ThunderboltEX 3 firmware update ?

[linxeye]

Guys,

I have a ThunderboltEX 3 card running on my RVE. Since Intel latest drivers, posted in december and needed for W10 AU full compliance, I get at each W10 boot a popup to update my firmware that directs me here : https://thunderbolttechnology.net/updates.

Thing is Asus hasn't posted a single FW update for the ThunderboltEX 3. It's running a very old firmware that doesn't support any modern TB devices. Level is NVM 8.xx with no support for external GFX or Network (to mention a few).

Can anyone at Asus update us on the status of the TB3EX board ? Is it still supported ? Will there be a firmware update ? When ?

Thanks.

[hellokitty]

or get this. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/CY-Thunderbolt-3-to-PCI-Express-PCI-E-to-NVME-NGFF-M-key-AHCI-SSD-Co...

[hellokitty]

i would just buy this, it gives you 2 ports and no headache. The Alpine ridge version, you need special bios/board for the newer Titan Ridge. https://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-GC-Titan-Ridge-Thunderbolt-Component/dp/B0722SV69N/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull...

[yajnssnj]

hellokitty wrote:
i would just buy this, it gives you 2 ports and no headache. The Alpine ridge version, you need special bios/board for the newer Titan Ridge. https://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-GC-Titan-Ridge-Thunderbolt-Component/dp/B0722SV69N/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull...

I have one of these.. the problem was in the past month it stopped working, and I got the following error. At the moment I got this error with Alphine Ridge v2.0 card, the EX3 card wasn't work... However somehow I got it to work until then a couple days later, the system would establish a TB connection with my devices... that is when I purchased a new EX3 card with Firmware NVM 26 and it feels more solid... again a week or two should tell the real story.

Why Windows is telling me I need new FW for the AR card, it isn't clear to me.

[hellokitty]

if you got a spare drive, or if it dont matter much re-install windows. and see if you get the same errors. Thats what i do when i get strange problems that i cant figure out, usally works.

[yajnssnj]

hellokitty wrote:
if you got a spare drive, or if it dont matter much re-install windows. and see if you get the same errors. Thats what i do when i get strange problems that i cant figure out, usally works.

I have a spare "image" that I started this weekend with my old EX3 card. When it didn't fix the issue, I installed the new EX3 Card with NVM26. When the new card worked, I reinstalled my previous install, thus when the new EX3 Card with NVM26 worked, I've used the time to get some work done.

I will give that a shot sometime. I also sent a tech request to Gigabyte to see what they think.

Agreed it seemed strange.

[hellokitty]

When we get pcie 4.0 then we will have thunderbolt 4. By then maybe they will fix thunderbolt 3 issues. 😉

[theShiZa]

Guys please save yourself the headaches & hassles affiliated with ASUS's TB3 cards. After MUCH research & wasted time, I bought a Gigabyte Alpine Ridge "rev 2.0" (https://www.gigabyte.com/au/Motherboard/GC-ALPINE-RIDGE-rev-20#ov) & it works FLAWLESSLY & even has two TB3 ports. Excellent. Has never dropped not even once, in BIOS or Windows. This is on my ASUS X99 Deluxe II motherboard BTW which came with ASUS's crappy TB3 card which I pleasantly urinated on.

Also PLEASE keep in mind when using Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 3, the only way to achieve its max rated speed of 40Gbs\s is to use a (passive) TB 3 cable in 50cm's length MAX, which not many people know this. As soon as the cable is over 50cm's the speed gets reduced to 20Gbs\s MAX (which is TB"2" MAX speed), this is the official specs of TB3. If you need longer than 50cm's & maintain the max speed of 40Gbs\s then you have to buy "active" TB3 cables which are 2 meters max. Star Tech make good ones from my experience.

Thunderbolt "2" MAX speed is 20Gbs\s with "passive" cable length being 3 meters MAX.

If you want longer than 2 meters for full TB3 40Gbs\s speed then there's active TB3 Optical cables which can go much further distance & keep the max speed.
The ONLY "passive" TB3 cable I've seen & know of which is longer than 50cm's & still retains the max speed are Apple's TB3 80cm cables.

I even have a TB2 to TB3 adapter for an external sound card I'm using plugged into my Gigabyte Alpine Ridge 2.0 & works flawlessy & still have a free TB3 port on it ready to go. Though you want to make sure you have your PCI-E slot that the Gigabyte Alpine Ridge 2.0 is plugged into is configured at "x8" IF you're planning to use both the TB3 ports as each TB3 port needs "x4" speed PCI-E 3.0 lanes. If not planning to use both TB3 ports on it then configuring the slot as "x4" speed is also perfect.

