Intel Introduces Thunderbolt 5 Connectivity Standard, Bandwidth up to 120 Gbps

[btarunr]

Today, Intel announced Thunderbolt 5 - the next generation of Thunderbolt - and demonstrated a prototype laptop and dock. Thunderbolt 5 promises to deliver significant improvements in connectivity speed and bandwidth benefits for computer users.

"Thunderbolt 5 will provide industry-leading performance and capability for connecting computers to monitors, docks, storage and more. Intel is excited to continue our tradition of leadership for wired connectivity solutions. Thunderbolt is now the mainstream port for connectivity on mobile PCs, and delivering the next generation of performance with Thunderbolt 5 will provide even more capability for the most demanding users," said Jason Ziller, general manager of the Client Connectivity Division at Intel.



Thunderbolt 5 will deliver 80 gigabits per second (Gbps) of bi-directional bandwidth, and with Bandwidth Boost it will provide up to 120 Gbps for the best display experience. These improvements will provide up to three times more bandwidth than the best existing connectivity solution, providing outstanding display and data connections. Thunderbolt 5 will meet the high bandwidth needs of content creators and gamers. Built on industry standards - including USB4 V2 - Thunderbolt 5 will be broadly compatible with previous versions of Thunderbolt and USB.

Bandwidth needs of content creators, gamers and professionals are increasing significantly. These users want high-resolution displays and low-latency visuals while working with increasingly larger video and data files. Thunderbolt 5 has been designed to massively improve connectivity speed and bandwidth to ensure modern PC users can enjoy the highest-quality visuals and immersive experiences for years to come.

"Microsoft is excited to closely collaborate with Intel to bring the latest USB4 standard to Windows customers," said Ian LeGrow, corporate vice president of Core OS product management at Microsoft Corp. "Thunderbolt 5 is fully USB 80 Gbps standard compliant to support the next generation of high-performance displays, storage and connectivity."

Thunderbolt 5 builds upon Thunderbolt 4 in several ways, including:

• Two times the total bi-directional bandwidth; Bandwidth Boost provides up to three times the throughput for video-intensive usage, up to 120 Gbps.
• Double the PCI Express data throughput for faster storage and external graphics.
• Built on industry standards including USB4 V2, DisplayPort 2.1 and PCI Express Gen 4; fully compatible with previous versions.
• Double the bandwidth of Thunderbolt Networking for high-speed PC-to-PC connections.
• Utilizes a new signaling technology, PAM-3, to deliver these significant increases in performance with today's printed circuit boards, connectors and passive cables up to 1 meter.

Thunderbolt products have become mainstream in the PC marketplace, with leading PC accessory vendors worldwide adopting the standard to reach hundreds of millions of PC users active today. Thunderbolt 5 will build on this extensive base and continue to deliver on the vision of one USB-C port and cable that can do it all - simplifying the PC experience for users around the globe while still providing the highest quality and performance possible.

The announcement of Thunderbolt 5 is another milestone in Intel's long history of leading the industry in input/output (I/O) innovation. Intel works closely with PC, accessory and cable partners to deliver the most advanced and complete wired connectivity solutions through dedicated enabling and testing programs.

All Thunderbolt products undergo stringent certification testing to ensure the best wired connection solution performance for the PC industry. Products that pass this testing use the Thunderbolt brand royalty-free. That's why Thunderbolt has become a globally recognized indicator of the best wired connectivity solutions for PCs and accessories.

Computers and accessories based on Intel's Thunderbolt 5 controller, code-named "Barlow Ridge," are expected to be available starting in 2024.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[bonehead123]

MOAR SUPPEEEED, yee haw !

Thankfully, they had sense enough to stay with the same connectors, which hopefully will be around for a long, long time

 

[TumbleGeorge]

Hmm on blue cells on the slide
TB4 32Gb/s bandwidth for data and twice more for TB5? No 40, 80, 120Gb/s for data?

 

[bobsled]

MOAR SUPPEEEED, yee haw !

Thankfully, they had sense enough to stay with the same connectors, which hopefully will be around for a long, long time

How will a standard human be able to determine the standard and feature-set from the 630 variations the USB-C connector is providing?

 

[bonehead123]

How will a standard human be able to determine the standard and feature-set from the 630 variations the USB-C connector is providing?

I was merely commenting on the shape/size of the connector, not the technical details/capabilities, which I agree needs to be way more refined & simplified by everyone concerned (hello USB-IF ?)

 

[Zyalon]

Unfortunately not a single comment if they will finally fix the not supported usb 3.2 gen 2x2 on thunderbolt 3 and thunderbolt 4.
probably still not compatible

 

[nRag3]

"A single cable for more notebooks"

What's the power delivery of TB5?

 

[theouto]

"A single cable for more notebooks"

What's the power delivery of TB5?

I recall seeing something about 240W in a videcardz article

 

[R0H1T]

Unfortunately not a single comment if they will finally fix the not supported usb 3.2 gen 2x2 on thunderbolt 3 and thunderbolt 4.
probably still not compatible

Which version is that, in layman's a year old toddler's terms?

Because I stopped counting once the dumb & dumber members of USB IF went beyond the decimal number 3.xx

 

[TheLostSwede]

It's "interesting" how Intel keeps pissing on USB4, yet is one of the founding and driving members of the USB-IF.
USB4 was first to announce these speeds and it's not really optional as Intel points out in its graphs, not will it be any worse for raw data throughput.
So far NO company has made a 20 Gbps implementation of USB4 on a host controller and hubs aren't allowed to do anything less than 40 Gbps.

