MP 1,1-5,1 testing TB3 AIC with MP 5,1

[rawweb]

Okay so here are my current findings.

Config:

Mac Pro 4.1->5.1
2x x5680s
48gb DDR3
PCIe slot 4: SM951 ahci boot drive
PCIe slot 3: Titan Ridge AIC
PCIe slot 2: empty
PCIe slot 1: Asus rog rx580 (it’s obnoxiously big)


Unused PCIe devices:

EVGA GTX 1080

Inatek USB 3.0 x4

Inatek SATA/esata

Lycom dt120 carrier board & sm951 NVMe drive


Thunderbolt devices:

Thunderbolt Display 27”

Thunderbolt to GB Ethernet

Thunderbolt 3 akitio node pro PCIe expansion box.

Everything seems to work as expected except the Thunderbolt Display. It doesn’t show up at all in windows nor macOS. No attached devices show up either. Just a blank screen and no FaceTime camera or speakers found.

Googling has lead me to speculate that the intel drivers for titan ridge have removed thunderbolt 2 hub support, but I would have expected it to work in macOS if that was the only issue. I’ve tried power cycling it and waking it with a thunderbolt enabled laptop but no dice.

Going to start playing with getting the EGPU working in windows, then see what macOS has to say about it. May borrow an rx480 to test with since we don’t have Mojave web drivers yet.

On cold boot to windows or Mac, first try power cycling the display (unplug power from socket). This is the only way I’ve been getting my UltraFine to work. Are both DisplayPort connections connected to the GPU and Titan Ridge card?

 

[Factionrider]

Tried power cycling. Does not seem to work on the apple Thunderbolt Display.

I’ll try both DP Passthroughs tonight but I’m only trying to run 1440p

On cold boot to windows or Mac, first try power cycling the display (unplug power from socket). This is the only way I’ve been getting my UltraFine to work. Are both DisplayPort connections connected to the GPU and Titan Ridge card?

 

[rawweb]

I’ve read reports it works with the ATD. Also, I’m using a thunderbolt 2 device on my titan ridge card...Please try connecting both pass through cables and report back to complete the video chain.

 

[LightBulbFun]

it is worth mentioning the Apple Thunderbolt display is a Thunderbolt 1 device so keep that in mind

the real acid test I guess would be if the Apple thunderbolt display works with a 2018 MBP since they have titan ridge controllers

 

[Factionrider]

Surely they do work with the 2018. I don’t have one to test but there’s zero issues with the 2016 models (alpine ridge iirc)

it is worth mentioning the Apple Thunderbolt display is a Thunderbolt 1 device so keep that in mind

the real acid test I guess would be if the Apple thunderbolt display works with a 2018 MBP since they have titan ridge controllers

[doublepost=1540679967][/doublepost]Looks like this guy got his working, was wonky at first but he always had a display signal, and apparently just had to disable a thunderbolt bridge to fix everything else.


https://www.apple.com/shop/question...my-2012-thunderbolt-display/QPJCKCJDCUJK9C97H

Surely they do work with the 2018. I don’t have one to test but there’s zero issues with the 2016 models (alpine ridge iirc)

 

[rawweb]

it is worth mentioning the Apple Thunderbolt display is a Thunderbolt 1 device so keep that in mind

the real acid test I guess would be if the Apple thunderbolt display works with a 2018 MBP since they have titan ridge controllers

I use a 2018 at work with a ATD...I think the poster should try connecting both video cables to make sure the port routing is correct on the titan ridge card.

 

[joevt]

I think we should try setting device property "PCI-Thunderbolt" to the number "1" for the upstream bridge of the GC-TITAN RIDGE probably with the apple.com.Boot.plist method. It might do something but not everything as we won't have anything in the ACPI DSDT for Thunderbolt (I haven't looked at the new MacPro5,1 rom though). I haven't done any Thunderbolt related stuff in ACPI before but you can find a lot of people trying stuff on hackintoshes.

