Which interface to select: Thunderbolt, FireWire or USB? Thunderbolt technology: how it works and what the pros

Thunderbolt. - This is the input / output interface, which is mostly on computers and Apple production laptops, promising incredible bandwidth and data transfer rate. On the other hand, universal standard USB 3.0.representing a huge step forward compared to the predecessor compatible with previous versions, and affordable in wide range. In this article, I will describe the possibilities of both of these devices and try to conclude which one is better.

Do you know that?
The ThunderBolt interface was originally designed to work with fiber optic cables, and before it was called Light Peak.

The universal serial bus (USB) does not need a view. Since the first appearance of USB ports and PC connectors in 1995, they have passed a long way, and today they are encountered everywhere. Each computer and laptop is equipped with a number of USB ports. Devices such as USB hubs that allow users to gain access to even more ports, gained widespread. USB ports are presented even on non-traditional electronic devices, such as televisions, DVD players and stereo systems. Now that all kinds of electronic devices, including cell phones and cameras also use a mini or micro USB micro interface to charge or transmit data, the name of this technology "universal" is more than appropriate.

On the other hand, "Thunderbolt" is the term whose popularity is largely limited to the circle of Apple products. Although this technologywhich was invented and developed by Intel, not as widely used as a USB interface, this fact does not in any way reflect its ability or performance. In fact, no amount of praise can pay tribute to unsurpassed bandwidth and the data transfer rate of the Thunderbolt interface.

It may seem surprising that the newest standard, Thunderbolt 2.0, having such a huge potential, is not so lucky as its competitor, USB 3.0.

Thunderbolt interface vs USB 3.0

Main technical characteristics

♦ USB 3.0 interface, refers to category increased speed Data transfer in which there is no restrictions on the cable length, improved power management, and also compatible with previous standards.

♦ USB 3.0 interface reaches "super-speed" using additional parallel data bus. This accessory not only increases the bandwidth of the system, but it also provides full-duplex data transmission (i.e., data can be transmitted at both directions at the same time). Both of these factors contribute to the achievement of USB 3.0 data transfer rates much higher than that of USB 2.0.

♦ Energy efficiency is the main point, USB 3.0 has the ability to deliver one and a half times more power than its predecessors, for optimized devices (for example, those that use USB ports for charging). In addition, ports can switch to energy-saving mode when they are not used.

♦ Compared to USB 2.0, this standard is better suitable for any application that requires high bandwidth, from high-capacity drives for video transmission via DVI.

Thunderbolt.

♦ Delbolt combines PCI EXPRESS., high speed, two-way standard for connecting serial data transmission and DisplayPort, which is used to connect to the display device (the technology is the same as HDMI, except that this is compatible with VGA and similar older video formats) into a single port / connector system.

♦ This means that it supports high-speed data transmission between devices, has the ability to function as an Ethernet connection (with an adapter, naturally), supports a hot connection (the ability to connect and disable the equipment without restarting the system), and can also be used to connect the display devices , such as monitors, including 4K HD resolution.

♦ Due to high bandwidth, one port can be used to connect up to six high-speed compatible hardware devices, and none of them will suffer from loss of bandwidth.

♦ Above all this, it has the ability to provide up to 10 W power.

Winner: From the point of view of features and specifications, USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt interfaces seem very promising, and I can not make another choice, except to call it a draw.

Speed

** Note: The speeds mentioned in this section are theoretical or maximum values. The actual data transfer rate can be much smaller.

♦ USB 3.0 has a maximum speed of almost 5 GB / s, it means that a channel bandwidth is 675 MB per second, about ten times faster than its predecessor, USB 2.0.

♦ This ability makes it ideal for use in scripts where higher bandwidth is required, including the RAID-array storage devices, which was previously impossible to even imagine.

Thunderbolt.

♦ Unlike in USB 3.0, in which data transmission is limited to only one channel, the ThunderBolt interface has four independent channels, that is, if more than one device is connected, each of them will be given a maximum data transfer rate of 10 GB / s.

♦ On already issued (and available in a number of recent Mac / MacBook) Thunderbolt 2 - this technology has the ability to offer a maximum speed of 20 GB / s, which is four times faster than USB 3.0, and 2 times faster than USB 3.1. This phenomenal speed is achieved due to the combination of two bands of bidirectional data transmission having the same ThunderBolt channel frequency band, in one channel with double bandwidth.

Winner: I have no doubt in the one who surpasses in this regard; Thunderbolt is an obvious winner in terms of speed.

Cost

** Note: The prices indicated in this section are relative and may vary.

♦ The largest factor in the popularity of USB 3.0 is its low cost. Also USB ports are already installed by manufacturers on each Intel and AMD chipset.

♦ Being a universal standard, almost every device comes with a USB connector, and therefore cables of all varieties, including with mini and micro USB connectors easily available at low prices.

♦ The approximate cost of any universal USB 3.0 compatible external hard disk with 1 TB container starts from USD 60 (4,000 rubles at the time of writing this article).

Thunderbolt.

♦ The value of the inclusion of only one ThunderBolt port in any printed circuit board will cost USD 60.

