Intel reportedly shipping next-gen Thunderbolt controllers expected in new Macs

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014


Chipmaker Intel has begun shipping its second generation of Thunderbolt controllers, which are believed to be bound for Apple's upcoming Mac releases, according to a new report.



Vr-Zone claimed on Thursday to have received confirmation that Intel is "finally shipping" the controllers, codenamed "Cactus Ridge." The report also said that a "handful" of PC motherboards had been delayed because of the controllers, while noting that it was a "minor issue."



The publication expects the controllers to make their way into upcoming iMac and MacBook Pros. New Mac Pro systems could also add Thunderbolt support, though the future of Apple's professional line of desktops remains uncertain.



Intel will reportedly offer two Thunderbolt solutions for its next-generation Ivy Bridge chips. The 12x12mm DSL3310 controller chip has two lanes of PCI Express bandwidth and uses 2.1W of power, while the DSL3510 provides four PCI express lanes and draws 2.8W.



"The DSL3510 can also be used for daisy chainable devices and as such it would be a lower cost, smaller and more power efficient alternative to the original Light Ridge or CV82524 chipset," the report noted.



Author LG Nilsson speculated that Apple will most likely use the DSL 3310 for its notebooks and the DSL 3510 for its desktop systems. The addition of support for multiple DisplayPort inputs on the DSL3510 could allow the chip to interface with both discrete and integrated graphics, according to the report.



A third controller, DSL2210, is a cheaper alternative that could be used for external storage devices. The chip, however, doesn't support daisy chaining.\t





Source: VR-Zone







The arrival of the next generation of Thunderbolt controllers may provide further evidence that Apple is on the verge of releasing new laptops. Multiple authorized resellers have run low on supplies of the company's 15-inch MacBook Pros ahead of the expected launch of Intel's Ivy Bridge processors.



Intel launched the Thunderbolt technology last February alongside Apple's early 2011 MacBook Pro models. More than a year later, Apple's competitors are gearing up to release their own Thunderbolt-equipped ultrabooks as early as this quarter.



Future plans for Thunderbolt include the addition of optical cables that will accommodate longer lengths and eventually faster speeds. Intel has also voiced commitment to support the PCI-Express 3.0 standard, which will feature a bit rate of up to 8 gigtransfers per second.



[ View article on AppleInsider ]

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 36
    What is it with these Intel codenames? What's next, "Dry Gulch"?
  • Reply 2 of 36
    drblankdrblank Posts: 3,385member
    I think it was a little misleading with the " though the future of Apple's professional line of desktops remains uncertain" statement when you just finished saying that "New Mac Pro systems could also add Thunderbolt support". Here is the situation. Apple hasn't refreshed the MacPro because they have been waiting for a new processor that makes sense for them to upgrade to. Obviously, Thunderbolt is missing from the current MacPro, so I would be safe to say that it is of course going to be added. Didn't Apple mention that they were to refresh the MacPro this year? The only thing I feel is that it might make sense for Apple to make the MacPro system something that could be rack mountable like a server, since a lot of the professionals in the Audio/VIdeo production have rack systems that they install ProTools rigs, portable studio rigs, etc. It would make sense that they make a rack mount system. I personally would love to see them add an optional redundant power supply and some other redundancy to make it also a VERY serious workstation as well as being able to be more like a real server with slots, since Apple left the XServe market, this could serve (no pun intended) as a great high end workstation AND a nice rack mounted server with one box. But that's my observation.
  • Reply 3 of 36
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by drblank View Post


    Apple hasn't refreshed the MacPro because they have been waiting for a new processor that makes sense for them to upgrade to.



    That's out now, though.



    Quote:

    Didn't Apple mention that they were to refresh the MacPro this year?



    No.



    Quote:

    The only thing I feel is that it might make sense for Apple to make the MacPro system something that could be rack mountable like a server? It would make sense that they make a rack mount system.



    The number of Mac Mini that you can fit in the same space as a Mac Pro are, what, 12x as powerful?



    Quote:

    ?since Apple left the XServe market, this could serve (no pun intended) as a great high end workstation AND a nice rack mounted server with one box.



    They left that market for a reason. I don't see them coming back.
  • Reply 4 of 36
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    I'm confused by this because I thought the controller was being built into the Light Peak chip. Could someone set me straight here?





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post


    What is it with these Intel codenames? What's next, "Dry Gulch"?



    Greg Giraldo might have a few ideas to offer.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by drblank View Post


    I think it was a little misleading with the " though the future of Apple's professional line of desktops remains uncertain" statement when you just finished saying that "New Mac Pro systems could also add Thunderbolt support". Here is the situation. Apple hasn't refreshed the MacPro because they have been waiting for a new processor that makes sense for them to upgrade to. Obviously, Thunderbolt is missing from the current MacPro, so I would be safe to say that it is of course going to be added. Didn't Apple mention that they were to refresh the MacPro this year? The only thing I feel is that it might make sense for Apple to make the MacPro system something that could be rack mountable like a server, since a lot of the professionals in the Audio/VIdeo production have rack systems that they install ProTools rigs, portable studio rigs, etc. It would make sense that they make a rack mount system. I personally would love to see them add an optional redundant power supply and some other redundancy to make it also a VERY serious workstation as well as being able to be more like a real server with slots, since Apple left the XServe market, this could serve (no pun intended) as a great high end workstation AND a nice rack mounted server with one box. But that's my observation.



    If you expect people to read your posts making it human readable would help.
  • Reply 5 of 36
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post








    If you expect people to read your posts making it human readable would help.



    Don't be pedantic.



  • Reply 6 of 36
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Slang4Art View Post


    Don't be pedantic.



