Thunderbolt Port Pictured on Z77 MSI Motherboard

[subaro0o]

Has anyone heard whether or not Apple or someone else will ever have a thunderbolt PCIe card?

My parts for my first hackintosh are coming in but I sure would like to add a thunderbolt PCIe card to it.

They say it isn't possible, it needs to be part of the motherboard chipset

 

[andrewsavage]

I'm really excited about this! Soon, hackintoshes can once again input video into iMacs via target display mode

 

[Octavean]

It's only Mini Displayport.. Because it's underneath the VGA Connector. Unless there is a Thunderbolt Logo on the backplate then I highly doubt it's Thunderbolt!

If you look at the second picture to the right of the motherboard the MSI Z77A-GD80 description card states in the first column (second item from the top):

“Thunderbolt”

Other reports from the likes of Anandtech have confirmed Thunderbolt support on the MSI Z77A-GD80. There will also presumably be Thunderbolt capable motherboards from other manufacturers but only top-end models. Intel for example only has the DZ77RE listed as having Thunderbolt support. I’ve heard Asus was worried about copycats and has tried to keep a very tight lid on their upcoming Thunderbolt capable motherboard design.

In any event we will know soon enough as its been suggested Z77 motherboards will launch (early ~April) before Ivy Bridge CPU chips (late ~April).

 

[Alfa147x]

It's only Mini Displayport.. Because it's underneath the VGA Connector. Unless there is a Thunderbolt Logo on the backplate then I highly doubt it's Thunderbolt!

My guess that it could be DP
BUT
notice how it's under the vga conector. If it were DP it would be near the HDMI port. Just guessing / hoping.

 

[grtitan]

VGA and PS2, man, no wonder the apple hardcore fanatics make fun of pc. I can't blame them.

I really like the Asus mitx board, but it doesn't have TB. To be honest, i, personally, have no plans or need for any TB device, but would love to pair it with the Apple cinema 27.

 

[Alfa147x]

Has anyone seen anymore info?

 

[hardtac0]

My main concern is if a Thunderbolt enabled PC mother would utilize a PCI-e-to-PCI-e bridge chip. Casual browsing has led me to believe that motherboards with such a bridge chip tend to be difficult to build a hackintosh around.

Has anyone heard whether or not Apple or someone else will ever have a thunderbolt PCIe card?

My parts for my first hackintosh are coming in but I sure would like to add a thunderbolt PCIe card to it.

They say it isn't possible, it needs to be part of the motherboard chipset

There is no technical reason why a Thunderbolt PCI-E card cannot be produced purely for data. The main catch would be that the Thunderbolt PCI-E card would not natively carry any video signal for TB or mini-DP displays. Tunneling the video output from integrated GPU or even a discrete card can hypothetically be done but it'd require driver support on the GPU side and a driver on the Thunderbolt PCI-E card to send display information to the GPU. Chipset issues may also crop up due to direct communication between two different 3rd party devices.

 

[linw]

It's only Mini Displayport.. Because it's underneath the VGA Connector. Unless there is a Thunderbolt Logo on the backplate then I highly doubt it's Thunderbolt!

It's in the feature list though spelled Thunder Bolt.

 

[iammachine]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZB_l0Cn ... ata_player

for all the Displayport naysayers, in this video they show you the thunderbolt controller on the motherboard, now the only question is will OSX support this out of the box or is it a version that Apple doesn't use.

 

[Alfa147x]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZB_l0CnCTA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

for all the Displayport naysayers, in this video they show you the thunderbolt controller on the motherboard, now the only question is will OSX support this out of the box or is it a version that Apple doesn't use.

There is a high chance that OS X will easily support them since there are only a few controllers out and they are all from the same manufacturer.