I think the com.apple.Boot.plist method is only for hackintoshes using the Chameleon boot loader? Is there another way to inject device properties without a boot loader? A codeless kext could work but it can't be setup to match only the upstream bridge of the Thunderbolt controller and probably kexts aren't loaded before the PCI configuration occurs... I guess a kext with code is needed to set the property and force a PCI rescan - it can also be used to rescan after hot plug, change security level, output firmware, maybe reflash firmware. etc.

 

[joevt]

I was also thinking about chainloading, because that is how I chainload Clover from Win 10 through nst_mac.mbr. on my PC, but it is not recommended using Clover on a real mac, because you can easily brick your bootrom. That is proven to happen.

I suppose it might depend on the settings used for Clover. The people at eGPU.io use a modified version of Clover for their EFI solution for using eGPUs with unsupported Macs. I guess it removes some stuff that's not needed for running macOS on Macs.

 

[startergo]

I suppose it might depend on the settings used for Clover. The people at eGPU.io use a modified version of Clover for their EFI solution for using eGPUs with unsupported Macs. I guess it removes some stuff that's not needed for running macOS on Macs.

I am not claiming in any way that booting Clover will or shall brick the mac, but if the reports are trustworthy it may happen, so cautioned if somebody blindly instals clover with random options. I also ran clover on my mac through USB, but mostly on my PC. Even when stripped, the default latest clover does some changes designed to mimic mac on PC. If it is a special version of Clover designed for Mac that is another question. I am also looking for a boot screen on my RX-580 on cMP 5,1 so I am open-minded. Actually, I am trying to setup a second boot ROM on my MATT card and start testing anything even Clover, knowing that if I screw up I can always easily reprogram that second ROM. Anyway sorry for the off topic.

 

[AliGT83]

I got my card from Amazon today.

Mac Pro Specs

• 4,1 -> 5,1
• 2x3.46GHz X5690
• 24GB RAM
• Saphire Pulse RX580 in slot 1
• Sonnet USB 3.0 pcie card in slot 3
• GC-TITAN-Ridge in Slot 4
• 1x 480GB Sandisk Ultra Boot SSD in Sata 2 Drive Bay 1
• 2x 500GB Crucial MX500 SSD in Raid0 as Home drive in SATA2 Drive Bays 2 and 3 for the time being (they usually sit in their own sata to pcie Apricorn velocity duo)
• Samsung U28E590D 28-Inch 4k UHD LED-Lit Monitor

I installed the the titan ridge (I don't have any windows installation on my Mac Pro), added the two displayPort out to miniDP in cables from my RX580 to the TB AIC and connected my Samsung display to it via display port cable and it worked. I don't know if this is expected or not since it seems like to get the card recognized on cold boot you need to go into windows first, which I haven't, of course USB and TB are not working.

Will start fiddling as soon as I get a spare ssd to install windows on.

 

[joevt]

I got my card from Amazon today.

Mac Pro Specs

• 4,1 -> 5,1
• 2x3.46GHz X5690
• 24GB RAM
• Saphire Pulse RX580 in slot 1
• Sonnet USB 3.0 pcie card in slot 3
• GC-TITAN-Ridge in Slot 4
• 1x 480GB Sandisk Ultra Boot SSD in Sata 2 Drive Bay 1
• 2x 500GB Crucial MX500 SSD in Raid0 as Home drive in SATA2 Drive Bays 2 and 3 for the time being (they usually sit in their own sata to pcie Apricorn velocity duo)
• Samsung U28E590D 28-Inch 4k UHD LED-Lit Monitor

I installed the the titan ridge (I don't have any windows installation on my Mac Pro), added the two displayPort out to miniDP in cables from my RX580 to the TB AIC and connected my Samsung display to it via display port cable and it worked. I don't know if this is expected or not since it seems like to get the card recognized on cold boot you need to go into windows first, which I haven't, of course USB and TB are not working.

Will start fiddling as soon as I get a spare ssd to install windows on.

DisplayPort conversion to USB-C or Thunderbolt is expected to always work as it did with Alpine Ridge based Thunderbolt AICs. You should be able to get USB by connecting a USB device before startup. For better results (to make the Thunderbolt USB controller always visible), connect the header cable with a jumper wire as previously pictured. For PCIe tunneling, Windows is required to get it started, then you can warm boot into macOS.

