Connecting 5k display Mac Pro in 2017

Hi,


I have a Mac Pro 6,1 and need a display for it. I am trying the Philips 275P4VYKEB/00 Catchy model name I know. Anyway here is the problem, when I connect 2 DisplayPort to MiniDisplay port Mac OS seems to think it is 2 separate displays one of which I cannot see. 1 cable makes for 1 display and never the twain shall meet. However if I boot into safe mode it makes 1 unified display with 2 separate images side by side at 2560 x 2880.


Needless to say this is driving me mad, so here is my question for those of you with experience of this nonsense. When connecting a 5k display i.e. the dell or HP, has anyone got this to work? do both cables need to be on the same thunderbolt bus or separate? The manufacturer included 2 Display port cables one with a blue dot, I am starting to suspect this is more important than originally thought, do I need to run this through a adapter rather than a third party cable.


Thanks for your help in advance


Sean

Mac Pro (Late 2013), macOS Sierra (10.12.3)

Posted on Mar 31, 2017 12:50 AM

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Mar 31, 2017 3:23 AM in response to Sean Robert Lewis

I don't have a MacPro 2013 or this Philips display so cannot speak from personal experience but in general you need to enable MST support on the 5K display if it is not already enabled. This maybe under the heading of Displayport 1.2.


If you get this working you may find nothing displays until the Mac has finished booting or before then you get two side by side displays or half a screen. Try unplugging and reconnecting the screen after the Mac has finished booting, this should get the Mac to re-detect it.


The Mac needs to be set to 60Hz but I would hope it would default to this, however check it in preferences.


Yes you will also need to use two connections which go from two Mini Displayport connections on the Mac Pro to the connections on the Philips display. If they only do a Displayport cable then you would get two Mini Displayport to Displayport adapters or buy new cables.


With regards as to whether to use a single Displayport bus or two separate buses on the Mac Pro this will be a matter of trying it and seeing what happens. I could not find any notes from Apple saying one way or the other so there is a possibility it does not matter. If it does here is the Apple article showing which socket is on which bus. See Use multiple displays with your Mac Pro (Late 2013) - Apple Support


For what it's worth it has been possible to connect the Dell 5K screen to a classic Mac Pro with a single Nvidia card and both connections running from that single Nvidia card. To me this suggests it probably would be possible to use the same bus on the Mac Pro 2013. I could not find much about Macs on the Philips site regarding this screen but did notice they specifically list the Nvidia GTX-980 card as being supported in Windows PCs and this card does work at 5K with the Dell in the Classic Mac Pro - not that that helps you much. I also could not find any indication of a specific MST or Displayport settings on the screen so would tend to presume it is on as standard.


Since the Dell UP2715K is now discontinued this Philips screen looks an attractive possible replacement and has the bonus of a built-in webcam and speakers. If you do get it working please let us know.


Overall my recommendation would be to connect it just like the Dell UP2715K.


I did also find an article about using the HP Z27q 5K with a Mac Pro 2013. I suspect this article was written before Apple added official support for this monitor. As per Using 4K displays, 5K displays, and Ultra HD TVs with your Mac - Apple Support


The article I am referring to here - http://www.iclarified.com/49265/how-to-enable-support-for-the-hp-z27q-5k-monitor -in-mac-os-x-yosemite explains how to install a custom display configuration file to enable 5K for the HP screen. My guess is that this is now built-in as standard in newer versions of OS X. My further guess maybe that currently no similar setting exists for the Philips screen and this may be the cause of your problem.


If so the solution would be the same you would need to create and install a similar custom display settings file for the Philips screen. The following website might help you with instructions and a web tool for helping to generate a suitable configuration file. See https://comsysto.github.io/Display-Override-PropertyList-File-Parser-and-Generat or-with-HiDPI-Support-For-Scaled-Resolut…


I would as per the above article find your Vendor and Model ID values and then try generating a file with otherwise similar settings to the HP example file in the iClarified article since that is a 5K display. What should happen is that the Mac will find the Vendor and Model ID from your Philip screen look for the matching display config file and see 5K is to be supported.


To install a custom display config file in El Capitan or Sierra might now require disabling SIP protection.

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Dec 20, 2017 5:56 AM in response to Sean Robert Lewis

Hi!


Reviving this thread in case anyone is curious, I have the MAC PRO Late 2013 working properly with the Philips 5K Monitor 275P4V - and the same should apply to other models from HP & Dell as well (although sadly discontinued now). Those should be working out of the box better than this one since for the Philips I've had to add the Device identifiers manually.


Working well in High Sierra.


If anyone's needs to know the exact procedure, i'll write up a longer post.


Keep in mind that you need to connect 2 mini-displayort to displayport cables to the monitor in oder to get the full 5K AND not all cables are created equal. Some cables work while others don't.

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Connecting 5k display Mac Pro in 2017

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