Gigabyte GC Maple Ridge + Decklink Quad 2 on a Gigabyte Z690 UD DDR4. Will it work?

[PobloPomodoro]

Hello everyone, I want to ask if anyone could help me check if the setup I wrote on the title would work.

I currently have an i9-12900KF on an Asus Prime B660-PLUS D4, with 128GB of DDR4 RAM, a 3090, and a Blackmagic decklink quad 2. I've been looking into changing my monitor (Gigabyte M27Q) and using an LG UltraFine 4K that I also have. The problem, I think everyone would notice, is that the monitor is a Thunderbolt monitor designed for Mac. I've tried all sorts of cables and adaptors like the Delock 63928 because it's still cheaper than buying a new monitor that is equal to or better than the one I have, and one that is even close to the LG. So after many fails I've come to Thunderbolt add-on cards.

 

I could buy an Asus ThunderboltEX4 that could easily work on my current mobo, but the PCI Express slot I would have to use is the one that my Decklink is currently using. Honestly, I wouldn't mind changing between the Thunderbolt card and the Decklink when necessary, but my boss doesn't approve of that and would prefer to have both cards on simultaneously. That's when the motherboard replacement comes.

 

The Gigabyte Z690 UD DDR4 has 1 PCIEX16 and 2 PCIEX4 slots, and the manual of the Gigabyte GC Maple Ridge says it needs to be connected to a PCIEX4 slot. In the case of the decklink, it is currently connected to one of the 2 PCIEX16 slots on my current motherboard, so, would it work on the second PCIEX4 slot on the Gigabyte mobo?

 

At the end of the day, I don't think I'll go on this route for the upgrade since I'll end up spending more money buying a new motherboard and a Thunderbolt add-on card, but I need to deliver all of the options we would have available.

 

Thanks to everyone who takes a bit of their time helping me

[RONOTHAN##]

2 hours ago, PobloPomodoro said:

it is currently connected to one of the 2 PCIEX16 slots on my current motherboard, so, would it work on the second PCIEX4 slot on the Gigabyte mobo?

If it's connected to the second x16 slot on your motherboard, it's not actually using an x16 slot. The B660-Plus only has one x16 slot electrically, the second one is only wired for x4 like the Gigabyte card is. If it's currently working in that slot, it'll continue working in the Gigabyte board. 

 

EDIT: The Z690 UD DDR4 only has one x4 slot, the 3rd x16 slot only runs at x1. Since the Thunderbolt card will need to run in an x4 slot, that would force the Decklink to run at x1 which almost certainly won't work (or at least won't work well). You will need to find another board to use instead. The Z690 AORUS ELITE AX DDR4 should do the trick as that has two x4 slots. 

[PobloPomodoro]

On 4/8/2024 at 12:03 AM, RONOTHAN## said:

If it's connected to the second x16 slot on your motherboard, it's not actually using an x16 slot. The B660-Plus only has one x16 slot electrically, the second one is only wired for x4 like the Gigabyte card is. If it's currently working in that slot, it'll continue working in the Gigabyte board. 

 

EDIT: The Z690 UD DDR4 only has one x4 slot, the 3rd x16 slot only runs at x1. Since the Thunderbolt card will need to run in an x4 slot, that would force the Decklink to run at x1 which almost certainly won't work (or at least won't work well). You will need to find another board to use instead. The Z690 AORUS ELITE AX DDR4 should do the trick as that has two x4 slots. 

Thank you so much!

As I said in my post, we ended up going for a monitor since it was too much of a hassle changing the mobo to use another monitor. Nonetheless, thank you so much for your response