As I understand, since Thunderbolt is an Intel project, AMD chipsets are not allowed to implement official Thunderbolt support.
However, do the USB C ports on the AMD Ryzen mainboards have the same functionality as those on the Intel ones? Could I use an eGPU with an AMD mainboard?
Yes, Thunderbolt is an Intel owned branding but the Thunderbolt spec was given to the USB-IF. USB4 is for all intents and purposes equivalent to Thunderbolt.
Hey,
As far as i know. AMD 7000 Generation supports USB4 and Thunderbolt3 is a part of USB4
Intel give Thunderbolt for free use years ago.
So the two upper USB4 ports on the Ryzen mainboards will support TB3 then (or equivalent specs)! Thanks, that’s very helpful!
I’m also interested in this. I’ve done some research, could be wrong, but I don’t think USB4 guarantees all Thunderbolt 3 features. My understanding is that eGPUs require PCIe tunneling to work, and for USB4, that’s an optional feature: USB4 - Wikipedia
I’ve done some searching and found that Ryzen 6000 mobile CPUs, like the 6800U, do seem to support eGPU: I just used USB4 on an AMD Ryzen laptop and it's amazing! | PCWorld
So, I think the chances are that the Ryzen 7040 mobile CPUs probably do as well, but I think there are other factors like the ports, drivers, chipset, etc. The Framework pre-order page clearly says USB4, so I’m hoping all of these factors aren’t a problem, except for drivers. Not sure if there is any information about that right now.
I reached out to Framework support to see if I could get an official answer, but I got back an email saying exact tech specs aren’t available yet and will be soon. My guess is that since the 7040 has been pushed out by a month into April, Framework may not be able to comment on any features of the 7040 CPUs yet.
Fingers crossed that the support will be there, it seems likely, but I haven’t found exact confirmation anywhere. Please correct me if I’m wrong!
@Neil_Goodman While technically true, it seems very unlikely that FW would intentionally neuter their product before release and make it worse than the Intel option. They know as well as I do that the community would scream bloody murder if that were to pass.
@GhostLegion Ha! Good to know! I’ve pre-ordered, but it says late Q3 for me, so definitely time to see what reviews and the community say.
I’m less worried that Framework doesn’t offer the support, but that AMD doesn’t have the support for some reason. If there are driver issues, hopefully those would be resolved over time. But, I’ll keep an eye out to see how it plays out.
Do we know if it can support a egpu
I can confirm from using it for the past few weeks that it does
just tired it, seems to work fine. Mildly concerned about not having to authorize it though.
eGPU runs on the AMD, here is a youtube video about it:
