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

[jaredf1]

For what it is worth, I snagged a 9pin male to external USB-A male cable off Amazon to try and close the legacy USB loop with these cards. I plugged in the USB header cable that came with the card into the USB header port on the card, and this cable into the other end. I drilled a hole in available space on a Sonnet USB3.1 card to get the header through and plugged into available USB ports on both my Sonnet card and the cMP. Regardless of which USB port it is plugged into, the TR recognizes legacy USB devices as USB3.1. Both TB3 ports on the TR recognize legacy USB devices. I've tested several USB sticks and SATA enclosure. Later I'm going to test a USB camera. Link to the cable on Amazon follows (Note: It actually ships from China so it will take a good while to get to the US):

Panghuhu88 9pin Male to External USB A Male PC Mainboard Internal Data Extension Cable

Features: New and high quality Computer motherboard Internal USB 9pin Male to External USB A Male data extension cable Material:24AWG Length: 20cm Connector A: 9pin male Connector B: USB A male Package include: 1 x 9pin to USB extension cable

www.amazon.com

Similarly to mangombia I've got the usb 2.0 header working in my 2009 Mac Pro 5,1 but internally; no drilling. I have my Titan Ridge 2.0 card in slot four and an Inateck KT5001 in slot 3. I purchased a female to male USB 3.0 to 2.0 cable and patched it in. Had bluetooth interference problems immediately because the run was too long with the included cable. I subsequently removed the male pins and cut off the ends to make them female. devices which need USB 2.0 fallback now work in the port, old iPhones/iPads for example.

Inateck KT5001 PCI-E to USB 3.0 5-Port PCI Express Card and 15-Pin Power Connector, Red

Due to frequently updated drivers, please download the latest version on our official website to enhance your using experience. Features -Extend with 5 USB 3.0 downstream ports and 1 USB3.0 20-pin Connector (can expand another two USB 3.0 ports) for standard desktop PC -Support UASP:70% Faster th...

www.amazon.ca

axGear USB 3.0 to USB 2.0 Female to Male F-M Motherboard 20 Pin to Case 9 Pin Converter Cable

axGear USB 3.0 to USB 2.0 Female to Male F-M Motherboard 20 Pin to Case 9 Pin Converter Cable

www.amazon.ca

What I am struggling with, is getting both thunderbolt ports to actually provide power; note I actually have the card powered using both 6pin. The second works as a USB.. 2.0-3.1. First flash version (DSM2) right worked, second flash (GC-Titan-Ridge-V2.0-Mod-NVM50-CaseySJ.bin) neither, third (DESIGNARE-Z390-NVM33-Elias64Fr.bin) left works.

Running DSM SSDT, tried customizing with https://hackindrom.zapto.org; honestly I'm stumped. Any help direction wise would be appreciated.

 

[dataid]

Can't tell what's inside of the 20gb leak but I don't think it's hard to ask me about documentation...

It's based on Alpine Ridge but there are nearly none big differences to the Titan Ridge card which I also have.

Do you have access to the documentation for the controller used on the Gigabyte Titan Ridge card.
Perhaps this was in the leak? Perhaps someone have access to the Intel Technical Documentation for the JHL7540 used on the Gigabyte card and could make it available? Thanks

 

[motochan]

Hey guys, I need some perspective as I struggle with my Gigabyte Titan Ridge rev 2 PCIe card.

I flashed it successfully with the firmware "TitanRidgeNVM23-E64Fr.bin", jumpered my pins 3 to 5, and got the card to start under Catalina and Mojave. In System Report, the card shows up under Thunderbolt, and USB shows USB3.1.

The only USB-C and/or Thunderbolt devices I have on hand are (1) external SSD enclosure with dual SSDs (USB-C), (2) Pegasus2 R4 connected to TB2->TB3 adaptor. I've also tried the card with (3) charging my 16" MBP, which works, (4) connecting my iPhone 11 Pro Max and iPad Pro 12.9" via USB-C. Charging works, but Catalina doesn't detect my devices in Music/Finder. My external SSD lights up, then the power LED goes black. When plugged into my 16" MBP, the light behaviour is similar at the start (solid light on for 2s or so), but it would then flicker green if it works. On my MP5,1, it stays black; no volume mounts.