You have nothing in slot 2? Or that's where the Velocity Duo would go? For my MacPro3,1, Windows has to be installed using BIOS boot (UEFI unsupported) and BIOS boot requires the drive to be in one of the four drive bays and it doesn't like some PCIe card configurations, so I had to remove my Sonnet Tempo SSD Pro Plus. Your MacPro5,1 firmware may be less crappy (you have the new version from Mojave?)

 

[AliGT83]

DisplayPort conversion to USB-C or Thunderbolt is expected to always work as it did with Alpine Ridge based Thunderbolt AICs. You should be able to get USB by connecting a USB device before startup. For better results (to make the Thunderbolt USB controller always visible), connect the header cable with a jumper wire as previously pictured. For PCIe tunneling, Windows is required to get it started, then you can warm boot into macOS.

You have nothing in slot 2? Or that's where the Velocity Duo would go? For my MacPro3,1, Windows has to be installed using BIOS boot (UEFI unsupported) and BIOS boot requires the drive to be in one of the four drive bays and it doesn't like some PCIe card configurations, so I had to remove my Sonnet Tempo SSD Pro Plus. Your MacPro5,1 firmware may be less crappy (you have the new version from Mojave?)

At the moment I have nothing in Slot 2. Once I get the usb 3.1 on the TBAIC card I will get rid of my Sonnet Allegro PCIe USB 3.0 card and replace it with a 970 evo NVMe M.2 drive on a kryo M.2 PCIe adapter. both MX500 and windows drive will remain in the drive bays.

I used the cable jumper method and now I can see the following:

I think my usb-c to lightning cable might be broken as it won't detect my iPhone. I will go grab a new one tomorrow.
I have a 120GB ssd in which I will install windows 10 right now

As for my boot rom I have the latest public release 138.0.0.0 reconstructed and cleaned by @tsialex

 

[joevt]

I think my usb-c to lightning cable might be broken as it won't detect my iPhone. I will go grab a new one tomorrow.

Some (most?) iOS devices are USB 2.0. iPad Pro (the 10.5 inch and 12.9 inch) has USB 3.0; the 9.7 inch has USB 2.0. Some (most?) lightning cables are USB 2.0 only. The GC-TITAN RIDGE requires you to connect the 9-pin USB 2.0 header to support USB 2.0 devices connected directly to the Thunderbolt 3 ports (or to a USB dock connected directly to the Thunderbolt 3 ports). The simplest method to connect it would be to use a 9-pin USB 2.0 header to dual USB-A female adapter, then connect that with USB-A male to USB-A male cables to a couple free USB-A ports (maybe use a USB hub if you are low on USB ports).

 

[AliGT83]

Some (most?) iOS devices are USB 2.0. iPad Pro (the 10.5 inch and 12.9 inch) has USB 3.0; the 9.7 inch has USB 2.0. Some (most?) lightning cables are USB 2.0 only...

I have both 10.5 iPad Pro and iPhone XS Max and usb-c to lightning usb 3.0 cable. Both are recognized as usb 3.0 devices in system profiler when plugged into the sonnet allegro usb 3.0 card using said lightning cable and usb-c to usb-a adapter. With the AIC they don't even appear to charge.

...The GC-TITAN RIDGE requires you to connect the 9-pin USB 2.0 header to support USB 2.0 devices connected directly to the Thunderbolt 3 ports (or to a USB dock connected directly to the Thunderbolt 3 ports). The simplest method to connect it would be to use a 9-pin USB 2.0 header to dual USB-A female adapter, then connect that with USB-A male to USB-A male cables to a couple free USB-A ports (maybe use a USB hub if you are low on USB ports).

Does this mean this AIC will never provide usb 3.1 functionality over pcie? or am I mistaken?

 

[joevt]

I have both 10.5 iPad Pro and iPhone XS Max and usb-c to lightning usb 3.0 cable. Both are recognized as usb 3.0 devices in system profiler when plugged into the sonnet allegro usb 3.0 card using said lightning cable and usb-c to usb-a adapter.

