Z390 and Thunderbolt 3

[d503308]

Currently so Far as I’m aware the only new motherboard with a native onboard thunderbolt 3 type c connection is found only on the Asrock phantom gaming mini Itx motherboard.

I have a micro center near me and I opened up all the different brands of new Z390 boards, and found most have the Aic thunderbolt header for the add in PCI-e cards from Gigabyte and Asus and Asrock. It seems also that Gigabyte has restarted production of the Alpine Ridge cards again and Amazon has plenty in stock.

I’m awaiting the arrival of some various thunderbolt audio interfaces to test on the Asrock motherboard.

 

[Jamesbond007]

Currently so Far as I’m aware the only new motherboard with a native onboard thunderbolt 3 type c connection is found only on the Asrock phantom gaming mini Itx motherboard.

I have a micro center near me and I opened up all the different brands of new Z390 boards, and found most have the Aic thunderbolt header for the add in PCI-e cards from Gigabyte and Asus and Asrock. It seems also that Gigabyte has restarted production of the Alpine Ridge cards again and Amazon has plenty in stock.

I’m awaiting the arrival of some various thunderbolt audio interfaces to test on the Asrock motherboard.

Well, it seems to me that the motherboard manufacturers have decided that it is not worthwhile to add native Thunderbolt 3 support to the motherboards (lack of customer interest?) and that if any customer wants Thunderbolt 3 they are to purchase a separate Thunderbolt 3 add-in card. Perhaps that is why Gigabyte has restarted production of GC Alpine Ridge and also released a new Titan Ridge?

 

[MyTosh]

I know it's been a few weeks, but Gigabyte released Z390 DESIGNARE mobo two days ago with 2 built-in Thunderbolt 3 ports.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z390-DESIGNARE-rev-10#kf

Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Xtreme also has built-in Thunderbolt 3 ports.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z390-AORUS-XTREME-rev-10#sp

 

[augustopaulo]

Are these Gigabyte Z390 thunderbolt 3 ports of the Titan Ridge type ?

 

[IITravel01]

The specifications doesn't say, but the resolution of the graphics suggest that it's Alpine Ridge, although I read that Titan Ridge was supposed to be on H370 and Z390's if it included Thunderbolt 3.

 

[MyTosh]

Okay... I could be wrong, but if you go into support/downloads section on both DESIGNARE and AORUS and look at Thunderbolt Driver, both Aorus and Designare say [17.4.77.400]. And if you check the specs on GC-Titan-Ridge it says driver [17.4.77.400] and on GC-Alpine Ridge specs it says [16.3.61.275]. So it would stand to reason that both Aorus and Designare have Titan Ridge thunderbolt. But that's pure conjecture.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GC-TITAN-RIDGE-rev-10#support-dl-driver

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GC-ALPINE-RIDGE-rev-20#support-dl-driver

 

[IITravel01]

OK, that's a little more reassuring to know. I'm curious then if the internal graphics is the limiting factor then because Titan Ridge is supposed to handle multiple 8K monitors. It's looking more and more like the ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ac is the ITX motherboard to get if it has Titan Ridge also. I really wish that Gigabyte had added the Thunderbolt 3 header to the Z390 AORUS I Pro WiFi (ITX).

 

[augustopaulo]

The specifications doesn't say, but the resolution of the graphics suggest that it's Alpine Ridge, although I read that Titan Ridge was supposed to be on H370 and Z390's if it included Thunderbolt 3.

Yes, you're right, it's an Alpine ridge!

Brumbaer, confirms this on his reply here.

I'm still trying to confirm if any of the 2 x Gigabyte Z390 Aorus motherboards have a Titan Ridge Thunderbolt 3...

Boa sorte,
Paulo

 

[MyTosh]

Well, he's talking about Asrock Phantom Gaming and says he knows nothing about Gigabyte Z390 Xtreme nor Designare. Am I missing something here? Are you saying all Z390 mobo manufacturers use the same parts or something? I guess the resolution alone could be some sort of evidence, but I think it's weird that the mobos would be using Alpine Ridge chips with Titan Ridge drivers. And Designare does support 8k with the right GPU.

 

[IITravel01]

Yes, the Z390 Designare specs. shows it's a Titan Ridge chip onboard. The adapter cable that comes with the motherboard is a mDP to DP for the I/O input. So it assumes your video card has a mDP out on it and that you use that to the DP in on the motherboard to get Thunderbolt 3 working.