The funkiest behaviour is reserved for my Pegasus2 R4. At first, after installing the Promise Drivers and Utility, and using Kext Wizard to install the "PromiseSTEX.kext" file, my Catalina refuses to start - black screen after Apple logo. I then reboot into Mojave to "sudo rm" the incriminating kext from my Catalina volume. Prior to attempting the kext install, connecting the RAID box to either USB-C ports 1 or 2 causes my display to black out before my RAID box loads (orange light to blue, disk flashing blue), and then enter an infinite loop of reboot-error.screen.press.key.or.wait-reboot weirdness. After I removed the kext, Catalina strangely recognises the RAID box without any screen blackout, and I see this.

All seems to be good right? NO! No volume is loaded...woe is me.

I'm honestly stuck now. I wonder if it's a problem with my config.plist (but I had used @Amey Rupji guide on Github to the letter). I had merged the contents of the guide's OC EFI zip with my existing OpenCore instance.

Any ideas are welcomed! Anyone who has successfully tweaked his rev 2 card to work; I'd love to get in touch and get pointers.

 

[motochan]

After I updated OpenCore to v0.6.1, by tracing line by line on the config.plist, the Promise Pegasus2 R4 no longer connects properly (causes reboot loop again), and I get this crash dump file. I don't know what I'm doing wrong here.

 

[antonlinus]

ok so i finally had some time to try to get TB to work on my cMP. I followed Amej's guide to flash my titan ridge, jumped pin 3+5 ect. and then i used @h9826790 's custom oc setup from this post (0.6.1 version) which seems to include the necessairy files and config edits for tb3 to work.
The card gets recognised, macpro boots as normal with boot picker etc., i can plug usb-c stuff into the titan card and it gets recognised immediately but when i connect my tb2 wd passport pro using a apple tb3 to tb2 adapter it won't mount the drive. it shows up in system profiler under thunderbolt>gigabyte>devices connected. it gets recognised and everything just the volume won't mount. it's not displayed in disk utility either. any ideas?

 

[joevt]

ok so i finally had some time to try to get TB to work on my cMP. I followed Amej's guide to flash my titan ridge, jumped pin 3+5 ect. and then i used @h9826790 's custom oc setup from this post (0.6.1 version) which seems to include the necessairy files and config edits for tb3 to work.
The card gets recognised, macpro boots as normal with boot picker etc., i can plug usb-c stuff into the titan card and it gets recognised immediately but when i connect my tb2 wd passport pro using a apple tb3 to tb2 adapter it won't mount the drive. it shows up in system profiler under thunderbolt>gigabyte>devices connected. it gets recognised and everything just the volume won't mount. it's not displayed in disk utility either. any ideas?

Did the SATA controller inside the Passport Pro get recognized (listed in PCI section of System Information.app)? If not, what if you restart the computer with the Passport still connected?

 

[startergo]

Would not waste any money.... It's nothing different then the firmware version which was already uploaded here.

Same for this?

Gigabyte Titan Ridge Thunderbolt 3 FLASH SERVICE for Apple Mac Pro or Hackintosh | eBay

Flashed for Mac Pro or Hackintosh. The VRS8 works with the Titan Ridge card on a Hackintosh with i5 or better processors. LUNA has been upgraded and is now compatible with a Mac Pro. Stay tuned. (LUNA works flawlessly with a Titan Ridge on a Hackintosh.).

www.ebay.com

Gigabyte GC-Titan Ridge 2.0 Thunderbolt 3 USB-C flashed Mac Pro 5,1 BootScreen | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Gigabyte GC-Titan Ridge 2.0 Thunderbolt 3 USB-C flashed Mac Pro 5,1 BootScreen at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

 

[vinaypundith]

