PookyMacMan Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 Most of us know that the latest MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, and iMac units are equipped with the high-speed Thunderbolt protocol, but no PC motherboards (both for purchase and in prebuilt machines) contain it. Now, ASUS has release not one, but two Intel-certified motherboards with Thunderbolt, the P8Z77-V Premium and the P8Z77-V/Thunderbolt. MSI has also released a Thunderbolt ready motherboard, the Z77A-GD80, but it has not been certified by Intel at this time of writing. So far there have been no reports on whether Thunderbolt works in OS X on these motherboards. Image courtesy of Engadget.com Click here to view the article Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
XLR Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 I think of ordering Intel DZ77RE-75K, but i also need to get some Thunderbolt device to test it. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1823661 Share on other sites More sharing options...
TH3L4UGH1NGM4N Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 @ XLR Don't forget the $50 cable that's needed as well. 1 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1823677 Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshhh Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I think thunderbolt is more important for laptop usage, i'm waiting now any new lenovo laptops with thunderbolt port, for me eGPU with thunderbolt more useful than any disk storage solutions Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1823788 Share on other sites More sharing options...
XLR Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 @ XLR Don't forget the $50 cable that's needed as well. 1 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1823842 Share on other sites More sharing options...
TH3L4UGH1NGM4N Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 1 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1823850 Share on other sites More sharing options...
p.H Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 Isn't it designed for hackintosh users ? : ) 2 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1824078 Share on other sites More sharing options...
cili0 Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 i'm eagerly waiting for the moment in which I'll be able to purchase a thunderbolt motherboard, a thunderbolt-compliant graphic card, an apple thunderbolt display and install OSX on my brand new hackintosh! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1824415 Share on other sites More sharing options...
buoo Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 I only hope we'll not find troubles to get it working. A TB-monitor should be fantastic! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1824429 Share on other sites More sharing options...
David087 Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 sounds good Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1824649 Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfa147x Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 and.... Hackintoshed! Kinda. Here is my semi-ready guide: http://hacksbyalfa.tumblr.com/post/24389831290/thunderbolt Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1824701 Share on other sites More sharing options...
cili0 Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 The main point is about how to convey the graphic card signal through the thunderbolt connection. Given such a procedure, I would buy a brand new hackintosh and a Thunderbolt ACD 27'' in minutes ciao! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1825646 Share on other sites More sharing options...
buoo Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 Since we started to talk about it, I've been looking for more about it. I've found a nice video, enjoy the show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1t7Rc9qFgI Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1825661 Share on other sites More sharing options...
cili0 Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 So it seems that a combination of hardware and software is required to correctly drive the video signal from the graphic card to the thunderbolt connection. IMHO the only possibility is to wait for a thunderbolt-enable Mac Pro (hopefully tomorrow) and try to mimic the way mac-only graphic cards work in the Apple tower computer, which indeed should be quite similar to what is shown in the video. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1825679 Share on other sites More sharing options...
PookyMacMan Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 IMHO the only possibility is to wait for a thunderbolt-enable Mac Pro (hopefully tomorrow) and try to mimic the way mac-only graphic cards work in the Apple tower computer, which indeed should be quite similar to what is shown in the video. The nice thing is, unless something goes drastically wrong, we will see the new MBAs and MBPs (and/or iMacs) with Ivy Bridge, and if they include the integrated GPU (likely on the MBAs in particular) it will probably be possible to enable Thunderbolt on the integrated Intel GPU on a hackintosh like with the i7 3770K. Regardless of a Mac Pro update we will most likely see this, so at least partial support (partial = no discrete but integrated is possible) will hopefully be possible. And, I think regardless of GPU updates we will at the very least be able to obtain data transport support, but like I said before I think that we will eventually be able to get integrated GPU support working and, if that Mac Pro rumor is true, discrete support. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1825747 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gringo Vermelho Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 All that expensive tech and they use a {censored} microphone If your sound card software has EQ, cut the 500Khz band completely to get listenable audio on that video. 3 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1825753 Share on other sites More sharing options...
