PXI module	3  PXI Express-compatible module
2  PXI rear connector	4  PXI Express compatible rear connector