I have a 2008 model Mac Pro 3,1, and I am looking to add Thunderbolt functionality to it. I plan to get a Gigabyte GC Alpine Ridge card (not the Titan Ridge), for two reasons: 1) the Titan Ridge is just too expensive, and 2) my Mac Pro has an NVidia GTX 680 graphics card whose DisplayPort output does not work in Mac OS Catalina (which is what my MP runs), so I prefer the HDMI input-taking Alpine Ridge card.
After reading through 15 pages of this thread and searching the internet for hours, I'm just thoroughly confused. I've got a few questions, and would really appreciate if someone could help:
- Is the Alpine Ridge compatible with Mac Pro computers at all? I see many people using Titan Ridge cards but none with the Alpine Ridge.
- I'm aware that there is a firmware available for the Titan Ridge cards that removes the need for booting the MP into Windows before the card will work in Mac OS. Is there such a firmware around for the Alpine Ridge, and if so where can I find it? I am comfortable with flashing custom firmwares.
- What is it that requires the Mac Pro to have OpenCore installed on it, and what features do I lose if I don't have OpenCore?
- Does the Alpine Ridge have a USB 2.0 header on it? I really can't tell.
- Data speeds. Is the Mac Pro 3,1's PCIe 2.0 x4 interface a bottleneck for the Thunderbolt card?
Thanks a million to anyone who can help.

 

[joevt]

I have a 2008 model Mac Pro 3,1, and I am looking to add Thunderbolt functionality to it. I plan to get a Gigabyte GC Alpine Ridge card (not the Titan Ridge), for two reasons: 1) the Titan Ridge is just too expensive, and 2) my Mac Pro has an NVidia GTX 680 graphics card whose DisplayPort output does not work in Mac OS Catalina (which is what my MP runs), so I prefer the HDMI input-taking Alpine Ridge card.

That's not an HDMI input. That's an HDMI output. Similar to the DisplayPort output of the GC-TITAN RIDGE.
Both the GC-ALPINE RIDGE and GC-TITAN RIDGE have two Mini-DisplayPort inputs to support one or two Thunderbolt/USB-C displays or adapters.
For your GTX 680, have you researched Lilu + WhateverGreen (I don't know if they have a solution to the DisplayPort problem)? Otherwise you could use a HDMI to DisplayPort adapter as input to the Thunderbolt add-in card (but it would be limited to HDMI 1.4 resolutions).

You should probably upgrade to a new AMD graphics card. I have a RX 580 but haven't tried it in the MacPro3,1 so I don't know if it will work with all the macOS versions (I have all the versions from Leopard 10.5 to Catalina 10.15 - the GTX 680 works in all of them but doesn't have acceleration until Lion 10.7 or Mountain Lion 10.8 when official support is added).

- Is the Alpine Ridge compatible with Mac Pro computers at all? I see many people using Titan Ridge cards but none with the Alpine Ridge.

I can use the GC-ALPINE RIDGE (unflashed) for USB 3.x and for display output (Thunderbolt or USB-C). But I haven't gotten PCIe tunnelling working yet (for USB functionality of Thunderbolt displays - such as brightness control, USB audio, USB camera, USB ports).

USB 3.x PCIe Cards for Classic Mac Pro

I was able to get the GC-ALPINE RIDGE working as a USB controller following a post at 323540-thunderbolt-drivers I've updated the wiki post (post 1) with some of the info. I use a small breadboard with resisters and a SATA power connector to provide 3.3V to the Force Power pin of up to four...

forums.macrumors.com

PCIe tunnelling on the GC-TITAN RIDGE just requires a warm boot from Windows (maybe Linux works too).

- I'm aware that there is a firmware available for the Titan Ridge cards that removes the need for booting the MP into Windows before the card will work in Mac OS. Is there such a firmware around for the Alpine Ridge, and if so where can I find it? I am comfortable with flashing custom firmwares.

Maybe this thread: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...390-thunderbolt-3-i7-9700k-amd-rx-580.267551/
I haven't tried flashing my GC-TITAN RIDGE or GC-ALPINE RIDGE cards.

- What is it that requires the Mac Pro to have OpenCore installed on it, and what features do I lose if I don't have OpenCore?

OpenCore allows modification of ACPI DSDT which might be required for best compatibility (sleep, wake, hot plug?). But I haven't used it.
Most other features it adds can be added in other ways.

- Does the Alpine Ridge have a USB 2.0 header on it? I really can't tell.

No. It supports USB 2.0 natively via it's XHCI controller. I can connect a mouse and keyboard to mine for example.

- Data speeds. Is the Mac Pro 3,1's PCIe 2.0 x4 interface a bottleneck for the Thunderbolt card?