♦ Computers that are equipped with Thunderbolt ports are quite expensive. Most of the recently released Apple desktop devices that are equipped with these ports fall into the price range from USD 1000 to 4000.

♦ In fact, to use these ThunderBolt ports, you need to purchase compatible peripheral devices, in addition to the computer itself. And they are also not cheap. The 27-inch Apple Thunderbolt Monitor, for example, is USD 999.

♦ What is port without cables, connectors and adapters? When a 2-meter cable is worth USD 39, and a gigabit Ethernet adapter at a price of USD 29, it becomes obvious that investing in Thunderbolt may be very expensive.

Winner: Taking advantage of its versatility, which is almost impossible to reproduce, USB 3.0 is an obvious winner in this category.

Compatibility

USB 3.0 interface

♦ USB 3.0 and its USB 2.0 predecessor, fully compatible interfaces. This means that in case of inconsistencies between the port and standard cable, the data transmission takes place in accordance with the lower standard.

♦ In general, the USB interface is present in almost every electronic device that exists today. In addition, USB 3.0 has expanded USB applicability on a large scale. Thanks to its design, which increases its energy efficiency, the USB platform can now be used to connect powerful devices, such as monitor displays, as well as in areas requiring high data transmission rates, such as video and audio interfaces and Blu-ray records.

Thunderbolt.

♦ Thunderbolt technology And Thunderbolt 2 is compatible with each other in the same manner as USB 3.0 is compatible with all its previous versions. Thunderbolt cables are also interchangeable. Computer, interface and peripheral device (and all devices in a serial circuit) must support Thunderbolt 2.0 to make the maximum speed.

♦ Any monitor that supports a mini-displayport standard can be directly connected to the computer equipped with the Thunderbolt port. However, the cable with a mini-displayport connector cannot be used with the peripheral Thunderbolt.

♦ Since THUNDERBOLT technology is not as widespread, it is limited only by computers and peripheral devices that support this protocol. To connect other monitors that support other VGA, DVI and HDMI standards, and so on, the Thunderbolt port requires adapters with Thunderbolt ports for the appropriate format.

♦ The corresponding adapters are not always easy to find, not to mention their cost, and if you want to connect to the Xbox or PlayStation for example, the Apple Thunderbolt monitor will require completely different adapters for the production of third-party companies.

Winner: Due to its unsurpassed widespread, USB 3.0 interface wins with a huge advantage.

My verdict

Before publishing his conclusion, I would like to pay attention to the following facts.

Thunderbolt, from the point of view of speed, technology, design and published endurance test results, is much better, and a futuristic standard of data input / output, which really deserves the title "Best Interface". He was so outdoor that many "compatible" devices that are not even able to use Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2.0 ports to full power. However, from the point of view of the audience coverage, the "Delbolt" does not reach USB. In addition to specific peripheral devices, Thunderbolt can only be used to connect a limited number of alternative interface standards, even when using adapters. The cost factor is certainly interrelated, and that is why the Dandelabolt has only limited use, although its potential is huge.

Although USB 3.0 cannot correspond to the level of Thunderbolt speed, it offers a very noticeable improvement compared to the previously common standard! USB 3.1 has an excellent speed, not to mention its cross compatibility with a number of other standard interfaces through adapters, and, therefore, consumers are not in a hurry to switch to other standards, even if they can work better.

I believe that, despite the fact that the maximum data transfer rate that USB 3.0 offers is not a grand figure, this is enough to significantly increase its range of use, and additional features, such as energy saving, and, of course, its popularity, USB 3.0 is the best interface currently. As for Thunderbolt, only time will tell if he deserves investment.

I hope that you liked my comparison between the two major world devices of communication interfaces, and that you could decide which one is most suitable for you. If you have something to add to my comparison, write in the comments.

Whatever constructive features The interface for connecting the periphery has not been different, it must have two characteristics: versatility and high data transfer rate. The combination of only these two qualities make it truly effective. An example of such an interface can serve as ThunderBolt - a new connection technology of peripheral devices, created by the joint efforts of two leading companies Apple and Intel.

What is Thunderbolt?

So what is Thunderbolt and what advantages does it have? If you do not go into technical details, it can be described as a universal standard, providing the most convenient and efficient link between computers and tablets with various external devices. Speaking more affordable language, Thunderbolt is an alternative to USB technology, just as they assure in Apple, even more perfect.

Thus, the purpose of creating a new standard is to eliminate USB deficiencies, and in perspective and its replacement. Among the manufacturers of computer equipment wide support, the idea of \u200b\u200bsuch a replacement, however, has not received, and the main reason has become a relatively high cost of Thunderbolt components, which has a significant impact on the final price of computers. Currently new standard Used mainly in Mac computers.

Pluses of using Thunderbolt.

The main advantages of the new technology is the possibility of consistent, that is, without using a hub or switch, connecting several high-performance peripheral devices to one compact two-channel port, as well as high data transfer rate. Combining the DisplayPort and PCI Express technologies, the new standard allows you to connect external hard drives to PC, high-resolution monitors, video cameras and other peripheral devices, without fear of the stability of their operation and the safety of the transmitted data.

