ASUS and Gigabyte have presented the first Thunderbolt 5 cards. And they will be a suitable option for a large majority of consumers who are not going to buy new equipment, but who do want to have the latest in technology, even if it is through additional accessories such as those The two largest motherboard manufacturers have presented.
Thunderbolt 5 is the new version of Intel’s high-performance connection interface. Double the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4 offering transfer speeds of 80 Gbps in any direction. Additionally, Thunderbolt 5’s alternate mode can transmit at 120 Gbps while receiving data at 40 Gbps when detecting certain devices. This mode works with wiring up to two meters and is the fastest that can be found in these interfaces.
Thunderbolt 5 cards
Gigabyte A few days ago it published on its website a card that incorporates Intel’s Thunderbolt 5 standard to compatible desktop computers. This card connects to a slot PCIe 4.0 and add five ports High-speed connection for greater flexibility. It includes two USB-C ports and three Mini-DisplayPort outputs. Thunderbolt 5’s USB-C connections can support two 144Hz 4K monitors, while the card’s DisplayPort outputs can drive one monitor with 8K resolutions at 60Hz via DisplayPort 2.1.
Users can daisy chain up to five devices from each USB-C port on the card, while the Power Delivery 3.1 function allows power transmission of up to 100 W for recharging peripherals, accessories or laptops.
Following in the footsteps of Gigabyte, ASUS has presented recently another solution for the Intel standard. Thunderbolt 5 cards. They are very similar. Although they differ in aesthetic appearance, in the power connector and in the final power supported (up to 130W with USB PD). As with the Gigabyte card, we find Intel’s JHL9580 Thunderbolt 5 controller at the heart of the card and it once again uses a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface and supports up to three DP 2.1 8K displays at 60Hz.
The ASUS card features three mini Display Port inputs and ships with three DP to mini DP adapters, as well as the two USB Type-C ports mentioned above. According to the manufacturer, Each USB-C port can manage three devices and two monitors simultaneouslyor four devices with one monitor.
Installation requirements for the first Thunderbolt 5 cards are unclear. Users will need a motherboard with a Thunderbolt connector, but Asus and Gigabyte don’t mention whether their cards only support certain chipsets. It must be said that the two giants only include Thunderbolt 5 on their most advanced boards.
Although no pricing has been provided, upgrading a lower-end motherboard with one of these cards will likely be a most profitable option for users who want to have the most advanced without having to update the equipment. As for software support, ASUS only mentions compatibility with Windows 11 64-bit, so it seems that Windows 10 will not receive a driver and neither will Linux. At least to start.
Source: www.muycomputer.com
