Working: Gigabyte GC-Thunderbolt 2 on Skylake (mostly)

[basak]

One of the reasons I bought the Gigabyte Z170MX Gaming 5-board was for the fact that the board had a THB_C header, for the Thunderbolt add-on card.

On the site for the card it only said that it was compatible with the X99 boards, but the manual for my Z170 let me believe it ought to work, so I gave it a try.

And well, it didn't. The Displayport to Mini-displayport for my Apple Cinema Display (the one with the black bezel but without Thunderbolt) worked, so the card seemed to be working in some way. But the Thunderbolt sub-menu never showed up in the BIOS, after trying repeatedly to install drivers in Windows.

I had the suspicion that maybe the Thunderbolt menu wasn't enabled in the BIOS, since this use case of using an "old" TB2 card originally made for the X99 boards on the Z170, might be pretty far out.
After talking to Gigabyte's support team, they talked to their hardware team, who made me a custom version of the F4 BIOS. I updated and the Thunderbolt-meniumy Thunderbolt drive appeared in Windows 10, and then with some tinkering in the ThunderboltBIOS (Boot enabled, Cache set to 128 and Security to Legacy), it now works in OS X.

The only problem I have encountered is that I get that darned BIOS error "Boot failure detected". Now I might have missed something when my BIOS was flashed (I doubt it), but something related to having the Lacie Thunderbolt drive on through a reboot, seems to mess up the BIOS. I hope I can iron it out.

BUT, for anyone with a Gigabyte Z170 board with the THB_C header on, you can safely buy the Thunderbolt card from Gigabyte, if you can find it.

EDIT: Of course as the BIOS seems to be a custom version of the F4 bios with a date of 28th of March, and the F4-version on the Gigabyte site still says 10th of March, you might have to wait (or I can send you the file).

 

[pimpedoutjedi]

One of the reasons I bought the Gigabyte Z170MX Gaming 5-board was for the fact that the board had a THB_C header, for the Thunderbolt add-on card.

On the site for the card it only said that it was compatible with the X99 boards, but the manual for my Z170 let me believe it ought to work, so I gave it a try.

And well, it didn't. The Displayport to Mini-displayport for my Apple Cinema Display (the one with the black bezel but without Thunderbolt) worked, so the card seemed to be working in some way. But the Thunderbolt sub-menu never showed up in the BIOS, after trying repeatedly to install drivers in Windows.

I had the suspicion that maybe the Thunderbolt menu wasn't enabled in the BIOS, since this use case of using an "old" TB2 card originally made for the X99 boards on the Z170, might be pretty far out.
After talking to Gigabyte's support team, they talked to their hardware team, who made me a custom version of the F4 BIOS. I updated and the Thunderbolt-meniumy Thunderbolt drive appeared in Windows 10, and then with some tinkering in the ThunderboltBIOS (Boot enabled, Cache set to 128 and Security to Legacy), it now works in OS X.

The only problem I have encountered is that I get that darned BIOS error "Boot failure detected". Now I might have missed something when my BIOS was flashed (I doubt it), but something related to having the Lacie Thunderbolt drive on through a reboot, seems to mess up the BIOS. I hope I can iron it out.

BUT, for anyone with a Gigabyte Z170 board with the THB_C header on, you can safely buy the Thunderbolt card from Gigabyte, if you can find it.

EDIT: Of course as the BIOS seems to be a custom version of the F4 bios with a date of 28th of March, and the F4-version on the Gigabyte site still says 10th of March, you might have to wait (or I can send you the file).

GB told me the card would work, I have the 170x- force OC, but i'm having a bitch of a time sourcing the card - they said check back Q3 for a new one.

 

[tundraurora]

One of the reasons I bought the Gigabyte Z170MX Gaming 5-board was for the fact that the board had a THB_C header, for the Thunderbolt add-on card.

Question, is this the older Thunderbolt 2 Giga card? or the Alpine Ridge TB3 one thats on their site now? I am curious as I am planning a mATX build, possibly with this mobo, and i will eventually need at least TB2 to work for an Audio device.. I have a support question in with Gigabyte, but I don't know if it will get answered.

 

[squareeyes]

I could do with a copy of that modified F4 BIOS basak.
Any chance you could post it or send it to me?

 

[tundraurora]

I got this reply from Gigabyte support regarding Thunderbolt 3 on the 170MX Gaming 5 mATX mobo... So its unlikely the mATX one in this line is getting on-board TB3 anytime soon..


"Some motherboards were released and later through BIOS updates were able to gain Thunderbolt 3 but if this motherboard was capable, I think it should have been upgraded by now. We should be releasing a TH3 card but at last check with US sales, for some reason or another, they are not going to bring it to this region. Thank you.

Best regards,

GIGABYTE Tech Support Team"

 

[basak]

I could do with a copy of that modified F4 BIOS basak.
Any chance you could post it or send it to me?

Sure thing, throw me a PM!

 

[Stork]

Sure thing, throw me a PM!

You'll have to post it as we don't allow PMs (now call "conversations") until you have meet the post limit.

 

[basak]

Here you go!

And remember, this is ONLY for the Gigabyte Z170MX Gaming 5 motherboard. That is, the mATX board.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Yes the region limitation is frustrating as I note the card is not generally available here (UK) either.

Also frustrating is the fact my H170M-D3H motherboard also features the THB header and so seems to have been designed to accept the part. Unless the board is basically just the Z170M fitted with the lesser chipset.

Maybe the BIOS extra menu option is usually only available in the language of the region where the cards are sold?

 

[squareeyes]

Thanks basak.

Finding the card is the next problem
I've looked all over the web in different countries and can't locate one.