Subj : Intel Arrow Lake leak shows Thunderbolt 5 coming to desktop and To : All From : TechnologyDaily Date : Tue Jan 23 2024 17:00:05 Intel Arrow Lake leak shows Thunderbolt 5 coming to desktop and it could revolutionize gaming laptops as well Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2024 16:44:01 +0000 Description: Arrow Lake CPUs are ushering in Thunderbolt 5, which is a game-changer for external GPUs. FULL STORY ====================================================================== Intels Arrow Lake-S (desktop) processors are bringing in Thunderbolt 5 support, the next-gen wired connectivity standard, according to a new leak and thats great news for those who run (or would like to run) an external GPU. VideoCardz spotted some presentation slides showing the Barlow Bridge controller for Arrow Lake desktop which mentions that Thunderbolt 5 support is included. These slides were aired on X (formerly Twitter) by leaker YuuKi_AnS, and although the tweet has subsequently been deleted, the tech site grabbed and posted screenshots before that happened. Intel revealed Thunderbolt 5 late last year and it ushers in all manner of benefits, touting 120Gbps of bandwidth (way faster than Thunderbolt 4) and PCIe Gen4 x4 support, making the standard an ideal partner for hooking up an external GPU. Thats a graphics card in an external enclosure, and its a solution sometimes used with gaming laptops (to beef up the graphics power of the notebook when youre at your desk with it and can use that external GPU). Of course, this leak is about desktop silicon, but if you have a small form-factor PC (or otherwise space-constrained case, especially considering the size of high-end graphics cards these days), an external GPU can supply something far meatier for graphics duties if needed. Thunderbolt 5 didnt make the cut for Intels Meteor Lake CPUs, but it is in some of Team Blues high-end Raptor Lake Refresh (HX) chips for laptops ( revealed at CES 2024, earlier this month ). Arrow Lake represents Thunderbolt 5s full arrival on desktop, though, and Arrow Lake will have mobile CPUs too. Rumor has it that the 15th-gen chips will sport not just top-end HX processors, but more mainstream H series mobile silicon (and also low-power U variants, too). Analysis: A game-changer but patience is required External GPU enclosures have been around for a long time, but theyve not been very popular or generated much interest at all. Thats because up until now, external GPUs have been rather hobbled by the wired connectivity available basically, the pipe hooking them up to the laptop (or PC) just isnt capable of getting full performance from the external graphics card. All that changes with Thunderbolt 5, which has tons of bandwidth as mentioned, and crucially PCIe Gen4 x4 support so its now pretty much the same as having a graphics card plugged directly into your motherboard in the traditional manner. Does that mean were about to see an explosion of popularity in external GPUs? Far more interest will surely be generated for these solutions going forward, although external GPU enclosures do heap some expense on top of the already weighty cost of many of the best graphics cards . The other catch is that Thunderbolt 5 isnt anything like widespread yet quite the opposite. Its only in the mentioned HX series 14th-gen laptops, but theyre very much a niche proposition, and of course, Arrow Lake wont arrive until late in 2024, possibly very late in the year. In short, were looking at 2025 before the Thunderbolt 5 show properly gets underway, and indeed the leaker who spilled the slides, YuuKi_AnS, doesnt anticipate the new standard becoming fully popular until 2026. There is still some way to go, clearly, but seeing Arrow Lake-S coming with support for Thunderbolt 5 is nonetheless an enticing sign that the future of wired connectivity is rushing well, okay, maybe ambling toward us. You might also like We've chosen all the best student laptops Best gaming CPU: 5 top processors reviewed and rated Here are the best cheap processor deals right now ====================================================================== Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/gaming-laptops/intel-arrow-lake-leak-shows -thunderbolt-5-coming-to-desktop-and-it-could-revolutionize-gaming-laptops-as- well --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 (Linux/64) * Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100) .