• Registered: 2022-03-29
  • Posts: 2

Topic: Thunderbolt expansion module

Hello there. I want to connect a UFX+ to my daw, but my motherboard lacks a thunderbolt port, so I'll need to select a PCIe expansion card to add one. USB2/USB3 are already in use. Can I use whatever I find, or do I need to be cautious of the chipset, as I was with firewire? Are there any known recommended suggestions? Thank you for your help!

  • From: Canada
  • Registered: 2016-02-11
  • Posts: 87

Re: Thunderbolt expansion module

AFAIK, the motherboard must have a "header" to allow an add-on thunderbolt card to work. In my case, my motherboard is Prime Z370-A Rev.0 with a thunderbolt 'header'. I successfully added a Gigabyte Titan Ridge TC2 TBolt 3 PCIe Adapter from Amazon.ca and connected the output from that to a Thunderbolt 3-2 connector Startech from Amazon.  This connects to my UFX+ flawlessly. I tried unsuccessfully to add an Asus EX3 thunderbolt card to the motherboard, but gave up as I could not get it to work.

ADI-2 pro fs be; UFX+; MADIfaceUSB; Startech active USB3 cable; Sonnet Allegro Pro adapter; Win11x64

3 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2022-08-21 15:39:12)

  • ramses
  • DAW Mastermind
  • Offline
  • From: UTC+1
  • Registered: 2012-10-14
  • Posts: 12,861

Re: Thunderbolt expansion module

Thunderbolt can only be added, if your board/bios is designed for thunderbolt.
As an option, I suggest adding a PCIe card for USB3, see manual for supported chipsets.

The Sonnet card below is proven to work well:
— supported FL1100 chipset, see RME manual
— supported by Win10
— its driver uses the more efficient MSI, messaged signalled interrupts.

You only need a PCIe x1 socket for such a card, preferably a PCIe socket on your mainboard with PCIe lanes coming from the Chipset. Your mainboard manual should contain a block diagram which tells you which socket have PCIe lanes coming from CPU and which come from Chipset.

https://www.sonnettech.com/product/alle … 4port.html

You need to check, but the card seems to share it's 4 USB3 ports with the same USB3 controller on board.
So, I would only the UFX+ to it, so that the UFX+ is isolated.

Using USB3 has the advantage to you, to support cable length up to 3 m.

This Lindy premium cable works well, it has 3 shields, good plugs and is not too expensive:
https://www.lindy.co.uk/cables-adapters … ine-p11345

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13