Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing

Intel’s upcoming Thunderbolt 5 could make future USB-C ports twice as powerful

Jacob Roach
By

Once you post, there’s no turning back, which is a valuable lesson Intel executive Gregory Bryant learned on Sunday. In a visit with Intel’s Israel team, which is working on the Thunderbolt standard, Bryant tweeted out four photos of the lab and the area surrounding it. Although most of the photos were benign, one contained some details about the upcoming Thunderbolt 5 standard.

The photo, spotted by Anandtech, reveals two key details about Thunderbolt 5. The first is that the upcoming standard will support twice the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4 — up to 80 Gbps. It’s doing this while still targeting USB-C as the port, meaning Thunderbolt 5 will continue compatibility with existing machines.

Related Videos
Intel executive viewing a slide on Thunderbolt 5.
Anandtech

The more interesting and nerdy news is how Intel is achieving double bandwidth. It’s using Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM), which uses a combination of two numbers in the binary to transmit two bits of data in each cycle, unlike traditional transmission methods that only carry a single bit of data.

Related

In particular, the photo mentions PAM-3. Without diving too far into the weeds, PAM-3 delivers three bits of data across two cycles. A string of three numbers — either 1 or 0 — determine if the module will transmit a -1, a 0, or a +1 across two cycles. That allows Intel to increase the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 5 by transferring more data in each cycle.

Although the information is credible, that doesn’t mean it’s concrete. Bryant was quick to remove the image after it started circulating, tweeting again with the suspect picture removed (below). The photo never actually mentions Thunderbolt 5, either, but it mentions an “80G PHY technology,” which is more than likely Thunderbolt 5.

Day 1 with the @intel Israel team in the books. Great views…incredible opp to see @GetThunderbolt innovation …a validation lab tour and time with the team…can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings! pic.twitter.com/GKOddA6TNi

— Gregory M Bryant (@gregorymbryant) August 1, 2021

It could be a while before we hear anything else about Thunderbolt 5, though. Thunderbolt 3 released in 2015, and it took a full five years for Thunderbolt 4 to start shipping. There still isn’t wide adoption of Thunderbolt 4, as evidenced by a slew of Thunderbolt 3 docks still available.

Still, Thunderbolt 5 is shaping up to be a generational leap from Thunderbolt 4. With double the bandwidth, a Thunderbolt 5 connection likely will be capable of a far greater number of ports, higher resolution and refresh rate monitors, and more monitors through a single Thunderbolt connection.

This early on, however, it’s too soon to say what Thunderbolt 5 will be capable of.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
USB-C vs. Thunderbolt 3
Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C are hard to distinguish, but here's how the ports differ
Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 review

Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C are frequently mentioned in the same breath, making understanding the difference between the two quite challenging for the average person.

Both are hardware connection technologies, but they do function in different ways. Here's everything you need to know about USB-C, Thunderbolt 3, how they overlap, and what their specialties are.
What's the real difference?

Read more
The best USB-C hubs
best usb c hubs kingston nucleum hub

Most laptops today use USB Type-C as their primary (and sometimes only) ports. While USB-C has plenty of benefits, including pass-through charging and faster data transfer speeds, most people still have accessories with USB-A connections. Combine that with HDMI ports and SD cards, and USB-C still has a long way to go before it becomes a universal standard.

That’s why most people who buy a new laptop can benefit from a USB-C hub. The same goes for users who work primarily on laptop alternatives like the iPad Pro or the 2020 iPad Air. A USB-C hub allows users to connect their accessories, such as external monitors, external hard drives, and even peripherals like mice and keyboards.

Read more
Leaked image reveals future Intel exascale chips with PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 memory
intel raptor lake cpu rumors news specs logo

Intel's next-generation Xeon processors could come with support for new technologies to make servers fast, according to the latest leaked images. Leaked schematics for an engineering sample of Intel's 4th-gen Xeon -- which has a code name of Sapphire Rapids -- indicate that the processor may add support for PCIe 5.0 and new eight-channel DDR5 memory. Support for the former would make Sapphire Rapids the first server processor to add PCIe 5.0 support, while support for the latter would bring Intel's server into memory parity with its recently unveiled Alder Lake processors, which will arrive later this year.

For its part, Intel has not confirmed any information in the leak, but Wccftech reported that the schematics posted by YuuKi-AnS show that Intel's powerful server processor can be used in high-performance computing (HPC) systems like exascale computers. In one slide deck, a configuration shows that two Sapphire Rapids processors would be paired with six Intel Xe-based graphics with unified system memory.

Read more