PCI Express® (PCIe®) Official Compliance Testing & Product Validation Programs

PCI Express® (PCIe®) Overview

PCIe 

PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), abbreviated as PCIe, is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard. It is the common motherboard interface for PC graphics cards, SSDs, Wi-Fi and Ethernet hardware connections. PCIe technology has served as the de facto interconnect of choice for nearly two decades. The latest generation of PCIe technology targets the needs of data-intensive markets like data center, artificial intelligence/machine learning, HPC, automotive, IoT, and military/aerospace.

If you would like to know more about PCIe, please refer to: https://pcisig.com/faq

PCI-SIG 

PCI-SIG (Peripheral Component Interconnect Special Interest Group) is an electronic industry consortium responsible for specifying PCIe. The PCI Special Interest Group was established in 1992 as a non-profit organization. Its participating members come from more than 900 member companies.

The latest version of the PCIe Specification

PCI-SIG specifications define standards driving the industry-wide compatibility of peripheral component interconnects. Please find the latest PCIe specifications here: https://pcisig.com/specifications

PCIe Compliance and Certification

PCI-SIG Compliance Workshops host interoperability and compliance tests. Interoperability tests enable members to test their products against other members’ products. Compliance tests allow for product testing against PCI-SIG test modules.

In October 2023, the PCI-SIG announced an Authorized Test Lab Program for PCIe 4.0 devices. This program is in addition to the normally scheduled PCI-SIG Compliance Workshops held periodically throughout the year. GRL was selected by the PCI-SIG as the first PCIe Authorized Test Lab to provide PCIe 4.0 Compliance Testing for PCI-SIG members. In June 2025, the PCI-SIG authorized GRL to certify PCIe 5.0 devices that support up to 16GT/s.

GRL’s team has a deep history in PCIe supporting PCI-SIG committees, workshops, and adopters across the ecosystem.

GRL provides PCIe 4.0 and 5.0 (to 16GT/s) Official Compliance Testing and Integrators List Certification for Add-in Cards (devices) and Systems (hosts).

GRL also provides PCIe 5.0, 4.0, and earlier Base (ASIC) and CEM (System) Specification Pre-Compliance & Characterization for ICs, End Point (device), Root Complex (Host/System), Backplanes, and Connectors:

• Transmitter & Receiver Electricals & Rx Jitter Margin
• Tx Pre-emphasis Level Verification & RefClk Jitter
• Return Loss/Insertion Loss
• PLL Peaking and Bandwidth
• Transaction & Link Layer (PTC)
• Configuration Space (CV)
• PCIe Protocol Layer Analysis, Debugging & Stress Testing

Work with GRL to certify your product at our PCIe Authorized Test Lab (ATL), ensure compliance before you attend the workshop, or debug compliance-related issues.

PCI Express can be tested by the below product types.