Intel just proved how powerful Thunderbolt 5 really is

By David Matthews September 13, 2022

Intel just demoed its next-generation Thunderbolt 5 technology during a Technology Tour in Israel. The demo seems to confirm that Thunderbolt will be capable of 80 Gbps speeds and it marks the first time that Intel has publicly shown off the speed.

This recent demo didn’t seem to show any additional features of the new Thunderbolt 5 other than the speed. However, we do know a little bit more based on pictures posted by former Intel exec Gregory Bryant.

Two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 and a 3.5mm audio jack on the left-hand side of the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 2. — Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Bryant tweeted out since-deleted pictures of the Thunderbolt lab in Israel. The photos showed a few technical bits concerning how Intel is achieving double bandwidth (and thus 80 Gbps) by using Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM).

The 80 Gbps speed is on par with USB4 Version 2.0 that was recently announced, which also achieves 80 Gbps in a dual-link mode. Considering both standards use USB-C connectors and are more or less at feature parity, it’ll be interesting to see how Intel distinguishes Thunderbolt 5.

Thunderbolt has been crucial in high bandwidth transfers that have enabled everything from external storage to external GPUs. A majority of computers (especially laptops) released in recent years include Thunderbolt ports, including Macs with Apple Silicon.

The latest version, Thunderbolt 4, released in 2020, offered a number of upgrades over Thunderbolt 3. This includes support for multiple 4K displays and increased PCIe bandwidth.

The irony is that USB4 is derived from Thunderbolt 3, which was donated to the USB Implementers Forum in 2019. Now that USB 4, Version 2.0 has caught up to Thunderbolt 5, it’ll be interesting to see how both standards are implemented in future devices.

Intel hasn’t set a timetable of the release of Thunderbolt 5, but it will likely launch some time this year.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

David is a freelance journalist based just outside of Washington D.C. specializing in consumer technology and gaming. He has…

Computing

The free version of ChatGPT just got much more powerful

OpenAI developer using GPT-4o.

While OpenAI continues to add new features to ChatGPT Plus, the free version of ChatGPT has remained relatively stagnant since its release. But not anymore.

One of the best features that's been exclusive to ChatGPT Plus -- custom GPTs -- is now available to use for free. The feature is exactly what it sounds like -- customized versions of ChatGPT that users can create to fulfill a specific task. You can give them extra knowledge and direct their behavior with custom prompts, all without needing to code.

Computing

AMD may have a leg up on Intel with Zen 5

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D sitting on a motherboard.

It appears that AMD may be just about ready to strike a huge blow against Intel -- and it might come sooner than expected. According to a new rumor, AMD is said to be announcing its next-gen top processors as early as next week, presumably during Computex 2024. While AMD might beat Intel to the punch when it comes to releasing new CPUs, the Ryzen 9000 lineup may start out small.

The tantalizing bit of gossip comes from wjm47196 on Chiphell forums, whose message was later shared by VideoCardz. The message itself is quite cryptic, but reading between the lines gives us some insight into the upcoming lineup.

Computing

How an iPad just set a Geekbench record

An iPad Pro being cooled with liquid nitrogen.

Apple’s M4 chip is already setting records thanks to the help of an unconventional cooling method: liquid nitrogen. Apple’s latest ARM-based chip made its debut on the 2024 iPad Pro tablets earlier this month, which outperforms its predecessors and rival high-end desktop processors in terms of raw performance.

As reported on by Tom's Hardware, the team at Geekerwan carried out the experiment using a Kingpin Cooling T-Rex Rev 4 CPU LN2 pot and slapping it to the back of the iPad Pro. When subjected to extreme cooling using liquid nitrogen, the M4 chip managed to go past the 4000-point barrier in Geekbench 6's single-core benchmark. This achievement places it well ahead of some of the most powerful chips on the market, including Apple’s own M3 Max and the M2 Ultra.