The transfer rate through the ThunderBolt interface is at least twice as high than through the USB interface and this is just the beginning. And although the technology has not gained widespread among the manufacturers of computer equipment, it continues to develop successfully. The first version followed the second, and for her and the third, capable of maintaining the exchange of data at a speed of up to 40 GB / s.

It should also be noted that the standard allows you to simultaneously transmit and receive data. Thunderbolt Supports Connecting Displays with Mini DisplayPort or with DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI, VGA adapter, compatibility with USB devices, FireWire 400 and FireWire 800 (Connection is performed through the adapter). At the same time, however, it should be understood that new interface Does not make devices faster, but also will not slow down the data transfer.

Thunderbolt 3 interface

The third version of the standard is currently available, although the device-based devices themselves will be on sale in 2016. Thunderbolt 3 got rid of the MDP connector, while moving on the two-way USB-C, and at the same time doubled the rate of data exchange, and if it was up to 20 GB / s in the second version, now it will be possible to transmit files from one device to another 40 GB / s. This means that a video file with a resolution of 4K can be transmitted in less than half a minute.

Capabilities new version Also include the compatibility of the new version with the USB 3.1 standard, support for the power supply of up to 100 W, connection of two resolution displays 4k, different periphery and ethernet networks at a speed of 10 GB / s. By the way, if you connect one display, then the resolution can be increased to 5k.

It offers a quick and convenient way to connect various devices at home and at work, providing speed and versatility due to the compatibility of Thunderbolt and USB-C connectors. With this technology, you can now connect several monitors or devices through one port to improve work efficiency or enjoy high-performance graphics on the latest thin and light laptops. In combination with the family of processors Intel Core Or Intel Core VPRO 8th generation THUNDERBOLT 3 technology optimizes PC performance.
Thunderbolt 3 technology operates 8 times faster than USB 3.0 and provides 4 times more video bandwidth compared to HDMI 1.4, increasing the efficiency of work and games. Another important advantage is to use one cable to connect monitors, docking stations and drives, as well as charging the device.
One universal port of Thunderbolt 3 in combination with the newest processor Intel Core 8th generation is new features and new level Simplicity without bulky and uncomfortable cables. Now for ultrafast data transmission, connecting two monitors 60 Hz with a 4K UHD resolution and a quick laptop charging need only one port and one cable. At the moment, this is the most modern, efficient and universal connection solution.
Exceptionally high data transfer speeds opens up new features for working with video, for example, for multi-threaded broadcasting of the HD and 4K UHD video content into several monitors or a quick transfer of 4K UHD films and footage from the camera Gopro 4K UHD. By providing incredible 40 Gbit / s speed, ThunderBolt 3 technology provides sufficient bandwidth for all these tasks.
External graphic systems EGFX on the Thunderbolt 3 base provides gamers and graphic designers. Convenient solutions for high-performance graphics that can be used on the way. The familiar level of high-performance graphics is now available on the latest thin and light laptops with a long battery life.
ZOTAC introduced two buildings to connect desktop video cards connected via the Thunderbolt 3 interface (USB-C). First that Amp Box. (Old Title External Graphics Dock) with the following features: Support for installation of the video card with interface PCI Express X16, two-sheet cooling system and a long 220 mm, built-in 400 W power supply and with two 6 + 2-pin PCIE power connections additionally power, built-in four USB ports 3.0 (one of which is power, current 2a), two ports from behind And two in front, LED backlight, two cooling fans, 120 mm rear and 140 mm in front. Case from ABS plastic and side acrylic window.

The second external chassis from ZOTAC is Amp Box Mini. (Old Title Thunderbolt 3 External Box). it compact housingwhere the video card is placed horizontally (and not vertically). Characteristics of the device: 1x Thunderbolt 3 (40 GB / S) port, 4x USB ports 3.0, support for installing M.2 NVME disk with PCIe 3.0 interface (32 GB / S), an external power supply unit with a power of 120 W, without an active cooling system. Support for setting a video card with a PCI-Express 3.0 x16 interface and up to 170 mm long. Weight: 850 grams.

Another E-GFX solution: (or Sapphire Gearbox Thunderbolt 3 EGFX). Characteristics: Supports the installation of a video card with a two-sheet cooling system, 1x Thunderbolt 3 (40 GB / S) port, two USB ports 3.0 (on the back panel), Ethernet port, built-in SFF PSU power supply with a cooling fan, LED backlight external.

Taiwan company Gigabyte Technology introduced an external body with a pre-installed video card and external interface Thunderbolt 3. Features of the device: GeForce GTX 1070 MINI ITX 8G (GV-N1070IX-8GD) video card (GV-N1070IX-8GD) which has a length of 165mm and a two-sheet cooling system, 4 USB 3.0 port on the back panel (one of them by force, Quick Charge 3.0, Power Delivery 3.0) , LED backlight RGB FUSION, built-in 450W power supply with 80Plus Gold certificate (enhance production), three 50mm cooling fan (two on the sidebar and one on the back in power supply), housing size: 96x210x162 mm. Also through port USB Type-CThe external boxing can charge the laptop batteries.
In the Tunderbolt 3 set 3 cable with a length of 50 cm.

