It’s official: The next-generation Thunderbolt spec will likely be referred to as Thunderbolt 5, debuting subsequent 12 months with sufficient charging energy and bandwidth to assist eGPUs and a brand new class of “external AI devices.”
Intel teased the brand new Thunderbolt specification on the finish of 2022, promising that the next-gen Thunderbolt would proceed the pattern of doubling bandwidth, all the best way to 80Gbps in a single path. That included a promise, now confirmed, that the 4 lanes of Thunderbolt could possibly be reconfigured to permit three lanes from a laptop computer to a monitor, relatively than two. That will enable the choice of a 120Gbps connection to a show, which Intel now refers to as Bandwidth Boost.
Thunderbolt 5 will ultimately be built-in inside Intel’s Core platforms, primarily laptops. Although Intel has a prototype dock and laptop computer that it’s going to start displaying off to clients, built-in Thunderbolt 5 will debut in laptops “in 2024,” Intel executives stated. Unfortunately, Intel shouldn’t be saying whether or not that will likely be inside its new Meteor Lake chip or another platform. Thunderbolt 4 and 5 will coexist for a while, although, Intel stated, ultimately giving strategy to the up to date spec.
Intel’s discrete Thunderbolt 5 controller will likely be referred to as “Barlow Ridge,” a chip which Intel will promote to Thunderbolt dock and system makers.
Here’s crucial takeaway about Thunderbolt 5: Thunderbolt 4 allowed you to attach two 4K shows, at 60Hz. Thunderbolt 5 will increase that to assist three 4K shows, at 144Hz every.
Thunderbolt and the related ecosystem of Thunderbolt docks quietly emerged into the mainstream alongside the expansion of working from dwelling, as staff found that their laptops have been missing in show and I/O ports, which have been largely changed by a single USB-C connection.
More and extra of those laptops now run the Thunderbolt high-speed connection by the USB-C port — and Thunderbolt embeds the DisplayPort protocol. All this implies is that a wide range of units, from docks to shows to SSDs to even exterior GPUs, will be run over a single Thunderbolt cable. That cable will stay at its present 1-meter size in Thunderbolt 5, Intel executives stated, although a 2-meter energetic cable is in improvement.
What’s in Thunderbolt 5?
The rule of thumb with Thunderbolt 4 is that the 40Gbps connection permits a laptop computer to hook up with two 4K shows operating at 60Hz. The extra bandwidth of Thunderbolt 5 will enable for three 4K shows operating at 144 Hz — which you may name the entry stage for the refresh charges players sometimes demand.
Intel executives stated that Thunderbolt 5 will likely be backwards-compatible with earlier Thunderbolt implementations. If you plug a Thunderbolt 5 system or dock right into a Thunderbolt 4-equipped laptop computer, it should work, albeit on the older, slower, 40Gbps velocity, they stated.
Thunderbolt 5 may also double the out there information bandwidth to handle storage units and eGPUs, going from 32Gbps in Thunderbolt 4 to 64Gbps in Thunderbolt 5. Two extra options are value noting: Thunderbolt 5 will provide 240W of charging energy downstream to the PC (plus a most of 15W to related units) and that the spec will assist PCIe Gen 4, versus PCIe 3 in Thunderbolt 3. Gamers ought to cheer each enhancements, as the primary will enable some gaming notebooks to retailer their proprietary charging cables contained in the field and use a USB-C charger and cable as an alternative. The second will enable these PCs to hook up with quicker PCIe Gen 4 SSDs and units, too.
Intel
The extra show bandwidth may also be capable to drive a number of 8K HDR shows or single shows at as much as 540Hz. (Intel isn’t breaking out the entire prospects fairly but.)
Thunderbolt 5 additionally helps DisplayPort 2.1 (versus model 1.4 HBR3 supported in Thunderbolt 3). The distinction is that DisplayPort 2.1 helps a most 10Ok decision (10,240×4,320, 60Hz) on a single show, versus the 8K decision DisplayPort 1.4 supported. DP2.1 additionally contains an improved model of Display Stream Compression (DSC 1.2a), which may do a greater job of managing bandwidth versus the older spec.
Intel’s Bandwidth Boost is a brand new function, and one customers shouldn’t have to fret about, particularly if they’ve an ordinary 1080p or 4K show. According to Jason Ziller, basic supervisor of the Client Connectivity Division at Intel, Bandwidth Boost will likely be dealt with by the Intel Connection Manager utility.
