Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD5 TH with Thunderbolt Monitor and Nvidia GPU

[bencode]

I'm in the weird situation of trying to build my first PC, which also has to work with an Apple Thunderbolt Display (I got it at far below the retail price, to the point where it was a bargain even relative to a normal monitor, and I didn't think at the time that I was going to want anything other than a Macbook Pro laptop). After what I thought was exhaustive research, I decided to get a Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD5 TH, because it's marketed as being usable with thunderbolt displays.

However, while it works (outputs video to the monitor) when there is no GPU installed, it seems that as soon as I install an Nvidia 1070, it stops outputting video from the thunderbolt port. My understanding now is that the motherboard switches its video outs off as soon as a GPU gets plugged into a PCI slot, and that while I can set it to not turn them off in the BIOS, video out from the mobo will always use the integrated GPU, and the discrete video card will go unused.

However, if that's the case, then why is this motherboard marketed as being Thunderbolt/DisplayPort 1.2 compatible? Why would you want to use a "high end" connector with an integrated GPU?

I read through the manual and did more research, but I can't find any answers to my two questions; 1) is it possible to "pass through" the GPU to the thunderbolt port so I can hook it up to the thunderbolt monitor, and 2) if that's not possible, why would you ever want to use this motherboard with a thunderbolt display?

 

[bignastyid]

1- No
2- Thunderbolt is useful for more than just displays there are fast external storage options that use it.

Btw that 1070 will work with that display using a dp to mini dp cable.

 

[bencode]

Btw that 1070 will work with that display using a dp to mini dp cable.

I looked into that option before I bought the motherboard, and my understanding is that while that is the case for the old, display port using cinema display, and while it would certainly be possibly to physically connect the thunderbolt to a displayport connector, it does not work with the (relatively) newer Thunderbolt cinema display.

This is one of the products that I looked at while I was researching this; https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007580WGC/ref=pd_sim_147_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=ZYJJ16MKANT7MWHDEN57 , there are comments on it saying that it doesn't work with the thunderbolt version. Is there something I'm missing?

To your point about the other uses for thunderbolt, my question about the displays is in reference to the fact that this motherboard mentions in it's marketing that it can be connected to thunderbolt displays, and even daisy chained, as though this is a reason to buy it. But I don't see why this would be an advantage, given that no one would ever buy a motherboard like this only to use it with integrated graphics.

 

[bignastyid]

What exact model is your display? The info im finding for the ones i was looking at all showed dp compatibility, however it will be video only no data so any usb, firewire or network ports will not function.
I wouldn't say no one, not everybody needs a powerful gpu. Its a feature of Thunderbolt, so if you are going to put it on a motherboard why not market the feature.