The American company HP announced an external building: Omen Accelerator Supporting also installations inside HDD / SSD form factor: 2.5-inch. Expansion ports are also present: 4 USB 3.0 (Type A), 1x USB 3.1 (Type-C) and RJ-45.
Docking station for external graphics accelerator. Connect it to your desktop or laptop and enjoy modern games.
Turn from office workers in the legendary gamer without changing the car. OMEN accelerator is compatible with advanced graphics cards and data storage solutions. It is able to turn a thin, elegant laptop in the game monster, ready to conquer the most demanding Games of the AAA class. Connect, play, defeat.
Supported video cards: AMD RADEON R9 285, AMD RADEON R9 290, AMD RADEON R9 290X, AMD RADEON R9 300 SERIES, AMD RADEON R9 FURY, AMD RADEON R9 NANO, AMD RADEON RX 460, AMD RADEON RX 470, AMD RADEON RX 580, AMD Radeon RX 580R, NVIDIA GeForce. GTX 1060, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan X.
Video card length: up to 290 mm.
Support for installation of video cards up to 300W.
Power supply power: 500W.
Dimensions: 40x20x20 cm. Weight: 5.14 kg.
1 year warranty.
HP Omen Accelerator (or Omen by HP GA1-1000UR), Russia is sold to distributers as: "HP GA1-1000UC External Graphics Up to GeForce GTX1080Ti Up to GeForce GTX1080TI 11GB (2BW91EA)" and is one of the most affordable solutions in the market.

Sonnet Technologies has released an external case eGFX BREAKAWAY PUCK. With pre-installed AMD Radeon RX 560 or RX 570 video card.
Recommended price (MSRP): $ 449 for EGFX Breakaway Puck Radeon RX 560 (Part Number GPU-RX560-TB3) and $ 599 for EGFX Breakaway Puck Radeon RX 570 (Part Number GPU-RX570-TB3).
Solutions Features: 1x Thunderbolt 3 Port, 3 DisplayPort 1.4 ports and 1x HDMI 2.0B port. Video card with 4GB GDDR5 memory, external power supply (connected via 4-pin power DIN) 160W for AMD Radeon RX 560, and 220W for AMD Radeon RX 570. Includes 0.5-meter Thunderbolt 3 (40GBPS) cable. Case sizes: 15.24 x 13 x 5.1 See Weight: 1.88kg (RX 560) and 2.2kg (RX 570).

Galax (KFA2) has released an external case SNPR GTX 1060 EXTERNAL GRAPHICS With a pre-installed NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB video card (GP106-400A1). 4 (3 + 1) phase design.
Solutions features: 1x Thunderbolt 3 port, 1x DisplayPort 1.4 port, 1x HDMI 2.0B port and 1x DVI-D. The video card has clock frequencies 1531 MHz and 1746 MHz ( GPU Boost.), 6GB GDDR5 memory that work at the frequency of 8GHz (Samsung K4G80325FB-HC25 chips), the video card is connected to the side " motherboard"And its two 70mm AVC fan will remove warm air up the SNPR External Graphics Enclosure enclosure, the cooling system also consists of their aluminum radiator and three heat pipes, an external power supply unit with a power of 230W (4-PIN DIN connection).
Video outputs: Display Port 1.4, HDMI 2.0B, DL-DVI-D.
Case dimensions: 165x156.5x73 mm. Weight: 1.38kg. Recommended price (MSRP): 499 euros.

Shift external chassis PowerColor Devil Box. From Tul Corporation, the second generation of Thunderbolt 3 EGFX Enclosure came: which is intended to connect a desktop video card through the ThunderBolt 3 interface with a 40 Gb / s bandwidth.
Support for AMD XConnect Technology technology.
Support video cards with PCI-Express X16 interface (PCIE GEN3 X4).
Maximum dimensions of the video card: 310x157x46 mm.
Maximum power of the video card: 375 W.
Support video cards of families: Radeon RX400, RX500 Series and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10 series.
List of chassis video cards: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, NVIDIA GTX GTX 1060, NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan X, NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan XP, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 TI, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750, Nvidia Quadro P4000, Nvidia Quadro P5000, NVIDIA Quadro P6000, Nvidia Quadro GP100.
AMD Radeon RX 500 Series, AMD Radeon RX 400 Series, AMD RADEON R9 Fury, AMD RADEON R9 Nano, AMD RADEON R9 300 Series, AMD RADEON R9 290X, AMD RADEON R9 290 and AMD RADEON R9 285.
Additional ports: 5x USB 3.0 (two on the front panel and three on the rear), Thunderbolt 3 (Type-C), Ethernet 10/100/1000 (RJ-45).
Thunderbolt 3. USB-C port With USB Power Delivery (PD) support, it can feed / charge a laptop with a power up to 87W.
Built-in SFX power supply unit: 550W with 80 PLUS GOLD certificate.
Operating system support: Microsoft Windows. 10 64-bit.
Included Caaul Thunderbolt 3 long 50 cm.
Chassis dimensions: 343.2x163x245 mm.
1 year warranty.

