Hello community!
I am looking into purchasing the Intel ARC B580 and connecting it via USB4 and an eGPU Thunderbolt (?) enclosure, or through an OcuLink connection using a Dual M.2 adapter board.
My question is: will it work as intended? I heard that the B580 requires a feature called ReBAR to be enabled in the BIOS, however I wasn’t able to find anything related to it.
Does this make any sense at all, or is it just a waste of money?
Keep in mind framework 16 laptop do not have thunderbolt support. If I understand it right eGPU uses thunderbolt to handle it’s speed to the laptop if so then it might be hard.
It has USB4 support, which supports eGPUs
Well it depends if it does.
Since some 1 said too that it has 40Gbps but that doesn’t gurantee it supports eGPU.
Alot of eGPUS relays on needing thunderbolt 3 to work. Without it you won’t have a eGPU working.
The usb 4 spec is an evolution that includes thunderbolt features even though, for marketing reasons, they cannot call it thunderbolt.
I have two thunderbolt devices that work fine when plugged into the usb 4 ports.
So, thunderbolt eGPU will also work, if you get a thunderbolt spec cable.
But it will be limited due to it isn’t proper thunderbolt.
So the docks with thunderbolt 3/4 won’t work fully. Due to it
What specific features will not work?
no idea,
Couldn’t find any exact list of that. But all i found was statement that when a port isn’t fully certified and fully built to work for thunderbolt then there will be limitations when using thunderbolt docks, even issues.
So far i saw some 1 having dock issue for his 2 monitors so i asked them if the dock is a thunderbolt dock and if so i suggested him to try non thunderbolt dock and see if problem remains if not. Thne that is 1 issue you could get due to USB 4 isn’t fully thunderbolt supported/certified.
I have several thunderbolt devices I use all the time on my Framework 16’s and 13th’s including eGPUs; they work just as you’d expect them to.
That could be because ones you use are having no problems. While others here might be using other brands and other models that does bring up issues.
Possibly, but I haven’t found one that doesn’t work yet.
Edit: Note I’m speaking specifically on behalf of the Thunderbolt/USB4 functionality. I don’t believe I use anything that needs ReBAR, so that could be an issue with the B580…
I’ll answer my own question just for the sake of history, in case somebody will be looking for an answer )
So I got Intel Arc B580 (Intel Limited Edition card), Minisforum DEG1 OcuLink dock and OcuLink m.2 adapter from kyle_tuck. Connectedd all together and… Nothing. Dead silence. Dock sees the laptop, it turns on and off when laptop is being turned on and off accordingly, Fans on the B580 spin, but other than that - neither Windows 11 nor Linux don’t see the card at all. lspci, dmesg - not even a characther related to the card.
Digging the internet a little bit I came across similar issues here and there. And the official answer from Intel is that ARC GPUs do not officially support OcuLink. If it works - it’s a luck. Seems in my case it’s not (
Unfortunately I don’t have any other GPU to test that dock works at all, and I need to test the GPU itself with the desktop system to eliminate that uncertainty as well… Will keep posting here my observations in case something changes
I like how it looks tho 
That is very disappointing to hear. I know it’s a strange thing to say, but hopefully it’s a bad card? Maybe you can get it replaced.
It’s too bad you didn’t go with the Aoostar AG02 dock with Thunderbolt and OCuLink. Would have given an extra data point at least.
And to answer earlier questions about USB4 on the Framework 16, I used it successfully with multiple TB/USB4 docks just fine, and with various cards (RTX 3080, RX 6750 XT, RX 7600 XT, RX 9070 XT). I did not try it with an Intel GPU though.
I see the exact same behavior (Framework 16 AI 300, Kyle_Tuck adapter, DEG1 dock) with 2 different models of Intel Arc A380.
It really does look like an issue with the Arc GPUs + OCuLink, as everything else I put in the dock worked.
Thunderlbolt is just a fancy name for USB4.
Intel literally donated Thunderbolt spec (minus brand name) to USB forum.
Thunderbolt 3/4 is USB4 and Thunderbolt 5 is USB4v2 (yeah, that’s a real name).
AFAIK every framework has a Thunderbolt 4 level of USB4 spec (4 PCIe lanes, DisplayPort alt. mode, 100+ watt USB PD).
If that is a legitimate issue and not a user error, that individual should check for firmware updates for both their motherboard (UEFI/BIOS) and the dock. There is a 99% chance that their problems would be resolved with a firmware update. Some rare firmware bugs are usually the problem in such cases like theirs.
The gen 1 only has up to thunderbolt 3 equivalent IIRC
It works!!!
I just want to leave it in this thread. Here is the way for Linux:
and for windows:
