ASUS and Gigabyte have introduced the first Thunderbolt 5 cards, and they will be a suitable choice for the vast majority of consumers who are not going to buy new equipment, but want to have the latest technology, even if it is through others. accessories such as those The two largest motherboard manufacturers introduced.

Thunderbolt 5 is a new version of Intel’s high-performance connection interface. Double the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4 offers transfer speeds of 80 Gbps in any direction. In addition, Thunderbolt 5 Alternate Mode can transmit at 120 Gbps and receive at 40 Gbps when certain devices are detected. This mode works with cabling up to two meters and is the fastest that can be found in these interfaces.

Thunderbolt 5 cards

A few days ago, Gigabyte published a card on its website that includes the Intel Thunderbolt 5 standard for compatible desktops. This card connects to PCIe 4.0 slot and add five ports High speed connection for more flexibility. It includes two USB-C ports and three Mini-DisplayPort outputs. The USB-C Thunderbolt 5 connection can support two 144Hz 4K monitors, while the card’s DisplayPort outputs can drive a single 8K monitor at 60Hz via DisplayPort 2.1.

Users can daisy chain up to five devices from each USB-C port on the card, while the Power Delivery 3.1 function allows power transfer of up to 100 W to charge peripherals, accessories or laptops.

ASUS, following the example of Gigabyte, recently introduced another solution for the Intel standard. Thunderbolt 5 cards. They are very similar. It differs in aesthetic appearance, but in the power connector and supported final power (up to 130W with USB PD). As with the Gigabyte card, we find the Intel JHL9580 Thunderbolt 5 controller at the heart of the card and it again uses the PCIe 4.0 x4 interface and supports up to three DP 2.1 8K displays at 60 Hz.

The ASUS card includes three mini Display Port inputs and comes with three DP to mini DP adapters as well as the two USB Type-C ports mentioned above. According to the manufacturer Each USB-C port can manage three devices and two monitors simultaneouslyor four devices with one monitor.

Installation requirements for the first Thunderbolt 5 cards are unclear. Users will need a motherboard with a Thunderbolt connector, but Asus and Gigabyte don’t mention whether their cards only support certain chipsets. It must be said that both giants only include Thunderbolt 5 on their most advanced boards.

Although no prices were given, upgrading a low-end motherboard with one of these cards will likely be a the most profitable option for users who want to have the most advanced without having to upgrade equipment. As for software support, ASUS only mentions compatibility with Windows 11 64-bit, so it seems that Windows 10 won’t get the driver and neither will Linux. At least to begin with.