The beautiful Silent ThunderBolt-3 PC • Hacker News Board

Re: The beautiful Silent ThunderBolt-3 PC

#131

Post by neodymiumphish » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 6:07 PM UTC

OakNinja wrote: post #113

dijit wrote: post #11

Something I highly recommend avoiding (though it may look tempting) is the TB16 thunderbolt dock from dell. There is something really screwy with the USB controller in that device, the ETH is on the USB hub and corrupts Ethernet frames, under Linux you can force disable hardware offloaded CRC checksumming as a workaround, but still the USB devices that are directly connected can just stop functioning. It also has the…

Tried loads of TB docks (as well as USB3 ones) and gave up. They all have annoying quirks. I finally settled with a Razer Core Chroma, with Ethernet and USB. My MBP16 is finally silent with external displays, and the offloading really helps during video calls.

I had the original Razer core right when it launched. Razer did an excellent job with their eGPU TB3 enclosures. In my case, a firmware update made the USB ports practically unusable, and I eventually got Razer to accept it as a return, but I'm eventually going to go with them and their future iterations of the Core once I get a laptop that supports TB3/4.

Re: The beautiful Silent ThunderBolt-3 PC

#132

Post by r00fus » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 6:12 PM UTC

The keyboard/trackpad input setup is the buried lede here. I'd love to give that a go.

Re: The beautiful Silent ThunderBolt-3 PC

#133

Post by sigzero » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 6:16 PM UTC

otterpro wrote: post #68

I had to do a double-take on that PC case, as I thought I was seeing a NeXT cube. I'd love to get this on [Streacom DB4 FANLESS CHASSIS - Newegg.com]( https://www.newegg.com/silver-streacom-db4-mini-itx-media-ce... ), but it is $389 + $100 shipping!

If I was building one, I would buy it. It is very cool.

Re: The beautiful Silent ThunderBolt-3 PC

#134

Post by Bud » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 6:20 PM UTC

dijit wrote: post #11

Something I highly recommend avoiding (though it may look tempting) is the TB16 thunderbolt dock from dell. There is something really screwy with the USB controller in that device, the ETH is on the USB hub and corrupts Ethernet frames, under Linux you can force disable hardware offloaded CRC checksumming as a workaround, but still the USB devices that are directly connected can just stop functioning. It also has the…

I support a LOT of Thunderbolt docks for clients in my IT work and have also had experience with a lot of them personally.

My feedback is, almost all of these docks really suck. Spend the money and get a CalDigit. You won't regret it. It's the only one I've found that reliably performs the way a dock should.

Re: The beautiful Silent ThunderBolt-3 PC

#135

Post by vxNsr » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 6:21 PM UTC

dijit wrote: post #11

Something I highly recommend avoiding (though it may look tempting) is the TB16 thunderbolt dock from dell. There is something really screwy with the USB controller in that device, the ETH is on the USB hub and corrupts Ethernet frames, under Linux you can force disable hardware offloaded CRC checksumming as a workaround, but still the USB devices that are directly connected can just stop functioning. It also has the…

Yup, we had a good venting session at our Dell rep about this issue last year.

They were very aware of the issues, very apologetic and suggested we try some sorta displaylink garbage in the meantime. We did, and then as soon as the WD19 came out we tested that, and it's been night and day.

They still require custom drivers but 99% of issues disappeared. I had one issue with a laptop that likely had a faulty tb module and was failing back to usb 3.1 but no other complaints from anyone.

Well aside from the lack of usb ports on the thing... the Eport had like 8 usbs, the wd16 had 5 and now we're down to 3 on the wd19, that'd be fine if the laptops didn't keep dropping usb-a's also, most of the 7000 line only has 2 now. I refuse to get a usb dock to plug into the wd19 just for usb, that's insane and I'm not a crazy person.

Re: The beautiful Silent ThunderBolt-3 PC

#136

Post by Bud » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 6:22 PM UTC

jeffbee wrote: post #123

wan23 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except, of course, for Thunderbolt 3, where to get even reasonable lengths you have to pay $$$. https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/27/21339861/apple-thunderbol...

What's the deal with these prices? Is it just because the connector is so compact? A 2-meter QSFP+ 40-gigabit copper cable is only about $25. https://www.fs.com/c/40g-qsfp-dac-1117

One very major difference is, Thunderbolt's spec requires that this cable carry 100W of power in addition to the 40Gbps of bandwidth.

Re: The beautiful Silent ThunderBolt-3 PC

#137

Post by vxNsr » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 6:24 PM UTC

Bud wrote: post #134

dijit wrote: post #11

Something I highly recommend avoiding (though it may look tempting) is the TB16 thunderbolt dock from dell. There is something really screwy with the USB controller in that device, the ETH is on the USB hub and corrupts Ethernet frames, under Linux you can force disable hardware offloaded CRC checksumming as a workaround, but still the USB devices that are directly connected can just stop functioning. It also has the…

I support a LOT of Thunderbolt docks for clients in my IT work and have also had experience with a lot of them personally. My feedback is, almost all of these docks really suck. Spend the money and get a CalDigit. You won't regret it. It's the only one I've found that reliably performs the way a dock should.

issue with caldigit is that it only has one dp out, wd19 has 2, and an hdmi.

my optimal dock would have/support:

3 video out (dp, hdmi, etc)

5+ usb-a (2.0 is fine)

2+ usb-c (3.2 preferred)

gigEth

Re: The beautiful Silent ThunderBolt-3 PC

#138

Post by aksss » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 6:34 PM UTC

ehnto wrote: post #100

yboris wrote: post #80

Another way to "silence" a PC is to put it in another room. Mine is across the wall - with just the HDMI and USB cables coming through a small wall hole (PVC pipe to make the edges smooth). I highly recommend it.

I did this with a cupboard once upon a time, the only downside was opening the cupboard to turn it on.

Or just never turn it off?

Re: The beautiful Silent ThunderBolt-3 PC

#139

Post by swiftcoder » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 6:47 PM UTC

vxNsr wrote: post #137

Bud wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I support a LOT of Thunderbolt docks for clients in my IT work and have also had experience with a lot of them personally. My feedback is, almost all of these docks really suck. Spend the money and get a CalDigit. You won't regret it. It's the only one I've found that reliably performs the way a dock should.

issue with caldigit is that it only has one dp out, wd19 has 2, and an hdmi. my optimal dock would have/support: 3 video out (dp, hdmi, etc) 5+ usb-a (2.0 is fine) 2+ usb-c (3.2 preferred) gigEth

The CalDigit only has one dedicated DisplayPort, but you can also plug a USB-C to DisplayPort cable into the outgoing ThunderBolt port - I had dual 4k60 monitors running for a while that way.

Re: The beautiful Silent ThunderBolt-3 PC

#140

Post by bnt » Wed, Dec 23, 2020, 6:54 PM UTC

gehwartzen wrote: post #125

bnt wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Offtopic: if you plug in a pair of Apple ear/headphones into the headphone jack on the OWC, can you control the volume via the built in controls on the cable of the headphones, like you can when connected to the Macbook?

Yes you can. Also if you want even more control over multiple audio outputs including individual control by application check out the App SoundSource by RogueAmoeba for Mac.

Oh, awesome! Thanks for the feedback!