Is Thunderbolt 3 future-proof?

[Melodist]

Howdy fellas,

 

I'm on the fence about buying an external Thunderbolt 2 interface that had been designed for Apple Computers and later on was certified for Windows use with version 10.

 

My PC is using an X99 motherboard with a Thunderbolt 3 card but I'm afraid of maybe buying a device with a connection type that won't be supported in the future?

 

The reason why I'm asking is because I rarely see any average PCs with TB3 support other than a handful.

[kerradeph]

Nothing is future-proof. 

[Melodist]

Just now, kerradeph said:

Nothing is future-proof. 

Well USB certainly is...

[emosun]

 

was firewire future proof

[Cyracus]

2 minutes ago, Melodist said:

Well USB certainly is...

don't bet on it, 10 years and usb A won't exist natively on new hardware

[Melodist]

2 minutes ago, emosun said:

 

was firewire future proof

What I mean is, that whether it'll be standard on motherboards in the future with USB 3.1. Firewire was different because it required a different physical port where Thunderbolt 3 is just a protocol right?

[Drak3]

1 minute ago, Melodist said:

Well USB certainly is...

Not really. USB 2.0 is good enough for external HDDs and peripherals like keyboard and mice, but revisions were required for external SSDs and high device count scenarios.

 

As for the futureproofness if TB3, it's only got a few realistic use cases where TB3 is necessary over USB alternative modes: Fast file storage (NVMe or RAID), high end docks (that feature USB 3.0+ hubs, display outs, and other IO like Ethernet), and eGPU. And of those, eGPU is already being bottlenecked by TB3 on the high end.

3 minutes ago, emosun said:

 

was firewire future proof

Was firewire being picked up by companies outside of Apple for anything other than the enterprise market?

[emosun]

5 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Was firewire being picked up by companies outside of Apple for anything other than the enterprise market?

i could literally type anything here and you'd disagree with it

[Melodist]

33 minutes ago, Sierra Fox said:

There is no such thing as future proof. There's future resistant of which I would say tb3 is AT THE MOMENT though with how quick technology has been progressing that might not be able to be said this time next year.

 

Also why are you talking about a thunderbolt 2 interface when you have tb3 ports?

It runs with Thunderbolt 3, just have to use an Apple TB2 to TB3 cable.

[SansVarnic]

2 hours ago, Melodist said:

<snip>

No it is not future proof. Future Proof is a play on terms and does not exist.

If thigs go as they always do ThunderBolt 3 will be outdated in about 3-5 years from now with TB4 or USB 4/5.

[SlipperyPete]

14 hours ago, emosun said:

i could literally type anything here and you'd disagree with it

if he agrees with this than he is agreeing that he cant agree with anything you say, if he denies it he is proving your point correct even though he is rejecting it.

he can choose paradox or being wrong.

decisions, decisions

[Catsrules]

By the time Thunderbolt 3 becomes unsupported, any thing you bought that has it will be useless.

 

[Melodist]

27 minutes ago, Catsrules said:

By the time Thunderbolt 3 becomes unsupported, any thing you bought that has it will be useless.

I haven't seen any Coffeelake boards with it unfortunately but I hope that's because it is not as established "yet"? I have it with a thunderbolt 3 pci express card on my x99 deluxe ii.

[Catsrules]

5 minutes ago, Melodist said:

I haven't seen any Coffeelake boards with it unfortunately but I hope that's because it is not as established "yet"? I have it with a thunderbolt 3 pci express card on my x99 deluxe ii.

Wow your right, that is very strange, with my 2 seconds of looking I only found 1 board. Others had a header for it but that was it. Hmm.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100007627 601304476 600470697

 

[Mira Yurizaki]

The real question is why do you need Thunderbolt 3 and would what it does now service your needs?

 

"Obsolete" is only relative to the user.

[Melodist]

8 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

The real question is why do you need Thunderbolt 3 and would what it does now service your needs?

 

"Obsolete" is only relative to the user.

Yes it would serve my needs but I don't want to end up in 3 years without thunderbolt 3 support because there are barely any boards supporting it. However, I already bought it so I'll take my chances.

[Mira Yurizaki]

13 minutes ago, Melodist said:

Yes it would serve my needs but I don't want to end up in 3 years without thunderbolt 3 support because there are barely any boards supporting it. However, I already bought it so I'll take my chances.

Well, you should buy hardware for what you need now, not what you may need later.

[vanished]

Never forget

Spoiler

 

This PC was "future proof" too, and now look at it.

 

Nothing will last forever, and especially in the tech sector, things get replaced rather quickly.

 

On 11/28/2017 at 12:23 AM, Melodist said:

Well USB certainly is...

No, not in any way.  There was USB 1.1, then 2.0, and now a few revisions of 3.0, not to mention at least two different kinds of primary connectors (type A and type C) and 3 or more secondary connectors (B, mini B, micro B, C, etc.).  It is constantly evolving, getting better and making the old stuff look bad, which is literally the opposite of future proof.

[Melodist]

11 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Well, you should buy hardware for what you need now, not what you may need later.

I was referring too whether more future boards and computers will have thunderbolt 3 implemented or not because right now it is scarce.

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 minute ago, Melodist said:

I was referring too whether more future boards and computers will have thunderbolt 3 implemented or not because right now it is scarce.

It'll likely only live on higher end boards if that, because there's little market penetration for Thunderbolt 3. If you're worried about built-in support, it's better to get an expansion card and migrate that over whenever you move to a new computer.

[Melodist]

7 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

It'll likely only live on higher end boards if that, because there's little market penetration for Thunderbolt 3. If you're worried about built-in support, it's better to get an expansion card and migrate that over whenever you move to a new computer.

Yeah but that card is only supported by my motherboard. I'm just taking near-future purchases of another computer into consideration such as a coffee lake.

[Drak3]

On 11/29/2017 at 8:34 AM, SlipperyPete said:

if he agrees with this than he is agreeing that he cant agree with anything you say, if he denies it he is proving your point correct even though he is rejecting it.

he can choose paradox or being wrong.

decisions, decisions

Alternatively, I can also say "maybe" or "probably," which neither truly agrees or disagrees with his dumb statement.

[SlipperyPete]

9 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Alternatively, I can also say "maybe" or "probably," which neither truly agrees or disagrees with his dumb statement.

touche

[Drak3]

3 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

This PC was "future proof" too, and now look at it.

I'm looking, not seeing what you're getting at though.

 

It was future proof... for $99.

 

Now, was that per pop or a one time, up front fee? Because if the latter, no wonder they ain't a house hold name today.

[vanished]

5 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

I'm looking, not seeing what you're getting at though.

It's a Celeron running Windows 98.  Clearly that's now obsolete

5 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

It was future proof... for $99.

 

Now, was that per pop or a one time, up front fee? Because if the latter, no wonder they ain't a house hold name today.

Looks like they had some sort of upgrade plan for $99 every 2 years.  I think it's obvious this would not have been sustainable