ASUS has released an external corps ROG XG STATION 2 The republic of Gamers series is a docking station that allows you to connect to a laptop or a hybrid mobile device an external video card over the Thunderbolt 3 interface.
Thanks to the ROG XG Station 2 docking station with a powerful video card, you will be able to run modern games with virtual reality helmets on a mobile device (laptop or hybrid computer).
With the help of ROG XG Station 2, you can achieve a higher graphic performance than the one offered by many gamers laptops and stationary computers.
Thunderbolt 3 is a high-speed interface that is capable of transmitting data 8 times faster than USB 3.0, and 4 times exceeds HDMI 1.4 on the bandwidth of the video signal. In addition, it is used to power the connected devices.
The ROG XG Station 2 docking station can be installed a full length video card with a cooling system up to 2.5 slots. It is compatible with existing and promising models based on graphic nVIDIA processors GeForce GTX 9/10 and AMD RADEON R9 / RX.
The front panel of the ROG XG Station 2 docking station decorates the decorative element "Plasma Tube": Stylish backlight with "lightning" reflects a huge graphical energy that this device accommodates.
The external graphics docking station with Thunderbolt 3 interface has the following advantages:
- Increased graphic performance for mobile device.
- The possibility of getting greater speed in games than when using gameiman laptops and stationary PCs.
- high-speed Thunderbolt 3 interface.
- Compatibility with video cards based on the latest graphic processors GeForce and Radeon. Support video cards with 2.5x cooling system.
- Convenience connection. Docking station ROG XG Station 2 is connected and disconnected from a mobile device without the need to reboot. In addition to the video card compartment, it offers additional interfaces: 4 USB 3.0 ports and one port for the Gigabit Ethernet wired network. Connecting to a computer simultaneously via Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.0 Type B cables will allow you to obtain an additional increase to the data transfer rate compared to the connection only on Thunderbolt 3 (to increase the theoretical bandwidth of 40 Gb / s + another 5 Gb / s).
- 600-watt power supply COMPUWARE CSP-6811-2A1 Standard 80 Plus Gold. The power supply unit built into the docking station provides up to 500 W power to operate the video card and up to 100 W for a laptop. It has the "80 Plus Gold" certification, which means efficiency at a level up to 90%.
For power there are two 6 + 2-pin PCI Express power connector.
- Original backlight. The ASUS AURA backlight system is millions of color shades and five different visual effects. When installing the ROG STRIX series video card docking station with a similar backlight system, you can use the ASUS AURA SYNC application to synchronize their operation.
Compatible laptops and hybrid devices ASUS: ROG G701VI, ROG GL502VM, ROG GL702VM, TRANSFORMER 3 Pro T303UA, Transformer 3 T305CA, etc.
Dimensions: 45.6x15.8x27.8 cm. Weight: 5.1 kg.
Photos of the ASUS ROG XG STATION 2 housing front, inside and rear.

With the release of MSI GT72 and MSI GT80 game laptops, the Thunderbolt 3 interface ceases to be a raininess and becomes a new standard for connecting high-speed devices for anyone interested in the most advanced technologies. Game mSI laptops High-End class is designed to satisfy growing user requests and are already evaluated by many leading media portals. Several years have left Intel to develop the third generation of Thunderbolt interface, and now you can evaluate a high-quality technological breakthrough. New uSB connector Type-C and the impressive bandwidth up to 40 gigabit per second make it possible to use Thunderbolt 3 for a variety of tasks. For example: high-speed data transmission, charging and power supply device, connection external monitors, equipped with DisplayPort port, as well as professional devices with Thunderbolt. Unlike the USB ports of previous generations, the USB-Type C connector has a symmetric design and can be connected to any side. Imagine to one port you can connect various ThunderBolt devices, high-resolution monitors and a great multiple USB devices! Such in history computer Industry Not yet.

Technically Thunderbolt combines the PCIE bus functions and DisplayPort port, and can also be used as a power channel. To one port can be connected to six devices in various configurations. Thunderbolt technology has opened incredible capabilities for connecting external devices. Today, there are many amazing device with Thunderbolt interface: monitors, cameras and video capture devices 4K, docking station with external device charging function and built-in hard disk, external containers for powerful video cards, 10GB Ethernet network adapters and many other devices. And it is THUNDERBOLT 3 that will allow you to use the capabilities of the new USB Type-C port to fully.

Video in the 4K resolution: Are you ready?
Thunderbolt 3 allows you to connect 4K displays with a frequency of the screen of 60 Hz. And this means that you will have an image of amazing detail, contrast and color depth when viewing the content of any type: from photographs, video clips and movies to professional applications and web sites.

Universal compact port
The ThunderBolt 3 interface is capable not only for high-speed data transmission. The large bandwidth of this interface will allow you to connect two 4K monitors at once with a speed update rate of 60 Hz. At the moment, this is the most advanced and universal solution for connecting devices with uSB connector Type-c.

