dannyjmusic
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Keni
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Re: Thunderbolt PCI express card for PC
2016/02/02 12:47:22
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I would guess it to work fine... Whether on the motherboard or plug in card, a port should be a port!
...and now with simple fixes such as thunderbolt <> FireWire, this one should be easy.
That said I would look for one that has a good manufacturer reputation...?
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dannyjmusic
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Re: Thunderbolt PCI express card for PC
2016/02/02 13:21:21
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Jim Roseberry
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Re: Thunderbolt PCI express card for PC
2016/02/02 15:44:11
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FWIW, The link doesn't actually link to a specific product.
If you're talking about Asus or ASRock Thunderbolt 2 Add-in-cards:
These can only be used with specific motherboards that support that specific card.
IOW, You can't pop that PCIe Thunderbolt card in any motherboard and have Thunderbolt.
Aside from that, even if your motherboard supports one of these cards, you'll have Thunderbolt 2.
On the Windows side, there's no "PCIe via Thunderbolt" driver for Thunderbolt 2 controllers.
If you're running a Thunderbolt audio interface connected to one of these controllers, it's running Firewire protocol via Thunderbolt. You'd just as well using a Firewire audio interface.
Billy Buck recently posted a link on this subject.
On Windows, "PCIe via Thunderbolt" drivers *are* available... but you've got to be running one of the few (literally just hit the streets) Z170x motherboards that supports Thunderbolt 3 via USB-C port. You've also got to be running Windows 10. Thunderbolt 3 claims backward compatibility with Thunderbolt 2 and 1... but Microsoft doesn't guarantee it.
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Jim Roseberry
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Re: Thunderbolt PCI express card for PC
2016/02/02 15:47:06
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The big advantage to Thunderbolt is being able to reduce the ASIO buffer size down to 32-samples... or even 16-samples (same performance level as the best PCIe audio interaces).
This yields sub 3ms total round-trip latency.
As a point of reference, the Fireface UFX yields 4.3ms total round-trip latency at a 48-sample ASIO buffer size/44.1k.
That's comfortably low for all but the most extreme of circumstances.
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dannyjmusic
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Re: Thunderbolt PCI express card for PC
2016/02/02 16:27:59
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I guess the best bet right now is stick with USB 3.0 until the price comes down on all this stuff :)
Thanks for the advice!
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Anderton
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Re: Thunderbolt PCI express card for PC
2016/02/02 16:29:21
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☄ Helpfulby tbritthome 2018/04/07 14:11:50
There's also the issue of whether what you want to run on Windows Thunderbolt has drivers. I just checked with Focusrite about the status of Windows drivers for their Clarett Thunderbolt interfaces, and apparently they're still not approved by Apple and/or Intel.
I just gave up and went for a TASCAM US-20x20, which runs off USB 3.0. Round-trip latency + safety buffers is around 9 ms with complex projects.
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TerraSin
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Re: Thunderbolt PCI express card for PC
2016/02/02 16:45:28
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kitekrazy1
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Re: Thunderbolt PCI express card for PC
2016/02/02 19:01:24
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Anderton
There's also the issue of whether what you want to run on Windows Thunderbolt has drivers. I just checked with Focusrite about the status of Windows drivers for their Clarett Thunderbolt interfaces, and apparently they're still not approved by Apple and/or Intel.
I just gave up and went for a TASCAM US-20x20, which runs off USB 3.0. Round-trip latency + safety buffers is around 9 ms with complex projects.
I wonder how long the Thunderbolt platform will last. My Asrock board has TB2 support. It seems like a crapshoot.
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Jim Roseberry
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Re: Thunderbolt PCI express card for PC
2016/02/02 20:49:34
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That ASRock AIC Thunderbolt 2 card has been "available" for a good while. It's out of stock a lot...  That's not going to provide Thunderbolt 3... nor the "PCIe via Thunderbolt" drivers that are necessary to reap the rewards of Thunderbolt. Edited to clarify: BTW, Latest generation USB 3.1 controllers have a total bandwidth of 32Gb/Sec (use 4 PCIe lanes). This bandwidth is shared between ports.
post edited by Jim Roseberry - 2016/02/08 12:02:12
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TerraSin
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Re: Thunderbolt PCI express card for PC
2016/02/02 20:52:30
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Ahh yes, good point.
My main concern is being able to use a UAD Apollo via Thunderbolt once they finally get Windows drivers out for it so I'm trying to find the best solution for that.
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BRuys
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Re: Thunderbolt PCI express card for PC
2016/02/02 21:50:11
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TerraSin
Ahh yes, good point.
My main concern is being able to use a UAD Apollo via Thunderbolt once they finally get Windows drivers out for it so I'm trying to find the best solution for that.
Don't hold your breath. Nobody is pushing Thunderbolt on the PC platform. None of the current MOTU cards are supported and PC users are stuck with USB2. I highly doubt that proper TB support will ever exist on the Windows platform. The PC would will jump straight to USB 3.1 and bypass TB altogether. Apple paid Intel for TB exclusivity for the first couple of years and then when it did come to PC, it was not the same architecture Apple had - TB was connected via chipset rather direct PCIe lanes from the processor, so PCs got a watered down version of Thunderbolt.
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kitekrazy1
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Re: Thunderbolt PCI express card for PC
2016/02/02 23:11:14
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Jim Roseberry
That ASRock AIC Thunderbolt 2 card has been "available" for a good while.
It's out of stock a lot...
That's not going to provide Thunderbolt 3... nor the "PCIe via Thunderbolt" drivers that are necessary to reap the rewards of Thunderbolt.
BTW, USB 3.1 has bandwidth of 32Gb/Sec... which is close to Thunderbolt 3's 40Mb/Sec.
This is why I'm thinking Thunderbolt will not be popular among Window users.
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Jim Roseberry
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Re: Thunderbolt PCI express card for PC
2016/02/03 10:37:53
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It'll be interesting to see how it plays out. We don't need that kind of bandwidth for audio... If we have PCIe level ability to set ASIO buffer size down to 16-samples, that will suffice for 99.9% of all users. For a machine with PCIe slots, it's kinda re-inventing the wheel...
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TerraSin
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Re: Thunderbolt PCI express card for PC
2016/02/03 12:12:02
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BRuys
Don't hold your breath. Nobody is pushing Thunderbolt on the PC platform. None of the current MOTU cards are supported and PC users are stuck with USB2. I highly doubt that proper TB support will ever exist on the Windows platform. The PC would will jump straight to USB 3.1 and bypass TB altogether. Apple paid Intel for TB exclusivity for the first couple of years and then when it did come to PC, it was not the same architecture Apple had - TB was connected via chipset rather direct PCIe lanes from the processor, so PCs got a watered down version of Thunderbolt.
We'll see what happens. UAD knows they have a Windows market but they've not made much move towards it. With the new Apollo Twin for Windows now out, we'll see how much it cracks it open and if they would be willing to make more drivers. I'm thinking about picking one up at the moment since my VS-700R is pretty much done on Windows 10 and it would also give me access to use UADs plugins.
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