Why Does 2560x1080 Render So Poorly Using The Mini Display Port to Apple Dual Link DVI Adapter On a 2009 Mac Mini

I have a Late 2009 Mac Mini Server connected to an LG 29UM58 29" Ultrawide monitor. I am connected to the display using Apple's Mini Display Port To Dual Link DVI Adapter, this issue plugged into a DVI to HDMI adapter, and then into the monitor. The DVI to HDMI adapter does support 21:9 and it does support 4k. When the resolution is set to 1920x1080 ( 1080p ) everything renders just fine. The picture quality looks great, but everything is stretched because this is not the monitor's native resolution, and so this is not ideal. When I set the resolution to 2560x1080 it works, but everything renders so poorly I can't even read the text on the screen. The Late 2009 Mac Mini Server DOES support this resolution as found here: Mac mini (Mac OS X Server, Late 2009) - Technical Specifications, in fact it supports up to 2560x1600 using the Dual Link DVI adapter, and I even found a few people stating this exact same Mac Mini looks "Amazing" running at 2560x1600 on an Apple Cinema Display, so why does it render so poorly on mine? I read somewhere these adapters are "unusable" without firmware above version 1.3, but I do not know how to check the firmware version of my adapter, and am I trying to figure out what is causing this and how to fix this issue. I took some photos of what the monitor looks like when the resolution is set at 1920x1080 and the difference between 2560x1080. The quality is not due to the camera, it actually looks like this and can be found here: https://imgur.com/a/2oFPg

Mac mini, macOS Sierra (10.12.5)

Posted on May 26, 2017 7:08 PM

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6 replies

May 26, 2017 8:37 PM in response to kahjot

Is it possible that this resolution will only properly display on an "Extended Desktop" It says in the technical specifications that the 2nd display resolution supports 2560x1600. It wouldn't make much sense, but is this at all possible? Do I need to have 2 monitors plugged in for me to properly use that resolution?

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Why Does 2560x1080 Render So Poorly Using The Mini Display Port to Apple Dual Link DVI Adapter On a 2009 Mac Mini

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