The Thunderbolt 5 AIC race just got even more competitive! Following closely on the heels of GIGABYTE’s announcement of its Thunderbolt 5 AIC, ASUS has thrown its hat into the ring with the release of the new ASUS ThunderboltEX 5 AIC. This powerful new card aims to bring the speed and versatility of Thunderbolt 5 to a wider range of desktops.
The ASUS ThunderboltEX 5 AIC boasts a single 6-pin PCIe power connector, providing ample power for demanding workloads. Additionally, ASUS claims the card features USB-PD support of up to 130W through its in-house Flexible FastCharge technology, capable of powering even the most power-hungry laptops. While the single USB Type-C port is limited to a maximum of 96W, it will handle an Apple MacBook Pro laptop, but may fall short for other laptops with higher power requirements.
Under the hood, the ASUS ThunderboltEX 5 AIC utilizes the same Intel JHL9580 Thunderbolt 5 controller found in GIGABYTE’s AIC, ensuring robust performance and a wealth of capabilities. This powerful combination allows the card to support up to 3 x DisplayPort 2.1-based 8K monitors at a refresh rate of 60Hz, pushing the boundaries of visual fidelity. It’s important to note that this will require DSC (Display Stream Compression) technology to achieve such high resolutions.
ASUS has thoughtfully equipped the card with 3 x mini DisplayPort inputs, and included 3 x DP to mini DP adapters in the box for maximum convenience. There are also 2 x USB Type-C cables for added connectivity.
However, the ASUS ThunderboltEX 5 AIC’s compatibility appears to be limited to Windows 11 64-bit, leaving Windows 10 and Linux users out in the cold. ASUS has not released a driver for Windows 10 and it is unlikely that a driver for Linux will be released.
With its powerful features and robust connections, the ASUS ThunderboltEX 5 AIC promises to be a compelling option for users seeking to unleash the full potential of their desktop setups with Thunderbolt 5 technology. It will be interesting to see how this new card fares in the ever-evolving world of high-performance computing.