Jtuner77

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

Hello guys,

 

I have been running my  2008 Mac Pro(2x2.8ghz Quad Core) for a while now with the basic ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256 MB card in it. I do a lot of photo editing on my computer and was thinking of upgrading the memory, installing a SSD drive and upgrading the video card to either support 4K or HD monitors.

 

I have found very little on the subject of 4K monitors and which video card could support it or HD for that matter.

 

Also wondering how I could run my computer to my 1080P HD TV and possibly put a blu ray drive in my tower as well.

 

If anyone could shine some light on this it would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

MBP & MP, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Feb 9, 2014 9:26 PM

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

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  • by Derweissehai,

    Derweissehai Derweissehai Mar 2, 2014 11:43 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 2, 2014 11:43 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Grant,

     

    SO I need a Dual Link DVI cable or add the adapter in? Any recomendations?

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Mar 2, 2014 2:04 PM in response to Derweissehai
    Level 9 (60,692 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 2, 2014 2:04 PM in response to Derweissehai

    Use Dual-Link DVI, but just make sure your cable is Dual-Link. You can't convert DVI to anything that will provide better resolution for a reasonable amount of money.

     

    800px-DVI_pinout.svg.png

     

    diagram courtesy of Wikipedia.

  • by Derweissehai,

    Derweissehai Derweissehai Mar 2, 2014 2:12 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 2, 2014 2:12 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    I just order one form Best Buy. The picture shows only 18 pin but the description and the reviews confirm it's a DVI-D  that handles reolutions upto 1920x1200. So we will see. Will keep everyone updated.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Mar 2, 2014 2:24 PM in response to Derweissehai
    Level 9 (60,692 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 2, 2014 2:24 PM in response to Derweissehai

    DVI-D may omit most of the salmon-pink pins at the end which provide signals for a VGA interface.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Mar 2, 2014 2:23 PM in response to Derweissehai
    Level 9 (60,692 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 2, 2014 2:23 PM in response to Derweissehai

    18 pins and resolutions Up to 1920 wide are Single-Link DVI . That appears to be what you have already.

     

    I thought you wanted Wider than 1920 wide, which requires Dual-link DVI which MUST have all 24 pins including the blue ones included.

  • by Derweissehai,

    Derweissehai Derweissehai Mar 2, 2014 2:34 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 2, 2014 2:34 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    It doesn't give me the option for 1900x1200 in the menu with the Samsung 40 inch hooked up.  Here is a shot of what I have on my Display  options screen. 1080 P and 1080i are my highest options. I have tried all the settings in the TV menu and can't get it back to anywhere close to 1900x1200. What is selected is what it is set on now.  It's the closest I can get it.

     

     

    screen shot.jpg

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Mar 2, 2014 2:39 PM in response to Derweissehai
    Level 9 (60,692 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 2, 2014 2:39 PM in response to Derweissehai

    Try [√] Best for Display and [√] 1080p (which is 1920 by 1080)

     

    If that does not help you may need to come in the DVI port instead.

  • by DPArt,

    DPArt DPArt Mar 2, 2014 2:40 PM in response to Derweissehai
    Level 3 (599 points)
    Mar 2, 2014 2:40 PM in response to Derweissehai

    1920x1080 is how many dots you have. That's all you will get.

     

    Chose 1080 and you are done

  • by Derweissehai,

    Derweissehai Derweissehai Mar 2, 2014 2:44 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 2, 2014 2:44 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Why does that work now. It would not work at all yesterday.  The screen was oversized and the icons were so pixelated.  Oh well at least now I will have aback up cable if I need it.

  • by Meesha108,

    Meesha108 Meesha108 Jun 4, 2014 6:38 AM in response to DPArt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 4, 2014 6:38 AM in response to DPArt

    One question:

    If I connect 4K TV that does not have mini display port, but only HDMI 2.0 / 60Hz, then the Mac Pro 5.1 with HD7950 Mac Edition I must use a miniDP -> HDMI? It will then be wishful frequency 60Hz? Or only 30Hz? Do you know?
    (sorry for my english, I'm begginer) ...

     

    Thank you for your reply.

     

    Michael

  • by Meesha108,

    Meesha108 Meesha108 Jun 4, 2014 6:42 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 4, 2014 6:42 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Do you mean mini Display port? HD7950 Mac Edition has 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mDP.

    Do you know, what HDMI version HD7950 have? 1.4 @ 30Hz?

    If you want to connect 4K TV at 60Hz, we have to reduce the use of minidisplay port to HDMI? What kind of cable you recommend?

     

    Thank you for your reply and sorry for my english, I'm begginer.

     

    Michael

     

  • by Anaesthisia,

    Anaesthisia Anaesthisia Jul 3, 2014 12:56 AM in response to DPArt
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jul 3, 2014 12:56 AM in response to DPArt

    So...

     

    Running a non-mac msi Radeon R7950 on a Mac Pro 4,1 could I expect to be able to drive a 4K monitor over mini displayport?

    The graphics card is said to be capable of DisplayPort version 1.2.

    Currently, I use dual-link dvi to drive an LG W3000H at 2560x1600 which works much better than with the originally fitted graphics card(that was probvably outdated at the time of purchase).

     

    Regards,

     

    A

  • by Decomo,

    Decomo Decomo Jul 4, 2014 3:30 AM in response to Anaesthisia
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 4, 2014 3:30 AM in response to Anaesthisia

    I use Dell UP2414Q with the card on my Mac Pro 4,1, and working fine 4k at 30Hz over mDP and HDMI.

    However MST 60Hz is broken in ~10.9.4.

    A framerate certainly becomes 60Hz by enabling DP 1.2, but the display shows two 1080p desktops side by side...

    If anyone succeed to output 4k at 60Hz on old Mac Pro, please teach the method.

  • by Anaesthisia,

    Anaesthisia Anaesthisia Jul 4, 2014 4:02 AM in response to Decomo
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jul 4, 2014 4:02 AM in response to Decomo

    What graphics card is that?

    It seems there is a problem with 60 Hz/MST, but maybe it remains to be seen if it's entirely a driver issue or also a monitor firmware issue?

     

    Maybe it's at least encouraging that the card seems able to deliver two streams?

     

    A

  • by Decomo,

    Decomo Decomo Jul 4, 2014 4:53 AM in response to Anaesthisia
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 4, 2014 4:53 AM in response to Anaesthisia

    In my previous post, I wrote "display shows two 1080p desktops" by mistake.

    I meant "display shows two 1920x2160 desktops."

     

    Graphics card is MSI R7970.

    In Windows 7 on BootCamp, R7970 and UP2414Q works fine with 60Hz/MST, so hardware have capability to transmit and receive two streams. (maybe R7950 too.)

    It seems OS X's driver supports MST incompletely.

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