Reaching stupid question - AMD AM4 and Thunderbolt, how's it going?

Sorry.. Can't help ya.. I just learned that AMD Mobo's can now be certified by Intel for TB4.
 
Only thunderbolt stuff I have is older v2 that's on mini-displayport (mac).
 
Dogsofjune said:
Doesn't look like favorable reviews from am4 owners.
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That's why I asked - but I didn't want to presume the negative.

In balancing AMD vs. Intel, not only does it cost quite a bit more to get TB, but it also probably won't work very well.

It seems that if you want or need TB, Alder Lake is the better buy today just based on platform costs.

Of course, the train of thought has made me reconsider my 'need' - I just don't think it's a good idea to skip the feature since it's essentially the future.
 
LazyGamer said:
Of course, the train of thought has made me reconsider my 'need' - I just don't think it's a good idea to skip the feature since it's essentially the future
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Hmm, Thunderbolt has been "the future" since Firewire was officially retired. It's been largely regulated to Macintosh, and only a very small and select set of peripherals even inside that niche audience.

If I were a betting man, I'd stick with USB. Even with it's identity crisis, it's really all 98% of people are going to need, and hence, will continue to be the default option for almost everything.

Even though, I readily admit, Thunderbolt is better in almost every regard. It's attempts to sneak in as USB-C in disguise, I fear, are not going to work to get it any market traction... for exactly the same reason the standards committee thinks it will: people will be able to plug them into any old USB port and the world will be shocked when it doesn't work because not every USB port supports TB.
 
Brian_B said:
If I were a betting man, I'd stick with USB. Even with it's identity crisis, it's really all 98% of people are going to need, and hence, will continue to be the default option for almost everything.
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That's the thing - USB4 is Thunderbolt!

(otherwise I agree on all points)
 
LazyGamer said:
That's the thing - USB4 is Thunderbolt!

(otherwise I agree on all points)
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www.macworld.co.uk

Thunderbolt 4 vs Thunderbolt 3 vs USB4

What is the difference between Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4, and then what about USB4?
www.macworld.co.uk www.macworld.co.uk

I had to look it up - this was the most clear article I found.

TB4 devices will fall back to USB4 protocols if TB isn't present - which is good. But they aren't the same thing. TB4 is a higher spec than USB4.

It's kinda like TB will be the "Premium Certified" version, but it will still probably work if you don't have it. A fine distinction, I admit, but there still remains a distinction, which means I still would bet on USB, with TB just kinda dying off.
 
Before I go digging... my understanding is that USB4 is TB3; thus, TB4 is another step beyond USB, but I tend to think of TB3 and TB4 the way I think of PCIe 3.0 vs PCIe 4.0/5.0 - same tech, just faster in ways that won't matter most of the time (for consumers / myself).

Regardless, I was surprised by the reviews of TB3 implementations on current AMD boards. I'm assuming that it's not as easy of an integration as another NIC or or storage controller or what have you, just not that it would be that hard!
 
LazyGamer said:
Before I go digging... my understanding is that USB4 is TB3; thus, TB4 is another step beyond USB, but I tend to think of TB3 and TB4 the way I think of PCIe 3.0 vs PCIe 4.0/5.0 - same tech, just faster in ways that won't matter most of the time (for consumers / myself).

Regardless, I was surprised by the reviews of TB3 implementations on current AMD boards. I'm assuming that it's not as easy of an integration as another NIC or or storage controller or what have you, just not that it would be that hard!
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I think you got that backwards. TB4 is USB4.

If USB went to the "TB" connector, then sure. You've got an argument that USB is converting to TB. However, TB is adopting the USB-C connector, thus TB is moving towards USB.
 
LeRoy_Blanchard said:
If USB went to the "TB" connector, then sure.
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Thunderbolt never had it's own connector iirc. 1 and 2 used mini-Displayport, 3 & 4 are using USB C. There was optical Thunderbolt but I've never seen it and don't know what it used.

But yeah, your right, TB4 is USB4 compatible, but USB4 is not universally TB4 compatible.

The sharing of connectors has been good and bad. Nice that you didn't need to worry about adapters and yet another one-off port (like Firewire kinda was). But bad because you'd often have 2 identical looking ports, but your thing would only work in one of the two without it being readily obvious.
 
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