Old 03-18-2019, 08:25 PM   #1
Kyd Kasters
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Default Thunderbolt on Windows

I've heard varying degrees of success with this combination. Has v2 or v3 made any advances with stability and compatibility?

Currently in the market for an interface and am seriously looking at the Focusrite Red 4 or 8.

OSX is not an option.
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Old 03-19-2019, 07:54 AM   #2
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You need a mobo that supports TB in the BIOS (or UEFI). Make sure the support is really available and not just a line in a document that they're going to release that in the future.

Other than that, there are no real problems on the PC side.

Be ready to experiment with a few cable adapters if you need them. Most work, but not all.

Another thing on the PC side is that Apple supports everything in USB-C (TB, display, ethernet, USB3...), except on the Macbook (without "Pro"). Cheaper PC laptops don't always have display connections over TB (Displayport).
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Old 03-19-2019, 03:47 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cyrano View Post
You need a mobo that supports TB in the BIOS (or UEFI). Make sure the support is really available and not just a line in a document that they're going to release that in the future.

Other than that, there are no real problems on the PC side.

Be ready to experiment with a few cable adapters if you need them. Most work, but not all.

Another thing on the PC side is that Apple supports everything in USB-C (TB, display, ethernet, USB3...), except on the Macbook (without "Pro"). Cheaper PC laptops don't always have display connections over TB (Displayport).
Thanks, cyrano. Good info.
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Old 03-19-2019, 04:15 PM   #4
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I now tend to shy away from the constantly changing, new kid on the block, audio transfer protocols because they can become obsolete too quickly for my tastes. Consider Firewire of which I'd could have a potential $1800 brick on my hands (FF800) due to rarity these days - I have it ADAT'd into my UFX but still, every time I have some bright idea to use it with some other device of mine, oh yea, no FW, or that one has FW but the wrong chipset.

At least my FFUFX has both USB and FW so I do like devices that offer a couple of protocols with one of them being more long lasting and backwards compatible such as USB et al.
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Old 03-19-2019, 04:52 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by karbomusic View Post
I now tend to shy away from the constantly changing, new kid on the block, audio transfer protocols because they can become obsolete too quickly for my tastes. Consider Firewire of which I'd could have a potential $1800 brick on my hands (FF800) due to rarity these days - I have it ADAT'd into my UFX but still, every time I have some bright idea to use it with some other device of mine, oh yea, no FW, or that one has FW but the wrong chipset.

At least my FFUFX has both USB and FW so I do like devices that offer a couple of protocols with one of them being more long lasting and backwards compatible such as USB et al.
I get that, my last interface was firewire, crapped out before it became obsolete.

Am I wrong in thinking that USB-C & Thunderbolt are interchangable now? It seems as if the USB-C form factor will be with us for awhile.
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Old 03-20-2019, 03:17 AM   #6
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Yes and no...

TB2 became TB3 and is incorporated into USB-C

USB-C is a lot of things. It's backwards compatible with USB3 and USB2, provided you have the right cable.

It's also Displayport, PCI-e and some others. Always provided you have the right adapter.

All of these things CAN be present. You might see USB-C without Displayport on some PC laptops. You could even have USB-C without Thunderbolt.

Backwards compatibility goes very far. Even up to iSCSI. Provided the drivers support it.

Be prepared to study before buying and testing a few adapters before finding a working set for your device.

I've got a friend who deals with projectors all the time. He used to have 3 or 4 adapters. One to VGA, One to Displayport. Now he carries a baggy, and a paper notebook, noting every time which combo works with this particular setup...
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Old 03-24-2019, 04:57 PM   #7
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We're running a Lynx Aurora n32 via Thunderbolt 2 to apple adapter to Thunderbolt 3 card on our studio Windows machine. It's working well. You need to have a motherboard that supports TB.
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Old 03-24-2019, 05:47 PM   #8
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We're running a Lynx Aurora n32 via Thunderbolt 2 to apple adapter to Thunderbolt 3 card on our studio Windows machine. It's working well. You need to have a motherboard that supports TB.
Do you mind if I ask which TB3 card and which motherboard you are using?

Thanks!
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Old 04-13-2019, 05:27 PM   #9
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I recently finished building my first hackintosh. I used the Asus z370 Prime A ii motherboard, a gigabyte Titan ridge PCI thunderbolt expansion card and a startech TB3 to TB2 adapter. Windows install was a breeze after I discovered you need to manually enable thunderbolt in the motherboard bios settings. install the card, boot up, install the driver from gigabyte's website and make sure your security setting in the BIOS is "none" otherwise you'll have to manually approve each connected thunderbolt device. Works great on Windows and Mac, but hotswap doesn't seem to work on OSX, and the interfaces have to be powered on before you boot into OSX.

I did weeks of research on compatible hardware that would work on both operating systems, and it has worked out nicely.

Make sure you have an AMD Radeon graphics card if you plan on hackintoshing to Mojave (no idea if that's your plan, but OSX on PC hardware is the best of both worlds). Regardless of your operating system choice, make sure the motherboard you buy has the little thunderbolt header. There is a small ribbon cable that goes from my Titan ridge card to the special TB header. I think the z370 prime A ii is the most affordable of the whole bunch, but I know gigabyte has a couple options as well.

USB-C and thunderbolt 3 are not the same thing unfortunately, although the connector is identical.

Last edited by HiveMind; 04-13-2019 at 05:40 PM. Reason: Fat fingers on mobile.
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