{"id":8346,"date":"2015-06-02T17:49:25","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T21:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=8346"},"modified":"2015-06-02T17:49:25","modified_gmt":"2015-06-02T21:49:25","slug":"thunderbolt-3-embraces-usb-type-c-connector-doubles-bandwidth-to-40gbps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/06\/02\/thunderbolt-3-embraces-usb-type-c-connector-doubles-bandwidth-to-40gbps\/","title":{"rendered":"Thunderbolt 3 embraces USB Type-C connector, doubles bandwidth to 40Gbps"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

At Computex 2015, Intel has unveiled Thunderbolt 3. The headline feature: Thunderbolt 3 has changed its connector from Mini DisplayPort to USB Type-C.<\/p>\n

In addition to the new connector, Thunderbolt 3 now also supports USB 3.1 (i.e. Gen 2, up to 10Gbps), and the Thunderbolt transport layer sees its max bandwidth doubled from 20Gbps to 40Gbps (bi-directional, full duplex). Thunderbolt 3 also offers an optional 100W of power, in accordance with the USB Power Delivery spec. Without USB PD, Thunderbolt 3 will provide up to 15 watts.<\/p>\n

Thunderbolt 3 is backed by Intel’s new Alpine Ridge controller. USB 3.1 support is provided by integrating a USB 3.1 host controller into Alpine Ridge. There will be two flavours of the controller, one that uses four PCIe 3.0 lanes to drive two Thunderbolt ports, and another version that only uses two PCIe lanes connected to a single Thunderbolt port.<\/p>\n

With the increase in max bandwidth, Thunderbolt 3 now supports up to two 4K @ 60Hz displays or a single 5K @ 60Hz display running off a single cable. The official Intel slide deck says that Thunderbolt 3 supports DisplayPort 1.2 (not 1.3), but there’s no mention of HDMI. The Alpine Ridge leak back in April 2014 suggested that HDMI 2.0 would be supported, but Intel today says that DisplayPort 1.2 is “the native standard” for display over Thunderbolt 3, though HDMI 2.0 monitors will be supported with an “adapter.”<\/p>\n

The same leak also suggested that Thunderbolt 3 would be paired with Skylake, Intel’s next chip after Broadwell, but we can confirm that isn’t the case: Thunderbolt 3 would theoretically work with Broadwell. Intel hasn’t given an official release date for Thunderbolt 3, but it has told us that it will probably launch alongside Skylake. We asked Apple about its involvement with Thunderbolt 3, and a spokesperson said, “we do not talk about things that may lie ahead.” (It wouldn’t be surprising if the first outing of Thunderbolt 3 is with a Skylake-powered MacBook Pro in late 2015.)<\/p>\n

Enlarge \/ A promotional image from Intel Light Peak, which is what Thunderbolt started off as, before it got turned into a copper-wire tech.<\/p>\n

At launch, there’ll be one passive Thunderbolt 3 cable that supports Thunderbolt, USB 3.1, and DisplayPort 1.2, but with a max bandwidth of only 20Gbps. Intel confirms that this passive cable will be a standard, cheap USB Type-C cable. There’ll also be an active cable that allows for up to 40Gbps, but drops DisplayPort 1.2 connectivity. Intel is also working on an active optical cable for Thunderbolt 3, but it isn’t sharing any more details at the moment, and it won’t be on the market until sometime in 2016. (Is this the rebirth of Light Peak?!)<\/p>\n

The most exciting aspect of Thunderbolt 3 is its adoption of the USB Type-C connector. Type-C has a much smaller Z-height (about 3mm) than Mini DisplayPort (about 5mm), which in theory will allow Thunderbolt to make the jump to tablets and other small form factors. Ultra-thin laptops, such as the new MacBook with just a single USB Type-C port or Microsoft’s Surface line, may also stand to gain a lot from Thunderbolt 3.<\/p>\n

