Ahead-looking: Intel has but to disclose the complete particulars of its Fifteenth-generation Arrow Lake desktop CPUs. Nonetheless, it is affordable to foretell that they are going to add assist for the corporate’s new Thunderbolt 5 interface which mixes USB4 v2 and DisplayPort 2.1 requirements. Just lately leaked paperwork recommend that the brand new Thunderbolt will make its desktop debut via Arrow Lake and will embody sufficient bandwidth to completely make the most of PCIe 5.0 elements.
Inner Intel paperwork, referenced in a now-deleted tweet from leaker @yuuki_ans, point out that Arrow Lake – the corporate’s next-gen desktop processors – will assist Thunderbolt 5. This growth may place Arrow Lake desktops as the primary to allow 120 Gbps information switch speeds underneath particular eventualities.
Final September, Intel stated that builders may begin working with Thunderbolt 5 someday this 12 months. The interface doubles the utmost bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4, providing 80 Gbps bidirectional connections. Nonetheless, on some units, it might probably transmit information at 120 Gbps whereas receiving at 40 Gbps. Thunderbolt 5 additionally helps 240W charging, twin 4K 144Hz indicators, a number of 8K indicators, as much as three DisplayPort 2.0 streams, and a theoretical most refresh charge of 540Hz at decrease resolutions.
I feel the popularization of tbt5 will begin in 2026 …
– �”åÂÂå®Â�–YuuKi_AnS (@yuuki_ans) January 23, 2024
A number of corporations showcased docks supporting Thunderbolt 5 earlier this month. Nonetheless, the timeline for its look on desktops stays unclear. Intel expects it to first acquire recognition with avid gamers and content material creators utilizing it for exterior GPUs, then with workstations. In the meantime, @yuuki_ans predicts that adoption may ramp up ranging from 2026.
The leaked paperwork, archived by Tom’s {Hardware} earlier than deletion, explicitly point out Thunderbolt 5’s Barlow Ridge controller in a diagram outlining Arrow Lake. That is the primary official reference to Thunderbolt 5 in desktop programs.
One other noteworthy element revealed within the paperwork is that Arrow Lake will characteristic as much as 20 PCIe 5.0 lanes. Intel’s present Raptor Lake processors assist solely 16, which is inadequate for totally using a PCIe 5.0 graphics card and a PCIe 5.0 SSD concurrently, as this forces the 2 elements to share bandwidth. The extra lanes may result in enhanced efficiency in current high-end SSDs.
Additional leaked data from @yuuki_ans means that Arrow Lake may abandon Hyper-Threading, a staple of PC processors for about 20 years. Whereas high-end gaming efficiency seemingly would not endure, this variation may affect different processes that closely depend on a number of threads. The Fifteenth-gen Intel CPUs may also assist DDR5-6400 reminiscence.
Arrow Lake CPUs are anticipated to launch within the second half of 2024 utilizing the Intel 20A (2nm) course of node.
