Almost a year after official debut Thunderbolt 5 the world’s first new standard cable is finally materializing. Cable Matters has introduced the Thunderbolt 5 cable, which offers full 120Gbps video bandwidth in 0.3m, 0.5m, and 1m lengths for $23, $27, and $33 respectively.
Since Thunderbolt 5 has only one standard design, the cable supports all of its features: up to 240W of power, backward compatibility with Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt 3 Type-C ports (as well as USB4 and USB Type-C), 120Gbps for video in upscaled mode, and up to 80Gbps of bi-directional speed.
Thunderbolt 5 is based on the USB4 version 2.0 standard with the added benefit of Thunderbolt’s Bandwidth Enhancement Mode. It allows you to go beyond maximum USB4 V2.0 limit of 80 Gbps, providing a whopping 120 Gbps for displays alone. This is accomplished by switching three of the four 40Gbps lanes to transmit mode, allowing 120Gbps in one direction but limiting the return connection to 40Gbps. This is not a problem for displays, however, as the vast majority of data only needs to be sent in one direction.
Ultra High Throughput Mode will only be activated when a sufficient number of displays, or displays with high enough resolution and refresh rate, require speeds in excess of 80Gbps. With this new feature, Thunderbolt 5 can support multiple 8K displays and refresh rates up to 4K 540Hz or 8K 120Hz, which should be appreciated by avid gamers in the future. This is 50% more bandwidth than DisplayPort 2.1.
Thunderbolt 5 also takes advantage of PCIe Gen 4 for the first time, providing up to 64 Gbps for PCIe. This is primarily relevant for external graphics cards or docking stations, as well as for modern solid-state drives.
Cable Matters is the first cable manufacturer to introduce a Thunderbolt 5 cable. Unfortunately, there are currently no devices that officially support the new standard, but the cable can be used as a high-speed USB 4 of the latest version while waiting for new equipment. Currently, Thunderbolt 5 seems to support only Razer Blade 18 laptop in the top configuration. The Belkin, J5Create, OWC, and Sabren peripherals that were presented at CES 2024 are not yet on the market. Hyper also indicates that the $400 Thunderbolt 5 dock is not yet available.
Sources: Tom`s Hardware, The Verge
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