4K and the "old" Mac Pro - let's get to the answers

[mtasquared]

Thanks to MVC for all the great information. Messed with the same benchmark using my GTX 760 on my 5,1, but only outputting to 1080p windowed.

Would love to have 4K video playback on this old (?!) machine. It plays 4K movies smoothly in VLC, but again outputting to 1080p. Does that mean I can watch 4K smoothly using display port, SwitchResX, etc on a real 4K monitor?

 

[goMac]

Does anyone here have an idea whether certain after-market AMD cards are likely to benefit from video card developments in the new Mac Pro? Still trying to decide what to switch my 5770 to...

If you were serious about wanting an Apple 4k display, you're at the end of the line. Any new Apple display will require Thunderbolt, and there are no Thunderbilt upgrades for the "classic" Mac Pro. Even if you upgrade the video card.

 

[slughead]

If you were serious about wanting an Apple 4k display, you're at the end of the line. Any new Apple display will require Thunderbolt, and there are no Thunderbilt upgrades for the "classic" Mac Pro. Even if you upgrade the video card.

Does anyone here have an idea whether certain after-market AMD cards are likely to benefit from video card developments in the new Mac Pro? Still trying to decide what to switch my 5770 to...

First off, Apple doesn't have a 4K display yet. Second, That in no way answers his question.

He ( I think ) was wondering about putting aftermarket AMD cards in a cheese-grater pro and enjoying the driver enhancements that will make 4K displays not run like a pile of crap.

My thought would be: Since the flashed 7970 is identified as a D700 on mac, It's highly likely it'll behave the same way with 4K displays.

 

[sirio76]

In the latest build of Maverick the 7970 is not identified as a D700 anymore

 

[handheldgames]

In the latest build of Maverick the 7970 is not identified as a D700 anymore

As it should be. AFAIK the release D700 has a different EFI ROMS and 2 GPU's.

 

[-hh]

What are you talking about? I'll certainly miss all his "unbiased", "disinterested" opinions which have "nothing to do" with his "business".

Which you only knew because he did the _ethical_ thing and disclosed his interests. When one actually starts to think through his business case, it really isn't a particularly profitable business...and we also know that it is t even his day job.

I'm almost sure he will be back on this forum as soon as he need to sell some more flashed GPUs.

I'm not so sure.

There's unfortunately too many people who don't understand the ethics of disclosure of real-or-perceived conflicts of interest, including the MR readership. MacVids has gotten beaten up far too many times unfairly and this does eventually grate on one's person such that the eventuality is a short temper.

Glad to hear that he's contributing to netkas...even thou that does mean that I'll have to start to read another Tech website to keep tabs on this specialty topic instead of at MR...maybe I'll finally start to run an ad-blocker as a form of protest even?


-hh

 

[JamesPDX]

Sometimes I am really glad I work in audio...

Although this is an "older thread" it still has useful information. I'm running a 2012 i7/2.6 Mini with this for Pro Tools. What are you running that allows to to keep your machine in your control room or tracking room?

 

[norda72]

In the last few weeks I have been getting more and more requests along the lines of "will card XXX run a 4K display?"

I have had to answer "I have no idea"

Well, The Great Pumpkin brought me a Asus PQ321.

So, we are going to figure it all out.

To whit:

I am starting with my favorite card of our creation, the EFI'd GTX570 2.5.

These took a great deal of work to solve, and I am quite certain that every single one of these is "based" on our EFI work.

Thanks of course to Nvidia for the drivers and original EFI.

Anyhow, this is first card I will test with 4K.

The good news...4K on DisplayPort !!!

The bad news...Seems that boot screen isn't drawn in a way that translates to 4K, but I will need to experiment more.

I waited a while and it just stayed grey.

Good news is I might be able to fix that.

The other bad news is that there isn't enough oomph to make this more than a desktop/web browser card at this res.

I ran Valley at Ultra but backed off the AA...still a slide show.

I may need to come up with a less painful benchmark.

Anyhow, we will be testing ALL of our cards for 4K compliance in 10.9.

We will update our listings as we get to them, but I will also be happy to answer questions from the curious.

Hello! I have an old Mac Pro Quadcore mid 2012 with the HP z27s 4K-display. I have now changed the graphic card in order to get 60 Hz in 4K with out mirroring. I have got it, but with NO boot screen. To get that I need to change from displayport to HDMI or DVI, and then I only get 30 Hz, like with the old graphic card (ATI Radeon HD 5770). My new card is an NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX680 2 GB DDR5 FOR APPLE MAC PRO 3,1-5,1.

 

[JedNZ]

Consider leaving the original GPU (GT120?) in your cMP (in addition to your GTX680), and connecting it to a DVI port on your 4K-display or to a separate display. This will give you boot screens, plus if you use a separate display for boot screens then you get the added benefit of extending your screen realestate. Or you can simply leave the original GPU disconnected from whatever display you'' connect it to during normal use, and just connect it up for boot screens when you need it. Saves having to install/remove the GPU use to get boot screens.

My setup is:
PCIe slot 1: Sapphire Nitro Radeon R9 380X (4GB - 4K 60HZ capable)
PCIe slot 2: GT120 (512MB)
Samsung 28" 4K (DP, DVI, HDMI)
Viewsonic 22" 1080p

Normal setup: Sapphire Nitro R9 380X connected to my 4K via DP, plus the 1080p display connected to the R9 380X's DVI port. I don't have the GT120 connected during normal use (it's still inside my cMP, but just not connected to a display). This gives me a desktop of 3840x2160 (R9 380X DP) plus 1920x1080 (R9 380X DVI).

For Boot screens: I simply swap the DVI cable out of the R9 380X and plug it into the GT120 (I still keep the R9 380X connected via DP to the 4K display). This too gives me 3840x2160 (R9 380X DP) plus 1920x1080 (GT120 DVI), with the added bonus of boot screens. I do suffer some strange artefacts (menu tearing, menu blanking) on the 1080p screen with the GT120 once I get to the desktop, but it works perfectly for boot screens.

I've mentioned elsewhere that FCPX doesn't like the GT120 connected at the same time as the R9 380X, and Adobe Photoshop does't like this for any 3D work either. I have to make sure the GT120 isn't connected to a display when I start FCPX, and after that I can connect the GT120 to the 1080p display. But Photoshop won't work without issues with the GT120 hooked up to a display, regardless of whether it's connected when I start PS or connect it after PS is running.

 

[h9826790]

Hello! I have an old Mac Pro Quadcore mid 2012 with the HP z27s 4K-display. I have now changed the graphic card in order to get 60 Hz in 4K with out mirroring. I have got it, but with NO boot screen. To get that I need to change from displayport to HDMI or DVI, and then I only get 30 Hz, like with the old graphic card (ATI Radeon HD 5770). My new card is an NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX680 2 GB DDR5 FOR APPLE MAC PRO 3,1-5,1.

That's normal. Boot screen only available for 4K 30Hz on cMP EXCEPT Maxwell / Pascal card flashed by MVC.

But since boot screen is generally not required for daily use. I suggest you can keep the DP1.2 connection (4K 60Hz). And only switch the monitor to DP1.1 or use your adaptor when you really need the boot screen (e.g. for firmware upgrade, or trouble shooting, etc).

 

[DPUser]

Although this is an "older thread" it still has useful information. I'm running a 2012 i7/2.6 Mini with this for Pro Tools. What are you running that allows to to keep your machine in your control room or tracking room?

Just saw this... to answer, my Mac Pro resides in an air-conditioned machine closet within my tracking room. My RX460 is a nice, quiet card, too; no fans most of the time. And I now run a 40" 4k monitor in the control room.