Need Thunderbolt motherboard - none found

[herrschultzz]

UPDATE: I just scrolled down in this forum a few posts and found this http://amzn.com/B0160ITSSU link to a T-Bolt 3 mobo. Skylake looks like a bit of a horrorshow to Hackintosh, but not impossible. Anyone who has info about the USB 3.1 to Thunderbolt compatibility please post it here.
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I want to upgrade from my Z77X-UP5 TH Gigabyte motherboard to a Z97 or better but Thunderbolt equipped mobos are rare and seemingly extinct animals these days. I know USB 3.1 will be the "new" high speed interface but I have several Thunderbolt devices I am using on my system that need the Thunderbolt connection to work.

I see from reading online that USB 3.1 will eventually carry Thunderbolt signals to Thunderbolt devices but it doesn't look like that's been implemented yet - but I could be wrong about that.

Wondering if there's any advice on this subject.


running;

GByte Z77X-UP5 TH
Mavericks (still haven't upgraded to El Cap OS X yet)

 

[mauruiz]

Please, refer to this post, I have posted some explanation there about Thunderbolt 3: http://www.tonymacx86.com/buying-advice/186733-skylake-thunderbolt-3-music-production.html

 

[herrschultzz]

It looks like I'm more and more agreeing with your statement:

"It seems, for now, that people that NEED Thunderbolt and wants a Hackintosh are completely out of options. "

I'll look more into the Z170 Skylake platform as even if the TB3 isn't working yet, all TB are backwards compatible to TB1 & 2 and that would be just fine with me.

Like I said earlier though, the Skylake Hack is very daunting and fraught with gotchas as far as my reading in those Skylake threads reveals.

 

[cdrhoek]

If you are looking for Thunderbolt 3, you don't have a lot of options. Thunderbolt 1 or 2 have plenty of options if you are willing to use a thunderbolt add in card.

I use an Asrock z97 with a thunderbolt card that works ok so far. My thunderbolt display works properly, the display camera works properly, the ethernet port in the display works properly over thunderbolt, and my external firewire drive works correctly when plugged in to the monitor. I am using El Capitan and Clover.

There are several motherboard makers that offer thunderbolt via a card.

 

[mauruiz]

It looks like I'm more and more agreeing with your statement:

"It seems, for now, that people that NEED Thunderbolt and wants a Hackintosh are completely out of options. "

I'll look more into the Z170 Skylake platform as even if the TB3 isn't working yet, all TB are backwards compatible to TB1 & 2 and that would be just fine with me.

Like I said earlier though, the Skylake Hack is very daunting and fraught with gotchas as far as my reading in those Skylake threads reveals.

The main problem is: even if TB3 is backwards compatible, the MacOSX doesn't recognize the port, because it's not compatible yet. By what I've read around the forum, the system doesn't even "see" the TB3 port, so if you plug something on it, it's like it's not there.

About the TB PCI cards, it's like a gamble: I have read about people that made them work ok (but no hotswap for example), and I have read about people that bought it and never could make them work at all. It's a bit of a risk.

 

[imadork8]

Would this motherboard be a good option?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0160ITSSU/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

 

[Going Bald]

It looks like I'm more and more agreeing with your statement:

"It seems, for now, that people that NEED Thunderbolt and wants a Hackintosh are completely out of options. "

.

Have you thought about going the X99 route? If you do not care if your system sleeps or not, the Asrock X99 Extreme 4 has been vetted with the Asus TB II card so you can use that if you cannot find the Asrock TB card in your area.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100168523 50001944&IsNodeId=1

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YWZKO28/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

 

[mauruiz]

Have you thought about going the X99 route? If you do not care if your system sleeps or not, the Asrock X99 Extreme 4 has been vetted with the Asus TB II card so you can use that if you cannot find the Asrock TB card in your area.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100168523 50001944&IsNodeId=1

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YWZKO28/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

My problem with using the card is that I have done some researching at the forum, and have found some people that couldn't make it work even following the the tutorial that Tonymacx made. I'm afraid of buying everything, put it together, and not being able to make it work.