COMPTIA A+ Practice Exam 2025 - Free CompTIA A+ Practice Questions and Study Guide

The choice of 16GBps as the data rate for PCIe 16x is grounded in the architecture and specifications of the PCI Express standard. PCIe operates using lanes, where each lane typically consists of one transmit and one receive signal, allowing for simultaneous data transfer. In the context of PCIe 3.0, which is the version many associate with these speeds, each lane is capable of transferring data at a rate of 1GBps.

Since "16x" refers to 16 lanes, you would calculate the total data rate by multiplying the speed of a single lane by the number of lanes. Therefore, 1GBps per lane times 16 lanes equals 16GBps.

When considering the advancements in newer versions of PCIe, such as PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 5.0, the data rates per lane increase to 2GBps and 4GBps, respectively, which will yield higher overall data rates in their 16x configurations. However, the question specifically refers to the traditional rate associated to PCIe 16x in earlier versions, confirming that 16GBps is indeed the correct rate for this configuration.