Finest Thunderbolt 3 Motherboards of 2022

Whether or not you’re in search of an awesome Intel or AMD motherboard, there are wonderful choices available on the market that include Thunderbolt 3 assist. To spare you an arduous seek for the right motherboard, I’ve compiled an inventory of my choose of the most effective Thunderbolt 3 motherboards accessible proper now.

Finest Motherboards with Thunderbolt 3 Overview

Award	Mannequin	Design	Value
Finest Total	Gigabyte Z490 AORUS Xtreme		Examine Value
Finest AMD Thunderbolt Motherboard	ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming		Examine Value
Finest Motherboard for Creatives	Asus ProArt Z490-CREATOR		Examine Value
Finest Mini-ITX Thunderbolt Motherboard	MSI MEG Z490I		Examine Value
Finest Worth For Cash Possibility	Asus Prime X299 Version 30		Examine Value

Shopping for Information

Together with wanting on the different essential motherboard specs that ought to affect your determination (CPU, RAM, PCIe slots, connectivity, and model), listed below are some Thunderbolt options it’s worthwhile to think about.

If Not Ports, Then Headers

Not all motherboards include separate Thunderbolt 3 ports. Some solely include Thunderbolt assist by way of headers on the board itself. You’ll must get a corresponding Thunderbolt add-in card to plug into the header which is able to allow you to make use of a USB Kind-C port as your Thunderbolt port. 

Not all motherboards include this header, nonetheless, so you should definitely test forward. You’ll even have to ensure to purchase a suitable TB card to your motherboard mannequin as they’re created to match particular boards. Simply seek for one from the identical producer as your motherboard.

How Many Thunderbolt 3 Ports Do You Want?

The extra the merrier, proper? Whereas having extra Thunderbolt 3 ports is arguably higher, there’s often additionally a price ticket connected to that. A part of choosing the most effective motherboard for you whereas staying on finances is assessing what number of Thunderbolt ports you really want. Creators will possible respect no less than 2, however it undoubtedly is determined by what number of units you’ll wish to join on the similar time.

Are There Ports Heading to the Entrance?

Motherboards with Thunderbolt ports typically have them headed to the rear I/O plate on the PC. However it’s often far more handy to plug your units in on the entrance, as that’s sometimes inside attain. It’s additionally higher if in case you have a number of units that you just wish to plug out and in often as you swap them out. 

If this is a vital characteristic to you, then ensure to search for a motherboard with Thunderbolt headers that head to ports on the entrance of your laptop and never simply the again.

Finest Thunderbolt 3 Motherboards of 2022

Gigabyte Z490 AORUS Xtreme – Finest Total Thunderbolt 3 Motherboard

This beautiful motherboard is a novel testomony to Gigabyte’s dedication to creating highly effective motherboards in addition to incorporating the unimaginable design. It has 2x Intel Thunderbolt 3 connectors that hook up with the again I/O plate, in addition to 9x USB 3.2 and 6x USB 2.0 ports for loads of system connectivity.

As for different inside specs, it’s obtained 4 x DDR4 DIMM sockets supporting as much as 128 GB with speeds as much as 5000 Mhz (when overclocked with Intel Core i9/i7 processors). There’s additionally 3x M.2 sockets, 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors, and each Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 and Bluetooth 5.1.

Gigabyte additionally makes the Z490 AORUS Xtreme Waterforce model which, just like the identify implies, comes with a novel water-cooled block. That’s the principle distinction between these two motherboards, however the Waterforce has nearly twice the worth tag. The addition of water-cooling might be wonderful for fanatics and overclockers, however I don’t know if it’s price that price ticket.

ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming – Finest AMD Thunderbolt Motherboard

It’s fairly a wrestle to seek out an AMD motherboard with Thunderbolt assist as a result of it was an Intel unique characteristic for a very long time earlier than the corporate made it open-source in 2020. This is without doubt one of the few AMD AM4 motherboards that does assist Thunderbolt 3. Issues will in all probability change with the upcoming AM5 boards.

Whereas the dearth of alternative is irritating, fortunately the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming is a tremendous motherboard. It helps AMD Ryzen 2000 by 5000 CPUs (no Ryzen 1000 processor assist, sadly). The board additionally comes with 2x PCI Specific 4.0 x16 slots, 2x PCIe 4.0 x1, and 2x M.2 slots. You possibly can mount 2 GPUs on the x16 slots with AMD CrossFire assist. 

The ten-phase energy design and 4x DDR4 slots that assist speeds as much as 4666 MHz make this board nice for overclocking. The one disappointing half is that it solely has a 1x Thunderbolt Add-In Card (AIC) connector and if it’s enabled then the one SATA kind M.2 slot will likely be disabled.

