Can a Thunderbolt 3 PCIe Expantion card work in a Z97 Motherboard?

[SolarAxix]

Is it possible to use Thunderbolt 3 PCIe Expantion card in a Z97 Motherboard? I've searched a few forums as well as a few searches on Google and came up empty with regards to using a Thunderbolt 3 PCIe expansion card in a Z97 motherboard.

Has anyone tried it? Did it work?

My thoughts (and I could be wrong) are that if the X99 platform supports Thunderbolt 3, there should not be any technical reasons why Thunderbolt 3 cards would not to work in a Z97 based motherboard (other than possibly lack of support in the BIOS).

In my particular case, I have an ASUS Z97-WS motherboard which does have a TB header. It officially supports the ThunderboltEX II card, but they are difficult to find now. There are quite a few places online that have the newer ThunderboltEX III cards. I know that it's not officially supported when it comes to Z97 boards, but that's fine with me as long as it works.

If I could get one locally, I would try it myself, but I'd have to order one in and pay shipping and/or restocking fee if it does not work and I was thinking that maybe someone has already tried it.

Has anyone tried to use a Thunderbolt 3 PCIe expansion card like the ThunderboltEX III in a Z97 motherboard that had a TB header port? If so, any success?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Elixer]

Since it is a PCIe card, yes, it should work, and by work, I don't mean work at full speed.
Older boards have slower PCIe Gen 2 (or even Gen 1) lanes, so, it can be slower than a PCIe gen 3 board.

For example, PCIe gen 3 x4 is the same as PCIe gen 2 x8 speed wise.

 

[bigboxes]

The Asus Z97-WS has four PCIe 3.0 slots. It should work at full speed.

 

[Bouowmx]

Thunderbolt 3: 40 Gb/s
PCI Express 3.0 ×4: 32 Gb/s (per direction)

Note that Intel Z97 connects to CPU using PCI Express 2.0 ×4 (16 Gb/s). So, you should use Thunderbolt 3 expansion in a slot connected to CPU, and not chipset.

 

[vailr]

Correct if wrong, but isn't the motherboard TB header only useful for passing video out via TB port?
So that if the monitor isn't connected via TB, there's no actual benefit from using the motherboard TB header.
And a TB PCIe add-in card would function fine without using the TB header connection.
TB3 PCIe cards seem to be in short supply and expensive if one can be located for sale.

 

[Rakno Liham]

not sure if anyone is still interested, but I just setup ASUS THunderboltEX 3 expansion card with an ASUS Z97 Gryphon motherboard. Even with the expansion card in a PCIe 2.0 slot, it works fine. I did it to run a Apple Thunderbolt Display and it works great. So as far as I understand, you need a motherboard with a thunderbolt header and then you are good to go.

 

[Jesus Alvarado]

Hi friend i have a Asus Z97 AR with an Asus Ex 3 Expansion Card . The bios see it but windows no . Do i have to set some special settings on Bios ? How do you configurate the Bios or what was the process to get it working.

Thanks !

 

[Rakno Liham]

HI Jesus, If your BIOS recognizes it then its most likely a driver issue. uninstall any windows drivers, remove thunderbolt card from your system. Upgrade your motherboard BIOS if needed. Download latest ASUS drivers for the thunderbolt card and install, but install each one individually. Once the drivers are installed, then shit down and reboot windows. Then shutdown again, install the card back into your system and boot up as normal. The card should work now. This sounds ridiculous but its the way it works. There is a youtube video showing the BIOS config,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbT-79vF7eA

let me know if that works... Good luck!

 

[Jesus Alvarado]

Hi and thanks for answering

Have a few questions :

1.What do you mean by install one by one ?
Cause i only have 1 setup file in the driver download package folder .

2.The Bios dosn't give me that exact settings in the video , the only settings i have are the ones in the photos im sharing with you .

Specially tye AIC location group setting , simply dont have it there . Ive tried every PCIe port with same results in the Bios .

I woukd like to know how you have your settings cause i think is the same MB as mine not like in the video.

My Motherbard is Asus Z97-AR and card is Asus Thnderbolt Expansion EX 3 .

Thanks again for any help im really hahing a hard time with this .