Thunderbolt 3?

What is it?

Developed by Intel and first seen in PCS in 2015, Thunderbolt 3 is a peripheral interface based on the PCI Express ( PCIE) serial expansion bus. In plain English, it’s a fast connection between a computer and external accessories. Unlike Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2, which provided two 10Gbps lanes over a modified Mini Displayport connector, Thunderbolt 3 has four lanes and uses a USB-C socket (pictured).

What does it do?

A Thunderbolt 3 connection theoretically allows external SSDS to write and read up to about 4GB of data per second. It also supports eight-lane Displayport 1.2, enabling monitors with higher than 4K resolution, as well as serving all of the same purposes as an ordinary USB-C port. Unlike USB, Thunderbolt supports ‘ daisy-chaining’, which relies on peripherals having a pass-through port, so you can connect one to the next.

What’s the catch?

One Thunderbolt 3 bus supports a maximum of six devices, and even a PC with two Thunderbolt 3 ports may have only one bus. Most PCS still don’t have Thunderbolt 3 at all, and Thunderbolt 3 products are much less common and more expensive.

So do I need it?

A standard USB or USB-C port that supports USB 3.0 Gen2, at 10Gbps, is enough for even the fastest current external SSDS. The more common 5Gbps USB 3.0 Gen1 is more than fast enough for a hard drive. The best case for using Thunderbolt 3 is when connecting an external GPU (EGPU) such as Razer’s Core X ( www.snipca. com/34711), but this is an expensive and uncommon solution. For now, think of Thunderbolt 3 as a USB-C port with bonus future-proofing.