Cable Matters Launches the World's First Thunderbolt 5 Cable With Enhanced Performance

[trsttte]

I don't think thunderbolt is adequately fast for eGPUs. Not for gaming, at least.

If you don't use the laptop monitor as display it is, it won't saturate a 4090 of course - neither will a laptop - but it is plenty fast enough.

 

[Prima.Vera]

By the time we get Thunderbolt 10 cables they'll probably be water cooled.

Joke aside, I think this is the maximum speed that can go over Copper.
Not sure why the optical cables are not mainstream yet? Durability?

 

[LiKenun]

Hold up… in this entire article and the accompanying comment thread thus far, nobody has noted that existing passive USB4/Thunderbolt 4 cables are already capable of 80 gbps/120 gbps transmission. Only active cables need a respin for USB4 v2.0/Thunderbolt 5 speeds. Why is this cable—which is most likely not even active because it isn’t over 1 meter—distinctively better for Thunderbolt 5 than any other existing passive USB4/Thunderbolt 4 cable?

If Intel itself stated that the Thunderbolt 4 cables would be forward compatible with the Thunderbolt 5 transmission rates, what’s the selling point of these new ones which are priced higher?

 

[Patriot]

You're mixing up internal and internal connectors here now.
Oculink is also available as an external device to device interface, which differs slightly from the internal one, especially in terms of connector matings, which are exponentially higher for the external port.

View attachment 353238

PCI-SIG Announces CopprLink Cable Specifications for PCIe 5.0 and 6.0 Technology

PCI-SIG, the organization responsible for the widely adopted PCI Express (PCIe) standard, today announced the release of the CopprLink Internal and External Cable specifications. The CopprLink Cable specifications provide signaling at 32.0 and 64.0 GT/s and leverage well-established industry...

www.techpowerup.com

These eGPUs are the first time I am seeing oculink used externally. And may of the devices are using m.2-oculink adapters... so yeah, external connector, totally.
Just because they wrote it into the spec, doesn't mean they actually got around to implementing it.
I have yet to see oculink used externally in serverland.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Joke aside, I think this is the maximum speed that can go over Copper.
Not sure why the optical cables are not mainstream yet? Durability?

The issue isn't the cables, but the fact you need a "translation layer" between the optical and electrical signals and this ads a lot of cost. It also either has to be built into the cables, or into the computer and device.

Hold up… in this entire article and the accompanying comment thread thus far, nobody has noted that existing passive USB4/Thunderbolt 4 cables are already capable of 80 gbps/120 gbps transmission. Only active cables need a respin for USB4 v2.0/Thunderbolt 5 speeds. Why is this cable—which is most likely not even active because it isn’t over 1 meter—distinctively better for Thunderbolt 5 than any other existing passive USB4/Thunderbolt 4 cable?

It's the first certified Thunderbolt 5 cable. It's also be capable of 240 W USB PD, whereas Thunderbolt 4 is limited to 100 W, although this is optional in both cases.

If Intel itself stated that the Thunderbolt 4 cables would be forward compatible with the Thunderbolt 5 transmission rates, what’s the selling point of these new ones which are priced higher?

USB4 cables are also compatible.

 

[Prima.Vera]

The issue isn't the cables, but the fact you need a "translation layer" between the optical and electrical signals and this ads a lot of cost. It also either has to be built into the cables, or into the computer and device.

Actually, the Network cable vendors resolved this for decades. That's why we have Active optical cable and Passive optical cable, which are cheap as dirt and can take 400Gbps with no issue. Just that they are length limited.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Actually, the Network cable vendors resolved this for decades. That's why we have Active optical cable and Passive optical cable, which are cheap as dirt and can take 400Gbps with no issue. Just that they are length limited.

Solved and solved... How do you fit that in a laptop?
Also, how much power does something like that draw?

 

[Prima.Vera]

Solved and solved... How do you fit that in a laptop?
Also, how much power does something like that draw?
View attachment 353567

Who said anything about laptops?

 

[TheLostSwede]

Who said anything about laptops?

Not many desktops have Thunderbolt.

 

[ARF]

Joke aside, I think this is the maximum speed that can go over Copper.

Make the cable thicker, attach two, three, four thinner cables into a single unit, there you go.

Not sure why the optical cables are not mainstream yet? Durability?

Too fragile, maybe. Inconvenient. But this doesn't stop them to install optical internet cables in people's houses...