Thunderbolt on Mac Pro 5,1... It IS actually happening!

[dix]

Exactly. My cMP scores 30kish. I’m thinking the new Mac Minis will be around the same. We’ll see soon....the only thing that gives me pause is that the SSDs are soldered in, making it problematic if it were to go down for some reason. At least the RAM is upgradable.

Welp, I was wrong. Looks like the new Mac Minis are less powerful than 2018 MBPs (just 23512 geekbench for multicores https://www.macrumors.com/2018/11/02/fi ... -surfaces/), so I'll be watching how these cards work out. If stable they would enable cMP users to join the Thunderbolt I/O world. That way when/if new modular MPs show up we won't have to buy all new rigs, including TB I/Os and peripherals, all at once.

Welp, I was wrong about being wrong. The new Mac Minis have higher Geekbench scores than the 2018 MBPs. 27000+. That's close enough to what I'm used to to seriously think about retiring my Late 2009 cMP https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/se ... core_score

[toodamnhip]

I am looking into getting a new audio interface for my 2010 cheese grater. So I will be watching two ee if these thunder adaptors work. If they are being sold, doesn’t that mean they work? I am confused?
My future purchases depend on whether I have thunderbolt or not.

[HCMarkus]

I am looking into getting a new audio interface for my 2010 cheese grater. So I will be watching two ee if these thunder adaptors work. If they are being sold, doesn’t that mean they work? I am confused?
My future purchases depend on whether I have thunderbolt or not.

The Titan Ridge card in question is apparently working with a Mac Pro running Windows, but macOS provides no driver. Although I haven't seen a definitive answer, it appears if a Mac Pro is started up under Windows, then hot-switched to macOS, things are functioning. I'm not clear on the details. There is reportedly a recently-release Linux driver, and since Linux and macOS are both built on a Unix base, there is hope. But I wouldn't count on it. I sincerely doubt we will ever see official Apple support for TB on the Cheesegrater.

One thing nice about many of the MOTU AVB interfaces is they run via USB or Thunderbolt. I've been quite happy with my 828es connected to my 5,1 with USB.

EDIT: Corrected "Granite" Ridge to "Titan Ridge.

[toodamnhip]

I am looking into getting a new audio interface for my 2010 cheese grater. So I will be watching two ee if these thunder adaptors work. If they are being sold, doesn’t that mean they work? I am confused?
My future purchases depend on whether I have thunderbolt or not.

The Granite Ridge card in question is apparently working with a Mac Pro running Windows, but macOS provides no driver. Although I haven't seen a definitive answer, it appears if a Mac Pro is started up under Windows, then hot-switched to macOS, things are functioning. I'm not clear on the details. There is reportedly a recently-release Linux driver, and since Linux and macOS are both built on a Unix base, there is hope. But I wouldn't count on it. I sincerely doubt we will ever see official Apple support for TB on the Cheesegrater.

One thing nice about many of the MOTU AVB interfaces is they run via USB or Thunderbolt. I've been quite happy with my 828es connected to my 5,1 with USB.

Do most of the new Thunderbolt audio interfaces have both thunder and usb for 2010 Mac Pros? If so, I can get something now, use usb, and switch to thunderbolt later

[greg328]

Well, this is a bummer. So the new PCIe Thunderbolt 3 carts will NOT work in a 5.1 Cheesegrater? I''m running an Apollo via Firewire and would LOVE to upgrade to TB3.

So--the card needs a Mac driver--it's just not plug-n-play?

Check out this BHP link--several expansion chassis and a card or 2.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?I ... gIctvD_BwE

Greg

EDIT--I think all the devices on the above link are TB to PCIe--the opposite of what we need...

[HCMarkus]

Do most of the new Thunderbolt audio interfaces have both thunder and usb for 2010 Mac Pros? If so, I can get something now, use usb, and switch to thunderbolt later

Some do (MOTU for one)
Some don't (UA for one)

Well, this is a bummer. So the new PCIe Thunderbolt 3 carts will NOT work in a 5.1 Cheesegrater? (

If we ever get TB on our 5,1s it will be just short of a miracle. Prior to the recent developments discussed in this thread, no one thought we'd ever see TB on a cheesegrater. Now, there is at least a possibility; review the First Post linked thread for details.

TB includes video capability by definition. The card being discussed allows a GPU (or two) to feed it video via two mini display ports; the video stream is combined with PCIe to form a compliant TB output. The fact the Titan Ridge PCIe card allows the streams to be combined makes TB on older computers at least theoretically possible.

Do you have the skill, desire and time to program a macOS Titan Ridge driver? If not, we'll just have to wait and see what the future brings us.

[HCMarkus]

Here's the latest from the thread I've been following over at MacRumors:

In my experience with the titan ridge card discussed in this thread, as long as you first boot to windows, then warm boot to MacOS, it will work. For an audio interface or hard drive device, you shouldn’t experience any difficulty using the warm boot technique described in this thread.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/te ... -1.2143042

Personally, having to first boot into Windows is a non-starter, but someone here might well like to give it a go...

[Tonio]

perhaps OWC could , but then you'd think they would have figured it out already and sell the cards by now?

[HCMarkus]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/cm ... g.2165590/

Looking forward to the forthcoming video...

[HCMarkus]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/cm ... t-27010643

Still waiting for the video, but the above link provides the approach wherein one first boots into Windows, then warm boots into macOS Mojave.

It should be pointed out that it is plug n play if running your cheesgrater as a Windows machine.

[mikehalloran]

It should be noted that, with OS 10.13.4, Apple enabled eGPU support for TB3 over USB-C and disabled it for TB-1/2 along with DisplayLink over USB.

Mojave re-enabled some of that functionality (DisplayLink over USB) but not everything.

[HCMarkus]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/te ... t-27011500

Video links. Part two shows what’s involved. In Part one, he notes that things are a lot easier if your Mac boot drive is formatted in the old journaled manner if your GPU is not a Mac EFI GPU. Also, he notes this all works under Mountain Lion as well as Mojave; apparently the connection established under Windows will work with Sierra and High Sierra, too!

[monkey man]

So-close, Sir Markus, and yet still-so-far for someone who's not prepared to run a Windows emu...

Fingers still crossed...

[HCMarkus]

So-close, Sir Markus, and yet still-so-far for someone who's not prepared to run a Windows emu...

Fingers still crossed...

Just to be clear, the cheese grater is running in macOS natively and not in emulation; it’s just the TB driver needs to make the connection in Windows first.

[monkey man]

... which would require that I install (and run, albeit temporarily) OS-emulation software.

Unless I'm missing something, HC? Forgive my obvious ignorance, mate.