Are you looking at the USB Bus in the list of USB devices? You need to ignore that and look at the actual speed of the iPad or iPhone device by clicking on it. If it says "Up to 480 Mb/sec" then it's USB 2.0.

Does this mean this AIC will never provide usb 3.1 functionality over pcie? or am I mistaken?

Every USB 3.x port is actually two ports: a USB 3.x port and a USB 2.x port. For some unknown reason, the GC-TITAN RIDGE requires using a USB 2.0 port from elsewhere.The GC-TITAN RIDGE card has a built in USB XHCI controller which appears as a "USB 3.1 Bus" with "PCI Device ID: 0x15ec". Only USB 3.x devices will appear there. USB 2.x devices will appear under the USB bus that you connect the 9-pin USB 2.0 header to.

With the AIC they don't even appear to charge.

I haven't done charging and power delivery tests with the GC-TITAN RIDGE. I haven't seen anyone else test them either. The behavior might change depending on whether or not you have the 6-pin power connectors of the AIC connected. I don't know if you want to actually connect them; Each 6-pin connection means you are promising that your power supply has 75W to spare for that connection - so 150W total. Maybe it's not a problem if the connected device doesn't use that much. Hopefully your power supply will shutdown properly if it doesn't have enough power.

 

[DPUser]

My interest in TB on a Cheesegrater under macOS lies in the realm of audio... higher-end audio i/o hardware now typically includes a TB port, and there are advantages to TB (lower latency and support for more audio i/o channels than USB) that are compelling. As such, this thread is very interesting.

Thanks to you who are doing the research. Much appreciated!

I note that the Alpine Ridge TB card is similar to the Titan Ridge model. Appears the difference lies in video (4k vs 8k capability) and power pass-thru. Is it possible that the Alpine Ridge cards may work in a 5,1 as well? Thanks again.

 

[joevt]

I note that the Alpine Ridge TB card is similar to the Titan Ridge model. Appears the difference lies in video (4k vs 8k capability) and power pass-thru. Is it possible that the Alpine Ridge cards may work in a 5,1 as well? Thanks again.

The fact that the Alpine Ridge works in a computer means it might work in the 5,1 but we need to figure out how it works in that other computer. With the GC-TITAN RIDGE, all we had to do was run Windows. With the GC-ALPINE RIDGE, we need something extra.

 

[Factionrider]

Okay so I got around to testing with both Displayport pass throughs connected and still no dice in either windows or Mojave.

It also wouldn't connect to a 2016 MBP in target disk mode.

 

[rawweb]

I installed the the titan ridge (I don't have any windows installation on my Mac Pro), added the two displayPort out to miniDP in cables from my RX580 to the TB AIC and connected my Samsung display to it via display port cable and it worked.

Congrats on your purchase! I picked up mine hoping to drive the LG 5k Ultrafine display, and so far it certainly can, but for some reason on a cold boot to MacOS, I always have to power cycle the display to get an image. I wish I could figure out a way around this, I imagine the power cable behind the monitor won't take kindly to constant hot plugging.

Anyone else out there trying to drive a 5k Ultrafine with a cMP that could report their results?

 

[joevt]

It also wouldn't connect to a 2016 MBP in target disk mode.

I don't know what Target Disk Mode looks like on the host Mac. Are there supposed to be PCIe devices for the hard drives of the target Mac? An IORegistryExplorer.app save file would be useful here. I only have a MacBook Pro 2015 to test with. Windows on my 3,1 could not see the MacBook Pro while the MacBook Pro is in Target Disk Mode. Maybe this means Target Disk Mode (at least the Thunderbolt variant) requires special drivers on the host computer. Can Windows PCs or Macs running BootCamp connect to Macs that are in Thunderbolt Target Disk Mode? I suppose FireWire and USB-C Target Disk Modes just use standard FireWire or USB drivers?

