ASUS ThunderboltEX II PCIe Expansion Card - Testing Thread

[schmelzerb]

I have ThunderboltEX II-Dual & trying to get it to work with X99-Deluxe which has the proper mobo header.

Per UG instructions, I install drivers (latest downloaded from ASUS), then shut down& install card. Upon POST, I go into BIOS and there is a new entry for Thunderbolt!

I haven't seen any instructions in this thread for any changes to settings, so I exit and boot into Windows. I don't think it's working because there is no entry in Windows Device Manager for the TB card or services.

How do you know it's active in windows without plugging something in?

BoomR,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I was reading you were successful in getting an ASUS ThunderboltEX II-Dual card to work in you GA-Z77?? Just like B-San, I'm an audio guy myself and I'm considering purchasing one of the Apollo series interfaces, but they run on thunderbolt, and with Gigabyte discontinuing the GC-Thunderbolt II Card I'm kinda in a pickle.

Thanks!

 

[Luc75]

BoomR,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I was reading you were successful in getting an ASUS ThunderboltEX II-Dual card to work in you GA-Z77?? Just like B-San, I'm an audio guy myself and I'm considering purchasing one of the Apollo series interfaces, but they run on thunderbolt, and with Gigabyte discontinuing the GC-Thunderbolt II Card I'm kinda in a pickle.

Thanks!

I am looking for exactly the same information: is it possible to use the ASUS ThunderboltEX II-Dual with a Gigabyte Thunderbolt-ready Motherboard? Did anybody try this? The question was asked several times in this thread but nobody confirmed...

My Gigabyte X99 Designare EX Motherboard comes with a USB Type-C Thunderbolt 3 connector but I would like to add the ASUS ThunderboltEX II-D card to get two additional Thunderbolt 2 ports, which would allow me to connect in total 6 Thunderbolt 3 devices and 12 Thunderbolt 2 devices. The card costs around 100 USD so it is a bit expensive just to try and maybe to find that it does not work... so if anybody can confirm it will be very helpful!

 

[Stork]

There are two reasons why you haven't seen using ASUS ThunderboltEX II-Dual with a Gigabyte motherboard. First, nobody has tried it. Second, the motherboard doesn't have a Thunderbolt motherboard header. You also might have BIOS incompatibility between the motherboard and the Thunderbolt card.

 

[Luc75]

There are two reasons why you haven't seen using ASUS ThunderboltEX II-Dual with a Gigabyte motherboard. First, nobody has tried it. Second, the motherboard doesn't have a Thunderbolt motherboard header. You also might have BIOS incompatibility between the motherboard and the Thunderbolt card.

The Gigabyte X99 Designare EX Motherboard has both a USB Type-C Thunderbolt 3 connector and an internal Thunderbolt header, and it is officially ready for an add-on Thunderbolt PCI Express card. As a result the BIOS is Thunderbolt ready and certified but I agree with you that it is not sure that the BIOS will accept the ASUS ThunderboltEX II-Dual card - that is exactly why I would like to know if anybody has already succeeded.

Gigabyte used to have themselves also a Thunderbolt 2 PCI Express card, but that has been discontinued. I learned on another forum that somebody had successfully done the reverse situation: using the Gigabyte Thunderbolt 2 card on a Asus Motherboard. That is why I think there is at least a chance that the Asus card could work on the Gigabyte Motherboard as well, but of course the only way to be sure is to try it out... let's hope there is somebody who can tell us more about it!

 

[Stork]

I misspoke in my remark above. I meant to say that "most motherboards" don't have a Thunderbolt header. So, it's a small set of users that have the more expensive, compatible TH motherboards. I know tony was going to try his ASUS Thunderbolt 3 card in his other motherboards that have headers, but he's waiting for his TH 3 to TH 2 adapter to be delivered. So, stay tuned.

 

[dChocoa]

Any update on whether it works with Gigabyte motherboards? I have a Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI which is thunderbolt ready. I kind of prematurely bought the ASUS Thunderbolt expansion card and while everything fits and connects on my motherboard, I'm worried about BIOS incompatibility.

 

[Luc75]

dChocoa,

After asking Gigabyte support they told me that the BIOS will not support it. Since my motherboard has become meanwhile officially Thunderbolt certified, I am now using a Thunderbolt 3 to 2 adapter connected to the USB-C port of my motherboard and this works flawlessly.

 

[dChocoa]

dChocoa,

After asking Gigabyte support they told me that the BIOS will not support it. Since my motherboard has become meanwhile officially Thunderbolt certified, I am now using a Thunderbolt 3 to 2 adapter connected to the USB-C port of my motherboard and this works flawlessly.

I tried asking as well and I got conflicting answers. I tried asking by phone where he doesn't see there being a problem for the BIOS incompatibility but told me to try calling to confirm with ASUS just in case which I did and they said that so long as there is a Thunderbolt header, I should be fine and even went to say that if I have any problems that I should try call them for support. The ticket I submitted to Gigabyte on the other hand said that it won't work. Since I already bought the expansion card, I think I'll give it a try anyways to see if it works because it seems that at current time, I don't have any other Thunderbolt options until the either I find someone selling Gigabyte's thunderbolt expansion card or the Alpine Ridge becomes available here.

 

[Luc75]

dChocoa,

If you already have the expansion card, you can easily try it out... In my case I had to update the firmware of the Thunderbolt section on my Motherboard before I could use the USB-C connector, so maybe you have to update your Motherboard as well before using the Thunderbolt header. Good luck and let us know the result...

 

[thenightflyer]

I changed my ThunderboltEX II card with a dual version. Everything works but i've only 2 "issues"
External drive appears like internat so i cannot eject them....they are seen as SATA drives. In System info at thunderbolt option it says "no driver loaded".
Any suggestion?