Contribute
Register

Success - Sierra build - Mini Guide to get Thunderbolt 3 working

Status
Not open for further replies.
Hey, guys! This is my first personal build for a hackintosh, and I wanted to shed some light on the use of Thunderbolt for audio interfaces.

First, let me list my build:

- Gigabyte Z170x Gaming Ultra Rev 1.0
- 32gb crucial ballistix ram
- Gigabyte GEFORCE 950 GTX
- I7 Skylake 6700k
- 500GB SATA Samsung Evo 850 SSD
- 1TB SATA Seagate HD
- TP link- n900 wireless adapter
- Startech TB3 to TB2 thunderbolt converter
- Thermaltake X9 case

All in all, I followed the instruction guide to install Sierra onto this fresh build. I went into BIOS to check that the settings were right. Make sure XHCI Handoff is enabled and anything else they listed that pertains to you done. Booted up the USB drive, formatted my SDD, installed Sierra with quick settings in MultiBeast once at home screen along with some extras for USB and audio according to my motherboard.

Now for TB 3, after install and MultiBeast, the computer started normally and seems to be fully functioning. I realized, when I bought these parts, that the installation of Sierra would be easy. I wasn't, however, convinced that the Thunderbolt functionality would work, and, as I am an audio engineer, I needed the Thunderbolt ports to work most of all because my hardware audio interface and converters connects via TB2. To get them running, I had to unplug my drives and go back into the BIOS and change some of the Thunderbolt settings. I had to set the Thunderbolt to accept Legacy, enabled the Thunderbolt boot support and also enabled the Ignore Thunderbolt Option ROM; saved settings, rebooted into Sierra and the ports worked. I connect to the USB c/TB3 port on the motherboard to the Star Tech adapter and, then, to my Apollo 8. Only hiccup is that the interface needs to be connected and on before starting the computer. That seems to be the only issue and works wonders.

I wanted to share this because there seems to be little to no information regarding thunderbolt capable motherboards other than the GA UD5 TH and or UD7.

If you guys have any questions on how to get TB working let me know!

Is this the mainboard you mention? http://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z170X-Ultra-Gaming-rev-10#sp
Just to be sure.
 
I literally have the same equipment as you. An Orion Studio and a UAD Satellite Octo. Let me know if you get yours working. I've been using my Orion Studio via USB temporarily and I'm really hoping to convert my workstation PC to a hackintosh next week.

Running Gigabyte Z170-UD5-TH board here. So Thunderbolt 3 x 2 ports. Star tech adapter and apple adapter for thunderbolt 3 to thunderbolt 2. Got Thunderbolt working, will work with firewire adaptor as well when connecting a RME Fireface 800 and all funcations as it should. However, also in similar boat regarding Antelope, I have a Orion 32+ and haven't been able to get it to work on a hackintosh with El Capitan or Sierra. It will detect and connect and can be controlled the unit, so mixer and routing respond, but no audio will flow over thunderbolt with this setup (on some boots it does, but it's all craclked and not right the audio, then next boot nothing), routing matrix was correct and using TB Play on the outs. Works on USB connection and all functions with audio flowing.
Tested on latest mbp via thunderbolt 3 to thunderbolt 2 adaptor and find that audio flows and interface works as it should over thunderbolt. So seems to me at this stage Antelope Thunderbolt interfaces are not at all liking non apple hardware like we use in hackintosh's....

Sorry don't have an answer for you, but thought would let you all know my experiences so far with Antelope on hackie's... Maybe someone else has been successful and can enlighten us as to what made it work :) It would be great to use it via Thunderbolt as latency will be better and can run more channels of course.
 
Running Gigabyte Z170-UD5-TH board here. So Thunderbolt 3 x 2 ports. Star tech adapter and apple adapter for thunderbolt 3 to thunderbolt 2. Got Thunderbolt working, will work with firewire adaptor as well when connecting a RME Fireface 800 and all funcations as it should. However, also in similar boat regarding Antelope, I have a Orion 32+ and haven't been able to get it to work on a hackintosh with El Capitan or Sierra. It will detect and connect and can be controlled the unit, so mixer and routing respond, but no audio will flow over thunderbolt with this setup (on some boots it does, but it's all craclked and not right the audio, then next boot nothing), routing matrix was correct and using TB Play on the outs. Works on USB connection and all functions with audio flowing.
Tested on latest mbp via thunderbolt 3 to thunderbolt 2 adaptor and find that audio flows and interface works as it should over thunderbolt. So seems to me at this stage Antelope Thunderbolt interfaces are not at all liking non apple hardware like we use in hackintosh's....

Sorry don't have an answer for you, but thought would let you all know my experiences so far with Antelope on hackie's... Maybe someone else has been successful and can enlighten us as to what made it work :) It would be great to use it via Thunderbolt as latency will be better and can run more channels of course.

Thanks for the reply! So I ended up using a spare SSD I wasn't using for much and loaded OS Sierra on it. Got almost everything working after a lot of tweaking and starting completely over once. I actually just had the exact same experience with the Orion Studio and I'm glad someone else on here is trying to get an Antelope interface working through Thunderbolt besides me.

