Does macbook pro have 2 or 4 TB3 controllers?

[Hitrate]

Referring to the 15" with "four TB3 ports"

 

[leman]

Two controllers, one driving two ports AFAIK. Should be DSL6540/JHL6540.

 

[mroy16]

I have a follow-up to this. My 2016 MBP 13" nTB has one TB3 controller, and the spec sheet lists it as a dual-port controller. Does that mean each port can run up to 40 Gbps simultaneously, or do the two ports combined have up to 40 Gbps?

 

[theitsage]

• 15" MacBook Pro has two Thunderbolt 3 controllers. The left ports attach to the CPU directly through a x8 PCIe 3.0 connection. The right ports attach to the CPU directly through a x4 PCIe 3.0 connection.
• 13" Touch Bar MacBook Pro has two Thunderbolt 3 controllers. The left ports attach to the PCH through a x4 PCIe 3.0 connection. The right ports attach to the PCH through a x2 PCIe 3.0 connection.
  
• 13" non Touch Bar MacBook Pro has one Thunderbolt 3 controller. The two ports attach to the PCH through a x4 PCIe 3.0 connection.

 

[Hitrate]

• 15" MacBook Pro has two Thunderbolt 3 controllers. The left ports attach to the CPU directly through a x8 PCIe 3.0 connection. The right ports attach to the CPU directly through a x4 PCIe 3.0 connection.
• 13" Touch Bar MacBook Pro has two Thunderbolt 3 controllers. The left ports attach to the PCH through a x4 PCIe 3.0 connection. The right ports attach to the PCH through a x2 PCIe 3.0 connection.
  
• 13" non Touch Bar MacBook Pro has one Thunderbolt 3 controller. The two ports attach to the PCH through a x2 PCIe 3.0 connection.

Thank you so much ! That also means, it would be wise to start charging from the right side by habit, so you keep the faster ports free for your other peripherals 🙂

EDIT: Another follow up to this, since we are on macrumors...any hints suggesting we might see an upgrade to these spec's in a 2018 spring/summer refresh, or will it stay like this for years potentially?

 

[theitsage]

PCIe bandwidth through Thunderbolt 3 ports is not a concern with the 15" MBP. The Touch Bar 13" MBP is the one to preserve left ports for high speed Thunderbolt 3 devices.

If Apple wants to stay competitive, it will refresh the MacBook Pro lineup when the Intel 8th HQ CPUs become available. My hope is mid 2018 release following the launch of external graphics support.

 

[leman]

If Apple wants to stay competitive, it will refresh the MacBook Pro lineup when the Intel 8th HQ CPUs become available. My hope is mid 2018 release following the launch of external graphics support.

Or possibly even earlier. Latest leaks suggest that the release might be sooner than we expect.

 

[Shamgar]

• 15" MacBook Pro has two Thunderbolt 3 controllers. The left ports attach to the CPU directly through a x8 PCIe 3.0 connection. The right ports attach to the CPU directly through a x4 PCIe 3.0 connection.
• 13" Touch Bar MacBook Pro has two Thunderbolt 3 controllers. The left ports attach to the PCH through a x4 PCIe 3.0 connection. The right ports attach to the PCH through a x2 PCIe 3.0 connection.
  
• 13" non Touch Bar MacBook Pro has one Thunderbolt 3 controller. The two ports attach to the PCH through a x4 PCIe 3.0 connection.

Where did you get these specs from? The 15” also has the Radeon GPU on x8 lanes, but the CPU only has 16 total.

 

[theitsage]

Where did you get these specs from? The 15” also has the Radeon GPU on x8 lanes, but the CPU only has 16 total.

I've been testing the Thunderbolt 3 MacBook Pros with eGPU for the past year. Those are information I learned first hand.

 

[Shamgar]

Thanks for posting that. Those are the controller labels, not the actual lane configuration. i had assumed they used a 1x8+2x4 arrangement per Intel's Ark, and they do.