“If it detects a high-bandwidth display that’s requesting the extra bandwidth, [it] will automatically switch into that bandwidth boost mode,” Ziller stated. “And then…if you disconnect the display, the same thing would [come into] play, in that it would readjust to whatever devices are connected.”
Though few customers most likely use Thunderbolt to community two PCs, the out there networking bandwidth in Thunderbolt 5 has doubled to 64Gbps. That’s the identical quantity of bandwidth that customers should entry storage units like SSDs — once more, double that of Thunderbolt 4. Given that Thunderbolt 5 helps PCIe Gen 4, laptops may acquire a pleasant I/O efficiency enhance, general.
And sure, that features even eGPUs. While Thunderbolt 3-enabled eGPUs exist, few if any Thunderbolt 4 eGPU enclosures have been ever produced. Ziller particularly highlighted Thunderbolt 5 eGPU enclosures as units that could possibly be connected to Thunderbolt 5.
A shocking new class could possibly be exterior AI accelerators, Ziller stated. Intel’s Pat Gelsinger has stated that the brand new Meteor Lake processor will usher in the “AI PC,” and apparently Thunderbolt 5 may complement an eGPU with a particular AI field. “We may see a similar thing for different types of external AI accelerator solutions that could be improving things like video, video conferencing, collaboration, audio effects, various types of creator and gamer effects that are using AI, and then the local AI inferencing,” Ziller stated, thus avoiding the necessity to ship AI requests to the cloud.
How will you realize it’s Thunderbolt 5?
Intel has barely reworked the Thunderbolt emblem, giving at an up to date look. On a laptop computer, although, the principles are the identical: Look for a port with a lightning bolt atop it, and it ought to sign a Thunderbolt connector, not a generic charging cable. Thunderbolt cables will proceed to hold the lightning-bolt emblem, then a small “5” beneath to designate it as Thunderbolt 5.
Intel
Since technical collateral will solely be supplied to Thunderbolt builders starting within the fourth quarter, docks and units will take a while to ship.
Still, there a number of key points that the market should work out. For one, Thunderbolt is primarily a cellular answer: Ziller stated that about 90 p.c of all Core laptops ship with Thunderbolt, however there’s a “much lower attach rate” on desktops, particularly highly effective gaming desktops. More and extra screens are actually together with a USB-C connection, however it’s nonetheless unclear whether or not any could have Thunderbolt in-built, both as a hub or a show connection. The irony is that Thunderbolt 5’s bandwidth exceeds DisplayPort, however that continues to be a well-liked connector on graphics playing cards.
Ziller additionally didn’t actually communicate to the lingering query of USB4 v2, USB’s personal 80Gbps reply to Thunderbolt 5. Intel has stated earlier than it should license Thunderbolt to anybody. But due to what’s believed to be Intel’s refusal to certify non-Intel platforms, notebooks with AMD Ryzen chips inside use USB4; Intel Core notebooks use Thunderbolt.
“From a technical standpoint, the Thunderbolt 5 silicon could go into any device that has the appropriate connections,” Ziller stated when requested if this example would change with Thunderbolt 5. “So theoretically, it could be done.”
Ziller additionally didn’t deal with the elephant within the room: a competing know-how, DisplayHyperlink, is arguably cheaper and extra steady than Thunderbolt itself.
A DisplayLink USB-C dock makes use of a hardware-driven compression know-how from Synaptics to supply lots of the advantages that Thunderbolt units do, for much less. But possibly as Thunderbolt units turn out to be extra pervasive, DisplayHyperlink docks will fade away? We’ll have to attend and see.
Thunderbolt 5 options
- Overall throughput (together with show): 80Gbps, as much as 120Gbps upstream by way of Bandwidth Boost
- Data throughput (storage, eGPUs): 64Gbps
- Standards supported: DisplayPort 2.1, PCI Express 4.0, USB4 v2, USB3 20Gbps
- Thunderbolt networking: 64Gbps
- Power supply: 140W downstream PC charging (required), 240W downstream PC charging (elective), 15W per system
- Backwards compatibility: Thunderbolt 4/3, USB 4/3, DisplayPort 2.1
- Cable size: 1-meter (passive); 2-meter energetic cable in improvement