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This Thunderbolt 5 eGPU dock is the Swiss Army knife of all docks for $399 — 500W GaN power supply, M.2 slot, 5G Ethernet networking, LCD screen, and wireless charger all in one
The Humbird 3, an innovative 11-in-1 Thunderbolt 5 eGPU dock, aims to become the only docking station you'll ever need. With support from over 177 backers on Kickstarter and more than $63,000 raised, it's more than just an eGPU dock—it's loaded with a wide range of valuable features.
The dock is constructed from recycled aluminum with a wooden accent, thereby enhancing its premium appearance. It also incorporates a cooling system that operates in a silent 0dB mode when idle and dynamically adjusts its fan speed based on the graphics card's load. According to the manufacturer, the Humbird 3 is equipped with an ESP32 System on Chip (SoC), a component typically utilized in Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and is reportedly powered by the Humbird Operating System (OS) to manage the device's power and performance. The Humbird 3 also features a one-inch LCD screen that displays real-time information, including power consumption, transfer speed, charging status, or a user-defined parameter.
The device utilizes Intel's HL9480 Thunderbolt 5 controller, capable of delivering up to 120 Gbps in single-display mode. The PCIe 4.0 x16 expansion slot is configured as a x4 connection with a bandwidth of 64 Gbps. The dock is equipped with an integrated 500W GaN power supply and a 16-pin power connector designed to supply power to your graphics card. Users may employ either a standard 16-pin power cable or a 16-pin to 3 x 8-pin power cable, depending on their requirements. Rated at 500W, the system supports graphics cards up to the Radeon 9070 XT or the GeForce RTX 5080.
The Humbird 3 exhibits a comprehensive array of features. Concerning storage, it includes one M.2 slot operating at PCIe 4.0 x4; however, the vendor did not specify the supported form factors. Additionally, it incorporates a microSD card reader as well as CFexpress Type A and Type B card readers. In terms of network connectivity, the Humbird 3 is equipped with a single 5G Ethernet port, facilitated by the Realtek RTL8157 controller.
Connectivity includes three Thunderbolt 5 ports that support 100W PD charging. Additionally, the DisplayPort 2.1 output delivers 8K (7680 x 4320) resolution at a refresh rate of up to 60 Hz. The device is also equipped with two standard USB Type-A ports offering 10 Gbps data transfer speeds. Furthermore, wireless charging functionality is available, facilitating the charging of smartphones or smartwatches.
Humbird 3 Thunderbolt 5 eGPU – Real Test & Backer Verification - YouTube
The Humbird 3 is equipped with a standard 180W power adapter. Nonetheless, it is possible to upgrade to a 300W unit for an additional $39 or to a 500W GaN power adapter for an extra $129.
The funding period for the Humbird 3 has concluded. The manufacturer has established an MSRP of $399 for the device. However, Super Early Bird and Early Bird backers are eligible to purchase the device at prices of $299 and $309, respectively. Meanwhile, the vendor is offering a "KS discount" of $80, reducing the device's price to $319.
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Shipping fees will add another $20 to $30, depending on your location. The company expects to ship Humbird 3 orders out in November. A limited one-year warranty backs the Humbird 3.
Zhiye Liu is a news editor, memory reviewer, and SSD tester at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.
If you would have asked me 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago, and especially 5 years ago with the debut of the Apple M1, I would have bet money that by 2025 the desktop form factor outside of professional workstations, now called HEDTs, would be dead, replaced by tablets or thin laptops that dock into a station like this for desktop class power that could easily be upgraded like a desktop, but fully functional, quick yet power efficient laptops for on the go.
Sadly these things have never materialized...
Anyway, the one big reservation about this would be "Humbird OS", of which I can't find any details. AI suggests it's more like a firmware than an actual OS, much like the firmware in any dock, but that could cause a big gaping security hole if they don't support it with continuing updates, not to mention potential major compatibility bugs.
If it's configured as PCIe4x4 then it's pretty useless for quite a few eGPU use cases, as this cripples down the throughput to 64 Gbit/s.
Will it make an Ultrabook or NUC play 3D- games? Sure, to some degree. But all those folks doing serious work with e.g. larger local AI models and having to embrace high end GPUs, will be let down.
If it's configured as PCIe4x4 then it's pretty useless for quite a few eGPU use cases, as this cripples down the throughput to 64 Gbit/s.
Will it make an Ultrabook or NUC play 3D- games? Sure, to some degree. But all those folks doing serious work with e.g. larger local AI models and having to embrace high end GPUs, will be let down.
Actually, that's the one thing where I would expect it would excel. As long as your model lives fully in memory, you only have to deal with slow loading times. After that the bandwidth to/from the GPU is irrelevant.
If it's configured as PCIe4x4 then it's pretty useless for quite a few eGPU use cases, as this cripples down the throughput to 64 Gbit/s.
Will it make an Ultrabook or NUC play 3D- games? Sure, to some degree. But all those folks doing serious work with e.g. larger local AI models and having to embrace high end GPUs, will be let down.
For AI models that fit in memory (which is really the only sane way to run them), the PCI-E interface is only relevant when you first load the model; even then, it is limited by the storage device you're loading from. It's unlikely the 4x slot would be noticable at all for most AI applications. Gaming, however, would suffer greatly on a high end card. For gaming, a 5060 is probably as far as you'd want to go and even then there'd be noticable performance lost.
Why go all modern with Thunderbolt 5, but only offer PCIx4 instead of 5? It seems like obsolescence is built in there.
Thunderbolt 5 only supports up to PCIe 4×4. This dock supports the maximum possible. And 3×4 or 4×2 are still allowed with TB5.
Thunderbolt and PCIe generations are out of sync because TB4 should rightfully have been called TB3.5. It didn't offer anything new or faster speeds, it just made some previously optional features mandatory.