Windows can see the MacBook Pro 2015 when booted into macOS Mojave. This automatically enables Thunderbolt networking. With Thunderbolt networking, I can transfer files to Windows running on the MacPro3,1. macOS and Windows automatically setup an IP address for Thunderbolt networking which you can use to connect via file sharing. With WiFi, the MacBook Pro 2015 can do 9 MB/s write and 7 MB/s read to Windows running on the MacPro3,1. With Thunderbolt networking, I got between 75-300 MB/s write (fluctuates wildly) and 539 MB/s read (note that the AIC was probably running at PCIe 1.0 speed). Thunderbolt networking was not visible in macOS on the MacPro3,1.

I suppose that for Thunderbolt Networking, Thunderbolt Target Disk Mode, and Thunderbolt Target Display Mode, we need to get the macOS Thunderbolt drivers to recognize the Thunderbolt controller. Regular PCIe tunneling over Thunderbolt works without Thunderbolt drivers. DisplayPort conversion to USB-C or Thunderbolt works even when the Thunderbolt card is not connected to a computer.

 

[EddieK420]

@joevt, card arrived today. After some finagling, I have it working in my 2012 5,1!

First impressions:

The thunderbolt ports on this card lack a bit of quality, so you really have to make sure the devices are plugged in solid. I first got it working with my GTX 1080 in Windows 10, but knew it would be a fail with High Sierra due to Titan Ridge support.

Next, I powered down and replaced the 1080 with my spare RX 580 to upgrade to Mojave. The RX 580 cooler as many people know is a bit taller than the 2 slots, so I had to loose my USB3 card and unfortunately put the TB3 card in the x4 slot 3. Waited forever for the firmware updates and finally got it installed. Booted Windows then over to MacOS and I successfully have a LG Ultrafine 5k and a OWC Thunderbolt 2 ThunderBay4 running! Hopefully new web drivers drop someday and I can toss my 1080 back in so I don't loose this precious PCIe slot.

I've only had about 5 minutes with this setup to test, promised a 'date' with my daughter. Will do some more experimenting on this setup tonight.

View attachment 796736 View attachment 796735

Update:

Home now...starting to tinker again. For the 5k UltraFine: **edit**full 5k 5120x2880 resolution** I have full display controls (brightness, FaceTime camera, mic in, and speakers) from the thunderbolt controller. Also, additional USB ports on the back of the display are working as intended.

View attachment 796737

Next up, would love to tackle figuring out how Windows magically blesses this and force MacOS to do the same.

Hi @rawweb I have been able to use an Ultrafine 5K and a LED Cinema Display using an AlpineRidge card. Both displays power on from shutdown (cold boot) no problem at all. Of course Thunderbolt does not work on the AlpineRidge. I heard about the TitanRidge and Thunderbolt on the MacPro a couple days ago and got the TitanRidge card. However on the Titan Ridge when I cold boot I get black screens on both monitors, like they didnt power on. Do you have to power the TitanRidge with the 2 6pin connectors? I havent tried using the header cable with the jumper yet on either card (titanridge or alpine ridge). Thank you!!

 

[rawweb]

Hi @rawweb I have been able to use an Ultrafine 5K and a LED Cinema Display using an AlpineRidge card. Both displays power on from shutdown (cold boot) no problem at all. Of course Thunderbolt does not work on the AlpineRidge. I heard about the TitanRidge and Thunderbolt on the MacPro a couple days ago and got the TitanRidge card. However on the Titan Ridge when I cold boot I get black screens on both monitors, like they didnt power on. Do you have to power the TitanRidge with the 2 6pin connectors? I havent tried using the header cable with the jumper yet on either card (titanridge or alpine ridge). Thank you!!

What I'm finding strange is it does actually work if you power-cycle the display on a cold boot. If you cold boot to windows then warm boot to MacOS, full thunderbolt will be working on the display (usb, facetime, audio, brightness etc). I am not supplying any power to the card and have discontinued use of the header cable at the moment as I personally saw no change. @joevt reported in post #3 that power cables may not be required.

