14 DAY TRIAL // Thunderbolt technology hasn't really encouraged sales of motherboards, storage devices or monitors much, but it could always start to do so, especially since there aren't many technologies that can differentiate between such products anymore, and Gigabyte aims to bank on this.
That's why it is making such a big deal out of the Thunderbolt 2.0 support built into the Gigabyte Z87X-UD7 TH motherboard.
Also known as "Falcon Ridge" the mainboard supports 20 Gbps transfer speeds over individual TB ports thanks to the existence of two channels in the connection.
Normally, TB works at 10 Gbps, which is already double what USB 3.0 allows, but with USB 3.1 on the horizon (10 Gbps), an upgrade was needed.
It's quite fortunate that Intel invented TB to be scalable, aiming at 100 Gbps as the upper limit, and maybe beyond it.
Other than Thunderbolt 2 support (4K on-the-fly video content supported), Gigabyte's new platform benefits from Intel Haswell fourth-gen Core-series CPUs, 4-way SLI and Crossfire graphics configurations, EasyTune (Gigabyte fine-tuning utility), Wi-Fi & Bluetooth (via expansion card), Advanced Fan Control and Gigabit LAN.
What's more, the newcomer has Dual BIOS, Durable Black Solid Capacitors, Ultra Durable 5 Plus components, On/Off charge tech (can charge phones and other gadgets even with the PC turned off) and support for great expansion, memory and storage capacities.
More precisely, there are four DDR3 DIMM memory slots, three PCIe 3.0 x16 slots, two PCIe 2.0 x16 slots, two PCI slots and ten SATA 6.0 Gbps ports.
"Gigabyte is delighted to announce official certification of Intel's latest Thunderbolt technology on our flagship 8 series motherboard," commented Henry Kao, vice president of Gigabyte motherboard business unit.
"As the first Dual Thunderbolt 2 motherboard from Gigabyte, the Z87X-UD7 TH introduces new and exciting possibilities for enhanced media creation processes and 4K video workflows."
Sadly, Gigabyte did not include the price of the motherboard in its announcement, or even the product page (Gigabyte Z87X-UD7 TH).