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Z590-E Thunderbolt Connection

thehypnotist333
Level 7
I need to be able to connect to thunderbolt on my z590-e motherboard. Will any thunderbolt expansion card work or is there a specific kind I need?
This is a custom build from NZXT I am upgrading. I am new to building, please pretend I don't know anything.
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4 REPLIES 4

DjRavix
Level 10
thehypnotist333 wrote:
I need to be able to connect to thunderbolt on my z590-e motherboard. Will any thunderbolt expansion card work or is there a specific kind I need?
This is a custom build from NZXT I am upgrading. I am new to building, please pretend I don't know anything.

If I may ask ... is there any participle device you need thunderbolt for ?

Looking from what you are saying the board you have is a "ROG STRIX Z590-E GAMING WIFI" if I am correct
That board indeed can support A Thunderbolt card However from looking it up in the Manual there is no specific Type mentioned and Asus recommends to lookup compatibility on the manufactures website
You might want to contact Asus About the model of card you need for your board (I would assume that Most are from Asus them self)

Also be Aware that the Thunderbolt needs to be connected to a PCIe slot that is connected to the PCH (Chipset)
This would be PCIEX16_3 and if it needs to run at x4 this will disable SATA6G_5 & SATA6G_6

You can look this up in the Manual if you like

I am just pointing out the downsides that you might encounter when adding this type of card so that you are aware of this
ASUS Maximus 13 Extreme
Intel i9 11900K
Corsair Dominater Platinum RGB
Phanteks Enthoo Primo
Samsung 980 Pro 1TB
2 X Samsung 980 Pro 2TB
Corsair AX1200I
EK-Velocity D-RGB - Nickel + Plexi
EK-XTOP Revo Dual D5 PWM Serial - (incl. 2x pump)
XSPC RX480 + XSPC RS280
4 X Corsair SP120 PWM OEM Fans
2 X Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC-2000 IP67 PWM
2 X Noctua NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap
2 X Noctua NF-S12A PWM chromax.black.swap
1 X Noctua NF-A15 HS-PWM chromax.black.swap

DjRavix wrote:
If I may ask ... is there any participle device you need thunderbolt for ?

Looking from what you are saying the board you have is a "ROG STRIX Z590-E GAMING WIFI" if I am correct
That board indeed can support A Thunderbolt card However from looking it up in the Manual there is no specific Type mentioned and Asus recommends to lookup compatibility on the manufactures website
You might want to contact Asus About the model of card you need for your board (I would assume that Most are from Asus them self)

Also be Aware that the Thunderbolt needs to be connected to a PCIe slot that is connected to the PCH (Chipset)
This would be PCIEX16_3 and if it needs to run at x4 this will disable SATA6G_5 & SATA6G_6

You can look this up in the Manual if you like

I am just pointing out the downsides that you might encounter when adding this type of card so that you are aware of this


Thanks for the reply! I need thunderbolt to be able to connect my Presonus Quantum audio interface. What is the SATA6G used for? I looked it up real quick but still don't quite understand.
I will try to contact Asus about what card I need. I'm a little surprised none of this is documented anywhere in the manuals but thanks so much for helping me.

thehypnotist333 wrote:
Thanks for the reply! I need thunderbolt to be able to connect my Presonus Quantum audio interface. What is the SATA6G used for? I looked it up real quick but still don't quite understand.
I will try to contact Asus about what card I need. I'm a little surprised none of this is documented anywhere in the manuals but thanks so much for helping me.


The SATA6G connections are mainly used for connecting extra SSD / HDD / ODD
the board has a total of 6 but if you want to use the thunderbolt Card you might have to disable the last 2 of these (5 & 6)
This still allows you to connect 4 Sata devices internally
But most nowadays move to NVMe SSD's (That are connected on the board directly) and ODD's are also a thing of the past
So do not worry about it to much

BTW
Nice interface ... Studio One User I presume ?
ASUS Maximus 13 Extreme
Intel i9 11900K
Corsair Dominater Platinum RGB
Phanteks Enthoo Primo
Samsung 980 Pro 1TB
2 X Samsung 980 Pro 2TB
Corsair AX1200I
EK-Velocity D-RGB - Nickel + Plexi
EK-XTOP Revo Dual D5 PWM Serial - (incl. 2x pump)
XSPC RX480 + XSPC RS280
4 X Corsair SP120 PWM OEM Fans
2 X Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC-2000 IP67 PWM
2 X Noctua NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap
2 X Noctua NF-S12A PWM chromax.black.swap
1 X Noctua NF-A15 HS-PWM chromax.black.swap

Thanks for the help. I contacted ASUS and they recommended the Thunderbolt EX3 card. I am trying to connect it now but the cable that came with the card doesn't fit in the TB_header port on my motherboard. It doesn't have the same number of pins. The cable is set up for 1 row of 5 pins while the TB_header on my motherboard is 2 rows of 7 pins. Did they tell me to get the wrong card or am I trying to put in in the wrong spot? It says in the manual to connect it here so I don't see what I'm doing wrong.
Yes I do use Studio One along with FL and Reaper.