Gigabyte: the Thunderbolt and the LGA2011 program

Two ports Thunderbolt on one side and the LGA2011 of the other to four motherboards signed Gigabyte.

The Thunderbolt is the honour in Gigabyte with these two new motherboards named for the occasion GA-Z77X-UP4 TH and GA-Z77X-UP5 TH. Two, these two Intel ports to mini DisplayPort format to transmit data at high speed 10 Gb/s maximum. This technology allows the chaining of equipment to associate several external hard drives and a screen at the end of chain for example. They are in total not less than six devices that can be connected to each port Thunderbolt. Intel offers also via its port out the video stream it, but for the moment, very few screens support mini-DisplayPort and it will then be necessary to go through a mini-DisplayPort/DisplayPort adapter to make this work.

For the rest of the specifications of these two motherboards, we find the new Ultra Durable 5 range by that we introduced yesterday with its 32 floors of food, the GA-X77X-UP7 with the same control chip, the PowIrstage IR3550. With its socket LGA 1155, they can allow the latest processors Intel Ivy Bridge without problem and four benches up to 2400 MHz compatible XMP DDR3 memory. Three ports PCI-Express 16 x with a wired in 8 x and the last 4 x, as well as three other ports PCI-e 1 x which will be overshadowed by graphics cards if all 16 ports x are occupied. For the rest of these connectors on these two motherboards, we can compare the maps of the manufacturer already launched as the GA-Z77X-UD5H which offers no port Thunderbolt, the difference only on this point.

The presentation of these two maps to the 2012 Computex Gigabyte not yet contacted public prices for these, but should at least rely on a rate around $ 150 if not more...

Always in Gigabyte, our colleagues from TechPowerUp put hand on two other models under the name Ultra Durable 5, but this time with a LGA 2011 socket for processors Intel Sandy Bridge-E. If not there for new processors Ivy Bridge, the famous manufacturer offers new models for the previous generation with its components offering superior life. The references for these two new models are GA-X79S-UP5 WiFi and GA-X 79-UP4.

Must be sold below $ 300 with features seven floors of food always driven by the same PowIRstage IR3550, eight benches memory chip the DDR3 for in quadruple channels and four ports PCI-Express 3.0 x 16 cabled 16 x / 8 x / 16 x / 8 x. UP5 WiFi version, as its name indicates, it has an additional WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 card and eight floors of food instead of seven for his little sister. For the rest, the specifications are similar, but we were not aware of the price, which must be no surprise a little higher.

Read More

Two motherboards Thunderbolt in Asus

ASUS formalizes two motherboards rather top-of-range in the P8Z77-V series, with port Thunderbolt.

ASUS officially introduced two new motherboards (socket LGA 1155 - chipset Z77) to feature to propose a Thunderbolt connections. The first model is known, since it is a Pro P8Z77-V which is therefore version Thunderbolt.

The Panel back of inputs and outputs is slightly changed, with for main difference the disappearance of two USB 2.0 ports and the passage of the DisplayPort to mini-DisplayPort.

Asus has not indicated when and how many would out this version of the motherboard, and our colleagues from Hardware.fr questioned the possibility of an additional for the P8Z77 - V Pro Classic, card to appear in trade to offer optional the Thunderbolt. Follow.

The two maps Asus Thunderbolt side by side...

The other new motherboard of Asus in Thunderbolt have been presented is the P8Z77-V Premium. A map which has an additional PCI Express switch, allowing it to manage together up to four PCIe ports on the processor.

Note also the presence of two Ethernet ports, and that of a 20 + 4 + 2 phase power circuit. On the refinements of the "Premium" model, there is the presence of Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi n "dual" modules.

But it is not everything, to take advantage of the mSATA port, this motherboard will be delivered with a SSD of 32 GB. If you don't know the characteristics of the disk in the final version, the first samples of the card use MLC Toshiba chips and a Marvell 88SS9175 controller. Availability is announced for the coming weeks at the price of €429.

Thunderbolt devices to the string...

Read More

The characteristics of the Thunderbolt according to Intel

Intel took the IDF to give a lecture on the technical characteristics of the Thunderbolt. It has, among other things, formalized the use of the mini DisplayPort. In practical terms, this means that pass through the USB port, as did Sony (cf. "The 1st computer Thunderbolt without Apple"), is not officially the Thunderbolt as it is defined by the official specification, even if it is of identical technologies. We knew that only one type of implementation would survive (cf. "ThunderBolt from Sony, it's optical"). It is Apple who won. Intel says that the first optical cable should arrive next year. They will allow the manufacture of a 10 m cables while we are limited to three metres today. However, they will have 10 Gb/s rates identical to those of copper cables.