With a total bandwidth of 40Gbps, Thunderbolt 3 offers a tantalising glimpse of “one cable to rule them all.” In theory, you could use Thunderbolt almost everywhere: to power your laptop, to power and drive your 4K monitor, and to power and connect all of your external peripherals. The one obvious exception is external graphics cards, with all but the lowest-end GPUs still drawing more than 100W. By supporting USB 3.1 and jumping on the Type-C connector, Thunderbolt 3 may actually be the interconnect to usher in that tidy-cable utopia.<\/p>\n

via Thunderbolt 3 embraces USB Type-C connector, doubles bandwidth to 40Gbps | Ars Technica<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Computex 2015, Intel has unveiled Thunderbolt 3. The headline feature: Thunderbolt 3 has changed its connector from Mini DisplayPort […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[529,1088],"class_list":["post-8346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hardware","category-technology","tag-intel","tag-thunderbolt-3"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-2aC","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9818,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2024\/11\/11\/intel-is-cooked\/","url_meta":{"origin":8346,"position":0},"title":"Intel is cooked.","author":"NCCT","date":"November 11, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/ub27Ol4igwY 0:00 Welcome to Paul\u2019s Tech News - Nov 10, 2024 1:33 AMD Ryzen 9800X3D Post Launch Diagnosis - sold out in minutes 3:18 AMD May Add 3D V-cache to Mobile APUs, Threadripper 4:15 Nvidia ousts Intel from Dow Jones Index after 25-year run 5:43 For the first time ever,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/ub27Ol4igwY\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9816,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2024\/11\/11\/hw-news-battlemage-lives-9800x3d-flipped-cache-valves-deck-2-thoughts\/","url_meta":{"origin":8346,"position":1},"title":"HW News – Battlemage Lives, 9800X3D Flipped Cache, & Valve’s Deck 2 Thoughts","author":"NCCT","date":"November 11, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/YIEJJWnXEC0 In HW News this week, Intel's Battlemage makes an appearance, its 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs are on fire sale, the 9800X3D is rumored to have flipped cache, and Valve has thoughts on not iterating Steam Decks annually. We also talk about the Arm vs. Qualcomm news, an AR\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hardware"","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/YIEJJWnXEC0\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9305,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2018\/02\/26\/this-week-in-tech-655-banana-is-phone\/","url_meta":{"origin":8346,"position":2},"title":"This Week in Tech 655: Banana Is Phone","author":"NCCT","date":"February 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/3Ndfvf28O5o Samsung announces 2 new phones as Mobile World Congress kicks off in Barcelona. iCloud keys are stored in China. All 150 new emojis for 2018 revealed. Nokia's newest phone is a nod to The Matrix. GDPR and H.R. 1865 and their implications. Intel knew about flaws in chips but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/3Ndfvf28O5o\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9370,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2018\/06\/24\/this-week-in-tech-672-meme-the-queen\/","url_meta":{"origin":8346,"position":3},"title":"This Week in Tech 672: Meme the Queen","author":"NCCT","date":"June 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/ZCttWvS1qJw Two HUGE Supreme Court decisions, Apple admits its keyboards suck, Europe's war on memes, and more. -- The US Supreme Court kills warrantless cell phone location fishing and okays state sales taxes on internet purchases. -- Apple offers refunds on MacBook butterfly keyboard repairs and wants to let you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Apple"","block_context":{"text":"Apple","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/apple\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/ZCttWvS1qJw\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9910,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2025\/02\/11\/slap-and-flop-siri-ios-18-3-update-apple-music\/","url_meta":{"origin":8346,"position":4},"title":"Slap and Flop – Siri, iOS 18.3 Update, Apple Music","author":"NCCT","date":"February 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Xwqi58VczQ4 What's going on with Siri? iOS 18.3 update is out now, along with a fix to a zero-day flaw. You can buy iPhones on eBay with TikTok installed on them as TikTok is still not available for download on the App Store. And on January 27th, 2010, Steve Jobs\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Apple"","block_context":{"text":"Apple","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/apple\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/Xwqi58VczQ4\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9908,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2025\/02\/11\/fake-frames-tested-dlss-4-0-mfg-4x-nvidias-misleading-review-guide\/","url_meta":{"origin":8346,"position":5},"title":"“Fake Frames” Tested | DLSS 4.0, MFG 4X, & NVIDIA’s Misleading Review Guide","author":"NCCT","date":"February 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Nh1FHR9fkJk We talk about NVIDIA's DLSS 4.0 multi-frame generation (MFG), NVIDIA's weird decisions on testing tools, differences in transformer vs. CNN (convolutional neural network) models, benchmark performance, and generated frames. Frame generation commonly gets referred to as \"artificial\" frames, \"generated\" frames, or commonly online, \"fake frames.\" This video delves into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hardware"","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/Nh1FHR9fkJk\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8346\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}