Ahead-looking: Thunderbolt 5 doubles Thunderbolt 4’s bandwidth, providing 80Gbps switch speeds in both route. Nonetheless, Thunderbolt 5’s alternate mode can transmit at 120Gbps whereas receiving knowledge at 40Gbps upon detecting sure gadgets. The additional increase presently solely helps cable lengths as much as two meters.
Units that assist Intel’s new Thunderbolt 5 commonplace are starting to hit the market. For many customers, having access to the interface’s 80Gbps bidirectional switch speeds will probably contain shopping for or constructing a brand new PC, however including Thunderbolt 5 assist to current programs is an alternative choice.
An add-on card that brings Intel’s Thunderbolt 5 commonplace to appropriate desktops lately appeared on Gigabyte’s web site. This PCIe 4.0 card provides 5 high-speed connection ports for elevated flexibility. Gigabyte’s Thunderbolt 5 card contains two USB-C ports and three Mini-DisplayPort outputs. Thunderbolt 5’s USB-C connections can assist two 4K 144Hz screens, whereas the cardboard’s DisplayPort outputs can drive an 8K monitor at 60Hz through DisplayPort 2.1.
Customers can daisy-chain as much as 5 gadgets from every USB-C port, and Energy Supply 3.1 permits for as much as 100W energy transmission. Clients may take a look at an analogous add-on card on Asus’ web site – the ThunderboltEX 5. It options three DP 2.1 ports and two USB-C ports, but it surely additionally helps 130W quick charging. Future Thunderbolt 5 gadgets may theoretically attain as much as 240W.
Furthermore, Asus offers extra detailed details about its daisy-chaining capabilities than Gigabyte. In accordance with Asus, every USB-C port can deal with three gadgets and two screens concurrently, or 4 gadgets with one monitor.
For early adopters, Thunderbolt 5 will probably be most helpful for further shows and quick exterior storage. The protocol also needs to assist exterior GPUs, although customers with a free PCIe slot may merely set up a GPU immediately.
The set up necessities for Thunderbolt 5 playing cards stay unclear. Customers will want a motherboard with a Thunderbolt header, however Asus and Gigabyte do not point out whether or not their playing cards solely assist sure chipsets.
These add-on playing cards appear to focus on DIY builders who opted for extra inexpensive Intel Alder Lake Core Extremely 200 motherboards, which solely assist Thunderbolt 4 out of the field. Gigabyte has reserved Thunderbolt 5 assist for its flagship Z890 AI High motherboard. As of writing, the one Thunderbolt 5 motherboard out there on Newegg is the $1,000 Asus ROG Maximus Z890 Excessive.
Whereas pricing info for the Thunderbolt 5 and ThunderboltEX 5 playing cards shouldn’t be but out there, upgrading a lower-end motherboard with one among these playing cards will probably be a cheaper possibility.