Why A Thunderbolt SSD Isn't As Fast As Its Thunderbolt Speed - PCIe Bandwidth Limitations & Overhead
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Even when using a very fast SSD inside a Thunderbolt enclosure that is clearly faster than the 40Gb/s for Thunderbolt 4 or the 80Gb/s for Thunderbolt 5.
This is down to two main things. The PCIe bandwidth limitations of the Thunderbolt chipset inside your Thunderbolt enclosure which is used for PCIe tunnelling over Thunderbolt. The second thing is the inherent various overheads of the PCIe data bandwidth of the Thunderbolt standards. Overheads such as, parity bits, parity checking, cyclic redundancy checks, error detection etc.
For thunderbolt 4, which is 40Gb/s, you get 4 lanes of PCIe Gen 3 bandwidth for your data which is 32Gb/s and for Thunderbolt 5 you get 4 lanes of PCIe Gen 4 bandwidth, which is 64Gb/s. In both instance, that top line bandwidth that you may think is available to your SSD, is reduced by 20% immediately and then you may be subject to around a further 20% reduction in usable data bandwidth due to the Thunderbolt overheads already mentioned.
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This video is sponsored by ACASIS and thank you to ACASIS for supporting my YouTube channel 👍
Some of my product recommendation
For the ACASIS website check first to see if they have any specific promos running for specific products, they sometimes have great promos especially for their enclosures. If not, use my promo code DAVID15 for 15% off anything you buy on the ACASIS website.
Link to the ACASIS website https://geni.us/ACASIS-26
ACASIS Website - Thunderbolt SSD Enclosures
ACASIS TB501 Thunderbolt 5 USB4 V2 80Gbps SSD Enclosure (built-in fan)
https://geni.us/ACASIS-9
ACASIS TBU405Pro Thunderbolt 4 USB4 40Gbps SSD Enclosure (built-in fan)
https://geni.us/ACASIS-11
ACASIS TBU401 Thunderbolt 4 USB4 40Gbps SSD Enclosure (silent)
https://geni.us/ACASIS-12
ACASIS EC-3901 4 bay Thunderbolt 4 USB4 40Gbps SSD RAID Enclosure (built-in fan)
https://geni.us/ACASIS-14
All ACASIS SSD Enclosures
https://geni.us/ACASIS-13
ACASIS Website - Thunderbolt and USB Docks and Hubs
ACASIS M002Pro (TB1201) Mac Mini M4 workstation 8-in-1 Dual SSD 40Gbps dock
https://geni.us/ACASIS-15
ACASIS DS9007 21 Ports 40Gbps Docking Station Compatible with Thunderbolt 4
https://geni.us/ACASIS-16
ACASIS DS-7A15 15-in-1 4K 60Hz USB C Desktop Docking Station for Laptop & PC
https://geni.us/ACASIS-17
ACASIS DS-0202 14 Ports 4K 60Hz USB C Docking Station with PD 100W Charging
https://geni.us/ACASIS-18
All ACASIS Thunderbolt and USB Docks and Hubs
https://geni.us/ACASIS-19
ACASIS Amazon Store
https://amzn.to/4llG73N
Western Digital SSDs on Amazon
WD_Black SN850X (without the heatsink)
8TB https://geni.us/WD-8TB-WithoutHeatsink
4TB https://geni.us/WD-4TB-WithoutHeatsink
2TB https://geni.us/WD-2TB-WithoutHeatsink
1TB https://geni.us/WD-1TB-WithoutHeatsink
WD_Black SN850X (with heatsink)
8TB https://geni.us/WD-8TB-WithHeatsink
4TB https://geni.us/WD-4TB-WithHeatsink
2TB https://geni.us/WD-2TB-WithHeatsink
1TB https://geni.us/WD-1TB-WithHeatsink
Other M.2 NVMe Gen 4 SSDs on Amazon https://geni.us/Gen4SSDs
Apple Mac Computers on Amazon
Apple Amazon Store https://geni.us/Apple_Amazon_Store
MacBook Pro M4 Series https://geni.us/OLuacfl
MacBook Air M4 Series https://geni.us/x5G9
Mac Mini M4 Series https://geni.us/yJW1
Mac Studio M4 Series https://geni.us/V2lDm
Mac Studio M3 Series https://geni.us/7zws
iMac M4 Series https://geni.us/1k4pwp
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I’m David Harry. Thank you very much for watching this video, take care and goodbye now.
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