Connecting an external video card
Now you can connect to your laptop external graphic mapsto enjoy the latest games with high system requirements. Such a connection scheme is not yet very popular despite the fact that ThunderBolt 3 technology bandwidth exceeds the PCI-Express Gen3 tire capabilities.

High Speed network connection Thunderbolt.

This wonderful interface allows the use of 10GB Ethernet network technology to quickly transmit volume files according to the point-to-point scheme, to migrate entire systems or organize a small working group with common access to the storage system.

In 2015, not many gaming laptops were equipped with Thunderbolt 3 technology, but MSI has its own special look at the question of what a good game laptop should be. This company is surprisingly well managed to make high-class advanced technologies available to consumers. And it is likely that right now, its employees prepare for us some more impressive new products. So keep your hand on the pulse!

Thunderbolt interface

Recall that the ThunderBolt interface was developed by Intel as a universal high-speed interface for a wide class peripheral devices. Initially, he was called Light Peak and was first presented for IDF 2009. However, in its first version, the Light PEAK interface was focused on using an optical cable as transport network To transmit signals. The first generation of Light PEAK devices, according to Intel, had a theoretical data transfer rate of 10 Gb / s (full-duplex mode) at a distance of up to 100 m using an optical cable.

In the future, it was decided to create this interface based on copper compounds. In addition, after the implementation of this technology on the basis of the copper wires, Light Peak began to be positioned as replacing most existing wired interfaces, such as USB, SCSI, ESATA, FireWire, HDMI and DVI.

In 2011, for the first time products were presented using this technology, which received the official name Thunderbolt. The first devices with the Thunderbolt port of steel laptops MacBook Pro. Apple companies. And at the Computex 2012 exhibition, a fairly wide range of a variety of solutions with the Thunderbolt interface is presented.

The high-speed ThunderBolt interface is based on the combination of DisplayPort and PCI-Express technologies, that is, it allows you to connect peripheral devices using these data transmission protocols. This makes it possible to simultaneously transmit video and large amounts of data, since such streams are delimited between themselves and are transmitted over different channels without delays. In fact, the ThunderBolt controller has a multiplexer and demultiplexer that are responsible for transmitting data from different protocols in a single stream. The ThunderBolt interface provides the theoretical data bandwidth to 10 Gbps in one direction. In this case, each of the ports of this interface includes two channels, which allows you to connect two devices to one ThunderBolt port or up to six chain devices. Each of the channels has in this case the total bandwidth of 10 Gb / s for both directions. If the port is connected to the port that runs through the DisplayPort interface, then in this case the bandwidth is conditionally divided into four lines with a maximum bandwidth of 5.4 Gb / s. As Intel says, unlike traditional data transfer architectures that use a single tire, another topology is used in ThunderBolt, which provides high bandwidth for each of the ports regardless of their quantity.

Theoretically, the new data transmission interface for its bandwidth is ahead of others. modern interfaces To connect peripheral devices, such as USB 3.0, FireWire 800 and ESATA. It is impossible not to mark the full compatibility of the new interface with DisplayPort devices. So, the standard ThunderBolt connector is completely electrically compatible with the Mini DisplayPort connector. That is, for connecting devices with such a connector, additional adapters or adapters are not needed. ThunderBolt technology hardware supports DisplayPort 1.1A specification, but this does not interfere with connecting devices supporting previous specifications of this protocol. Note an interesting feature of the device: connected monitors with the DisplayPort interface should be the last in the chain - this is explained by the algorithm of the ThunderBolt controller and the distribution of free channels. Thunderbolt can handle the same types of video and audio signals as DisplayPort, that is, to transmit high definition video with a resolution of FullHD 1080p and eight sound channels.

To connect the ThunderBolt controller to the Intel chipset, four PCI Express 2.0 lines are activated.

In addition to the high data rate, the big advantage of the new interface can be considered that ThunderBolt supports data transfer, video, audio and nutrition through one port and cable. It eliminates extra uSB wiresentangling computer or laptop when working with numerous peripheral devices. The user can connect up to six devices to each of the Thunderbolt ports, touching them with one chain (daisy-chain), that is, by means of a serial connection. Such a topology assumes that each device in the chain must have two ports of Thunderbolt.

Despite the fact that the new interface supports the connection of some peripheral devices without using additional power, this technology cannot be compared with Apple Display Connector (ADC), allowing you to connect even monitors. The maximum power of the plug-in devices is due to the implementation of the controller on the system board, so it is too early to talk about the possibility of connecting through this interface for powerful solutions.

Unlike the USB interface, where the connection to the low-speed device or the solution that supports the old interface audit can reduce the performance of the entire bus, the new Thunderbolt interface is specifically built in such a way as to work with many devices without prejudice to the channel bandwidth. Of course, they will divide the total bandwidth of the Thunderbolt channel, which can limit the performance of each of them when transmitting a large data stream, but the total ThunderBolt channel performance will not decrease.

While devices that support the new interface are still small, but the likelihood is that it will be widespread and will sweat USB 3.0 in the peripheral market.

Now, after a brief story about the Thunderbolt interface, let's consider its implementation using the example of the Seagate Goflex Thunderbolt portable adapter for drives with SATA interface.