Yes, PCIe 2.0 x4 (~1500 MB/s) is a bottleneck for Thunderbolt 3 (~2750 MB/s). There are expensive ways to add PCIe 3.0 slots.

 

[vinaypundith]

Oh, well silly me. I thought the HDMI on the Alpine Ridge and DisplayPort on the Titan Ridge were video inputs.
About my GTX 680, yes I have researched Lilu and WhateverGreen, in an attempt to get HDMI Audio working in Mac OS Catalina. Wasn't able to get it working though. The reason I went with the GTX 680 is because it is close to the fastest card that can be flashed for boot screens, which I do need. RX 580s are nice GPUs but they don't support boot screens.

"Yes, PCIe 2.0 x4 (~1500 MB/s) is a bottleneck for Thunderbolt 3 (~2750 MB/s). There are expensive ways to add PCIe 3.0 slots." - are you referring to the method of using a PCIe 2 x16 to M.2 then M.2 to PCIe 3 x4 adapter pair?

Hmm from what you're saying it seems like I am better off getting a Titan Ridge card. I don't need the Mac Pro for that long and plan to sell it after that, so I need something with as few quirks as possible. I'll see. Thanks a million for the info.

BTW my "Mac Pro 3,1 2008" was actually a 2007 Mac Pro 2,1 which I rebuilt into the 2008 3,1 using the guide here:

Granite's 2006 to 2008 Mac Pro Upgrade Guide

I just successfully converted a 2007 model Mac Pro 2,1 to a 2008 model Mac Pro 3,1. First, I'd like to clarify what Luigi60 wrote above about the PSU cable wiring. The ONLY difference in the PSU cable socket pinouts on the motherboards between the 2006 / 2007 model Mac Pro 1,1 / 2,1 and the...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[joevt]

Oh, well silly me. I thought the HDMI on the Alpine Ridge and DisplayPort on the Titan Ridge were video inputs.
About my GTX 680, yes I have researched Lilu and WhateverGreen, in an attempt to get HDMI Audio working in Mac OS Catalina. Wasn't able to get it working though. The reason I went with the GTX 680 is because it is close to the fastest card that can be flashed for boot screens, which I do need. RX 580s are nice GPUs but they don't support boot screens.

"Yes, PCIe 2.0 x4 (~1500 MB/s) is a bottleneck for Thunderbolt 3 (~2750 MB/s). There are expensive ways to add PCIe 3.0 slots." - are you referring to the method of using a PCIe 2 x16 to M.2 then M.2 to PCIe 3 x4 adapter pair?

Hmm from what you're saying it seems like I am better off getting a Titan Ridge card. I don't need the Mac Pro for that long and plan to sell it after that, so I need something with as few quirks as possible. I'll see. Thanks a million for the info.

BTW my "Mac Pro 3,1 2008" was actually a 2007 Mac Pro 2,1 which I rebuilt into the 2008 3,1 using the guide here:

Granite's 2006 to 2008 Mac Pro Upgrade Guide

I just successfully converted a 2007 model Mac Pro 2,1 to a 2008 model Mac Pro 3,1. First, I'd like to clarify what Luigi60 wrote above about the PSU cable wiring. The ONLY difference in the PSU cable socket pinouts on the motherboards between the 2006 / 2007 model Mac Pro 1,1 / 2,1 and the...

forums.macrumors.com

HDMI audio works for me with the HDMIAudio.kext.

HDMI Audio working with AppleALC & Catalina, but it removes the MAC PRO 3.1 Soundcard? - HELP!

AppleALC.kext require Lilu. It makes modifications to AppleHDA.kext. Anyway, HDMIAudio.kext 1.1 still works for me in Catalina 10.15.7 on my MacPro3,1 with EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition. Download the attached script. Execute it like this: source ~/Downloads/KextUtil.sh installkext...

forums.macrumors.com

Yes, anything with a PCIe 3.0 switch and a method to convert to PCIe x4 will work.

