Salute!

Looking for advice.
I'm searchin' for small mini PC, Ryzen based (desirable) with thunderbolt (mandatory!) to connect my Fireface 800.
It's working great with my Mac Mini M1 via TB3 to TB2 adapter connected to Apple TB2 to FW800 adapter.

Mac is not for me. That's sad - i highly like hardware what Apple create (this Mac mini M1) but cannot live on Mac OS, plus a few very important apps and plugins are missing and never be created for Mac.

And another question - Thunderbolt 4 compatible with TB3?

 

https://minisforumpc.eu/collections/amd-ryzen-1

 

and that's the problem, because Thunderbolt has never been a thing on AMD, it's always called USB4 to avoid lawsuits,

you may try to circumvent the problem by using some proper thunderbolt dock with its own thunderbolt controller,
but that may quickly become rather costly,

I'd rather suggest finding used Fireface UFX which is not much newer than FF800 but offers USB 2.0 natively - I got two of those units (not selling!) and it's been flawless experience for years

 

Thunderbolt is an Intel name for usb-c protocols/etc.

Thunderbolt is the brand name of a hardware interface developed by Intel that allows the connection of external peripherals to a computer. Thunderbolt 1 and 2 use the same connector as Mini DisplayPort, whereas Thunderbolt 3 re-uses the USB-C connector from USB. It was initially developed and marketed under the name Light Peak, and first sold as part of a consumer product on 24 February 2011

Ryzen is an AMD product, look for highspeed USB-c - not Thunderbolt, cause you won't find it on an AMD product due to trademark infringement law suits. etc.

its okay to google shit and read it in your spare time. beats watching tricktalk videos about puppies shitting ping pong balls or whatever..

 

Apple TB2 to FW800 adapter is a really nice (and expensive) adapter that works with most (all?) FW audio devices. It helped me connect a TC Electronic SK48 to a computer with TB2. However, if you want to connect Fireface 800 to a PC, you are so much better off with a FW800 to USB-C adapter. Makes things cheap and easier to do.

Having said that, if you decide to acquire a FW to USB-C adapter, maybe take a look at some of the HP Elite mini-PCs. They can be found for a few hundred bucks second hand and are quite popular. There is even a thread about it here on AS. I wouldn't call them exactly cheap, though, the new ones. I'd rather buy a few years old laptop (esp. 2nd hand ;)) than a mini-PC for ~$2500-3300.

 

and that precisely can be a problem - because nowadays PCs (BIOS and Windows security) with TB3/TB4 effectively removed support for TB1/TB2, so it's a hit or miss scenario every time

 

I fully acknowledge how terrible my idea sounds - but have you considered 2018 Mac Mini?
it's Intel Core i7-8700B with up to 64GB DDR4-SODIMM memory (user upgradeable!) that should be capable of running Windows I hope?
onboard proprietary storage with T2 security may pose some inconvenience though, but booting from external Thunderbolt NVME enclosure shouldn't be prohibited I guess....
they're becoming rather cheap now when Apple fanboys jumped onto Apple Silicon bandwagon

 

Hello @MFSAKA, here it is: Base clock speed 4 GHz, Comes with USB4 (40Gbs) [More Infos: www.geekom.co.uk]

GEEKOM AI Mini PC A8 Max AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS(8 Kerne 16 Threads, bis zu 5.2 GHz) | 999 €
www.amazon.de/dp/B0DQ4617MM?ref=emc_p_m_5_i_atc&th=1&language=en_GB

 

I already think about Intel Mac's with Bootcamp. They are probably cannot handle my sessions. M1 is on it's limits performance wise. So older machines will dropout my audio for sure.

Can i use external video card dock with PCI-e for install there my FW IEE 1394 PCI-e card to avoid all those TB\USB4 misleading?

 

Last edited: May 4, 2025 at 6:05 PM