Thunderbolt 3 All The Things!!

[AngryPandaPC]

Intel Newsroom Original Link

 

Linus should be excited!!!

 

Quote

Intel’s vision for Thunderbolt was not just to make a faster computer port, but a simpler and more versatile port available to everyone. We envision a future where high-performance single-cable docks, stunning photos and 4K video, lifelike VR, and faster-than-ever storage are commonplace. A world where one USB-C connector does it all – today, and for many years to come.

Please! A future with just 1 port type is what every 90's kid has dreamed of.

Quote

Intel is announcing that it plans to drive large-scale mainstream adoption of Thunderbolt by integrating Thunderbolt 3 into future Intel CPUs and by releasing the Thunderbolt protocol specification to the industry next year.

This will be great for laptop and mobile integration.  On the desktop side, it'll be interesting to see how this affects motherboard offerings next year.

Quote

With Thunderbolt 3 integrated into the CPU, computer makers can build thinner and lighter systems with only Thunderbolt 3 ports. For the first time, all the ports on a computer can be the same – any port can charge the system and connect to Thunderbolt devices, every display and billions of USB devices.  Designs based on Intel’s integrated Thunderbolt 3 solution require less board space and reduce power by removing the discrete component needed for existing systems with Thunderbolt 3.

Hopefully, this means companies will quit ignoring Type-C (Microsoft, smh) and offer more, single type ports (Apple, smh).

Quote

next year Intel plans to make the Thunderbolt protocol specification available to the industry under a nonexclusive, royalty-free license. Releasing the Thunderbolt protocol specification in this manner is expected to greatly increase Thunderbolt adoption by encouraging third-party chip makers to build Thunderbolt-compatible chips. We expect industry chip development to accelerate a wide range of new devices and user experiences.

This is great news!  I'm glad they aren't trying to make it an exclusive like 4k Netflix and the other integration bs they've tried before.  Hopefully, this will push the entire mobile oriented market towards similarity of offerings.

Quote

great need for external storage that is as fast as the internal SSD to expand capacity. Since only Thunderbolt can connect NVMe SSDs to your PC, Thunderbolt 3 storage fulfills this need and enables people to save time with data transfers that happen in a snap. A full 4K movie can be transferred in less than 30 seconds.

 

Additional articles:

Wired

Quote

Thunderbolt 3 comes equipped with transfer speeds of 40Gbps, which roughly works out to a 4K movie in 30 seconds.

The Verge

Edited May 24, 2017 by AngryPandaPC
Added quote from Wired Article

[Zando_]

Can it work with Ryzen? 

[Trixanity]

2 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Can it work with Ryzen? 

From what I understand: in theory, yes. In practice, no.

 

Why? You could install a TB3 controller on a AM4 motherboard and hook it up to the PCI-E lanes but Intel will either put their foot down or demand compensation.

 

It's unclear whether this new initiative is Intel opening their door to AMD or they just mean Intel partners.

[Zando_]

Just now, Trixanity said:

From what I understand: in theory, yes. In practice, no.

 

Why? You could install a TB3 controller on a AM4 motherboard and hook it up to the PCI-E lanes but Intel will either put their foot down or demand compensation.

 

It's unclear whether this new initiative is Intel opening their door to AMD or they just mean Intel partners.

 But didn't they say they're giving it out for free? It'd be awesome to have a AMD machine with TB3!

[WMGroomAK]

1 minute ago, Zando Bob said:

 But didn't they say they're giving it out for free? It'd be awesome to have a AMD machine with TB3!

My understanding is that they are releasing the protocol specs to industry under a royalty free license so AMD should be able to integrate TB3 into future chipsets.  I think the bigger question will be how tightly the integration would work on AMD vs Intel as it sounds like Intel will be placing the TB3 controller right onto future CPUs and I'm not sure if AMD would be able to do that or have to specifically use chipset & PCIe connections.

 

http://www.techspot.com/news/69449-intel-making-thunderbolt-3-royalty-free-chip-makers.html

[Trixanity]

6 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

 But didn't they say they're giving it out for free? It'd be awesome to have a AMD machine with TB3!

Hmm, the source article does seem to indicate that they intend for Thunderbolt to go a similar route to USB and that they want competitors to implement it as well as to grow the ecosystem. That would indicate that Intel aims to allow AMD to implement Thunderbolt starting next year but it also seems they intend to get a head start by integrating it which would leave a company such as AMD with a distinct disadvantage unless they informed AMD privately so that they can start working on integrating it early on (if they wish to do that). Otherwise Intel will have it integrated where AMD will need a separate chip to enable it. We can all see how troublesome TB adoption is right now because of it.

[divito]

How many people here actually use a Thunderbolt peripheral/device?

[Jito463]

2 hours ago, Trixanity said:

Hmm, the source article does seem to indicate that they intend for Thunderbolt to go a similar route to USB and that they want competitors to implement it as well as to grow the ecosystem. That would indicate that Intel aims to allow AMD to implement Thunderbolt starting next year but it also seems they intend to get a head start by integrating it which would leave a company such as AMD with a distinct disadvantage unless they informed AMD privately so that they can start working on integrating it early on (if they wish to do that). Otherwise Intel will have it integrated where AMD will need a separate chip to enable it. We can all see how troublesome TB adoption is right now because of it.

