Asus Z87 Motherboards Will Have Thunderbolt Support

[N.Broekhuijsen]

Asus has let out yet another teaser regarding its upcoming Z87 motherboards.

Asus Z87 Motherboards Will Have Thunderbolt Support : Read more

 

[herr terror]

It's too bad Steve Jobs didn't live long enough to embarrass himself by smugly telling the press, "Thunderbolt technology will NOT be available on PCs."

 

[SvRommelvS]

Why would Steve make such a claim? Thunderbolt is an Intel-developed technology. The contract to Apple would have stipulated whether the technology was ever to be exclusive and, if so, for how long.
Anyone have a guess when will we see thunderbolt on video cards?

 

[InvalidError]

Anyone have a guess when will we see thunderbolt on video cards?

I'm guessing few people would be in any hurry to switch their displays to Thunderbolt while cables and devices carry a $20-30 premium over non-Thunderbolt equivalents.

The ability to string two displays off one port (maybe more with future revisions) would be fairly nice for multi-display setups but it may take a while for the capability to become reasonably priced.

 

[mpdahaxing]

So, what is Thunderbolt?

 

[utroz]

Anyone have a guess when will we see thunderbolt on video cards?

I'm guessing few people would be in any hurry to switch their displays to Thunderbolt while cables and devices carry a $20-30 premium over non-Thunderbolt equivalents.

The ability to string two displays off one port (maybe more with future revisions) would be fairly nice for multi-display setups but it may take a while for the capability to become reasonably priced.

You can already "daisy" chain multiple displays with Display Port.

 

[tului]

Now lets get a decent amount of stuff that uses Thunderbolt.

 

[bee144]

It's too bad Steve Jobs didn't live long enough to embarrass himself by smugly telling the press, "Thunderbolt technology will NOT be available on PCs."

You know nothing about how Thunderbolt was developed if you're making such a claim. Please crawl back into your hole.

 

[bee144]

You can already "daisy" chain multiple displays with Display Port.

But you can't add on an additional four devices with Display Port at the end of the chain as can be done with TB. DP is the more consumer based choice though.

 

[ceh4702]

So how much are thunderbolt cables for say 2 monitors or a monitor and a backup drive. Who really wants thunderbolt? Seems like USB3 is in competition with thunderbolt. Pick a technology and go with it. It is like all the motherboards with firewire that noone used.

 

[InvalidError]

Seems like USB3 is in competition with thunderbolt.

Not quite. Thunderbolt has 10Gbps per lane vs 5Gbps for USB3 and Thunderbolt has two sets in both directions for 20Gbps per cable. The next version of Thunderbolt is already in the works, targeting 40Gbps per cable.

So Intel seems to intend to push Thunderbolt bandwidth a fair bit harder than USB.

 

[utroz]

The main issue with TB is the cost.. Consumers want inexpensive cables and devices... Plus TB has copper cables and optical cables which will confuse the joe six pack consumer. Aleast USB is 1.0 1.2 2.0 and 3.0 cables... Almost all cables can do USB 2.0 which made the switch over much easier. USB 3.0 has blue colored connectors on the computer so it is easy for the masses not to get confused... But anyways people are cheap and want to be able to use a 5 dollar cable not a 35 dollar cable...

 

[InvalidError]

Plus TB has copper cables and optical cables which will confuse the joe six pack consumer.

TB should have been copper for power and MMF for data to avoid the escalating cable cost curve and the likely need to upgrade cables with every new iteration.

Even USB which was supposed to be low-cost became considerably more complex with USB3 that added two dedicated half-duplex pairs for high-speed bidirectional data instead of adding only one dedicated to one direction while reusing the existing one for the other direction.

Gotta love how Intel's decision to make USB1/2 cables a few pennies cheaper to manufacture than FireWire by using a single half-duplex pair ended up making them more expensive with USB3. Of course, Intel does not care anymore since FireWire (the only notable mainstream non-Intel IO standard since the serial and parallel ports) is practically history and all remaining mainstream interconnects are Intel-backed.

Also ironic is how much Thunderbolt looks like a souped-up FireWire if you look at the fundamental principles... practically the same thing but using DP/PCIe bridges instead of SCSI controllers.

 

[Astralv]

My z77 mobo already has thunderbolt. So?

 

[rpeterson]

My z77 mobo already has thunderbolt. So?

Right, all of the z77 Asus line up have TB headers and I believe the pro actually comes with an add on card. Elric (sp?) from Motherboards.org had an unboxing of the add on that would mount on the TB header of the other Z77 boards. Try buying it or even finding it on Asus' web page. Even with the product number I have yet to find it or mention of it anywhere. I have the z77 deluxe and was interested in what it might add to my rig but have not been able to locate anything of the sort. If someone knows why this is the case or if you know how to get them (short of buying the pro board) please let me know.