Gigabyte GC-MAPLE RIDGE 1.0

Thunderbolt connectivity is probably a bit of a niche requirement among desktop PC users. My use case was that I wanted the fastest possible connection with an external M.2 NVMe holder for drive cloning and back-ups and something that could give robust power delivery for charging peripherals like wireless controllers etc. I already have a built-in USB 3.2 Gen2 and Gen 2x2 ports but this might offer a faster connection yet. I'm on a 14th gen Intel setup so don't have the option of Thunderbolt 5. The card is nicely finished and was installed with no issues in the bottom slot on a Aorus Elite X Z790 motherboard still providing plenty of clearance to a large GPU. I think the driver installation was automatic in Windows 11 with first start-up, if not specific drivers are available on Gigabyte's support page. The support page also lists all the motherboards this card is compatible with. The card has two 6pin PCIe cable connectors (the pins are connected in parallel on the PCB) to cover the power delivery capability of up to 97W, a USB connection to ensure backwards compatibility with USB 2.0 and even 1.1 devices and another couple of connectors for cables that hook up to the thunderbolt headers. Depending on your availability of internal headers I'm guessing the USB connection isn't essential if you don't plan on hooking up older devices. I also only used a single PCIe cable connection since I'm not maxing out the power delivery and have a decent set of cables, but must recommend anyone else to follow the instructions

I asked if this item requires usb/thunderbolt headers on motherboard; I was told no however item DOES require both !!!!

Very limited information on what motherboards you can use this with

It installs no problem but, it’s far from ready for the big world since most audio manufacturers aren’t ready to embrace thunderbolt 4

Compatibility is very limited, only works with certain gigabyte motherboards, and only works with certified thunderbolt products. You can plug the usb cable in but it only plugs into a usb 2.0 header so not worth bothering with. I decided to return and get a usb 3.2 PCIe card instead.

My pc case did not have a usb c header outlet!. I had issues charging my usb devices as not enough/ right power could run via the 3.2 & 2.0 usb A ports. Device is detected and data could be transferred but would not charge. I have not found the right drivers for my gigabyte motherboard that will correct the issue. MSI have a super charge driver/ software which works on their motherboards. Could not find the equivalent. So the round about solution was the gigabyte Maple thunderbolt card which provided what I needed. My iPad Pro can charge together with my other usb c devices including laptop. Works perfect with my gigabyte mother board as it is thunderbolt ready with the exact matching cable heads. Will be great when I upgrade to utilise thunderbolt capable monitors in the future.

I’ve been running the Gigabyte GC-Maple Ridge Thunderbolt 3/4 PCIe card on a Windows desktop with an RTX GPU, connected to an LG UltraFine 5K display (originally a Mac monitor), and I’m happy to report everything works as expected. The card delivers true 5K resolution, but there’s one important caveat worth knowing: you must connect TWO DisplayPort cables from your RTX GPU to the two DP inputs on the PCIe card before running the single Thunderbolt cable out to the monitor. With only one DisplayPort cable connected, the maximum output is limited to 4K. Both cables are required to achieve the full 5K signal. One more tip for anyone running into image sync issues – specifically a horizontal split or misalignment down the middle of the screen: clean up your Windows registry of any leftover entries from old GPU and monitor configurations. Stale registry data can interfere with how the two halves of the 5K signal are synchronized, causing a visible seam. After clearing those remnants, the image locked in perfectly. I was also pleasantly surprised by the shipping speed – the card arrived just two days after ordering, which is honestly faster than express delivery options I’ve experienced in my country. A nice bonus on top of a product that does exactly what it promises.

Behöver till min Gigabyte dator

I made the mistake of buying XReal AR glasses. Those require a USB+Alt-DP input to work, which is rare to find outside notebooks, with some RTX20* GPUs a rare exception. This card allows you to get Thunderbolt output from any ordinary GPU on Gigabyte motherboards that support this adapter. It was also not too expensive. The real disappointment were the XReal glasses, which never worked anywhere near what the vendor promised, so I returned them. I kept the card, both because the return window had expired and because it might perhaps be useful again one day. It did the job it promised, but it's a job that very few will ever need.

Ca marche bien, c'est rapide. Très pratique pour y brancher des docks de bonne facture. Assurez-vous d'avoir assez de PCIe Lane de disponible avant de l'installer (je ne parle pas du port physique sur la carte mère) !