On September 12, 2023, Intel officially released the new generation of Thunderbolt standard - Thunderbolt 5, with a maximum bandwidth of 120Gb/s, which is 3 times higher than Thunderbolt 4 and supports backward compatibility.
According to Intel, Thunderbolt 5 will provide 80Gb/s bidirectional bandwidth, with a maximum bandwidth of 120Gb/s, which is 3 times higher than the Thunderbolt 4 interface, providing users with excellent display and data connections for the best experience. In addition, Thunderbolt 5 supports industry standards including USB4 V2, and is fully compatible with the previous generation of Thunderbolt and previous versions of USB. Intel said that the new generation of Thunderbolt 5 will greatly meet the high bandwidth needs of content creators and gamers, and Thunderbolt 5 aims to significantly increase the connection speed and bandwidth to ensure that modern PC users can enjoy the highest quality visual effects and immersive experience in the next few years. Its highlights include:
- The bidirectional bandwidth of Thunderbolt 5 is twice that of Thunderbolt 4; for video-intensive applications, through the bandwidth enhancement function (Bandwidth Boost), Thunderbolt 5 can provide a bandwidth of up to 120 Gbps, which is 3 times the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4.
- Double the PCI Express data throughput to support faster external storage and better performance for external graphics cards.
- Built on industry standards including USB4 V2, DisplayPort 2.1, and PCI Express Gen 4; fully compatible with previous versions.
- Double the bandwidth when using Thunderbolt for point-to-point networking, enabling faster PC-to-PC high-speed connections.
- Based on existing printed circuit boards, USB-C connectors, and passive cables, the new PAM-3 signal encoding technology is used to achieve significant performance improvements.
Finally, Intel expects computers and accessories equipped with Thunderbolt 5 controllers (code-named Barlow Ridge) to begin to be available in 2024.