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GA-Z270-HD3P and Thunderbolt

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Silj

Silj

Joined
Oct 29, 2015
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3
Motherboard
Designare Z390
CPU
i9 9900K
Graphics
RX 580
I'm approaching the end of my build, and been stopped in my tracks by the most horrific realization...

I've bought an ASUS Thunderbolt EX3 Card to go with a GA-Z270-HD3P motherboard. After a couple frantic hours of Google I've come to the following conclusion...

a) I don't think this motherboard doesn't have a Thunderbolt header, and I'm an idiot for buying it without checking that.

b) The ASUS EX3 Thunderbolt Card may not work with another Gigabyte Z270 board even if it does have a Thunderbolt header.

I'm thinking at this point my best option is to return the mobo and card, and get a Gigabyte board with Thunderbolt already onboard.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good Gigabyte Z270 motherboard with a Thunderbolt header?
 
Silj said:
I'm approaching the end of my build, and been stopped in my tracks by the most horrific realization...

I've bought an ASUS Thunderbolt EX3 Card to go with a GA-Z270-HD3P motherboard. After a couple frantic hours of Google I've come to the following conclusion...

a) I don't think this motherboard doesn't have a Thunderbolt header, and I'm an idiot for buying it without checking that.

b) The ASUS EX3 Thunderbolt Card may not work with another Gigabyte Z270 board even if it does have a Thunderbolt header.

I'm thinking at this point my best option is to return the mobo and card, and get a Gigabyte board with Thunderbolt already onboard.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good Gigabyte Z270 motherboard with a Thunderbolt header?
Click to expand...

(1) Yes, checking the motherboard specifications on the Gigabyte website it shows that your motherboard does not have a Thunderbolt header.

(2) I don't think Asus will support the use of that card on motherboards other than its own. So I agree with your suspicion.

There are four Gigabyte Z270 motherboards I know of that has Thunderbolt 3 support already on board:
GA-Z270X-UD5
GA-Z270X-Gaming 7
GA-Z270X-Gaming 8
GA-Z270X-Gaming 9

But I am not sure if you can still find them now. It seems to me that Gigabyte has halted their production already as the newer Z370 has already been released.
 
I've been researching this too. I've had a lot of difficultly finding Thunderbolt 3 support from the mobo I/O even when USB-C ports are there. It also seems as though the TB cards are becoming hard to come by.

I'm looking at one of the Z370 boards from gigabyte and I guess try to snag an Alpine Ridge off ebay?
 
Intel announced a while back that, starting in 2018, Thunderbolt will be royalty free. So, stay tuned for announcements in the 1st Qtr in 2018. :thumbup:
 
@Stork Would you elaborate a little bit on that.. new motherboards or..?
 
thisisnotamac said:
@Stork Would you elaborate a little bit on that.. new motherboards or..?
Click to expand...
The Intel announcement a couple of months ago stated that starting in 2018 Intel would no longer charge a royalty for Thunderbolt. So, it's a safe guess to speculate that there will be more motherboards in 2018 with Thunderbolt.
 
@Stork Thanks a lot for that. So for one how is about to purchase a 8700K setup, but in no way in a rush aside of the purchase needs to be in 2018, I assume one could get everything and then change the the motherboard whenever the new samples show up, or do you think they'll be introduced with a new socket?
I've kinda need thunderbolt, but to be honest it seems rather quirky to get a setup which is stable at the current product cycle.
 
thisisnotamac said:
@Stork Thanks a lot for that. So for one how is about to purchase a 8700K setup, but in no way in a rush aside of the purchase needs to be in 2018, I assume one could get everything and then change the the motherboard whenever the new samples show up, or do you think they'll be introduced with a new socket?
I've kinda need thunderbolt, but to be honest it seems rather quirky to get a setup which is stable at the current product cycle.
Click to expand...
They'll use the same Coffee Lake processor - they just have a the Thunderbolt chipset added. But, realize I'm just guessing from what I've read.
 
@Stork It'll by all means be a more qualified guess than I could do:). Do you have a perspective whether or not that'll ease the thunderbolt issue in the current setups? And thank you for your time, it's really appreciated, I do understand you are just guessing, but I see in your profile you are a rather experienced hack builder, and my knowledge is some years old and prior to thunderbolt..:). So I but your words into my considerations whether to hold or go, at the current state.
 
thisisnotamac,
If you can wait a couple of months, then we can see how the motherboard manufacturers react to the royalty free use of Thunderbolt (the chipset will still cost some money for them to use). I decided to go ahead and build another ASUS Z370 HERO motherboard based system (no Thunderbolt header), but if a HERO like motherboard appears in 2018, then I'll swap out motherboards.
 
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