I am currently looking at getting a minisforum um690 to serve as my mini server (replacing a 6th gen NUC that’s barely keeping up).
As the minis has USB4 support, I want to hook both the minis and my intel TB3 laptop up to my 5800X desktop (Asrock X570 Steel Legend) using either TB4 or TB3. Asrock produces an TB3 card as well as an TB4 card. Both cards feature feature PD, but neither of them will be able to power my laptop. The TB4 card also lists an X570S motherboard as compatible - but not an X570.
Gigabyte also has two Thunderbolt cards, both featuring the required 5-pin TB cable I need for my Asrock board and the required PD capability to power my laptop (it needs 20V in some shape to charge while powered on).
The real issue is compatibility: ideally I want to get the newer Maple Ridge (TB4) card for my system, but I can’t find anything conclusive if an X570 system is even able to use this card. For the Titan Ridge card I have no clue if an AMD USB4 implementation (the minisforum PC) even supports the inter-pc networking capability TB3/4 offers.
Does someone know if either will work? The TB4 card would be preferred since it also allows me to get USB4 hubs in the future (once available), but if not hopefully at least a TB3 card will do the job…
There’s at least one X570 board with a Maple Ridge controller built in, so it’s definitely possible. And I have it. I’d be happy to test some things for you if you can tell me what to do; unfortunately the only other TB/USB4 system I have at my disposal is a Mac.
Does the X570 board have to have a Thunderbolt controller built in?
Why can’t I just buy an add-in card and have the Thunderbolt controller on that card?
The only X570 board I have with Thunderbolt is an ASRock ITX board, and it’s got a port on the back. Sadly, this isn’t the one I use on my main desktop as it’s lacking PCIe ports and RAM slots.
It’ll depend on the card you buy. From what I’ve read it involves shorting a few pins or pads to trick the card into thinking it’s plugged into a supported systems.
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