The release of Thunderbolt 5 is significant since it is expected to increase speed by three times over earlier iterations.
Even though it has been around since the latter half of 2022, Thunderbolt 4 is only now beginning to make its way into the mainstream. For instance, the most cutting-edge platform that Intel has ever developed, known as Meteor Lake, is officially compatible with Thunderbolt 4, rather than the next-generation version, known as Thunderbolt 5. A recent source, on the other hand, suggests that Thunderbolt 5 will make its debut alongside Intel’s forthcoming Arrow Lake desktop processors, which are expected to be released in the latter half of 2024. Because it promises to increase speed by a factor of three in comparison to earlier models, its introduction is a significant event.
It has been reported that a trustworthy account on Twitter known as @yuuki_ans has been spreading information on Intel’s plans for Arrow Lake. The news that the platform does not include Hyper-Threading was likewise sourced from this account, which was the source of the news this week. After posting slides describing Barlow Ridge, the Thunderbolt controller for Intel’s next-generation platform, the account has once again erased them in a short amount of time. Although we are thankful that Tom’s Hardware was able to rescue the slides, we cannot help but question why this account continues to upload and then delete new material concerning Arrow Lake.
Barlow Ridge will add 120Gb/s transfer speeds to the platform, which is a significant improvement from the 40Gb/s transfer speeds that Thunderbolt 3/4 now offers. In contrast, the earlier standard allowed for those speeds to be transmitted in both directions, whereas Thunderbolt 5’s 120 Gigabits per second is only transmitted in one direction because it is aimed at displays. On the other hand, it is twice as fast as its predecessor because it is capable of delivering 80 gigabits per second in both directions using four PCIe 4.0 lanes. Because Thunderbolt 5 is only available in some 14th Generation HX Intel CPUs, its launch in Arrow Lake will mark the first time that it is offered in a desktop CPU.
In addition to the news on Thunderbolt 5, the more recent leak reveals that Intel will be adding twenty lanes of PCIe 5.0 to the Arrow Lake architecture. The fact that this will give 16 lanes to the GPU and four lanes to a Gen 5 SSD is significant since it will allow both components to operate at their maximum bandwidth. The graphics processing unit (GPU) has access to 16 lanes of PCIe Gen 5 with Raptor Lake, whereas the solid-state drive (SSD) only has access to PCIe 4.0 lanes. That was acceptable in 2023, but as time goes on, Gen 5 solid-state drives will start to become more widespread, so Intel is in a good position here.
This watershed processor will be the next desktop platform following the company’s Alder and Raptor Lake central processing units (CPUs). Arrow Lake will be the next platform. As was the case with Meteor Lake, it will be the first tile-based desktop central processing unit (CPU) from the firm. Additionally, it will be the first non-FinFET CPU to be released for desktops, and it will utilize the company’s 20A process with RibbonFET. It is anticipated that at some point in September of this year.