The last few years have seen a substantial increase in interconnect speed, from to 2.5 to 10 Gbits/sec per lane, and from 1 to 32 lanes per interface. When it comes to coding techniques for interconnects, 8B10B is the most widely deployed technique because of its design simplicity and superior performance. However, it has a major drawback: its 25% overhead. Designers have begun to investigate alternative coding methods to overcome this problem. This article explores the strengths and weaknesses of several of these low-overhead coding techniques.