Cheaper that way.Any idea what actually happens with that 5 pin header? GIGABYTE's X399 Designare EX motherboard has arrived in our labs for testing, with a surprise Thunderbolt 3 mystery Steven Bassiri | Oct 8, 2017 at … Or is it a single USB 3.1 connection since that can also be muxed in to the thunderbolt too?As more hardware gets integrated into processor packages, it becomes trickier for motherboards to stand out. Gigabyte's Designare series represents the best of the best from the company's engineering team, and the new board looks to be no exception to that rule.Thunder Thunder Thunderbolt… Ho! Armed with an information systems degree, a deep understanding of circuitry, and a passion for tech, Steven (handle Sin0822) enjoys sharing his deep knowledge with others. GIGABYTE X399 DESIGNARE EX Unboxing Video * Product specifications and product appearance may differ from country to country. There are a few possibilities as to why it was omitted, as the header is visible on GIGABYTE's official images of the motherboard. Gigabyte's Designare series represents the best of the best from the company's engineering team, and the new board looks to be no exception to that rule.
While the on-board Type-C port is just a regular USB 3.1 connection, there's a special 5-pin header near the SATA ports specifically to enable Thunderbolt support. I have the same config except it’s the TR 2950. GIGABYTE X399 DESIGNARE EX Unboxing Video * Product specifications and product appearance may differ from country to country. Steven is also a highly decorated overclocker with several world records. I thought the same thing. It also protects the motherboard during installation.
I mean, thunderbolt is just pcie and displayport muxed together. I would think you’d need a connection from a thunderbolt card to a video card more than you would to the motherboard (besides the pcie slot). Is it extra power possibly? This item GIGABYTE X399 Designare EX (AMD Ryzen Thread Ripper TR4/ATX /3X M.2/WIFI/Front & Rear USB 3.1/Dual Intel LAN/ Motherboard) Asus Prime X570-Pro Ryzen 3 AM4 with PCIe Gen4, Dual M.2 HDMI, SATA 6GB/s USB 3.2 Gen 2 ATX Motherboard Why aren’t all boards like this?Keep this up and we’ll be seeing heatsinks shaped like Finland on the next round of boards.I have a longtime hatred of those tetanus-inducing I/O shields so I’d take a built-in one any day of the week.Finish is good – just lacking fins Bruno, haha.He meant the VRMs weren’t made in Finland… ; ) If they were made there then the VRMs would both act and look “cooler”…I would be very interested in the thunderbolt support of this board, actually….Nobody cares about small gaps – every PC case is intentionally full of gaps for airflow anyway.All Rights Reserved. The backside of the motherboard is covered in a back plate that could help shield it from harmful interference. That's not unheard-of on X399 motherboards, but it's certainly welcome.
We are really excited to put the board through its paces in the coming days, and we will have a review of the motherboard for you soon.The X399 Designare EX looks more professional than the X399 Aorus Gaming 7, which looks more like a gaming motherboard, but that isn't where the differences end. The main one is probably that the certification process isn't over.
Gigabyte wasn't clear about whether the board would include the Thunderbolt card or not. However, there is zero mention of the header on the internal connectors list, motherboard diagram, or in the header/port descriptions section of the manual.
I have the gigabyte designare Ex with the gigabyte alpine ridge tb3 aic. Gigabyte equipped the X299 Designare EX with Intel’s latest JHL6540 Thunderbolt 3 controller, providing up to 36Gb/s of PCIe bandwidth, plus DisplayPort pass-through. I have two systems using the X299 Designare EX motherboard with Thunderbolt 2 devices hooked up through StarTech TB3 to TB2 adapters I got off Amazon. GIGABYTE has another motherboard coming out supporting AMD’s Threadripper CPUs, the X399 Designare EX. That IO shield is genius. We recommend that you check with your local dealers for the specifications and appearance of the products available in your country. The I/O shield is integrated into the board itself, something that just makes too much sense.Perhaps the most interesting feature of the X399 Designare-EX is its support for Thunderbolt add-in cards.
!BUT… small gripe about an otherwise good machine…For starters, Gigabyte equipped the X399 Designare-EX with a pair of Intel network adapters. Some certainly do, though, and one such model is Gigabyte's upcoming X399 Designare EX. GIGABYTE teased pictures of their X399 Designare EX, which is part of their "second wave" of X399 motherboards.
The purpose of shields such as the one on the X399 Designare EX is to reinforce the PCB, especially when there are heavy GPUs installed or a heavy water block. We recommend that you check with your local dealers for the specifications and appearance of the products available in your country. The motherboard arrived a few days ago from Taiwan, and I can't wait to review it and see what it has to offer over the first wave of X399 motherboards.Steven went from a fledgling forum reader in 2003 to one of the internet's brightest tech stars by 2010.