Intel to Cease Supporting PCI Bus with Select 6-Series Chipsets.

From a tech point of view, it indeed makes sense to discontinue support for this low-performance connection. From an overclocker's point of view ... where to put the diagnostic cards?

Originally deployed in 1993, PCI bus will not be supported by performance-mainstream and value chipsets from Intel Corp., the globe’s largest supplier of core-logic sets and microprocessors. As a result, mainboard manufacturers and makers of peripheral cards will have to switch to PCI Express-supporting chips or to stick with other chipsets. According to sources familiar with Intel’s plans, the company’s H67, P67 and H61 core-logic sets – which are intended for code-named Sandy-Bridge platforms with LGA1155 form-factors – will no longer support PCI bus. At the same time, business- and enterprise-oriented Q67, Q65 and B65 will retain for support of PCI bus. Considering the fact that a lot of controllers, including audio processors and some outdated network chips, still use outdated PCI bus. As a result, mainboard makers utilizing them will have to replace the older chips with newer PCIe flavours. Moreover, those consumers, who still use products like Sound Blaster PCI audio cards will also have to get something more contemporary. Considering the fact that PCI (33MHz, 32-bit) bus only provides up to 133MB/s of bandwidth, it is natural that its performance is no longer relevant for modern personal computers.