Using an Apple Thunderbolt Display with my CustoMac

[biff.tannen]

Hello Everyone,
I am wondering if I can use my ThunderBolt Display with a CustoMac. Perhaps some of you have already some experience with this, or maybe you are more certain than I am in how the technology works with these devices.

On an authentic Mac, I just connect the ThunderBolt Display to a ThunderBolt port and I get not only the display, but also a Firewire 800 port, USB port, Gigabit Ethernet port, audio speakers, FaceTime camera.

I see that there are mainboards in the recommended list with onboard ThunderBolt port, plus Gigabyte and Asus both sell PCI-e ThunderBolt cards. Also, I see multiple NVidia graphics cards in the list with built-in DisplayPort connection. So I am certain that I can get both ThunderBolt device functionality and DisplayPort display, but I suspect that I cannot have these combined, the way it is done on an authentic Mac. Could someone please confirm this!
If I connect an Apple ThunderBolt Display to the ThunderBolt port on a Gigabyte motherboard, I suspect that the Firewire 800, USB port, camera, sound and Ethernet would work; but the actual display would show no picture because there is no video signal coming out of the motherboard's ThunderBolt port. Similarly, if I connect my Apple ThunderBolt Display to the DisplayPort of the NVidia graphics card in the PCE-e extension of a CustoMac, I will likely get a video signal and see the picture, but none of the built-in devices (camera, sound, Ethernet) would work.
Am I correct with the above?
Or is there a way to connect or combine the motherboard's ThunderBolt port with the NVidia graphics card's DisplayPort in a CustoMac in order to drive an Apple ThunderBolt Display getting both picture and all additional devices at the same time?

Any comment on this is greately appreciated!

Thanks,
Biff

 

[biff.tannen]

is there a way to connect or combine the motherboard's ThunderBolt port with the NVidia graphics card's DisplayPort in a CustoMac in order to drive an Apple ThunderBolt Display getting both picture and all additional devices at the same time?

Looks like another thread here provides some very useful answers.
Anybody interested in connecting a TB Display should start by reading through those posts.
http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/g...ds-now-available-for-x99-motherboards.155029/

 

[cdrhoek]

A thunderbolt display will not work if you connect it to the displayport output on your graphics card. The only way to accomplish what you want to do is to use a motherboard that will accept a Thunderbolt add in card. These cards have a displayport input and a Thunderbolt output. I connect a Thunderbolt display to my Hack using the Asrock Thunderbolt card. I have the display, firewire, ethernet, and the camera working. The display does not work until the GPU drivers are loaded during boot. For installation, or to see the boot process, I connect the onboard video (instead of the GPU) to the Thunderbolt card.

 

[biff.tannen]

I have the display, firewire, ethernet, and the camera working. The display does not work until the GPU drivers are loaded during boot. For installation, or to see the boot process, I connect the onboard video (instead of the GPU) to the Thunderbolt card.

This is good enough for my needs.
Thanks for confirming!

 

[Acden]

I connect a Thunderbolt display to my Hack using the Asrock Thunderbolt card. I have the display, firewire, ethernet, and the camera working..

What configuration of MOBO and TB card did you have?

 

[cdrhoek]

I now use an Asrock Z370 Taichi and Asrock Thunderbolt 3 card. Video works fine with my Apple Thunderbolt display via a Thunderbolt 2 - 3 adapter. Camera no longer working after the upgrade to Z370.

 

[cdrhoek]

Update.

I now have the Thunderbolt display camera and USB Hub working. I had to install the Thunderbolt AIC into PCIE slot 5. I also had to set the Top of Lower Usable Dram to 1GB in the BIOS. The only Aptio memory fix that would work with the 1GB setting was OsxAptioFix2Drv-Free2000.efi