Asus Introduces First Intel® Thunderbolt ™ Certified Motherboard

Demonstrating once again its leadership in the ICT market, ASUS has announced the launch of its P8Z77-V PREMIUM motherboard, the top-of-the-range P8Z77 Series model and the first PC motherboard on the market to receive Intel® Thunderbolt ™ certification. Technology that, in order to offer a greater range of possibilities to users, ASUS has also included in the P8Z77-V PRO / THUNDERBOLT.

"Intel and ASUS have worked together to implement the technology on their motherboards, " said Jason Ziller, Director of Marketing Thunderbolt. "It is a pleasure to communicate that the P8Z77-V PREMIUM is the first Thunderbolt certified motherboard in the industry, something that shows its solid design and compatibility, " he added.

Thunderbolt and the latest technologies

The ASUS P8Z77-V PREMIUM is the first Intel® Thunderbolt ™ certified motherboard, a technology called to revolutionize the speed at which peripherals and displays operate. With a maximum bidirectional speed that reaches 10 Gbps, this technology is twice as fast as USB 3.0 and twenty times more than USB 2.0. In addition, it allows connecting up to 6 devices in series without using any switch. For example, users will be able to connect Thunderbolt storage devices, HD video capture devices, and an HD display to a Thunderbolt chain. They can also connect DisplayPort, DVI, HDMI or VGA displays with the corresponding adapter.

Top-of-the-range functionalities for a Premium motherboard

The Premium designation carries certain expectations and, of course, the P8Z77-V PREMIUM motherboard incorporates new features such as the 4-way NVIDIA® SLI ™ and 4-way AMD CrossFireX ™ graphics configurations for its PCIe 3.0 slots. Another new feature is SSD Caching II, which allows multiple SSDs to be installed without caching limitations for the most frequently accessed data and for users to choose the combination that best suits their needs. For example, three SSDs assigned to one HDD or two SSDs assigned to two HDDs. The P8Z77-V PREMIUM also features a 32GB mSATA SSD that ensures maximum performance from Intel® Smart Response and Rapid Start Technology ™. The two Gigabit Intel LAN ports ensure much more efficient network traffic to enjoy HD content streaming and lag-free transfers. Other notable technologies are DIP3 with SMART DIGI + power control, Wi-Fi GO! and Fan Xpert 2.

Union make force

ASUS is collaborating closely with manufacturers Elgato, LaCie, and PROMISE to develop external SSDs, RAID solutions, and other solutions that integrate Thunderbolt technology into the day-to-day of professionals and users.