Does anyone know whether the speed of thunderbolt will be faster than a pci or pci-e audio card?
 
As far as I know pci is suppose to be the best connection to a pc.

Thunderbolt provides access to the PCIe bus  
So the answer to your question is no... it won't be faster
 
PCIe has more bandwidth than PCI
That said, 99.9% of end users with PCI audio interfaces are nowhere even close to saturating the PCI bus.
Thus, they'd see no difference in performance if switching to a PCIe audio interface.
 
The main advantage of Thunderbolt is for small form factor machines...

Thank You Jim.

I had my suspicions regarding Thunderbolt and may I say your are worth your weight in gold.


You have made me one happy camper.

Cheers.

Good info as usual, Jim!

Lance

Keyboard mag just posted this
http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/150853
that there is or will be an inexpensive adaptor to run Thunderbolt into a Firewire input. I am hoping Jim Roseberry, can expand and explain what this might mean to my next desktop build (ie whether to consider it) or whether this is purely the laptop "small form" realm.

My ASUS has no FW port, but I have thought about the UA Apollo, as a future upgrade.
Thanks Michael

thunderbolt in a word "Ignore"

the Apollo i am not liking at all and i love UA product. its the only reason to consider TB.
FW over TB would be no better than a standard PCIe FW card. and in some respects probably not as good.
Intel is supposed to release PCie TB cards this yr when they release the real TB "lightpipe"
right now whats out ther onboard the mobos is the "lite" version.  sorta like FW 400 vs 800.

that there is or will be an inexpensive adaptor to run Thunderbolt into a Firewire input. I am hoping Jim Roseberry, can expand and explain what this might mean to my next desktop build (ie whether to consider it) or whether this is purely the laptop "small form" realm.

There will be no advantage to running Firewire via Thunderbolt vs. just running a quality TI chipset PCIe Firewire controller.


Thunderbolt is a much bigger deal to laptop and small-form-factor users... as you already have access to the PCIe bus and fast graphics with a desktop/tower.


Another thing to note about Apollo is that the Thunderbolt connection is a $500 option (not stock).

BTW, Firewire has plenty of bandwidth for multi I/O audio interfaces.
PCIe has significantly more bandwidth... so it's very much a moot point for desktop/tower users.

"You can have a 20 lane highway with zero traffic... but if your Fiat only goes 80mph, it's still going to take an hour to go 80 miles."

Jim Roseberry


... but if your Fiat only goes 80mph, it's still going to take an hour to go 80 miles."

Not necessarily,
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhm7-LEBznk

Not necessarily,   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhm7-LEBznk

Oh my...   
Run the other direction!  Quickly...   

gustabo

Jim Roseberry


... but if your Fiat only goes 80mph, it's still going to take an hour to go 80 miles."

Not necessarily,
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhm7-LEBznk

 
She is studing to be an accountant!
You can just tell these things sometimes.....