ASUS ThunderboltEX 4 with Intel® Thunderbolt™ 4 JHL 8540 Controller, 2 USB Type-C Ports, up to 40Gb/s bi-Directional Bandwidth, DisplayPort 1.4 Support, up to 100W Quick Charge.

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Nov 22nd 2023 Intel Core Ultra 7 155H iGPU Outperforms AMD Radeon 780M, Comes Close to Desktop Intel Arc A380 (39) Most modern laptops come with Thunderbolt 4 ports included, including those featuring 11th Gen, 12th Gen, or 13th Gen Intel Core CPUs, and they're generally thin Ultrabooks focusing on performance in a thin and light body. That changed further from its launch, with gaming, business, and workstation laptops jumping on board with Thunderbolt 4.

There are not many Thunderbolt 4 devices on the market yet, but seasoned manufacturers have released one or two products to whet the consumer’s appetite. Thunderbolt 4 also requires a more stringent compatibility spectrum, which might limit certain cards to certain motherboards. This means it’s a good idea to research the top products in the market and be absolutely sure that the card you are buying is compatible with your current hardware and provides the full range of functionality that you expect from a Thunderbolt 4 device. Nobody likes bugs, but sometimes they are inevitable. This may also have something to do with why it has taken so long to reach the market. It isn’t a show-stopper, but worth pointing out. Ever since installing the card, we have noticed phantom USB disconnect sounds within Windows. Sometimes it is completely at random while sometimes oddly timed to shaking the mouse and waking up the monitors connected to the PC that it is installed in. Nothing is disconnected though. Support up to 8K display (need to connect the DisplayPort of the motherboard or discrete graphics card to the DisplayPort Input port on the ThunderboltM4 8K card) ASUS today rolled out the ThunderboltEX 4, an add-on card designed to give your PC full Thunderbolt 4 connectivity. The only catch here is that you'll need an ASUS motherboard with a Thunderbolt readiness header (which provides timing and other low-level system commands to the card). Also needed is a USB 2.0 header, of which you're likely to have plenty. The card features a PCI-Express 3.0 x4 host interface, and can be installed on any PCIe slot, x4 or larger. A 6-pin PCIe power input is also needed, as Thunderbolt 4 is capable of up to 100 W of power delivery per port, enabling single-cable RAID enclosures and monitors.

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A simple way of putting this is that Thunderbolt 4 guarantees the best possible version, while USB4 does not offer that guarantee. Transfer speeds for USB4 are written next to the port, while Thunderbolt 4 ports have a thunder sign with the number 4 written below or next to it. What is a Thunderbolt header?

A Thunderbolt™ SSD is also useful for saving gameplay footage as they provide the high throughput needed for editing large video files.

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Connect additional accessories to your gaming rig for improved performance and functionality. Thunderbolt 4 ports support high-speed SSDs, gaming monitors, and external graphics.

The GC-MAPLE RIDGE is compatible with GIGABYTE motherboards that featured a Thunderbolt™ header, refer the list as I would be interested to know why TB wasn’t included with the DDR4 Alder Lake models. What was the company’s strategy for this? Either it was placing pressure on customers to adopt DDR5, or it was a mere attempt to gain a little extra profit. The system I am typing on now is a 2016 model and it has DDR4 and TB. So it does feel a bit odd that they would do this. Connect the DisplayPort or Mini-DisplayPort cable to the (mini) DisplayPort on the TB3 PCIe card to the DisplayPort on the onboard graphics card. You can connect your external display through the Thunderbolt ports and enjoy high-definition visuals. ASUS ThunderboltEX 4 is a Thunderbolt™ 4 add-on card that offers 40 Gbps bi-directional bandwidth, USB4™ device compatibility, and DisplayPort™ 1.4. It supports up to five Thunderbolt devices in a daisy chain and enables up to 100-watt USB-C® charging for laptops.Besides these three factors, there is no much variation in terms of performance as both achieve the same thing. It’s up for you and your budget to decide which one is the best fit for you. Headsets provide accurate directional audio for identifying sound sources and have built-in microphones for communicating with teammates.