First of all, this adapter is designed for MAC users. The fact is that Apple's products until recently did not support USB 3.0 and the only high-speed interface in them was Thunderbolt. This, of course, does not mean that this adapter is compatible only with MAC systems - if there is a ThunderBolt interface in your laptop or desktop PC, the Seagate Goflex Thunderbolt adapter will allow you to connect drives over it.

SEAGATE GOFLEX THUNDERBOLT adapter

Seagate Goflex Thunderbolt adapter can hardly be called portable. It is quite massive and in size exceeds the standard 2.5-inch drive.

The Seagate Goflex Thunderbolt adapter is compatible with only 2.5-inch SATA drives. Note that, despite the compatibility of the connector, use the 3.5-inch HDD with the Seagate Goflex Thunderbolt adapter will not be possible. Apparently, the ThunderBolt interface cannot provide sufficient food for such disks.

Note that the Seagate Goflex Thunderbolt adapter has only one Thunderbolt port, that is, it does not allow you to create a chain of devices and can only be used as the terminal device in the chain or as the only one. In general, this is explained: the device with the Thunderbolt interface, oriented to work in the chain, must have an additional (separate) power, which in the Seagate Goflex Thunderbolt adapter is missing.

On the SEAGATE website, the Seagate Goflex Thunderbolt adapter is positioned for Seagate Backup Plus and Goflex discs, but this, of course, does not mean that it is incompatible with other 2.5-inch drives. However, giving tribute to the manufacturer, we first tested the Seagate Goflex Thunderbolt adapter with the external sacking of Seagate Backup Plus with a capacity of 500 GB.

The external drive Seagate Backup Plus is made on the basis of a 2.5-inch HDD disk and comes in a plastic case. It is the implementation of the USM standard (Universal Storage Module) developed by Seagate. This standard Specifies the Boxing Specification for HDDs, which allows you to connect them to the SATA bus, and to USB controllers, and to FireWire, and thunderbolt.

SEAGATE BACKUP PLUS

According to the USM specification, the NDD disk is placed in the housing, and an external shift adapter with a controller with a particular interface is attached to the SATA connector.

Seagate Backup Plus drives are supplied only with USB 3.0 adapter, but separately you can buy an adapter with a port of Firewire 800 or Thunderbolt.

USB 3.0 Drive Seagate Backup Plus Adapter

In the Seagate Backup Plus drive, a 2.5-inch HDD of the Momentus ST500LM012 family with SATA 3 Gb / s interface is installed.

Testing technique

For testing, we used the stand configuration stand:

• processor - Intel Core i7-3770K;
• system board - ASUS P8Z77-V Premium;
• system Board Chipset - Intel Z77 Express;
• memory - 16 GB DDR3-1333 (two-channel operation mode);
• drive with operating system - Intel SSD 520 Series (240 GB);
• sATA - AHCI operation mode;
• driver drives - Intel RST 10.6;
• the drive controller is integrated into the chipset SATA 6 Gb / s controller.

Systemic aSUS board The P8Z77-V Premium was used by us for the reason that it contains an integrated ThunderBolt controller based on the Intel DSL3310 controller.

On the stand for testing was established operating system Windows 7 Ultimate (64 Bit).

SEAGATE GOFLEX THUNDERBOLT adapter
With SEAGATE Backup Plus drive)

Testing was carried out using the IOMETER 2008.06.1 test utility, which is a very powerful tool for analyzing drive performance (both HDD and SSD) and is actually a sectoral standard for measuring the performance of drives.

Testing the drive using the iOMETER utility was published without creating a logical partition on it so as not to tie the test results to a specific file system.

When testing, the dependence of the speed of execution of sequential read and record operations, as well as random reads and records from the size of the data block is investigated.

To determine the speed of consistent reading, random reading and sequential record, the data blocks of the following dimensions were used: 512 bytes, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 KB, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32 MB. In these tests in the IOMECER settings, the number of simultaneous input requests (# of Outstanding I / OS) was set to 4, which is typically for user applications.

SEAGATE GOFLEX THUNDERBOLT adapter
C SSD SILICON POWER VELOX V70 SSD

To analyze the dependence of the performance of the drive (IOPS) in the operations of random read and write blocks of 4 KB, the number of simultaneous input requests was set to 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 and 256.

Testing was carried out according to the following scheme. We first tested the Seagate Backup Plus drive with USB 3.0 interface, for which the USB 3.0 adapter was connected to it, which, in turn, connected to a USB 3.0-port on the system board implemented through the Intel Z77 controller integrated into the chipset Express. Then testing was conducted with the Seagate Goflex Thunderbolt connected to the Seagate Backup Plus drive. Next, we tested the Seagate Backup Plus drive, connected to the system board through the SATA interface. In fact, when the drive is connected directly to the system board through the SATA interface, the maximum possible speed is achieved. Adding additional intermediate transformations between different interfaces can only reduce it.

