Gigabyte has unveiled its first Thunderbolt 5 expansion card that utilizes the Intel JHL9580 Thunderbolt 5 controller and PCIe 4.0 x4 interface.
The Gigabyte Thunderbolt 5 card features 3 Mini-DisplayPort and two USB Type-C connectors that are compatible with Thunderbolt 5 specification. The set includes three cables Mini DisplayPort and three for internal connectors — two Thunderbolt and one USB.
Thunderbolt 5 operates at speeds of up to 80 Gbps, which is twice the speed of Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4. However, in some scenarios for connecting external displays, it can offer up to 120 Gbps of bandwidth. Gigabyte promises support for serial connection of up to 10 devices (5 devices per USB-C port) and Power Delivery 3.1 with up to 100 watts per port.
Thanks to Gigabyte expansion cards, any PCIe 4.0-enabled user can benefit from the Thunderbolt 5 ecosystem. The port speed allows you to use external video cards, connect additional monitors, high-speed external drives, etc.
Existing drives are currently only rated at 48-50Gb/s, but future Thunderbolt 5 drives should be even faster. There aren’t many Thunderbolt 5 devices on the market at the moment, but they are coming, and the standard is backwards compatible.
Sources: Gigabyte, Tom’s Hardware
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