At the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2012, MSI showcased the Z77A-GD80 mainboard, featuring the world’s first mainboard with Thunderbolt support. MSI has launched that very same motherboard today. The Z77A-GD80 is equipped with the newest Intel Z77 chipset with support for the new generation 22nm processors and is equipped with the newest Thunderbolt transfer interface. With Thunderbolt, external device connectivity problems faced by high-end users are alleviated, such as poor data transfer rates, every device requiring an independent connection port and transfer speeds dropping low when sending and receiving files simultaneously due to lack of bandwidth, etc. The all new Thunderbolt transfer technology provides an extremely large bi-direction 10Gbps bandwidth, which allows simultaneous connection of high resolution monitors, storage devices and even a graphics card. 8-channel audio signal is also supported, allowing multiple devices to be connected via a single cable.
