Threadripper on x399 designare thunderbolt 3

Does anyone know how Wendell got thunderbolt 3 working on the x399 with a threadripper ? I have the same config except it’s the TR 2950. I have the gigabyte designare Ex with the gigabyte alpine ridge tb3 aic


Watch the video, read the description, he explains why it doesn’t work.

Hi novasty thanks for your comment. I’ve watched this video many times :slight_smile: he clearly mentions that he has gotten it working. He just can’t give out exactly how he’s done it but he says that it’s easy to figure out if you know what to look for :slight_smile: that’s what I need to figure out :slight_smile:
Thanks once again

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@FurryJackman did say that wendell said in the video that is was as simple as copying some binaries. I dunno which ones are being talked about tho.

Yeah, but you can’t really extract it from the ROM files the vendors provide. You have to copy them straight from the BIOS chip after it has been decompressed by the method of being flashed onto a real motherboard.

In practice, you’ll need both an X299 motherboard and this to latch onto the raw lead points for the bios chips to copy the required binaries.

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It sounds easier to just wait for official support…

Which should come eventually.

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So it looks like the Titan ridge tb3 controller is pre-flaahed with the TB firmware which is super handy. :smiley:

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The main thing is to setup the controller in an Intel system to flash it. With the new titan ridge cards coming pre flashed … well… there you go

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However even though I do get the Titan Ridge tb3 controller with the tb3 firmware already flashed would it be enough to get tb3 working on the designare ex 399 with the 2950x ? Im trying to get a TB3 audio interface (Apollo x8 from Universal Audio ) to work with this setup.

Oh. So you need to initialize the ROM on the controller by flashing the ROM contents for the controller onto it… Huh.

Now if someone gets Threadripper Hackintosh working with this, there’s your next ultimate Premiere editing suite.

seems likely based on the egpu.io article?

Okay, checked the thread and… Wait, WHAT? The Titan Ridge doesn’t need the THB_C header? Holy crap.

Might be worth it to throw that on the X399 MEG then to see if you can make a 2990WX “Mac Pro”

Or, I could upgrade my CPU on X79 to a E5-1680 V2 and see if it can work on X79 with a Ivy Bridge-E 8-core.

I think but not sure pcie hotplug for epyc fixes made it into the new agesa. It’s all related!

I really want @wendell to test the GC-Titan Ridge on an Asrock X399 just to prove it actually works so we don’t just have one single source of info saying it works. Focus being Asrock, ASUS and MSI X399 boards because they don’t include the header.

At least some asrock boards do have the header

Ok guys finally here’s an update … it works !! As Wendell and gpio mentions the titan ridge thunderbolt card with the threadripper 2950x and a gigabyte x399 mobo works ! I had to power the titan ridge cards with two 6pin pcie power lines from my psu and also connected the thb_c header to the mobo. I had to install the thunderbolt drivers for windows 10 and it works as expected !

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I’m more curious about the Titan Ridge on an Asrock, (more than just the single sample set of the “OMEN” OEM X399M) MSI or ASUS board, cause Gigabyte has the header, but the firmware is pre-loaded so it doesn’t use the header. (if you connected the header, it’s actually optional on Titan Ridge.)

After reading the success story of the OMEN X399 Threadripper 1950x build I ordered the Gigabyte Titan Ridge Card and tried it today on my Asus X-399 Prime. It’s a board without the Thunderbolt header. I connected the 2x 6-pin PCIe power cables and the USB 2.0 header cable to the GC-Titan-Ridge, installed the thunderbolt software but without success so far (not recognized in bios, windows and osx =/ ). If anyone has a hint to get this working feel free to answer me.

Hey Elvistitus,
so did I get this right it’s working out of the box for you? (no Wendell reversed patching stuff…)
hotplug yes/no?