Swapping between laptop & desktop with TB3 dock & TB3 pci-e card

[infogulch]

Hi!

 

I have a setup of 2 monitors and peripherals for my desktop that I use for gaming, and I recently purchased a Surface Laptop 3 for (software dev) work and I'd like to easily switch my full setup between work/laptop and play/desktop.  The solution I came up with is to get a TB3 dock to plug the monitors/peripherals into, and plug my laptop or desktop into that depending on which one I want to use.  For my desktop I got a TB3 pci-e card.  My master plan is that I can just use a single USB-C cable to swap the monitors/peripherals between my desktop and laptop.

• Peripherals: usb keyboard, usb mouse, usb speakers
• Monitors: 1x 27" 1440p 144Hz Dell S2716DG; 1x 27" 4K Dell U2718Q, both driven by DP 1.4 cables
• Dock: Wavlink TB 3 Dual 4K Docking Station
• Laptop: Surface Laptop 3 13" i7 with USB-C 3.1 gen 2.  I believe this should (?) be able to drive 2x 4k 60Hz displays.  (I love this laptop but MS is stupid for skimping on TB3)
• Desktop: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, build 19041.1; MSI B250 Gaming M3  w/ BIOS E7A62IMS.360 dated 7/3/2018; GTX 1070; i7-7700k; 32GB ram; samsung sata ssd
• Desktop pcie card: GC-Alpine Ridge

Desired setup is: monitors and peripherals connect to dock; dock connects via 1 USB-C/TB3 cable to either laptop or pcie card in desktop depending on my needs.  My expectations for laptop is drive both monitors at their native resolution at 60 Hz, so 1440p60+4k60.  My expectation for desktop is to drive both monitors at their native resolution and refresh rate, so 1440p144gsync+4k60.

 

Issue #1: Desktop not recognizing TB3 card at all.  I installed the GC-Alpine drivers listed on the website, but the "Thunderbolt Software" doesn't show it and it doesn't appear in Device Manager at all, though it is listed when I inspect it in the BIOS.  I noticed looking at the website above I don't see my motherboard or other B250 motherboards listed as compatible.  Did I just choose the wrong pcie card?  Or is my motherboard just not going to work with any TB3 at all?

 

Issue #2: Laptop only drives 4k monitor through the dock at 29Hz.  Any suggestions?  Is my assumption about being able to drive the 1440p60+4k60 via USB-C 3.1 gen 2 incorrect?

 

Any tips/suggestions/comments are welcome.  Thanks for looking. 

[SlayerOfHellWyrm]

2 hours ago, infogulch said:

Hi!

 

I have a setup of 2 monitors and peripherals for my desktop that I use for gaming, and I recently purchased a Surface Laptop 3 for (software dev) work and I'd like to easily switch my full setup between work/laptop and play/desktop.  The solution I came up with is to get a TB3 dock to plug the monitors/peripherals into, and plug my laptop or desktop into that depending on which one I want to use.  For my desktop I got a TB3 pci-e card.  My master plan is that I can just use a single USB-C cable to swap the monitors/peripherals between my desktop and laptop.

• Peripherals: usb keyboard, usb mouse, usb speakers
• Monitors: 1x 27" 1440p 144Hz Dell S2716DG; 1x 27" 4K Dell U2718Q, both driven by DP 1.4 cables
• Dock: Wavlink TB 3 Dual 4K Docking Station
• Laptop: Surface Laptop 3 13" i7 with USB-C 3.1 gen 2.  I believe this should (?) be able to drive 2x 4k 60Hz displays.  (I love this laptop but MS is stupid for skimping on TB3)
• Desktop: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, build 19041.1; MSI B250 Gaming M3  w/ BIOS E7A62IMS.360 dated 7/3/2018; GTX 1070; i7-7700k; 32GB ram; samsung sata ssd
• Desktop pcie card: GC-Alpine Ridge

Desired setup is: monitors and peripherals connect to dock; dock connects via 1 USB-C/TB3 cable to either laptop or pcie card in desktop depending on my needs.  My expectations for laptop is drive both monitors at their native resolution at 60 Hz, so 1440p60+4k60.  My expectation for desktop is to drive both monitors at their native resolution and refresh rate, so 1440p144gsync+4k60.

 

Issue #1: Desktop not recognizing TB3 card at all.  I installed the GC-Alpine drivers listed on the website, but the "Thunderbolt Software" doesn't show it and it doesn't appear in Device Manager at all, though it is listed when I inspect it in the BIOS.  I noticed looking at the website above I don't see my motherboard or other B250 motherboards listed as compatible.  Did I just choose the wrong pcie card?  Or is my motherboard just not going to work with any TB3 at all?

 

Issue #2: Laptop only drives 4k monitor through the dock at 29Hz.  Any suggestions?  Is my assumption about being able to drive the 1440p60+4k60 via USB-C 3.1 gen 2 incorrect?

 

Any tips/suggestions/comments are welcome.  Thanks for looking. 

You can't add TB3 to that board, it has no TB3 header on it. The Gigabyte cards are intended only for use on Gigabyte boards, just like Asus' is only meant for some of their boards. There's some work arounds to try and make it work, involving getting the non-DCH version of the TB3 software from the Microsoft store, but it's not at all supported.

In terms of the laptop, it's USB-C, NOT Thunderbolt 3, so a TB3 dock will not work correctly on it. If it's a newer dock with a Titan Ridge controller, it will go into what's called USB-C Failover mode, which severely impacts it's performance and capabilities, but allows it to work on a USB-C system. Alpine ridge controllers cannot do this at all, and wouldn't work at all with your Surface Laptop 3.

In my opinion, your current setup is not possible.