 

[joevt]

What I'm finding strange is it does actually work if you power-cycle the display on a cold boot. If you cold boot to windows then warm boot to MacOS, full thunderbolt will be working on the display (usb, facetime, audio, brightness etc). I am not supplying any power to the card and have discontinued use of the header cable at the moment as I personally saw no change. @joevt reported in post #3 that power cables may not be required.

I believe that at the very least, the header cable with jumper lets you connect USB devices after cold boot. I am currently using the GC-TITAN RIDGE without power cables. I'll try them in the future with some charging / power delivery tests to see if they change anything.

 

[Montyboy]

Hello All..
I received my GC TITAN RIDGE to day from America... I live in Germany.
I have both LG 27 Ultrafine Display and also LG 43UD79-B Display.
After card install I connected to my LG 43UD79-B with USB C cable.. Video/Audio worked just fine.
I have 5k resolution 5120x2880@60. In about this mac Resolution states 3840x2160@60 and Displayport Audio.
PCI information did not show any new device, but after second COLD BOOT as you can see from the pictures info is there to see. I do not have Windows on my Machine ... I don't like Windows. I have not used a jumper cable.
Please check the screen shots.
I will try my Ultrafine Display over the weekend... If i can help in any way let me know....... Montyboy

Forgot to mention sleep and wake work fine..
[doublepost=1541190339][/doublepost]

Hello All..
I received my GC TITAN RIDGE to day from America... I live in Germany.
I have both LG 27 Ultrafine Display and also LG 43UD79-B Display.
After card install I connected to my LG 43UD79-B with USB C cable.. Video/Audio worked just fine.
I have 5k resolution 5120x2880@60. In about this mac Resolution states 3840x2160@60 and Displayport Audio.
PCI information did not show any new device, but after second COLD BOOT as you can see from the pictures info is there to see. I do not have Windows on my Machine ... I don't like Windows. I have not used a jumper cable.
Please check the screen shots.
I will try my Ultrafine Display over the weekend... If i can help in any way let me know....... Montyboy

Forgot to mention sleep and wake work fine..

Machine shutdown ok.... Monitor does not shutdown

 

[joevt]

I have both LG 27 Ultrafine Display and also LG 43UD79-B Display.

Which UltraFine display is it - the 4K (USB-C) or the 5K (Thunderbolt 3)?

After card install I connected to my LG 43UD79-B with USB C cable.. Video/Audio worked just fine.
I have 5k resolution 5120x2880@60. In about this mac Resolution states 3840x2160@60 and Displayport Audio.

The LG 43UD79-B appears to be a 4K display with HDMI, DisplayPort 1.2, and USB-C display inputs. The 5K resolution refers to the frame buffer size (5K). The frame buffer size is scaled down to the screen resolution size (4K). You need to double click the current resolution in SwitchResX to see the screen resolution (active pixels, pixel clock, horizontal and vertical scan rates).

USB input is done through the USB-C input? You did not test the USB ports? The manual says the USB ports are SuperSpeed (USB 3.0). They don't mention that only HighSpeed (USB 2.0) is possible using USB-C with DisplayPort 1.2 alt mode at 4K 60Hz. Maybe USB 2.0 is used when the display input is set to USB-C, and USB 3.0 is used when the display input is set to DisplayPort? To use USB 2.0, you'll need to connect USB ports to the USB 2.0 9-pin connector on the GC-TITAN RIDGE. USB 3.x should work without USB 2.0 connection.

Audio works with this display because it uses DisplayPort audio instead of USB audio. USB audio would require a working USB controller and connection.

PCI information did not show any new device, but after second COLD BOOT as you can see from the pictures info is there to see.

The LG 43UD79-B is not a Thunderbolt display, so it won't show any extra PCI devices. But you see the info for the Titan Ridge USB controller (pci8086,15ec) and NHI (pci8086,15eb) when you use the jumper wire or when you boot with a USB device connected.

I do not have Windows on my Machine ... I don't like Windows. I have not used a jumper cable. I will try my Ultrafine Display over the weekend... If i can help in any way let me know....... Montyboy

You will need Windows to see or use the PCIe devices in the LG UltraFine 5K display (the USB controller inside the LG UltraFine 5K controls audio, camera, USB ports, brightness control).