ThunderBolt Available Soon on New 7-series ASUS Motherboards

ThunderBolt Available Soon on Z77 and H77 ASUS Motherboards

ThunderBolt is the latest interface for connecting peripherals to a computer. Developed by Intel in collaboration with Apple, it is a super high-speed interface capable of up to 20Gbps of data throughput, which is many times faster than USB 3.0 and FireWire 800. Furthermore, apart from data, ThunderBolt also supports video, audio and even power, thereby reducing the need for separate video and audio cables.

The uptake on ThunderBolt has been pretty slow, but that's set to change with the new Ivy Bridge processors and 7-series chipset. ASUS is enabling ThunderBolt connectivity for most of its Z77 and H77 motherboards via a special ThunderBolt header on the motherboard and expansion card.

The list of motherboards with this feature are as follows:

• P8Z77-V DLX
• P8Z77-V PRO
• P8Z77-V
• P8Z77-V LE PLUS
• P8Z77-V LE
• P8Z77-V LK
• P8H77-V
• P8H77-M PRO
• SABERTOOTH Z77
• Maximus V GENE