Alienware Area 51 R2 Thunderbolt port?

This feature is not supported by the Alienware Area 51 R2. Unfortunately, there is no way to connect a Thunderbolt cable to this system.

Yes, the option is not included in the Bios. Therefore, this feature is not going to work. 

but the service manual says their is a port?

is this bios disabled?

Thank

With the latest firmware release, the Thunderbolt option now appears in the BIOS. So where can we purchase the Thunderbolt port add-on module?

e.Blue,

Take and post a picture of your Bios showing that screen option. I will then take the picture and email the team.

Here's the proof of the Thunderbolt that is available with the BIOS A02. This is a printScreen from my original post on June 10, 2015: http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19608440?pi21932=9 .

Emails sent.

Hi, so what is the final answer? Would a card like the Asus thunderbolt ones work?

We do not know. Even though the Thunderbolt port is on the motherboard and the option to enable it is in the A02 bios, there is not a Thunderbolt card being sold with the system nor is one listed on the internal parts page.

It's interesting that this is the only X99-based MSI board with a Thunderbolt header.  MSI did use TB on previous designs, but these pre-Skylake boards had an actual Mini-DisplayPort on the motherboard itself.  

The use of a header (and subsequent requirement for a PCI card with DisplayPort pass-through) seems to be par for the course for any X99 boards that do support Thunderbolt -- for example, ASUS, the Lenovo Px00 Thinkstations or workstations from HP.  But what's unclear is whether these boards are simple electrical devices or whether they contain more advanced circuitry that requires BIOS support. (And even if they merely enable latent abilities in the motherboard, there could well be device whitelisting to contend with.)

Look like they don't have the Thunderbolt option in the new A08 bios. and can't downgrade to A04 except if someone make a A4 mod version that allow the downgrade.

 Isn't  the ThunderBolt option in the bios a USB 3.0 feature from intel?  Rapid Data Transmission right?  I think enabling this speeds up the USB capacity.

So it sounds like BIOS A02 through A04 had the Thunderbolt option? Were there any revisions between A04 and A08?
pl212

Appears to be correct. Nope.

Alienware_Area_51_R2_A01.exe
10/27/14
www.dell.com/.../driverdetails

Alienware_Area_51_R2_A02.exe
6/8/15
www.dell.com/.../driverdetails

Alienware_Area_51_R2_A03.exe
7/28/15
www.dell.com/.../driverdetails

Alienware_Area_51_R2_A04.exe
5/9/16
www.dell.com/.../driverdetails

Alienware_Area_51_R2_A08.exe
7/27/16
www.dell.com/.../driverdetails

In re: USB 3.x -- this gets very confusing, but the new  "USB Type C" connector is used as a physical interconnect for both the Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1 data transmission standards.  There are machines out there, such as the ThinkPad P50/P70, that have that small, bi-directional Type C port for Thunderbolt 3, not USB 3.1. Whereas the same company, Lenovo, makes a 4k display (ThinkVision X1) with a USB Type C for USB 3.1 data only, not Thunderbolt 3.

Compounding this is a lack of easily-available converter cables -- try finding a Thunderbolt 3 "Type C" to "Mini-DisplayPort" cable anywhere. So even very new Thunderbolt 3 machines are difficult to use with legacy Thunderbolt 2 devices, such as an Apple Thunderbolt Display.

That's the reason why the Thunderbolt 2 PCIe add-in card, with its traditional Mini-DisplayPort connector, is actually a useful device right now.

Interestingly the Lenovo and HP Thunderbolt cards for Skylake-based workstations appear identical, down to the jumpers used to configure the card.

So it sounds like BIOS A02 through A04 had the Thunderbolt option?  Were there any revisions between A04 and A08?