Friday, January 13th 2012
AMD Lightning Bolt is USB 3.0 Over DisplayPort
AMD's competitive technology to Intel Thunderbolt, called "Lightning Bolt" (codename, marketing name may differ), surfaced at CES, where AMD was showing off its upcoming "Trinity" accelerated processing units. The technology was dissected by Anandtech, revealing exactly how AMD plans to achieve its goal of providing a much lower-cost alternative to Thunderbolt, over a similar-looking interface. While Thunderbolt is essentially PCI-Express x4 over DisplayPort, Lightning Bolt is the much more mature USB 3.0 SuperSpeed over DisplayPort. It is a single cable that combines a USB 3.0 with DisplayPort (display), and power (sourced directly from the PSU).
The part that makes it affordable is that AMD has already mastered GPU technologies that allow several displays connected to its GPUs using DisplayPort daisy-chaining; while USB 3.0 controllers are getting cheaper by the quarter. Connections of DisplayPort, USB 3.0 and power converge at a Lightning Bolt multiplex, from which the actual ports emerge. Lightning Bolt will stick to established mini-DisplayPort specifications.
AMD has a lot invested in the success of its next-generation mobile platform based on its "Trinity" accelerated processing unit, and has no plans to help Intel propagate Thunderbolt on its mobile platform. The "Trinity" APU combines next-generation "Piledriver" x86-64 computing modules with a powerful Radeon HD 7000 series embedded graphics core, which takes advantage of AMD's Graphics CoreNext architecture, supporting DirectX 11.1.
Source:
Anandtech
The part that makes it affordable is that AMD has already mastered GPU technologies that allow several displays connected to its GPUs using DisplayPort daisy-chaining; while USB 3.0 controllers are getting cheaper by the quarter. Connections of DisplayPort, USB 3.0 and power converge at a Lightning Bolt multiplex, from which the actual ports emerge. Lightning Bolt will stick to established mini-DisplayPort specifications.
39 Comments on AMD Lightning Bolt is USB 3.0 Over DisplayPort
Wow that is such a unique name how did they come up with it?
While the competing Thunderbolt also doesn't impress me, I think being based on PCIe would have advantages worth the cost such as device connection, slot expanders, and latency. This last item I need to research, get some hard numbers for comparison.
So, to avoid thunderbolt license fees (or less than a $) we now substitute those fees for USB3.0?
AMD is solving a problem that is already solved. Let it die, like HDDVD, minidisc and betamax.
I think there is a market for power and data inside the same cable for monitors if only for power efficiency sake (computer PSUs are often far superior to those found in those little bricks LCD monitors use). I just can't see this as being the answer.
Isn't USB 3.0 max speed 5 Gbps? Daisy chaining devices would bottleneck you faster than Thunderbolt unless you attach multiple USB 3.0 controllers (I honestly don't know if this is possible)
I'm confident that this will make a nifty solution for who doesn't need a full blown desktop but can surely enjoy something similar when at home while keeping an ultra portable device like Ultrabooks :)