Asus ProArt Z490-CREATOR – Finest Motherboard for Creatives

The very first thing it’s worthwhile to know is that this board comes with two Thunderbolt 3 Kind-C ports (you possibly can daisy-chain as much as 12 Thunderbolt units) and Asus’s ProArt Creator Hub. These options alone make this motherboard a unbelievable choice for creatives, although it comes with an entire swoon-worthy bag of tips on high of that.

This high-powered board comes with 12+2 DrMOS energy phases, nice VRMs, and multi-GPU assist for overclockers. It additionally comes with 4x DIMM slots with a most reminiscence of 128GB and supporting speeds of as much as 4800 MHz (when overclocked). When you’re not into shopping for separate GPUs, this board additionally helps integrated-graphics processors and works with Intel’s tenth Gen CPUs.

Sadly, this board doesn’t include PCIe 4.0 slots, however it does have 3 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots, and 2x PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. The ProArt Z490-CREATOR additionally has 2x M.2 Socket 3, 6 x SATA 6Gb/s ports, and loads of USB 3.2 ports. All of those are nice options for a creator-centric mannequin.

MSI MEG Z490I – Finest Mini-ITX Thunderbolt motherboard

The MSI MEG Z490I proves mini in dimension doesn’t need to imply mini in options with regards to motherboards. This tiny motherboard isn’t simply nice for creators, it was constructed with avid gamers and overclockers in thoughts too. The board comes with unbelievable heatsinks, an awesome design for warmth distribution (particularly for an ITX board), and a 10-layer PCB design.

You get entry to the present Intel CPU tech with the Intel LGA1200 chipset, and 1x PCIe 3.0 x16 slot (with assist as much as PCIe 4.0 for eleventh Gen Intel CPUs). There’s additionally 2x DDR4 reminiscence slots that may attain a most pace of an insane 5000+ MHz (with one reminiscence stick) and assist for as much as 64GB. Plus you get 2x M.2 slots, which is uncommon on a Mini ITX mannequin.

It comes with a 1x Thunderbolt 3 port, which is located on the again I/O panel. A port on the entrance would have been nice, but when it’s not a dealbreaker for you then that is nonetheless a unbelievable choice. There’s additionally 6x USB 3.2 slots and 4x USB 2.0 slots for all of your different connectivity wants.

Asus Prime X299 Version 30 – Finest Worth for Cash Possibility

This extremely trendy board hides loads of power. Together with sporting 2x Thunderbolt 3 ports (you possibly can daisy-chain as much as 12 Thunderbolt units), it’s additionally full of the most recent high-tech options together with unimaginable 8x DIMM slots. The DDR4 reminiscence assist consists of speeds as much as 4266 MHz (when overclocked) with a most reminiscence of 256GB.

The Prime X299 Version 30 is constructed to supply greater than you adequate options whether or not you utilize it for work or gaming at dwelling, with as much as quad-GPU assist (each SLI and CrossFire), triple M.2 sockets, and AI Overclocking. It additionally comes with 8 x SATA 6Gb/s ports, 11x USB 3.2 ports and 6x USB 2.0 ports, in addition to the most recent Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity.

3x PCIe 3.0 slots. Although PCIe 4.0 would have been nice because it’s newer, the Intel Core Skylake-X processors solely assist PCIe 3.0.

FAQ

What Is Thunderbolt 3 on a Motherboard?

Thunderbolt 3 is a connector extension for a pc, like USB, that permits you to switch knowledge forwards and backwards. This consists of audio, video, and storage recordsdata. Thunderbolt 3 has knowledge switch speeds of as much as 40Gbps, which is double the pace of USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (the most recent USB model on the time of writing).

What Can I Plug Right into a Thunderbolt 3 Port?

Thunderbolt 3 ports look the identical as a USB-C port and work with Thunderbolt units. Due to this, you possibly can plug USB-C cables into Thunderbolt 3 ports, however they gained’t have the ability to switch knowledge on the Thunderbolt connector’s regular fee and can revert to the utmost fee of the USB-C cable.

Is Thunderbolt 3 Higher Than HDMI?

Thunderbolt 3 helps considerably larger refresh charges and speeds than HDMI. With Thunderbolt 3 ports, you get refresh charges of as much as 240Hz with resolutions as excessive as 4K. With HDMI your refresh fee is restricted to 60Hz with 4K screens.

Is Thunderbolt 3 the Identical as USB-C?

Whereas they use the identical kind of connectors, Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C aren’t the identical. USB-C ports and cables can maintain a lot smaller knowledge switch charges than Thunderbolt 3. Additionally, when you can join a USB-C cable to a Thunderbolt 3 port, it doesn’t sometimes work the opposite means round.