What cards are available for use on the Mac Pro 2019 Computer, to add additional interface ports? I would like to know what cards are available to add additional Thunderbolt3 and Additional USB-A ports. Would these cards Add and Additional Channel for the Thunderbolt (I believe that there are 4 Channels on the Mac Pro 2019, can additional channels of Thunderbolt be added view a particular PCI cards?
No additional Thunderbolt, but you can add PCIe cards to get more interface ports.
PCIe cards you can install in your Mac Pro (2019) - Apple Support
I've added a four-port USB 3.2 card and it works fine. https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sonnet%20Technologies/USB34PME/
In addition, I've also installed 3 PCIe cards from Macsales to add additional SSD storage and HDMI ports.
https://www.apple.com/mac-pro/specs/
"Each MPX bay provides:
x16 gen 3 bandwidth for graphics
x8 gen 3 bandwidth for Thunderbolt DisplayPort video routing"
so there is a path from the graphics card's Thunderbolt 3 ports back to the main logic board. Maybe that does allow those ports to be used for non-display Thunderbolt devices.
I saw this generic information, but was wondering if there were card for more day-to-day I/O with so many devices running on USB & Thunderbolt today, it seems silly to have such a large "expandable" machine with four thunderbolt ports, two usb-a ports and a speaker port.... not much more than a MacBook offered and fewer than the 10-year old Mac Pro.... It would see logical that additional cards, such as the Apple I/O card could be added. Thank you.
You do have one Thunderbolt add-on option... Apple MXM GPUs. Adding either an extra W5700X or Pro Vega II will add an extra +4 Thunderbolt-3 ports. https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MW662AM/A/radeon-pro-w5700x-mpx-module
The Thunderbolt ports on a graphics card might be limited to displays only.
I have been trying to figure out the same thing. My 2019 Mac Pro has the W5700X card, with 4 Thunderbolt ports.
I have one port connected to a 4K BenQ display. I'm trying to figure if the others can be used to connect storage.
Thank you. This is helpful, and I saw some interesting card, including their storage cards. Still hoping for a Thunderbolt add-on, but this is great, thank you!
Thank you...That make is great....did not think about the second graphic card... Very helpful-Appreciate it.
The Thunderbolt ports on a graphics card might be limited to displays only.
We have confirmed, via a test, that the Graphics Card, will support both external drive and display at the same time.
Thank you.
The MPX Thunderbolt ports should transfer both video and data in accordance to the Thunderbolt3 branded specifications. Also Apple makes no distinction between those and other Thunderbolt ports when promising data transfer, device charging, USB backward compatibility, etc. https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-pro-rack/take-a-tour-apd6305dc263/mac
Ziatron, if you happen to have a usb-c drive could you plug that in to one of the Thunderbolt ports on your W5700X real quick to settle this debate?
I/O Cards for Mac Pro 2019
