Contribute
Register

Thunderbolt PCIe Upgrade - Gigabyte Z87X-UD5H

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jul 10, 2014
Messages
55
Motherboard
Asus Prime Z370-A
CPU
i7-8700
Graphics
RX 580
Mac
  1. MacBook Air
Mobile Phone
  1. Android
  2. iOS
Hello @all,

I want to run the brand-new Focusrite Clarett 8 Pre Thunderbolt Interface but my Motherboard has no thunderbolt connector. So my idea is to buy a thunderbolt pcie card so it will be possible to run the audio interface.... for example the Asus Thunderboltex II or the HP Thunderbolt ....

The question is: Does my idea work?

Information about my built: http://www.tonymacx86.com/members/kingbfire/
Information about Clarett 8 Pre: http://us.focusrite.com/clarett-range#clarett-4pre

I saw

Cheers,

KingBfire
 
Right now, there is no generic Thunderbolt PCIe card. The Gigabyte card only runs on select Gigabyte X99 motherboards. The ASUS card only runs on select Z97 motherboards. So, your options are limited.
 
Right now, there is no generic Thunderbolt PCIe card. The Gigabyte card only runs on select Gigabyte X99 motherboards. The ASUS card only runs on select Z97 motherboards. So, your options are limited.

In this review someone claims that the Gigabyte Thunderbolt card works on his Asrock board:

http://www.amazon.com/review/rxiqgtcn8t36l/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=utf8&asin=b00s9sgnlu&channel=detail-glance&nodeid=541966&store=pc

And, in fact, the info page for the ASRock Fatal1ty Z97 Professional says:

This motherboard has been certified with an ASUS ThunderboltEX II and is compatible with other third party Thunderbolt™ devices as well.

The Gigabyte card and the Asrock board both have a 5-pin connector. The ASUS ThunderboltEX II card has a 9-pin connector on the card, and a 9-pin cable, but also a 9-pin to 5-pin converter. The 5-pin plug looks exactly like the connector on the Asrock board and Gigabyte card.

So it seems that there is a "standard" after all, and that you can use ASUS, Gigabyte and Asrock Thunderbolt cards on all ASUS, Gigabyte and Asrock boards that (1) have BIOS support for Thunderbolt, and (2) a 5-pin Thunderbolt header.
 
...

So it seems that there is a "standard" after all, and that you can use ASUS, Gigabyte and Asrock Thunderbolt cards on all ASUS, Gigabyte and Asrock boards that (1) have BIOS support for Thunderbolt, and (2) a 5-pin Thunderbolt header.
Thank you for your research as this is very interesting news. Unfortunately, that still probably limit the Thunderbolt cards to those motherboards that have Thunderbolt header "plugs" and are supported by both companies (maybe).

Update: Based upon valitor's news, I started looking at the Gigabyte card. However, the reviews are...well, not good. See the two review at Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813995040

Unless you have Thunderbolt peripherals, IMO, consumers are better off to use USB 3.0/3.1 for peripherals as, while there are rumors of a Thunderbolt 3 in the works, USB 3+ seems to have a less expensive edge on Thunderbolt. It will also be interesting to see what's on a 2015 Mac Pro if announced at WWDC.
 
Personally I'm not intending to use Thunderbolt for peripherals but for something else:

LG now has two displays (both 34") with two Thunderbolt 2 ports. I have the LG 34UM95 here.

What's not really advertised as such is that you can use the USB ports on the display over Thunderbolt, i.e. you connect your Windows and Mac computer both via Thunderbolt with the display, and attach a single keyboard and mouse to the USB ports of the display, and then the display serves as a switch for both.

The 34UC97 also supports Dual Link-Up where you can show both inputs at the same time (split-screen), i.e. Windows and Mac side-by-side, and with some special LG software you can actually seamlessly work on both at the same time. I believe this works by syncing mouse and keyboard events over LAN/Wi-Fi.

Also, the LG displays support booting over Thunderbolt, and also attaching a Thunderbolt-to-Ethernet adapter to the Thunderbolt port.

As my current setup actually consists of a Windows and Hackintosh machine, having access to a Mac-based Thunderbolt solution would greatly simplify my setup.
 
Right now, there is no generic Thunderbolt PCIe card. The Gigabyte card only runs on select Gigabyte X99 motherboards. The ASUS card only runs on select Z97 motherboards. So, your options are limited.

Actually the ASUS card works on all the x99 ASUS boards. and the TB header on the GA is copied from ASUS so the cards should be interchangeable.

BTW there is no USB 3.1 support in OSX yet.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top