ASUS introduces the ThunderboltEX 4 Intel-certified Thunderbolt 4 add-on card. The ThunderboltEX 4 is designed to provide Thunderbolt 4 ports for ASUS motherboards with a ThunderboltEX 4 header. The add-on card provides dual Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports and dual mini-DisplayPort 1.4 for 8K Ultra HD support. The Thunderbolt 4 ports deliver 40 Gbps bi-directional bandwidth for superfast data transfers and video output. The ASUS ThunderboltEX 4 uses PCIe 3.0 x4 interface and aside from the Thunderbolt header, it also needs a USB 2.0 header.

It is now common practice for ASUS to limit the compatibility of its ThunderboltEX cards to ASUS motherboards. ASUS did this with the ASUS Pro WS X299 SAGE II motherboard and ThunderboltEX 3 expansion card.



On the image above, the ASUS ThunderboltEX 4 is connected to the Thunderbolt header of an ASUS PRIME Z590-A motherboard. Surprisingly, none of the ROG Z590 series comes with a Thunderbolt header. ASUS motherboards that come with a Thunderbolt header include the TUF GAMING Z590-PLUS WIFI, PRIME Z590-V, PRIME Z590-P, and PRIME Z590M-PLUS motherboards.

ASUS did not reveal the pricing of the ThunderboltEX 4 add-on card as of this writing. To learn more, please visit ASUS.com.