One of the rarer video outputs on graphics cards is USB Type-C. It was something you might see on AMD’s or Nvidia’s older reference cards. But these days, it’s been primarily DisplayPort and an HDMI split across these. Which means if you have a USB-C display or even a VR headset that uses it, it’s been hard to find something that fits the bill.

Well, Sparkle looks to be changing that now, with it showing off the Intel Arc Project Thundermage model as spotted by akiba_ten_M at Computex. Bringing back the standard, the IO on the card consists of two Thunderbolt 5 and one of each DP and HDMI connectors.

Why USB-C video output?

The Thunderbolt 5 standard has been out for over a year now, but it has not been adopted quickly in the GPU market. External GPUs are definitely among those that will benefit from the new standard, but discrete cards are a bit slower in this trend.

It would offer an 80GB/s bidirectional bandwidth on the card, which is enough to handle 8K resolution at 60Hz. But it’s also the power delivery that is a highlight when using it. As it can carry 27 watts of power through the port, it would allow powering some monitors without needing to plug them into wall power.

It’s been something that laptops have benefited from, as they can even get charged through these, but even for graphics cards, this would mean some great display flexibility. Or even if you are to use some VR headsets, which, if you want, can be plugged in using the same power port, providing some good use cases to those who need them.

About the Author

Sebastian Kozlowski

With a fascination for technology and games, Seb is a tech writer with a focus on hardware and deals. He is also the primary tester and reviewer at BGFG and PCGuide.