As can be seen based on the testing of the SEAGATE Backup Plus drive (Fig. 1-4), there is no difference between using Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 interfaces. SATA interface when the drive connects to the board directly, has an advantage in sequential reading operations and records at a block size of less than 16 KB. That is, only with small block sizes begin to affect the delays made by controllers that perform the SATA transformation - Thunderbolt and SATA - USB 3.0. However, with a block size of more than 16 KB, the HDD itself becomes a narrow place and the speed of serial records and reading is determined by the performance of HDD and does not depend on the type of controller.

Fig. 1. Dependence of the speed of consistent reading

Fig. 2. The dependence of the sequential recording speed
SEAGATE BACKUP PLUS Drive on Block Size

Fig. 3. Random reading rate dependence
SEAGATE BACKUP PLUS Drive on Block Size

Fig. 4. Random recording rate dependence
SEAGATE BACKUP PLUS Drive on Block Size

In random read and write operations, with all block sizes, the speed is determined solely by the performance of the HDD itself, and therefore there is no difference between the SATA interfaces, USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt.

So, on the basis of testing the SEAGATE Backup Plus drive, you can make the following important conclusion. If you have USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt interfaces in the system, then for the Seagate Backup Plus drive, in which the USB 3.0 adapter is supplied complete, it makes no sense to buy an additional seagate goflex thunderbolt adapter. It is necessary to do this only in that rare case if the system has Thunderbolt interface and no USB 3.0. And this applies not only to the SEAGATE BACKUP PLUS drive, but also anyone external drive Based on the HDD disk. The ThunderBolt interface will not allow any performance gain relative to the USB 3.0 interface, since both interfaces have more than sufficient bandwidth for any HDD disk.

Testing the SEAGATE Backup Plus drive with USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt interfaces primarily allowed us to compare them in terms of performance. At the same time it is clear that when we are talking On high-speed interfaces, a bottleneck in the system may not be an interface, but the drive. After all, from the 2.5-inch HDD disk Seagate Backup Plus to expect any outstanding results.

That is why, at the next stage, we repeated the entire testing process, but already with a high-speed SSD drive Silicon Power Velox V70 with a capacity of 240 GB (in detail with the results of its testing, you can find in the article "SSD-Drive Silicon Power Velox V70 240 GB" published in this magazine number). It should be noted that we conducted testing with a pre-compiled Silicon Power Velox V70 drive, for which a random recording was carried out for 10 hours (with the number of simultaneous requests equal to 16).

SSD drive test results SILICON POWER VELOX V70 with SATA 6 Gb / s interfaces, USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt are presented in Fig. 5-8.

Fig. 5. The dependence of the consistent reading speed

Fig. 6. Sequential recording speed dependence
SSD drive SILICON POWER VELOX V70 from block size

Fig. 7. Dependence of random reading speed
SSD drive SILICON POWER VELOX V70 from block size

Fig. 8. Random recording rate dependence
SSD drive SILICON POWER VELOX V70 from block size

To begin with, when connecting the SSD drive through the SATA 6 Gbps interface, the maximum sequential read speed is 525 MB / s, and the sequential recording is 505 MB / s.

The maximum rate of random reading is 522 MB / s, and the random recording is 275 MB / s. In fact, these are maximum speeds that can demonstrate the SILICON POWER VELOX V70 SSD drive.

When connecting the SILICON POWER VELOX V70 SSD drive via the Thunderbolt interface, despite the declared bandwidth of the interface in 10 Gbps (1.25 GB / s), everything turned out to be as good as I would like. The maximum consistent reading rate was 347 MB \u200b\u200b/ s, and the serial recording is 340 MB / s.

The maximum rate of random reading was equal to 347 MB \u200b\u200b/ s, and a random recording - 275 MB / s. As you can see, only in random recording operations, where the performance of the SSD drive is not very high, there is no difference between connecting the SSD drive using SATA 6 Gb / s and Thunderbolt interfaces. But in random reading, serial recording and sequential reading, the ThunderBolt interface clearly loses and does not allow to implement the entire speed potential of the SSD drive. It is clear that the bandwidth of the ThunderBolt interface in this case does not have (it is disposed of only a third), - apparently, the problem in delays caused by the SATA - Thunderbolt interface conversion. By the way, in the Seagate Goflex Thunderbolt adapter, the ASMEDIA ASM1061 controller is responsible for this conversion.

When using the USB 3.0 interface, the SSD-drive SSD drive SILICON POWER VELOX V70 was even worse. Supplied with them The USB 3.0 adapter does not allow you to develop a sequential read speed of more than 178 MB / s and a consistent recording speed of more than 200 MB / s. The maximum speed of random read amounted to 170 MB / s, and the random recording is 140 MB / s. Apparently, the chip that implements the conversion of USB 3.0 - SATA 6 Gb / s to the USB 3.0 adapter attached to the Seagate Backup Plus drive does not have sufficient performance to implement high-speed SSD drives.

conclusions

Based on the test, the following important conclusion can be made. Seagate Goflex Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 adapters make sense to use only Seagate Backup Plus HDDs. Use high-speed SSD drives with them is impractical, because in this case the adapters will be a bottleneck that will significantly limit the speed of reading and writing.