The limitations of optical cables flows are due to the Intel will follow the technical requirements specified today. For higher speeds, must await the Thunderbolt 2 which is planned for 2015. This was the message from Intel today who wants to promote a standard clear Thunderbolt to destroy any uncertainty which could hover around its implementation. The Thunderbolt is a mini DisplayPort port able to transit through the video and data using four PCI-Express links. Cables manage two channels and flows are of 10 Gb/s in both directions. The port can provide 10 W of power and it is possible to settle six devices Thunderbolt and a DisplayPort screen. Concretely, this means that to connect multiple monitors on a single port, it will be necessary that they are all compatible Thunderbolt, but the end of the string. The characteristics are identical to what was announced at the beginning of year (cf. "Thunderbolt: 10 gigabits/s, 10 W, Light Peak")

The skier said that the future of Thunderbolt is promising. He worked on the use of Photonic links that would be five times more powerful than today ' hui. But he will have to wait many years land this technology on the public market.

Intel has also shown that it would be the guardian of the Thunderbolt, relieving Apple of this responsibility. The purpose is to reassure the PC manufacturers who may fear to be at the mercy of their competitor. If Apple has started the procedure to protect the brand Thunderbolt, the rights will be transferred to Intel who has already created a community around this technology. He also has opportunity to give a list of manufacturers who have already adopted this format. There is the presence of Canon, which confirms rumors that we reported you last March. The absence of Dell, Lenovo, HP, or Samsung is still very notable and despite the enthusiasm of Intel can help discern a reluctance on the part of manufacturers who prefer to wait to take the step of the Thunderbolt.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Read More

Thunderbolt to PCI-Express: it happens

The Thunderbolt was launched by Apple early year and apart from a few disks hard external to the professional world, the most interesting announcement is that of... Sony offers external graphics in Thunderbolt, but without using the connector proposed by Apple.

Fortunately, finally, move with two interesting solutions. The first is quite specific, it is a 1U rack to integrate a Mac mini in a Bay to the servers. With the Mac mini 2011 "Server" and its processor with four cores, is the (power) level of a 2006 Xserve... But the interesting point is that Sonnet has integrated Thunderbolt in his device: PCI-Express x 4 connector has been integrated into the chassis and it uses the Thunderbolt connector to connect to the computer.

The alternative, more general public, is that of Magma: ExpressBox 3 T is an external enclosure that offers three slots PCI-Express 2.0 internally (without indicating the number of rows for each port) and power 220 W, which is enough for three expansion cards. In view of the food and the lack of information on the subject, only the graphics Basic, requiring no connector (s) power PCI-Express, will be part.

In both cases, the price is unknown and a second port allows chaining devices, one of the advantages of the Thunderbolt.

Read More

Apple: of new screens Thunderbolt in preparation?

 

Apple would be to expand the number of facilities boarding a Thunderbolt port. Its future screens should be the next on the list.A leak on the Apple site presented for a few moments the new visuals of upcoming screens of the constructor. On one of these images, as can be seen two copies, with the wallpaper for Mac OS X Lion, related to a MacBook Pro via his Thunderbolt port. The new range should therefore see the day very quickly.This connector technology launched by Intel and Apple, for the time being exclusively on the machines, allows important flows (10 GB/second) and the ability to chain up to 6 devices, including a screen.

Read More

ThunderBolt Sony, it's optical

The Sony Vaio Z is definitely an impressive machine. Not only this notebook is thinner than the MacBook Air from Apple and offers a significantly higher power through its Core i7, but it is also the first machine of the market to have a Light Peak optical port.

Where Apple has chosen a hybrid implementation of Light Peak, with a copper cable and connector owner, Sony took over the original design of Intel: a USB connector and an optical interface. The port connecting the Vaio Z with its external graphic card home station (called Power Media Dock, LDC) can also serve as a classical USB 3.0 port. This implementation seems us much more logical and practical to use: for example, Apple, the ThunderBolt is also used to connect the screen, but it should be at the end of the chain which cannot disconnect a ThunderBolt drive without disconnecting its screen. From the point of view of performance, the two implementations should be identical, providing 10 Gbit/s of bandwidth in each direction.

This divergence between Sony and Apple raises the question of the viability of Light Peak or ThunderBolt in the long term. Wrong to imagine a manufacturer of hard drives develop yet another range of products. Term, if Light Peak is resistant, a single variant survive in the market. And Sony for the benefit of compatibility with the USB. It now expected the reaction of other PC manufacturers to this technology forward.

Read More