Dynapower USA Netstor NA255A 4-Slot External Performance Desktop PCIe Expansion Chassis with 1200W Power Supply

Buy Dynapower USA Netstor NA255A 4-Slot External Performance Desktop PCIe Expansion Chassis with 1200W Power Supply featuring PCIe 3.0 x16 Host Interface, Single 1200W Power Supply, 8 Gb/s per Lane, Transfer Rates up to 128 Gb/s, Supports up to 4 Dual-Slot GPU Cards, Fits GPU Cards up to...

www.bhphotovideo.com

There are ways to get boot screen with AMD RX 580 (I haven't tried it). RefindPlus is one:

GitHub - dakanji/RefindPlus: A Boot Manager for Mac and PC

A Boot Manager for Mac and PC. Contribute to dakanji/RefindPlus development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

MyBootMgr: RefindPlus|OpenCore

section and follow the steps one after the otherThis is a guide to using OpenCore and RefindPlus, to multiboot Classic MacPros (3,1 to 5,1) as well as equivalent Xserve (2,1 and 3,1). It involves booting Mac OS from one or more OpenCore instances chain-loaded from RefindPlus and booting other OS...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[rickypeee]

Having some issues with my card too... I installed my flashed Titan Ridge card on my Mac Pro early 2009 4.1->5.1 a few days ago (using @Amey Rupji method) and while it works, there are some strange behaviours with it.

If I turn off my Apollo Twin Duo Thunderbolt2 that is connected via Thunderbolt3->2 adapter and turn it back on, the device will not work until my Mac is restarted. Even if I keep the Apollo turned off, it still remains a recognized Audio Output, although it actually won't work until I restart my computer. My Apollo is recognized as a connected device but it will not actually output any audio. I should also mention that when my computer goes into sleep mode after prolonged inactivity, it will no longer work once I sign back into my account from the log-in screen. While in sleep mode an audible "clicking" sound can be heard from the Apollo hardware - the same sound it makes when you turn the switch on the device off and on. Same thing with my hard drive that was plugged in to the other TB port via TB3 to USB3 adapter. When I woke up from a nap today I had about 30+ prompts on the right side of my screen telling me that my hard drive had been disconnected.

Another thing I noticed - If my external hard drive is simultaneously plugged in to the other TB3 port upon boot, the external hard drive will be recognized but my Apollo Twin will not (shown as "device not connected"). But when I unplug my external drive and restart my computer, only then is the Apollo Drive recognized and I can then plug in my external drive.

Is there any explanation and/or fix for this behaviour? Is this a power supply issue? I'm using an AMD RX570 GPU in my mac connected via 2x6pin to 8pin adapter.

 

[sam.brown]

Having some issues with my card too... I installed my flashed Titan Ridge card on my Mac Pro early 2009 4.1->5.1 a few days ago (using @Amey Rupji method) and while it works, there are some strange behaviours with it.

If I turn off my Apollo Twin Duo Thunderbolt2 that is connected via Thunderbolt3->2 adapter and turn it back on, the device will not work until my Mac is restarted. Even if I keep the Apollo turned off, it still remains a recognized Audio Output, although it actually won't work until I restart my computer. My Apollo is recognized as a connected device but it will not actually output any audio. I should also mention that when my computer goes into sleep mode after prolonged inactivity, it will no longer work once I sign back into my account from the log-in screen. While in sleep mode an audible "clicking" sound can be heard from the Apollo hardware - the same sound it makes when you turn the switch on the device off and on. Same thing with my hard drive that was plugged in to the other TB port via TB3 to USB3 adapter. When I woke up from a nap today I had about 30+ prompts on the right side of my screen telling me that my hard drive had been disconnected.

Another thing I noticed - If my external hard drive is simultaneously plugged in to the other TB3 port upon boot, the external hard drive will be recognized but my Apollo Twin will not (shown as "device not connected"). But when I unplug my external drive and restart my computer, only then is the Apollo Drive recognized and I can then plug in my external drive.

Is there any explanation and/or fix for this behaviour? Is this a power supply issue? I'm using an AMD RX570 GPU in my mac connected via 2x6pin to 8pin adapter.

