Is GIGABYTE GC-Titan ridge compatible with ASUS X299 sage motherboard?

[littleNewton]

I want to buy a motherboard to run the Windows 10 operating system.

CPU: intel i9 7940x
GPU: AMD Radeon VII
Motherboard: Not yet purchased
SSD: Samsung 970 Pro
Monitor: Dell UP2715K

I want to buy LG Ultrafine 5K monitor. At present, I have not purchased a motherboard. My favorite motherboards are Gigabyte X299X Designare 10G and ASUS X299 Sage II. The latter is an upgraded version of old Sage, and there are not many functional changes.

Are ASUS X299 Sage and GC-Titan Ridge motherboards compatible? I mean perfect compatibility, such as supporting cold boot without devices. After starting, plug in the Thunderbolt 3 device to directly recognize and use it. The so-called perfection is just as easy to use as the Thunderbolt 3 that comes with the MacBook Pro.

Thanks!

 

[littleNewton]

Another one, I have purchased Gigabyte GC-Titan Ridge now.

Is the function of TB_Header of all motherboards the same? I have seen on a Dell forum before that someone said that the Thunderbolt expansion card and the motherboard must be of the same brand and officially declared compatible to be used together.

 

[littleNewton]

Has anyone ever tried that?

Could you please help me?

 

[littleNewton]

ASUS said their Sage II is compatible with ASUS ThunderboltEX 3 AIC.

Yes, I know.

But why ASUS did not release a new thunderbolt 3 AIC for out comsumers?

 

[ntsarb]

I can confirm that the Gigabyte Titan Ridge 2.0 works on the ASUS X299 SAGE WS motherboard. You need to carefully insert the Thunderbolt connector first, i.e. prior to inserting the PCI-E card itself, as the socket on the motherboard is obstructed by the metal casing (EMI shield) of the card (bad design, ASUS, the connector should be at a safer location), then insert the card itself. Also, the card comes with a USB 2.0 motherboard connector. Not sure how this is used and I did not connect this, as the X299 Sage has no such socket.

The only limitations I've noticed, so far, i that the Security Level has to be set to SL0-No Security. Also, I haven't been able to access the Thunderbolt Control Panel and I don't know why is that. That's in Windows 10 Pro and, these issues, may be interrelated. Looks like a software-related issue.

Intel has done a very bad job with respect to providing easy to install and easy to use software drivers for Thunderbolt cards that rely on its chipsets. Not sure why is that but that's my experience so far.

Anyway, that's it. I hope you find this information useful.

 

[chavush]

I can confirm that the Gigabyte Titan Ridge 2.0 works on the ASUS X299 SAGE WS motherboard. You need to carefully insert the Thunderbolt connector first, i.e. prior to inserting the PCI-E card itself, as the socket on the motherboard is obstructed by the metal casing (EMI shield) of the card (bad design, ASUS, the connector should be at a safer location), then insert the card itself. Also, the card comes with a USB 2.0 motherboard connector. Not sure how this is used and I did not connect this, as the X299 Sage has no such socket.

The only limitations I've noticed, so far, i that the Security Level has to be set to SL0-No Security. Also, I haven't been able to access the Thunderbolt Control Panel and I don't know why is that. That's in Windows 10 Pro and, these issues, may be interrelated. Looks like a software-related issue.

Intel has done a very bad job with respect to providing easy to install and easy to use software drivers for Thunderbolt cards that rely on its chipsets. Not sure why is that but that's my experience so far.

Anyway, that's it. I hope you find this information useful.

@ntsarb

That was great information. I was trying to make the same configuration work. You made my day. Cheers.

But I have yet another question. I am not using Thunderbolt for graphics purposes at all.
I have some other devices that happen to have a Thunderbolt interface. And I want to connect 2 of them at the same time.

Problem is, I have to unplug/plug them each time I restart the computer. I cannot make them survive a reboot after Windows recognized them.
I disabled the Fast Boot option from BIOS and that didn't help.

What else do you think can be related?

 

[ntsarb]

@ntsarb

That was great information. I was trying to make the same configuration work. You made my day. Cheers.

But I have yet another question. I am not using Thunderbolt for graphics purposes at all.
I have some other devices that happen to have a Thunderbolt interface. And I want to connect 2 of them at the same time.

Problem is, I have to unplug/plug them each time I restart the computer. I cannot make them survive a reboot after Windows recognized them.
I disabled the Fast Boot option from BIOS and that didn't help.

What else do you think can be related?

I'm glad it helped. I had to buy the card on a leap of faith (on technology), to check if it works, only because I had so many problems with Asus's Thunderbolt Card adapter (apparently, exactly the same problems, due to Intel's software drivers being immature and buggy).

To update my previous post, Gigabyte Titan Ridge 2.0 now works on the ASUS X299 SAGE WS motherboard without any issues. As I expected, the reason I was previously unable to run the Thunderbold Control Center was driver-related (Intel, that's you I'm pointing my finger at). After testing several versions, I ended up with a stable system. With access to the Thunderbolt Control Centre, I can also activate the security option in the UEFI BIOS and authorize the device. I attach screenshots of the drivers I'm currently using.

Regarding hot-plug functionality, it depends not only on the Thunderbolt card drivers but also on the Thunderbolt Device Drivers. My Presonus Quantum 2 audio interface is recognised only at boot time. If I unplug and plug it back while in Windows 10 Professional, I can see the device getting removed from the Thunderbolt Control Center and added back, which means that the Thunderbolt Adapter Card correctly recognizes and reports the relevant connection/disconnection events. However, the audio interface (device) remains disabled in a state of "trying to connect", i.e. a blue icon flashing, which appears to be due to the Presonus driver not working as it should. Shame on you too, Presonus, for the half-baked software drivers!

To summarise, look at your software drivers. Do they function as intended? You should be able to use your Thunderbolt devices after rebooting Windows; if not, try different versions of the Thunderbolt Adapter Card drivers. Unfortunately, based on my personal experience, there's very little (if any) support from Intel and the industry as a whole.

 

[ntsarb]

@ntsarb

That was great information. I was trying to make the same configuration work. You made my day. Cheers.

But I have yet another question. I am not using Thunderbolt for graphics purposes at all.
I have some other devices that happen to have a Thunderbolt interface. And I want to connect 2 of them at the same time.

Problem is, I have to unplug/plug them each time I restart the computer. I cannot make them survive a reboot after Windows recognized them.
I disabled the Fast Boot option from BIOS and that didn't help.

What else do you think can be related?

Did it work for you?

It worked for me for several months, until my computer was shut off by power outage (damage on the distribution network). While everything appears to be working fine, my TB no longer works. The options are visible in the UEFI BIO Settings, but the audio interface doesn't receive any signal. I've tested the audio interface on a different computer and works fine, but I don't see why/how the TB card alone could have been damaged. Looks like something else.

Also, I was using the TB card without connecting the USB 2 connector. How this connector is used is not documented, unclear, and I'd be very interested if someone can share some useful information in the forum.