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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Before you buy a Thunderbolt 4 add-on card, you need to make sure that the card is compatible with your computer. While the minimum requirements for Thunderbolt 4 are much higher than those for Thunderbolt 3, reducing the amount of research you need, you still need to know the card’s functionality and how to get the best out of it. Given below are the most important things you need to consider. Motherboard The card has two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, which can deliver data up to a theoretical limit of 40Gbps. The actual data transfer rate is dependent on the connected device and the cable. You can daisy chain up to ten devices (five per port) with the card. However, one should remember that if at any moment one of the devices is directly connected to the card, the daisy-chain link is broken, and you will have only two devices working. This ensures that none of the devices is damaged. Video capture devices. Another possibility is attaching an external capture device for streaming, such as the AVerMedia Live Gamer BOLT. You can capture gameplay in full 4K at 60Hz or in 1080p at 240Hz. Having a dedicated unit for capturing gameplay frees up system resources, allowing you to play games at higher settings while retaining clear video quality. While all ports fulfill the basic purpose of connecting input/output devices to a PC, Thunderbolt 4 ports have several distinct advantages:

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? If you use the add-on graphic card, connect Mini DisplayPort cable to the add-on graphic card and MINI DP IN_1 on ThunderboltEX 3-TR card.

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Storage. Connect a high-speed external Thunderbolt™ SSD to expand the storage capacity of your system and achieve speeds on par with internal drives. In addition, the card can pass 5k video at 60Hz via its USB-C ports, which is far better than what is available on the market currently. The card can also transmit 4k video at 60Hz if you connect to more than one monitor. Whatever the purpose is, these headers make sure that the Thunderbolt 4 card is only used on a motherboard certified by the manufacturer and contains the connection for these headers. 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.

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. Flexibility. Some ports power your devices. Others transfer data from devices to the PC. Still others transfer video signals from your PC to an external monitor. A Thunderbolt™ port can do all three. It delivers high-speed data transfer, outputs a video signal, and can deliver power to compatible devices (including charging a lightweight laptop) simultaneously. What’s more, Thunderbolt 3, can support up to one 4K monitor, allowing you to enjoy stunning, photo-realistic images and videos. Our Favourite Hardware with Thunderbolt 3: AVermedia BOLT Thunderbolt 3 External Capture Device: PCI Express (PCIe) devices. Utilize a PCIe expansion chassis to access compatible PCIe devices, such as video capture devices for live-streaming gameplay. Released in 2020, Thunderbolt 4 is the latest generation. Similar to Thunderbolt 3, this standard utilises a USB-C connector, 15W of power, and has data transfer speeds of up to 40GB/s.Step 4: If you connect Mini DisplayPort cable to the motherboard, make sure the processor has integrated graphics. If you connect Mini DisplayPort cable to the add-on graphic card, make sure you haveinstalled the graphics driver. Follow the instruction to install the driver. Restart your computer after the installation completes.

Of course, this business strategy has nothing to do with the quality and functionality of Gigabyte’s GC Maple Bridge, which is in a league of its own for more than one reason. The card makes full use of the exceptional data and power transfer capabilities of the Thunderbolt 4 technology by providing 40 Gbps and 97 Watts Power Delivery 3.0. Connectivity A thunderbolt header is a connection between the PCIe card and the motherboard. This connection is in addition to the PCIe bus and USB 2.0 header. There isn’t any definitive consensus on why these header cables are needed, and manufacturers seem to be silent on the topic. Still, they are most probably used for discrete graphic interfacing. They also ensure that a card is only used with the respective manufacturer’s motherboard, containing the header port required. What does daisy chain mean? Versatile connectivity. Thunderbolt 4 ports are compatible with many connection standards, including previous versions of Thunderbolt™, USB, DisplayPort, and PCle. The ports fit standard USB-C type connectors. A3: https://www.asus.com/Motherboards-Components/Motherboards/Accessories/ThunderboltEX-3/techspec/ Networking. Connect to a high-speed 10 Gigabit Ethernet network via an adapter or use a Thunderbolt cable to connect two computers over a peer-to-peer network. This allows for transferring large volumes of data from one PC to another, which is ideal when upgrading to a new system.Thunderbolt is a proprietary technology, and it does not work with every motherboard out there. Therefore, the Thunderbolt 4 card you buy will most likely only work with a motherboard from the same manufacturer. For example, the ASUS ThunderboltEX 4 works only with a handful of ASUS motherboards. So this makes system compatibility the most crucial consideration while buying a Thunderbolt 4 add-on card. This move toward open source didn’t mean, however, that Intel stopped developing its traditionally proprietary Thunderbolt specification. Thunderbolt 4-equipped PCs also typically have USB4 connectivity, and sometimes, on the same actual ports, so there is bound to be some confusion. Thunderbolt 4 ports also provide external access to the high-speed PCIe bus, allowing components that use PCIe to be connected without having to install them internally. Connect the 14-1 pin Thunderbolt header cable to the ThunderboltEX 3-TR Card and to the TB-HEADER on the motherboard. Ease of throughput. With a bandwidth of 40Gbps, Thunderbolt 4 ports make it easy to connect high performance devices — such as a gaming monitor and a high-speed SSD — and use them at their intended speeds without overloading the port’s capacity. Because the bandwidth is bidirectional, the outgoing video signal won’t conflict with incoming data from peripherals or a storage drive.

You will need to run the hardware on Windows – 10 or higher operating systems (64-bit). Connectivity 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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Intel announced its latest proprietary USB technology last year, and different manufacturers have been trying to catch up ever since. To a novice, not much has changed in the Thunderbolt 4 specification, but as is always the case with the data bus market, the devil lies in the details. While Thunderbolt 4 offers the same maximum capabilities, its minimum capabilities are much higher than Thunderbolt 3. A3: Please follow the diagram below to connect the Thunderbolt devices. Make sure your Thunderbolt device has two Thunderbolt 3 ports and use Thunderbolt 3 cable. (Not the regular Type-C cable)