I have almost the exact same setup but with the RX580. I've crashed the mac switching the Apollo on after boot so I don't do that anymore. Once it boots, I can turn it off and on just fine and plug other devices in. My TB drives are recognized but don't mount or show up in Disk Utility. My Mac also has the issue with not sleeping. Lots of clicking and fan noises from the Mac, as it seems to cycle on and off as it attempts to sleep like a restless insomniac. The audio seems to work fine. The UA software detects it when I power on and flashes a dialog box saying it's reconnecting. I've tried numerous versions and configs of OpenCore and the behavior is the same in every case. I haven't noticed any clicking coming from my Apollo Twin, however. I'll look for it next time I run it. But basically as long as the TR card is installed, whether it's recognized or not, my Mac will not sleep. Super frustrating. I've gone through every thread I can find and there aren't many people who bring up the sleep issue, let alone post a solution. But I'll solider on. The truth is out there. I'm hoping whatever is preventing sleep is also causing these other various woes.

Which OS are you running? I'm on the latest Catalina. Tried making a Mojave boot drive to test, but the installer gave me a warning about not being able to verify the firmware, which scared me off trying that again lest I brick my Mac. Fun times.

 

[roobarb!]

I couldn't resist this tinkerfest any longer, so after needing some of these for work and becoming too tempted, I bought myself a couple. Interesting!

Spent some time reading around all this, but the latest still seems to be that detailed by ameyrupji. Quick version:

1. Buy card, both Version 1 and Version 2 appear to be fine. Yes, shill links to Amazon UK, don't judge me.
2. Buy CH341A with SOP8 test clip.
3. Download the firmware.
4. Notice that your CH341A is outputting 5V. Ignore it on the of strength this random internetter's two-card experience. Make sure it's unplugged before messing with the clip on the chip.
5. Install flashrom with brew: brew install flashrom
6. Connect to green chip: flashrom -p ch341a_spi -r OriginalFirmware-GreenChip.bin
7. Connect to blue chip: flashrom -p ch341a_spi -r OriginalFirmware-BlueChip.bin
8. Write new firmware to blue chip: flashrom -p ch341a_spi -w TitanRidgeNVM23-E64Fr.bin
9. Jumper pins 3 and 5 of the 5-pin Thunderbolt header together. I just soldered a bodge wire onto the back.
10. Profit.

Things I've noticed in the process:

• The additional 3-pin Thunderbolt header seems to be the main difference between the v1 and v2 cards.
• You don't write anything to the green chip!
• The blue IC doesn't like being manipulated. My "proper" programmer couldn't identify it and read back all FF.
• I had no problems with my unmodified, seemingly 5V, programmer.
• The special DSDT is not necessary, the firmware is the magic. (a)
• You can have more than one in your system, but I've not tested it much.
• Works fine with Windows 10.
• If you don't connect the USB 2.0 header, be amazed at how many of your USB-C cables are incompletely wired. (b)

My little notes:

(a) The DSDT makes it appear as a 40 Gb/s device, but there's no way you can take advantage of that because you're limited to the PCIe 2.0 x4 connection, which on a good day tops out around 1400-1500 MB/s. True Thunderbolt 3 is more like 3000 MB/s. There's no way to achieve that, we're in Thunderbolt 2 performance territory. Also remember, on the Mac Pro slots 3 and 4 share one PCIe 2.0 x4 bus through a switch meaning anything in the top two slots shares that 1400 MB/s.

(b) Because the card provides USB 3.1 only, "legacy" devices are passed through it's header to another bus. If you don't connect that to something you may see power, but you won't see data if you have a USB 2.0 or lower device. I was very surprised at how many of my USB-C cables were only wired for USB 2.0, including the expensive Apple USB-C charge cable which nowhere on the site says USB 2.0, but does on the box.

So if you don't see your USB device, don't blame the card straight away.

This is yet another remarkable upgrade for the Mac Pro, so much thanks to @DSM2.Hackintosh. Fantastic.

 

[pierrox]

This is yet another remarkable upgrade for the Mac Pro, so much thanks to @DSM2.Hackintosh. Fantastic.

So it's that simple to enjoy TB3 on Mac OS?
Reading through this thread, I thought it wasn't quite prime for use without some serious tinkering (dsdt files and multiple reboots required)...

 

[roobarb!]

So it's that simple to enjoy TB3 on Mac OS?
Reading through this thread, I thought it wasn't quite prime for use without some serious tinkering (dsdt files and multiple reboots required)...

