GIGABYTE Offers Thunderbolt 3 Support on Select Boards with a Firmware Update

btarunr · Oct 26, 2015

GIGABYTE announced that it's enabling 40 Gb/s Thunderbolt 3 support on select boards that have 20 Gb/s Thunderbolt 2 support, with a mere firmware update. It turns out that the Thunderbolt controllers on the company's Z170X-Gaming G1, Z170X-Gaming GT, and Z170X-Gaming 7 motherboards physically support Thunderbolt 3, but due to a lack of certification, its support was withheld, and bandwidth limited to 20 Gb/s.

What's more, these boards support the Thunderbolt protocol over USB 3.1 type-C, at lowered bandwidth, besides its traditional Thunderbolt/mini-DisplayPort connector at rated bandwidth. This should help with the new generation of Thunderbolt daisy-chaining docks that support USB type-C connections. To get the latest firmware, all you need to do is update your board's BIOS to the latest one on GIGABYTE's website.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

lolsop · Oct 26, 2015

Better they fix their USB 3.1 since it is still not working correctly. IMHO nobody wants Thunderbolt. Too expensive, limited number of devices and especially the Type-C Thunderbolt devices are still far out.

Dethroy · Oct 26, 2015

I want Thunderbolt 3. It is THE connector that can easily subsitute the need for basically everything else. Why wouldn't you want that?

n-ster · Oct 26, 2015

What issues does their USB 3.1 have? I think he means that USB 3.1 Type-C, is a more universal standard and costs less than trying to find Thunderbolt stuff

Disparia · Oct 26, 2015

Dethroy said:
I want Thunderbolt 3. It is THE connector that can easily subsitute the need for basically everything else. Why wouldn't you want that?

I don't find it very enticing because it doesn't really enable me to do anything above and beyond what is already available.

That's not to say I'm against it. If my new laptop came with a Thunderbolt port I might use it for a dock. Though, that's not 100% certain because I'd get a PC laptop and I probably wouldn't be hurting for ports.

Uplink10 · Oct 27, 2015

Jizzler said:
Though, that's not 100% certain because I'd get a PC laptop and I probably wouldn't be hurting for ports.

Do you mean desktop replacement computer(DTR)?

You do not need Thunderbolt for a dock, you can use USB for that.

PCIe lanes in Thunderbolt are great and it just shows that everyone should be using the same standard for data transfer instead of different standards for external and internal devices like USB, SATA, PCIe, M.2, Thunderbolt.... One standard to rule them all!

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GIGABYTE Offers Thunderbolt 3 Support on Select Boards with a Firmware Update

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

lolsop

Dethroy

n-ster

Disparia

Uplink10