    Paragraphs would be helpful.
  • Reply 7 of 36
    bdkennedy1bdkennedy1 Posts: 1,459member
    This tells me that possibly Apple has been waiting for this new Thunderbolt technology to launch the new Mac Pro's which would be considerably smaller without the need for extra hard drive space but maintain the same power at a lower price because the customer would need to buy their own storage options.
  • Reply 8 of 36
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    Paragraphs would be helpful.



    I'm trollin, they hatin...



    Still I think he had some interesting thoughts despite the lack of 'return' usage.
  • Reply 9 of 36
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bdkennedy1 View Post


    This tells me that possibly Apple has been waiting for this new Thunderbolt technology to launch the new Mac Pro's which would be considerably smaller without the need for extra hard drive space but maintain the same power at a lower price because the customer would need to buy their own storage options.



    Oh dear heavens no?



    I didn't think about that?



    "The new Mac Pro."



    One hard drive bay.

    One double-wide PCIe slot, taken up by the double-wide GPU.

    Eight Thunderbolt.



    Buy the rest.



    Like fun I will.
  • Reply 10 of 36
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    Oh dear heavens no?



    I didn't think about that?



    "The new Mac Pro."



    One hard drive bay.

    One double-wide PCIe slot, taken up by the double-wide GPU.

    Eight Thunderbolt.



    Buy the rest.



    Like fun I will.



    Buy an iMac.
  • Reply 11 of 36
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Slang4Art View Post


    Buy an iMac.



  • Reply 12 of 36
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Slang4Art View Post


    Don't be pedantic.







    Pedantically speaking, it would be pedantic of me to point out how not using paragraphs is improper, but my point was that it's not easily read thereby making it a post people are more likely to pass over.



    Now the writer has no obligation to heed my advice, nor did I say that it's a requirement. It's just merely a suggestion as I assume the point of writing in a public forum is that it's read by the public.
  • Reply 13 of 36
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post


    Pedantically speaking, it would be pedantic of me to point out how not using paragraphs is improper, but my point was that it's not easily read thereby making it a post people are more likely to pass over.



    Now the writer has no obligation to heed my advice, nor did I say that it's a requirement. It's just merely a suggestion as I assume the point of writing in a public forum is that it's read by the public.



    I keed, I keed.



    What I meant to say was that Apple wouldn't be struggling with tower market share if they started licensing Mac OS X to Samsung!
  • Reply 14 of 36
    foobarfoobar Posts: 107member
    2 Watt? That's a lot for a single I/O chip in a laptop.
  • Reply 15 of 36
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Slang4Art View Post


    I keed, I keed.



    What I meant to say was that Apple wouldn't be struggling with tower market share if they started licensing Mac OS X to Samsung!



    Only fanbois care about marketshare. Apple will eat your babies for profit, however. (although image and exclusivity are more relevant, and "user experience..." actually we could all, likely enough, think of 10 good reasons why apple won't license their OS, but all of those come back to profit eventually.)
  • Reply 16 of 36
    slang4artslang4art Posts: 376member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DeanSolecki View Post


    Only fanbois care about marketshare. Apple will eat your babies for profit, however. (although image and exclusivity are more relevant, and "user experience..." actually we could all, likely enough, think of 10 good reasons why apple won't license their OS, but all of those come back to profit eventually.)



    Yeah, since I bought an iPhone, I grew more popular and started getting invited to parties. What those suckers don't realize is that I am secretly texting from my Android smartphone when I rush to the restroom every 10 minutes or so.
  • Reply 17 of 36
    mdriftmeyermdriftmeyer Posts: 7,503member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    Oh dear heavens no?



    I didn't think about that?



    "The new Mac Pro."



    One hard drive bay.

    One double-wide PCIe slot, taken up by the double-wide GPU.

    Eight Thunderbolt.



    Buy the rest.



    Like fun I will.



    For Apple to get serious about the new Mac Pro they need 2 or 3 dedicated x16 slots for GPGPUs chained together and if that gives an option for RackMount or a larger container with redundant power, water cooling and the rest, so be it.



    If they did that and opened up a box for 128GB RAM they would own the high end workstation market in 1 quarter.
  • Reply 18 of 36
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Intel will reportedly offer two Thunderbolt solutions for its next-generation Ivy Bridge chips. The 12x12mm DSL3310 controller chip has two lanes of PCI Express bandwidth and uses 2.1W of power, while the DSL3510 provides four PCI express lanes and draws 2.8W.



    The addition of support for multiple DisplayPort inputs on the DSL3510 could allow the chip to interface with both discrete and integrated graphics, according to the report.



    Intel has also voiced commitment to support the PCI-Express 3.0 standard, which will feature a bit rate of up to 8 gigtransfers per second.



    Multiple displayport inputs wouldn't affect the fact that Mac Pro PCI GPU outputs couldn't go on the outside of the machine so if there's a redesign, then it's still likely a significant change from what we have now.



    Using PCIe 3 could boost bandwidth in Thunderbolt up to double where it is right now and this will be in Ivy Bridge:



    http://www.macrumors.com/2012/03/09/...i-express-3-0/



    40Gbps per port (20 up, 20 down).



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by foobar


    2 Watt? That's a lot for a single I/O chip in a laptop.



    Each port provides up to 10W of power too so a bus-powered device on a laptop could draw a lot of power vs a 2.5W USB port. It'll only draw that when in use though.
  • Reply 19 of 36
    conrailconrail Posts: 489member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    The number of Mac Mini that you can fit in the same space as a Mac Pro are, what, 12x as powerful?



  • Reply 20 of 36
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by foobar View Post


    2 Watt? That's a lot for a single I/O chip in a laptop.



    Not necessarily.



    I assume that the chip isn't drawing significant power if it's not in use. If you need it, though, the benefits of TB would justify a couple of W.
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