 

[Luke357]

It's "interesting" how Intel keeps pissing on USB4, yet is one of the founding and driving members of the USB-IF.
USB4 was first to announce these speeds and it's not really optional as Intel points out in its graphs, not will it be any worse for raw data throughput.
So far NO company has made a 20 Gbps implementation of USB4 on a host controller and hubs aren't allowed to do anything less than 40 Gbps.

That's partly due to Microsoft requiring USB4 laptops with Windows preinstalled to have minimum 40 Gpbs and PCIe tunneling.

 

[TheLostSwede]

That's partly due to Microsoft requiring USB4 laptops with Windows preinstalled to have minimum 40 Gpbs and PCIe tunneling.

It's mainly because ASMedia and AMD didn't want to make a 20 Gbps USB4 host controller.

 

[Prima.Vera]

Main thing out of this is that is 100% compatible with USB 3 and 4.
But what is USB 4 v2???

 

[TumbleGeorge]

Don't worry! When next generation AMD motherboard arrived with new chipset series, USB4 will be everywhere in desktop. Around year from now for first offers.

 

[eldon_magi]

This is nice, except maximum cable length will be 50cm. They need to go optical. And 240W through those small connectors?

 

[trsttte]

Hmm on blue cells on the slide
TB4 32Gb/s bandwidth for data and twice more for TB5? No 40, 80, 120Gb/s for data?

I believe that's because of effective bandwidth after encoding vs bit throughput (like hdmi 48gbits/s but data bw is 42gbits/s

I recall seeing something about 240W in a videcardz article

It'd make sense, max USB PD spec

It's "interesting" how Intel keeps pissing on USB4, yet is one of the founding and driving members of the USB-IF.
USB4 was first to announce these speeds and it's not really optional as Intel points out in its graphs, not will it be any worse for raw data throughput.
So far NO company has made a 20 Gbps implementation of USB4 on a host controller and hubs aren't allowed to do anything less than 40 Gbps.

Not to mention how they undermined USB4 with some of the features being optional to keep thunderbolt on top

This is nice, except maximum cable length will be 50cm. They need to go optical. And 240W through those small connectors?

PD at 240w also raises the voltage so the current is the same as with current 120w implementations

 

[eldon_magi]

I believe that's because of effective bandwidth after encoding vs bit throughput (like hdmi 48gbits/s but data bw is 42gbits/s



It'd make sense, max USB PD spec



Not to mention how they undermined USB4 with some of the features being optional to keep thunderbolt on top



PD at 240w also raises the voltage so the current is the same as with current 120w implementations

Ok fine. My biggest issue is cable length though. I'm planning on getting 4x 15 meter optical DP cables, plus 1x 15 meter USB3 cable that will need a separate powersupply to boost the signal. Those cables alone are gonna cost me more than a brand new motherboard.
And that's max 10 Gbit for the USB iirc. I saw some USB-c 20 Gbit optical extension cable, it cost over $1000!

i refuse to run my desktops and servers in the same room i work, no matter how much money i would spend on making them quiet, the background noise from moving fans is still there. And they slowly circulate all the room air through a massive amount of electromagnetic interference, ruining the air quality, no matter the size of the room.

So how are they gonna transfer this many bits through copper over a length that people actually need, no i'm not gonna fill my desk with NUC boxes for 10 thousand bucks.

When you have computers with spinning fans in the same room your work, ALL of the air in that room that you breathe constantly circulates through your computer, over the motherboard, and through the PSU. Most of the dust inside there is dead skin cells. Plus all the electromagnetic field ionize the air. Constantly, 24/7. And you wonder why you feel sick and tired?

I refuse to keep my computers in the same room as i work, only screens, keyboard and mouse. The DP/HDMI and USB/TB standard needs to go optical now. We need cable lengths of atleast 100 meters. Enough with this crap.

also keep in mind as your dead skin cells and hair and all the other dust circulate through your computer, it dries and everytime it hits the edges of those fan blades it gradually gets grinded to extremely fine microscopic dust that is lighter than air, and blasted out the back of your computer, and then ends up with you breathing it into your lungs. All of it.

 

[Minus Infinity]

I recall seeing something about 240W in a videcardz article

Yes it's 240W.

 

[Cheeseball]

This sounds really good for eGPU users. If an external enclosure can harness 120 Gbps, they should be able to run GPUs just below PCI-E 4.0 x8/3.0 x16 speeds (~15 GB/s).

 

[TheLostSwede]

This sounds really good for eGPU users. If an external enclosure can harness 120 Gbps, they should be able to run GPUs just below PCI-E 4.0 x8/3.0 x16 speeds (~15 GB/s).

It won't be, as the 120 Gbps is asymmetrical, which means it wouldn't be suitable for GPUs. It's technically for high bandwidth display signals.

 

[claes]

64 Gb/s for PCIe

 

[HOkay]

...and then ends up with you breathing it into your lungs. All of it.

...except at the dust that settles inside your PC & around the room. If what you said is 100% true then my room wouldn't get dusty at all because it'd all be in my lungs!

I'm with you on cable length though, the article says 1m max, which is ok for anything sitting on a desk, but it won't stretch any further than that

 

[TheLostSwede]

...except at the dust that settles inside your PC & around the room. If what you said is 100% true then my room wouldn't get dusty at all because it'd all be in my lungs!

I'm with you on cable length though, the article says 1m max, which is ok for anything sitting on a desk, but it won't stretch any further than that

There are optical cables that can go pretty much as far as you want, but at a cost...

 

[HOkay]

There are optical cables that can go pretty much as far as you want, but at a cost...

Not for power delivery though, which is one of the big things for Thunderbolt/USB 4 for me.

 

[TumbleGeorge]

There are optical cables that can go pretty much as far as you want, but at a cost...

Fiber optic cables themselves are cheap. Especially if you buy a whole reel and you don't want them to be from a world famous leading brand.