Thunderbolt PCI lane question

[mulo]

as we know thunderbolt has two lanes, one for DP, one for PCI, as the PCI lane is capable of emulating a lot of stuff, sata III USB 3.0 and so forth, why cant it emulate a DP channel giving our TB two DP lanes?

 

[lewis82]

PCI Express doesn't emulate anything. USB 3.0 adapters (when they will be released) will act similarly to internal USB 3.0 chips, that is, the "raw data" travels from the CPU to the chip, and USB protocol communications are held strictly between the adapter and the external device.

There can't be two DP lanes because the graphics chip in current MBPs doesn't support one than more output. It's as easy as that 😉

(If you need several monitors check this out.)

 

[superericla]

If it's the graphics chip that is the problem, couldn't the MacBook Pros with switchable graphics theoretically use both graphics chips to run two displays from the Thunderbolt Port?

 

[cube]

The discrete graphics chip in the MBPs is not the problem. They support 4 or 6 displays with DisplayPort 1.2

The problem is thunderbolt, as a channel is too slow for DisplayPort 1.2

Merging two things into one port was a terrible idea as it is.

 

[superericla]

I wonder if it would be possible to use it only as a displayport port, allowing for multiple monitors and bypassing the thunderbolt chip.

 

[mulo]

PCI Express doesn't emulate anything. USB 3.0 adapters (when they will be released) will act similarly to internal USB 3.0 chips, that is, the "raw data" travels from the CPU to the chip, and USB protocol communications are held strictly between the adapter and the external device.

thanks for the clarification.
so have i got it right understanding that all adapters will be active, and that to run a display link on the pci lane would require a GFX at the end of it?

i'm not in need of several monitors at all, i'm just passionately curious 🙂

 

[cube]

I wonder if it would be possible to use it only as a displayport port, allowing for multiple monitors and bypassing the thunderbolt chip.

The MBP is broken. It should have one connector for 10Gbps PCIe, and one DisplayPort 1.2 connector that can be used simultaneously. It's just a damned port issue, all the chips are already inside.