The reputation of the ASUS TB3 cards are really ugly world-wide from Germany to America as a quick google search will show. Even when people have got it to work, there's a 50/50 chance it'll stop in a few months as reported many times or just randomly drops out whatever is connected to it, extremely frustrating.

But now I'm a VERY happy boy.

[Rambler76]

theShiZa wrote:
Guys please save yourself the headaches & hassles affiliated with ASUS's TB3 cards. After MUCH research & wasted time, I bought a Gigabyte Alpine Ridge "rev 2.0" (https://www.gigabyte.com/au/Motherboard/GC-ALPINE-RIDGE-rev-20#ov) & it works FLAWLESSLY & even has two TB3 ports. Excellent. Has never dropped not even once, in BIOS or Windows. This is on my ASUS X99 Deluxe II motherboard BTW which came with ASUS's crappy TB3 card which I pleasantly urinated on.

What I found with my ROG Maximus IX Hero was that Asus removed all of the complete Thunderbolt BIOS settings about 3-4 BIOS revisions back for some bizarre reason and left only basic settings.*

What this meant was that with using the latest BIOS it was impossible to get the card to work unless you used a two year old BIOS.*

Why they would do this I don’t know, but I wasted countless hours trying to get it to work and ended up selling it in the end.*
*
I’ve heard people have had a lot of success with the Gigabyte card but I’m concerned it won’t work on my MB which only has basic Thunderbolt settings.
*
With the Gigabyte Alpine Ridge 2 card, are you using it with the latest BIOS on your MB?

Also has Asus limited the Thunderbolt options in the latest BIOS like they have with my MB?

Thanks*

[theShiZa]

Rambler76 wrote:
What I found with my ROG Maximus IX Hero was that Asus removed all of the complete Thunderbolt BIOS settings about 3-4 BIOS revisions back for some bizarre reason and left only basic settings.*

What this meant was that with using the latest BIOS it was impossible to get the card to work unless you used a two year old BIOS.*

Why they would do this I don’t know, but I wasted countless hours trying to get it to work and ended up selling it in the end.*
*
I’ve heard people have had a lot of success with the Gigabyte card but I’m concerned it won’t work on my MB which only has basic Thunderbolt settings.
*
With the Gigabyte Alpine Ridge 2 card, are you using it with the latest BIOS on your MB?

Also has Asus limited the Thunderbolt options in the latest BIOS like they have with my MB?

Thanks*

Hi there.

Yes I've used it with BIOS 1802, & now with their latest BETA BIOS 2101, even the in between BIOS of 1902 is still considered BETA so BIOS 1802 is the latest non-BETA BIOS.

I cannot really guarantee anything on your particular motherboard but if you're not in rush with deadlines, I reckon buy it from a place that allows returns & try it for like a week straight or so. The ASUS Thunderbolt cards have a VERY ugly reputation.

Regarding if BIOS settings for Thunderbolt being limited, go to the following clip on youtube & you'll see EXACTLY the BIOS settings I've had since BIOS 1802 & my current BETA BIOS 2101. When the youtube clip transitions to the 2nd screen (7 seconds in), you will see the option "Reserved IO per phy slot" which has a value of "20". That is the very last option in the BIOS 1802 & 2101's Thunderbolt section's settings.

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

If you do settle with a Gigabyte Alpine Ridge, you might as well get the newer "Revision 2.0" rather than the older 1.0.

The following link (out of MANY) will show you the headaches people have with ASUS's Thunderbolt cards which instantly made my mind up to not even bother with them & where I first heard about Gigabyte's Alpine Ridge 2.0 card.

https://www.overclock.net/forum/6-intel-motherboards/1638843-how-install-asus-thunderbolt-3-card-asu...

@Dean@ERPSAA!

By the way thank you for taking the time to post your details & experience regarding drive speeds & stats, very interesting read, much appreciated.

@HelloKitty Also thanks for taking the time also to post your experiences & suggestions/advice with these thunderbolt cards & the Gigabyte Alpine Ridge.

Cheerz.

[DigitalMetal]

To anyone who switched from the Asus EX3 to the Gigabyte Alpine Ridge, have you been able to get more than one to work on the Alpine ridge?
Only one of the two will work for me so this isn't good, I was able to get the one TB and one USB 3.1 port both working on the EX3 card but it was a little intermittent and got the AR card hoping to have two working ports.
I'm using the latest NUC TB drivers from intel and one port works just fine but not the second.