cili0 Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 The nice thing is, unless something goes drastically wrong, we will see the new MBAs and MBPs (and/or iMacs) with Ivy Bridge, and if they include the integrated GPU (likely on the MBAs in particular) it will probably be possible to enable Thunderbolt on the integrated Intel GPU on a hackintosh like with the i7 3770K. Regardless of a Mac Pro update we will most likely see this, so at least partial support (partial = no discrete but integrated is possible) will hopefully be possible. And, I think regardless of GPU updates we will at the very least be able to obtain data transport support, but like I said before I think that we will eventually be able to get integrated GPU support working and, if that Mac Pro rumor is true, discrete support. Following your line of reasoning, it should already be possible to use thunderbolt connection with the Intel HD 3000 currently used in all MBP/A. We DO need to find a way to do that Imagine the possibility to plug a Thunderbolt display to your hackintosh and use all the dock capability (USB, FW, Ethernet, Facetime HD) of the monitor. It would be the ultimate hackintosh! All that expensive tech and they use a {censored} microphone If your sound card software has EQ, cut the 500Khz band completely to get listenable audio on that video. LOL! ciao. 1 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1825759 Share on other sites More sharing options...
PookyMacMan Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 Following your line of reasoning, it should already be possible to use thunderbolt connection with the Intel HD 3000 currently used in all MBP/A. We DO need to find a way to do that From what I know, these motherboards that have Thunderbolt for the first time are using different controllers than what Apple uses, and are mainly for the Ivy Bridge release (insiders please correct me if I'm wrong). Therefore, I'm thinking that unless there is a hack to get other Thunderbolt controllers working currently, it's probably not possible to (at this time) use Thunderbolt on Sandy Bridge. OTOH, if Apple supports these controllers, I suppose there is nothing preventing us from using the (newly supported) controller with a Sandy Bridge CPU with the HD Graphics 3000... Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1825761 Share on other sites More sharing options...
cili0 Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Thanks for stressing that Apple is using its own controller. Let's wait a couple of hours and see what Apple has in mind Talking about the thunderbolt display, if USB3.0 will find its place in the macintosh line-up, likely there's no reason not to update the display with USB 3.0 capabilities. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1825903 Share on other sites More sharing options...
cili0 Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Even if 9to5mac showcased the new Mac Pro specifications, no update from Apple. Really disappointing (and strange, 9to5mac's failability is quite low)! I hope this will not affect the possibility to use generic thunderbolt-equipped motherboards in our hackintoshes. EDIT: According to macrumors' users the Mac Pro line has been silently updated. EDIT2: No thunderbolt connection on the new mac pros ciao! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1825955 Share on other sites More sharing options...
PookyMacMan Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 Well, it's done...disappointing, indeed. However, it is nice to see new CPUs...and lower prices on the 12-core. Makes the machine (a little) more worth it. I don't think it will affect Thunderbolt functionality as a data transfer (if they use the new controller), but, like I said above, I think this probably means it will be quite hard (or impossible) to get video output via discrete graphics. However, I think the next step should be to get our hands on one of these new machines (MBA or MBP), verify that they are using the same Thunderbolt controller as these mobos, and I think from there getting data transfer working should be easy, and getting integrated graphics to work with it will be possible too. 1 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1826024 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asterix007 Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 Hello, Do you guess it's possible to use an imac 27 thunderbolt as a external display with a MSI Z77A-GD80 ? I tried with the apple thunderbolt cable, but I can succeed yet ! Thanks for your help ! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1827253 Share on other sites More sharing options...
TH3L4UGH1NGM4N Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Your TBP (thunderbolt port) has to be recognized under OS X in order to get the monitor working. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1827418 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asterix007 Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 The MB MSI is running under Windows 7, not OS X. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1827433 Share on other sites More sharing options...
TH3L4UGH1NGM4N Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 Oh if it's under windows then you'll need new ACD drivers for Windows from Apple to get it working. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279407-thunderbolt-equipped-motherboards-now-available/#findComment-1827585 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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