Thunderbolt and Windows/PC

doodah

doodah

doodah

Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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Location
London
Piecing together my dream desktop setup. Like the often seen idea of a one cable solution for Mac users with a Macbook and Caldigit dock.

I have my main rig*, an ageing Dell laptop from work that has one USB-C (power/display) and my wife may use the desk when I'm not at home for her work OG M1 Mac (Air I think).

Considering getting a Caldigit, put it under my standing desk and plug everything into that, then one cable going to the PC base. Assume I would need a Thunderbolt 4 card (my AM4 just has the one USB-C)? Problem is, Google suggests TB4 and Windows don't really play well.

And then a simple laptop dock on the desktop and whether it be my Dell or wife's M1, have one cable plug into that to use it with the monitor and peripherals. Does anyone have a similar combo/does it make sense for a PC setup with minimal Mac usage.

*currently plugged into back of main rig
  • DP to monitor
  • 2 x USB for mechanical keyboard
  • 1 x USB for corded mouse (will change to wireless)
  • 3.5mm for desktop speakers
  • 1 x RJ45
  • 1 x USB for a card reader
Edit - oh and this is the layout of my mobo. Assume the TB4 card would need a full fat PCI-E port? I have a 3090 in there and she takes a lot of space, can't remember clearance so need to check that.



Edit - ooops, yup my AM4 isn't supported by Asus' TB4 card. Back to the drawing board.
 
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i know linus does this on windows via TB4 with the same dock. i believe he has a motherboard with built in TB though. its something id considered to but haven't found a dock that support nice high refresh rate
 
Now wondering if I have over complicated all of this. I'll need a new mobo and AM4 mobos with TB4 aren't common (ProArt B550 looks like a good choice), plus I don't want to invest too much more into AM4 as the aim was for my CH6 to last me across the whole cycle before upgrading to a new platform.

Now wondering if I just get a much cheaper powered dock/hub for my peripherals and get a KVM instead for easy plug in for my laptop.
 
Sacked it off in the end, couldn't justify the cost. I've bought a KWM instead, specifically this one.



It's supposed to support high refresh and in the 30 seconds of testing, it switched between my laptop and PC fine - though the mouse and keyboard weren't working on my PC. Fingers crossed after I get a proper play with it, it's the right solution.
 
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All good. I needed to plug in the additional USB cable from the KVM to my rig for the mouse and keyboard to work, going to need some more craft cable management when I set it all up.

And despite an initial scare (tested Streets of Rage 4 and Speedway test in 3D Mark - neither went above 60FPS but the former was due to the game being capped and latter - assume my rig was good for ~60), PUBG was just running at well over 100FPS.

Not really used KVMs before but this one seems decent.
 
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