That all assumes AMD intends to implement it into the chipset, and not leave it as a third-party add on that each motherboard vendor can choose whether to add or not.  It depends on how easy it is for AMD to implement it into their current chipset architecture.

[Drak3]

31 minutes ago, divito said:

How many people here actually use a Thunderbolt peripheral/device?

If I use it as a fancy paperweight, does that count?

[ARikozuM]

36 minutes ago, divito said:

How many people here actually use a Thunderbolt peripheral/device?

I have one, but I'd guess that most of those who do are Apple users since they pushed it well unlike Razer and other Windows laptops did.

[samiscool51]

[divito]

11 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

I have one, but I'd guess that most of those who do are Apple users since they pushed it well unlike Razer and other Windows laptops did.

Maybe. It's the one thing that irks me in most Linus videos, knocking products because it has like one or zero Thunderbolt or USB Type-C or something. I can maybe understand some creative types needing something like that for devices and storage options on the road or at an event, but for the average person, it seems like a non-issue. Just dislike seeing so much stock put into it.

[ARikozuM]

21 minutes ago, divito said:

Maybe. It's the one thing that irks me in most Linus videos, knocking products because it has like one or zero Thunderbolt or USB Type-C or something. I can maybe understand some creative types needing something like that for devices and storage options on the road or at an event, but for the average person, it seems like a non-issue. Just dislike seeing so much stock put into it.

It has some good concepts to it, but for the average consumer (forum members, mom and pop, etc.) there aren't many tangible benefits. 

[RX78-2]

The interesting thing is that Thunderbolt seems to be a more raw interpretation of PCIe, so this along with NVMe has brought about a huuuuge explosion in the usage of PCIe lanes. So yeah Thunderbolt and USB C will hopefully become ubiquitous in the future, but also PCIe is becoming a standard way of connecting stuff at the base level in a ubiquitous way!

 

My only concern is security, because when thunderbolt was first announced, there was a concern that it will be less secure than USB

[Zodiark1593]

2 hours ago, RX78-2 said:

The interesting thing is that Thunderbolt seems to be a more raw interpretation of PCIe, so this along with NVMe has brought about a huuuuge explosion in the usage of PCIe lanes. So yeah Thunderbolt and USB C will hopefully become ubiquitous in the future, but also PCIe is becoming a standard way of connecting stuff at the base level in a ubiquitous way!

 

My only concern is security, because when thunderbolt was first announced, there was a concern that it will be less secure than USB

Hopefully, consumer platforms get more PCI-e lanes in the future. Would be a shame to have a half dozen ports, yet can only use a few at a time.

[RX78-2]

12 minutes ago, Zodiark1593 said:

Hopefully, consumer platforms get more PCI-e lanes in the future. Would be a shame to have a half dozen ports, yet can only use a few at a time.

Tru, but then again, that's going to require huge upgrades

[themctipers]

11 hours ago, AngryPandaPC said:

Please! A future with just 1 port type is what every 90's kid has dreamed of.

anyone with a computer*

 

do i need to list every fucking cable that connects to my motherboard that can be replaced by thunderbolt?

USB mouse

USB keyboard

monitor (2x)

microphone

webcam

audio out

power (to monitors, twice)

ethernet

 

and possibly this: thunderbolt (or some other cable) to connect PSU to motherboard (provides power, and now the computer can talk to the PSU! tell me about what's the power draw, efficiency % and the temps of the psu using software now please)

 

if it sounds stupid blame me its 4am here.

[TheReal1980]

“Apple and Intel have collaborated on Thunderbolt from the beginning, and as the industry leader in its adoption, we applaud Intel’s efforts to integrate Thunderbolt technology into its CPUs and open it up to the rest of the industry,” said Dan Riccio, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering."

 

https://www.macrumors.com/2017/05/24/intel-to-integrate-thunderbolt-3-into-cpus/

 

Just goes to show that Apple users are more acceptable to change than Windows users. Shots Fired!

[Grinners]

I find it all very confusing. My 970 uses mini display port to display port and i couldn't really even tell if the mini display port was the same as thunderbolt...

[Trixanity]

6 hours ago, Grinners said:

I find it all very confusing. My 970 uses mini display port to display port and i couldn't really even tell if the mini display port was the same as thunderbolt...

It's because Thunderbolt piggybacks on existing connectors. So before TB3 it was miniDP and now it's USB-C.

The port will have a Thunderbolt symbol if it supports it, otherwise it's most likely a regular miniDP/USB-C port (unless the product/OEM confirms support despite no symbol being present). 

[Notional]

This is very good news. Thunderbolt is already a standard in Apple, so about time it will on pc too. That being said, with the new introduction of front panel USB-C and the new headers on the motherboard, I wonder if those will support video in the future? That would be cool.

[alextulu]

On 5/24/2017 at 10:42 PM, AngryPandaPC said:

integrating Thunderbolt 3 into future Intel CPUs

This will improve performance for external graphics.

 

In the video, where Linus compared Thunderbolt vs proprietary external graphics, the proprietary one was faster, because the PCIe lanes are from the CPU, and on Thunderbolt, they're from the chipset.

 

But if Thunderbolt is integrated in the CPU, then the PCIe lanes will also be from the CPU, making external Thunderbolt graphics as fast as proprietary ones.