I tried the Orion Studio through Thunderbolt to no avail even though my UAD Octo was working through TB. I even got a support guy from Antelope to remote connect and see what he could do (I didn't tell him it was a hack). Same exact thing with the interface working but no audio going through with my Orion Studio. He couldn't resolve it so I ended up trying USB and saw that it worked, so I'm just going to live with that for now. An expensive interface with a some latency that works is better than an expensive interface with very little latency that just sits in the rack to look good :p haha. Let me know if you get yours working through TB!
 
I have the ASUS Thunderbolt 3 EX add in card on a Gigabyte mobo. After making some changes in my bios described here, I got it to work in MacOS and Win 10. However, to get it to work in MacOS I need to boot it into Windows first thereby running the intel driver, then reboot to MacOS. This suggests there needs to be some thunderbolt management driver I need to add under MacOS/ Multibeast. Anyone experience similar results?

For those looking to run this add-in card, it's important to note that the card needs to be in the PCIe slot closest to the header on the motherboard. I tried running it in another PCI slot and the BIOS didn't see it.

For testing I used the Asus ThunderboltEX3 card -> Overpriced Apple USB Type C to Thunderbolt 2 adapter -> Startech Thunderbolt Cable -> Clarett2Pre Audio Interface

Interesting to note that the audio from the Clarett2Pre under Win 10 had consistent drop outs but worked flawlessly under MacOS. In defence of Focusrite, the Windows 10 drivers are in beta.
 
Last edited:
Hi!

Got my first rig working with thunderbolt, thank for the miniguide to guide me in the right direction!

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-z170x-Ultra Gaming
CPU: I7-6700k
GFX: gtx 980ti

Played around with the bios settings, all of the settings didnt have the same names as yours.

Got it working with the Startech TBT3 to TBT1/2 adapter and my two harddrive cabinets, Thunderbolt 1 WD My Book Duo Thunderbolt, and Thunderbolt 2 Lacie 2big Thunderbolt 2/USB3. Even got them to work in Daisy Chain. But they need to be plugged in and powered before startup.
 
Hi Gorelander
can you tell me more about the bios settings, have the same TB3 Board with GA-Z170 UD3
thx
Here ya go. Hope this helps. And for all of the other guys who have Orion 32+ interfaces and can't get it to work. I would imagine the software for the interface is what is having issues. Although I know that I have to have my interface connected before boot. So that it pulls host before loading in.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20170710_144547.jpg
    IMG_20170710_144547.jpg
    4.1 MB · Views: 1,385
  • IMG_20170710_144559.jpg
    IMG_20170710_144559.jpg
    3.5 MB · Views: 1,491
  • IMG_20170710_144639.jpg
    IMG_20170710_144639.jpg
    4.1 MB · Views: 1,412
  • IMG_20170710_144648.jpg
    IMG_20170710_144648.jpg
    3.8 MB · Views: 1,363
  • IMG_20170710_144656.jpg
    IMG_20170710_144656.jpg
    3.4 MB · Views: 1,258
  • IMG_20170710_144703.jpg
    IMG_20170710_144703.jpg
    3.7 MB · Views: 1,042
Hi Guys,

Interesting topic. Last week I built a new Hackintosh system (to replace my Mac 3.1), its built upon the Gigabyte Z270X Gaming 7 mainboard. I also use my machine for audio engineering purposes, all my plugins are running remotely using VSL Pro over Gigabit ethernet. Now its come to my notice that TB3 allows me to setup a 40Gb/s TCP/IP network link between two machines. While I was first considering buying two Intel X540 NIC's to link my 2 machines (one Mac, one PC slave), this TB3 solution has much higher thruputs. And because my mainboard (Z270X Gaming 7) has a built in TB3 chipset that means that I only need to buy 1 piece of Asus ThunderboltEX PCI-E card for the other PC which is allot a cheaper.

As I have no Thunderbolt peripherals here at the moment, I am unable to verify that the Thunderbolt ports of this mainboard are actually recognized by Sierra. So all above is bit theoretical. When I open system information and I look in the thunderbolt section it says something like:

"Thunderbolt: no controlfiles loaded" (literal translation from Dutch, see attached screenshot).

Can it be, that this is the default behavior when no thunderbolt devices are attached? I'm just trying to verify that the Thunderbolt port is working..

Best,

Bastiaan

Schermafbeelding 2017-07-29 om 11.10.15.png
 
Here ya go. Hope this helps. And for all of the other guys who have Orion 32+ interfaces and can't get it to work. I would imagine the software for the interface is what is having issues. Although I know that I have to have my interface connected before boot. So that it pulls host before loading in.

Hey astewie, thanks for the info. I have a couple of questions. One is which BIOS firmware version are you on? The one that came with the mobo originally or did you flash an upgrade?
The other question is why did you have to unplug your drives (which ones) to modify the Thunderbolt BIOS settings? And how does it work? I'd think you'd turn off the computer, naturally. Disconnect power. Then unplug the drives. Connect Power. Turn on computer. Enter BIOS. Modify TH settings. Save & Exit. And what happens if you don't have an OS Drive connected?

Look forward to your reply!

Thanks :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top