From my experience last night (and to be fair I only have one Thunderbolt drive to test it with right now) this does seem to be all you need to do. The reboots were from the days when the firmware needed Windows to kick it into life, but the tweaked firmware doesn't require that. Hot-plugging seems to be fixed by shorting those two pins on the Thunderbolt header, or at least it seems to be for this no-name drive I have here.

The DSDT will, if you put the card in Slot 4, make it appear as a 40 Gbps connection, but that's cosmetic because those speeds can't be achieved with a PCIe 2.0 x4 slot anyway. Gen 3, yes, but not Gen 2.

I'm continuing to test!

EDIT: Now that I have adapters and can test properly I've discovered that the SSDT-TBOLT3.aml is definitely a requirement and not simply cosmetic (as I should have known). With it my Titan Ridge v2 card appears to be working correctly. Here's the post where I discover.

 

[cdf]

I'm continuing to test!

Make sure to test sleepability with USB 3 devices plugged in. Unfortunately, I had to revert to the stock firmware because leaving my Logi 4K Pro webcam (USB 3.1) connected to the GC-TITAN RIDGE would prevent sleep.

 

[roobarb!]

Make sure to test sleepability with USB 3 devices plugged in.

I'll give it a shot, but I never usually sleep this system so it's not a breaking requirement for me. This thing's either on and working hard, or it's off.

UPDATE

Haha, just tried to sleep this Mac Pro for the first time in... oh, must be three years. It goes to sleep, then immediately wakes back up again just after the power relay disconnects. I mean, it wakes back up successfully and everything's here, but something is preventing sleep. Is that the same behaviour you experienced?

Like I said, it doesn't bother me in the least. I don't have this thing to be power efficient. ?

 

[cdf]

Haha, just tried to sleep this Mac Pro for the first time in... oh, must be three years. It goes to sleep, then immediately wakes back up again just after the power relay disconnects. I mean, it wakes back up successfully and everything's here, but something is preventing sleep. Is that the same behaviour you experienced?

Yes, that’s exactly it.

 

[roobarb!]

Yes, that’s exactly it.

Well, that’s with nothing attached to the card, so it’s not related to external devices. Next time I have the machine open I’ll test again without the card installed, just in case there’s another factor on my system.

 

[cdf]

Well, that’s with nothing attached to the card, so it’s not related to external devices. Next time I have the machine open I’ll test again without the card installed, just in case there’s another factor on my system.

Interesting. In my case, with the modified firmware, sleep works if there is nothing connected to the card.

 

[roobarb!]

Interesting. In my case, with the modified firmware, sleep works if there is nothing connected to the card.

Do you have the 3-to-5 pin link on the Thunderbolt header? What revision is your card?

 

[cdf]

Do you have the 3-to-5 pin link on the Thunderbolt header?

Yes, the jumper is in place. Also, I’ve connected the USB header for USB 2.0.

What revision is your card?

Version 1.

 

[PeterHolbrook]

I’ve connected the USB header for USB 2.0.

What does that do? I connected a USB 3.1 hub to one of the USB-C connectors at the back of the Titan-Ridge card and I have read/write access to any USB 2.0/3.0/3.1 drives I connect to the hub. Why exactly did you have to connect a USB header for USB 2.0? That would go inside the computer, wouldn't it? If it's any use, can you explain where exactly is the USB header attached to the motherboard?

 

[roobarb!]

What does that do? ... where exactly is the USB header attached to the motherboard?

If you directly attach USB devices to the card, it can't fall back to USB 2.0 without passing it on to another controller. It just won't be a feature of the IC on the card and it looks to hand off the job. As I scrabble through my USB-C cable collection I'm finding most are incompletely wired and only support USB 2.0, so my USB 3.1 devices receive power, but never appear.

If you're using a hub it'll be connecting as a USB 3.1 device, so the card's happy. Fallback to USB 2.0 must be handled by the IC on the hub and transmitted over the USB 3.1 connection.

To connect the header you'd need a PCIe card with an internal USB connector of some kind, either a standard port or a another header. Or you could loop a cable from a USB 2.0 port back inside the case. Or you could bodge something onto the logic board; USB is exposed in a couple of places (most notably for the Bluetooth card) but you'd need to be wielding your soldering iron.