Apple could be the big winner from Intel’s Thunderbolt 5 announcement – and here’s why
Intel has announced Lightning strike 5 connectivity will be available in 2024 on Windows-based PCsmost likely those equipped with Core and Xeon processors instead of AMD’s Ryzen and Wire ripper the ones. But the real winner from this announcement could be Apple.
It’s easy to forget that the iPhone maker is the company behind Thunderbolt, and that there are more Thunderbolt ports Mac computers than on any other platform.
Remember, Apple first introduced the original Thunderbolt in February 2011 and has stayed true to the technology ever since. All recent Apple computers have at least one Thunderbolt 4 port, some of which, like the MacBook Air – Sporting Thunderbolt ports only.
One of the most exciting use cases that Thunderbolt 5 introduces is the ability to… external GPU (eGPU) thanks to 120Gbps bidirectional bandwidth available. While an external GPU cannot and will not replace an internal GPU, it can complement it very nicely.
We can’t predict what Apple’s next move is when it comes to eGPU support, but the new version of Thunderbolt gives proponents of this theory extra ammunition. Nvidia and AMD relentlessly deliver new generations of GPUs every year, allowing Mac users to achieve new levels of graphics performance.
There’s also the fact that eGPU support could encourage data scientists and developers to use Mac with GPU accelerators like the Nvidia H100 or the AMD Instinct MI series for AI training and inference.
But there’s a catch
However, it won’t be easy; the current Apple Silicon does not have native support for eGPU. If Appleinsider pointed out an excellent 2022 expose misses two crucial things: the cards lack Apple Silicon drivers, and the ability to address GPUs with a separate memory pool simply doesn’t exist in macOS for Apple Silicon.
The first can be solved by the suppliers, while the second is firmly in Apple’s camp; the engineers can do it if it fits within the broader strategy of the company. The latest Geekbench Metal benchmarkwhich looks at GPU performance on Apple’s platform, shows that the M2 Ultra has closed the gap with the AMD Radeon RX 6900XT, which launched almost three years ago.
The M3 Ultra will likely surpass the card that remains the fastest discrete GPU available on the Mac, but will that be enough to keep demanding professionals happy? The jury is out there. If Matt Bach of Puget Systems told TechRadar Pro in June, the Mac pro does not support additional GPUs and therefore the system cannot be upgraded to a faster display and cannot take advantage of having multiple GPUs in the same system.
Previous Intel-based Mac Pro systems allowed for multiple GPUs, allowing artists to improve their render times. This is a shame because many of these 3D applications have put a lot of effort into getting their renderers on OSX, but Apple has chosen to forego GPU support. External GPU support on Apple’s fastest silicon could be a game changer for them.