Thunderbolt-3 AICs were designed for Z170 chipset (and newer) motherboards. If I could get one locally, I would try it myself, but I'd have to order one in and pay shipping and/or restocking fee if it does not work and I was thinking that maybe someone has already tried it. With the Thunderbolt 2 Add-in-Card, it may support up to six daisy chained Thunderbolt devices up to 20 Gbps. I have a GA-H97 Gaming 3 but, as far as Ive been researching it does not support thunderbolt, not even the ASRock card that you have since it odes not have the appropriate header connector.
WHAT IS A THUNDERBOLT ADD IN CARD ASROCK INSTALL
I know that it's not officially supported when it comes to Z97 boards, but that's fine with me as long as it works. It is interesting what you are posting, I thought Thunderbolt add ons would be easier to install (like any other pci device).
There are quite a few places online that have the newer ThunderboltEX III cards. It officially supports the ThunderboltEX II card, but they are difficult to find now. In my particular case, I have an ASUS Z97-WS motherboard which does have a TB header.
My thoughts (and I could be wrong) are that if the X99 platform supports Thunderbolt 3, there should not be any technical reasons why Thunderbolt 3 cards would not to work in a Z97 based motherboard (other than possibly lack of support in the BIOS). Is it possible to use Thunderbolt 3 PCIe Expantion card in a Z97 Motherboard? I've searched a few forums as well as a few searches on Google and came up empty with regards to using a Thunderbolt 3 PCIe expansion card in a Z97 motherboard.