Can 2008 Mac Pro run 4K or HD screens with the right video card?

I am here to say: My Mac Pro (early 2009) with the ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB video card, DOES DO 4K from the DisplayPort connector. This is with an Asus PB287Q monitor using a mini DisplayPort to full-size DisplayPort cable from Monoprice.

There are some caveats:

* The boot screen is wonky, so starting up from a different volume, for example, is difficult because you cannot see all the icons or read the text.

* 4K is only possible at 30Hz. Resolutions below that do 60Hz. I haven't tried SwitchResX to see if I can increase the refresh rate.

* 4K works with either the 2009 or the 2010 firmware. No difference.

Tested using Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan. It also works with HiDPI mode for a beautiful, 1920x1080 HiDPI display, albeit at 30Hz.

I didn't find a thread that better matched my question, and this thread seems loaded with good information, but I didn't find an answer...

I have a Mac Pro 2009 flashed to 5.1 using an NVidia GTX680 2GB, latest version of Yosemite. I am driving four non-4k displays without issue. What I would like to do is drive just two 4k displays. Before I invest in the monitors:

1. Can I drive two 4k displays with this card?

2. If so, I assume it would be HDMI and DisplayPort connections, right?

3. What's the maximum refresh and resolution?

Thanks!

From Nividia: "The GeForce GTX 680 is designed to support 4K over HDMI. We haven't yet evaluated or certified it against displays due to a lack of display availability." (2012-05-11)

Reference: https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/518265/geforce-600-series/can-gtx-680-d o-4k-over-hdmi-/

In other words, 4K over HDMI is possible, although it will likely be at 30Hz. DisplayPort has enough bandwidth to do 4K at 60Hz, but it's unknown if the card will support it. My Linux computer has a GeForce 750 ti and it can do 4K@60Hz over DisplayPort.

Hi,

you can connect one or two (maybe three) 4K displays, but under OS X only in 30Hz refresh! This is very laggy and not useful. I tried everething, SwitchResX etd., but no result. Apple intentionally restricted refresh rate to 30Hz, because under Windows 7 (via BootCamp) you can use 60Hz refresh rate via DisplayPort! In general you can use HDMI under 30Hz, not more, DisplayPort 1.2 can 60Hz, but under OS X with your Mac Pro not 😟 I had Mac Pro 12-core with HD7950 3GB Mac Edition graphics card, and instead I sold him and buy iMac 5K. I never found a solution to deploy on Mac Pro (silver case) 60Hz 😟

I just got an ATI/AMD Radeon 7970 from Mac Vid Cards dot com. It runs my 4K monitor at 60Hz with no problem on my early 2009 Mac Pro. It even enables scaled resolutions all the way up to 8K! (It's nearly impossible to see because it's so small, even on my 28" 4K monitor.) So yes, it's possible to get 4K 60Hz working on at least a Mac Pro 4,1, single 2.66GHz processor model.

Hello , do you need the newest OS X for this or does this function also with an older operating system ?

Thanks

the issues are complex and intertwined. Some answers are in this article:

User Tip: Mac Pro silver tower (2006-2012) Replacement Graphics cards

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Aaron,

what monitor do You use with the Radeon 7970?

My non-mac-firmware msi Radeon 7950 recently got fried, so I bought a Radeon 7970 with Mac firmware instead and it works perfectly in all desired resolutions at 30 Hz but MST/60 Hz seems not to work on my Dell UP2414Q display.

When I enabled DisplayPort 1.2 (=MST) while the computer was on, I got two twisted display views side by side.

When restarting with DP 1.2 enabled, I didn't even get any image. Had to connect a laptop with Windows over hdmi to access display settings, but the DP 1.2 was greyed out so I had to reset display settings in order to get that disabled again.

Maybe I would get 60 Hz with another display or with newer firmware in my display?

Regards,

A

Noticed after posting - and wasn't then allowed to edit my posting - that Aaron referred to a Asus PB287Q monitor above.

It seems this is a monitor supporting 4K@60Hz over SST. It seems MST support is broken either in OS X overall or for ATI/AMD cards.

Given this, I guess the safest option for anyone interested in 60Hz would be to look for monitors that support 4K over SST.

Anyone aware of any nice monitors out there - preferably with IPS panels - that support 4K@60Hz over SST?

Regards,

A

Some monitors come with the ability to run certain features (such as MST or DisplayPort 1.2) turned OFF by default. Enabling them takes a trip into the display manual, and a session with ON-Screen display settings (just the settings in the Display, not the Mac).

The Mac demands the display-name and capabilities at power-on and wake from sleep, so the changed settings in the display will immediately be picked up by the Mac without further interventions.

Yes, I'm totally aware that DisplayPort 1.2 including MST has to be enabled in Display Settings on the Dell UP2414Q.

Unfortunately, booting with MST enabled gives me no login screen and enabling MST when the computer is on gives me a distorted screen.

What I suspect is that Apple has either disabled MST support or the drivers for AMD cards don't support it. It could also be that the monitor I have has faulty firmware, but I cannot really find any proof that anyone currently is running MST successfully. In Bootcamp, the capabilities seem to be there though.

The Asus PB287Q monitor mentioned above seems to be handling 4K@60Hz in SST mode, rendering MST support redundant.

Regards,

A

Macs will take a PC graphics card, you can run a Nvidia 750ti, 770, 780, 970, 980, 980ti, Titan X on Yosemite or El Capitan, 100%.

Just no video output until the drivers load and your presented either with the login window or your desktop.

No bootloader, no pretty Apple logo and load bar.

However, a shed ton of performance.

Will work with all Mac Pro's apart from the 6,1 with Yosemite or El Capitan 😀

I'm not really sure how this is related to the question of 60 Hz support?

It seems like OS X has either limited support or no support for MST, and hence the only option for obtaining 60 Hz refresh rate would be to buy a monitor that supports 60 Hz with only SST.

It'd be interesting to know, for example, if LG's new 27" monitor LG 27UD68-W supports 4K@60Hz over SST.

It seems the LG 31MU97-B does support 60 Hz without MST, but that monitor is very large and somewhat pricey.

Regards,

A

MST support for 4K exists in the 6,1 nMP cylinder.

Older Mac Pros have issues with MST.

SST works fine, and Nvidia cards can even use 2 @ DP to run 5K Dell.

Note that in EL Cap the use of File Vault requires EFI on the card. Switching to a non-EFI card can be troublesome if you don't disable encryption first.

The initial msi Radeon 7950 I got to replace my original card to drive a 4K monitor didn't have Mac firmware, but the one I got now to replace the toast 7950 is a 7970 with Mac firmware.

It'd be interesting to see if there is a list of monitors that support 4K@60Hz over SST.

Regards,

A