Thunderbolt 3 Add in card

I own and operate a Dell Precision dual processor T7910  as well and have been looking for a Thunderbolt 3 add-in card (AIC) since the original configuration only includes Thunderbolt 2.

Because I needed a high-speed interface between external disk drives and my workstation for data backup, I chose and purchased an Akitio (now Other World Computing) Thunder3 RAID Station, which features the new Thunderbolt 3 connectivity. It turned out to be a less than ideal situation because I also needed to buy a Thunderbolt 2 cable connecting to the older Dell AIC on one side and a StarTech.com TB 3 to TB 2 Adapter on the other. Adding insult to injury, this will limit the speed to Thunderbolt 2 specifications.

In short, it's rather disappointing and frustrating that Dell doesn't seem to be inclined to support a TB3 upgrade, especially for one of their most widely used high-end workstations.

Anyway, I recently discovered a TB3 AIC made by ASRock (follow the link). It supports 40Gbps bi-directional bandwidth per channel with Thunderbolt 3 port.

https://www.asrock.com/mb/spec/product.asp?Model=Thunderbolt%203%20AIC&cat=Download

If you select the specifications sheet from their Web page, then you'll see virtually identical motherboard connectivity akin to the Dell AIC; i.e., PCI Express 3.0 x4 -- including 2 x Thunderbolt™ 3 Type-C Ports (with up to 40Gbps bandwidth) - 1 x DisplayPort IN Port - 1 x Mini DisplayPort IN Port - 1 x TBT Header.

Question: Has anyone ever tried running this particular AIC in their T7910? I sincerely hope that a kind-hearted Dell Engineer will also read and respond to a widespread problem. 

HI.

Any luck on getting TB3 working on the DELL Precision 7910 ?

Hi @RANDY_USA @downhillmania @zimocat 

Somewhat similar problem here:

I have a Precision T7910 with a TBT header on the motherboard, I bought a TBT3 PCIe card (555-beox) specifically to add TBT3 to T7910 workstation, the card was added on slot 3 (as per Dell's official video on youtube) and the header cable connected (a cable that I got from an Asus Thunderbolt card, not the official NK4P3 Dell cable). I'm connecting the TBT cable to a TBT3 docking station, the display works (2x 2.5k resolution) but no usb connection...the ports get powered but no data get transfered (no mouse, no keyboard no usb stick, ethernet etc...).

I know my dock is working fine because I use it with my XPS13 laptop without issues and all ports (USB & Ethernet) are working. I also have another small dock (Dell DA300) and the same issue arrises, no problem to output video and use the usb port when connectig it to my laptop USB-C port, but only video works when connecting it to the TBT add-on card on my T7910...

I ckecked the bios on the T7910, TBT is enabled, no security (SL0), the dock is recognised and approved in the TBT app on windows, I've looked online and on Dell community threads but was unsuccesfull in troubleshooting my issue.

I've spend an hours with Dell Support today explaning the situation but they could not come up with a solution...

I feel it's a small thing, maybe security related, some setting to change somewhere but I have not been able to work this out and it's quite frustrating...

Any luck on your side?

Thanks

-Chris

Hi @downhillmania 

I realise it's an old post, I bought my TBT3 AIC here: https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/thunderbolt-3-pcie-card-2-type-c-ports-1-dp-in/apd/555-beox/networking

But I still run into problems, Display works fine but thta's about it, no usb or network connectivity when connecting to a TBT3 dock... frustrating indeed and no support from Dell as my workstation is out of warranty...