Purchasing Thunderbolt port

[Rutkofs2]

Is there a place to buy a female Thunderbolt port? I have been scouring the Internet for the past couple of days and even called Apple and Intel. I have been able to find zero information. Anyone around here have any ideas?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

For what purpose would you need such thing?

 

[GGJstudios]

Is there a place to buy a female Thunderbolt port? I have been scouring the Internet for the past couple of days and even called Apple and Intel. I have been able to find zero information. Anyone around here have any ideas?

If you're thinking of adding Thunderbolt to a Mac that didn't come with it, forget about it. You can't do it.

 

[Rutkofs2]

I have a late 2011 iMac with thunderbolt on it, that isn't the issue. I'm just trying to build my own device to use with Thunderbolt (I believe it is just plug and play, no need to code drivers or anything) and I can't find a female port to use as my output (connected via the male-male cable sold by apple).

I'm just tinkering around to be completely honest but I built a small pci-e enclosure with a dedicated 300 watt powersupply and I have a gtx 560 graphics card in it right now. Since Thunderbolt is capable of faster transfer speeds than pci express (10gbitI/10gbit0 I believe) I am attempting to hook up a graphics card externally to my iMac.

This is more out of curiosity and my natural instinct to take things apart and put them back together than an actual need for a better gpu.

edit: and why exactly did my original post get voted down? i searched the forum and couldn't find an answer so i made a thread about it.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Maybe because you also need a dedicated Thunderbolt chip on the logic board and probably on the device you use it with?

 

[Rutkofs2]

I had read that only one end of the chain needed the actual chip. I'll look into it further though.

 

[mac26]

I had read that only one end of the chain needed the actual chip. I'll look into it further though.

I think you should sign up for Intel's Developer kit to get access to those tools, If you make a GPU can I order one? Will I get a discount for telling you about this?

 

[TheIguana]

I had read that only one end of the chain needed the actual chip. I'll look into it further though.

No you need a controller chip on both ends and on every device in the chain. One in the computer and one in every peripheral.