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4K Mac Mini At 60hz is possible

ious219

ious219

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 17, 2016
13
2
Essentially I can get 60hz at 4k on my Mac Mini with a work around. On my Monitor I have a setting PIP/PBP

This allows two input sources. Use HDMI and Display port into this giving you Side by Side Desktops. Making My Mac Mini think it has two Monitors connected to it at 1920 x 2160. I use App that then combines both Desktops to single Desktop. Only tested this on Windows at this moment. But want to see if I can get it working on OSX

Obviosuly if I can get 60hz this way it is in theory possible with one cable but it has been limited.
 
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Using this method for Amazon Prime only shows half a Screen so is no good. YouTube seems to be fine.
It all depends on why you want 60hz 4k.
 
Herbit said:
@ious219 What brand of monitor is that and did you achieve to run in in Sierra in HiDPI mode?
Click to expand...


I am using a Samsung 4k 24 Inch Monitor, It works better in windows, than it does in OSX but does work.
Its not possible to play videos from Certain places this way. 4k Youtube works fine
HiDPI mode does not work. There would need to be option for HiDPI at 960 x 1080 unless anyone knows option to hack it for that.

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Synchro3 said:
I'm using a Mac Mini 2012 with an eGPU and 4K monitor @60 Hz: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-mini-4k-tv.1644192/page-3#post-23656730
Click to expand...

It is that possible with the 2014 Version. I can play 4k videos at 30hz and most of the time at 60hz
 
Before buying into and eGPU solution be aware that Akitio is coming out with the Node, which is a TB3 enclosure that can take a full length video card and comes with a 400W PSU. It should be under $300. But to answer your original question, I was able to do 4K@60Hz using the Akitio Thunder 2 and 470 and R280x with the Mac Mini/Macbook Pro 2012.
 
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After an update 960 x1080 HiDPl mode showed up. So Times 2 this is same number of pixels as 4K my question is why is this locked out with a single cable. Does using two cables put less strain on the graphics card ?

On OSX there is contrast between the left and right screens
I don't know if this is because I am running HDMI and Display port vs 2 Display port cables I have to run 60 / 100 Contrast for web browsing on OSX for the white backgrounds. Playing video I needed to set the Contract to 52 / 100 but I could still see the line between the two desktops.
Windows there is not much of an issue.

So unless I want to game (ps4 pro soon) or Watch 4k Video (30hz is fine) (Other than youtube none for computers) I have no real reason for external card yet. You can't even get Amazon Prime at HD on a mac let alone 4k so you need to use other devices.

Screen_Shot_2016_10_31_at_02_56_27.png
 
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karsten said:
interesting hack! what's the name of this app to combine the images?
Click to expand...

Missed this it is under Intel HD graphics Settings it called Windows College display mode. Select multiple Monitors on Graphic settings and it is there. Only works on Windows
 
ious219 said:
On OSX there is contrast between the left and right screens
I don't know if this is because I am running HDMI and Display port vs 2 Display port cables I have to run 60 / 100 Contrast for web browsing on OSX for the white backgrounds. Playing video I needed to set the Contract to 52 / 100 but I could still see the line between the two desktops.
Windows there is not much of an issue.
Click to expand...

My first 4K monitor had PIP modes, so I tried using it to get 4K@60Hz using HDMI and DP on my Mac Pro 2010 and 280x. It worked, but I had a contrast issue as well on each side. I couldnt adjust it to where I wasnt noticeable, so I stopped doing it. 4K@60Hz is such a hassle on otherwise great older Macs. At least with the eGPU option I can get more life out of my MacMini 2012, but it still required some fiddling. I wish Apple would just enable it out of the box already. I guess they want people to buy new machines, but they dont even release new desktops that could do it.
 
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I just want to know what code or whats built into the hardware thats stops 60hz over display-port.
Because if it works with dual cable setup it can't be the graphics cards power.
HDMI is fair enough.

Means it is option of OSX 45hz at 4k vs Windows 60hz at 4k. It depends what I would rather have 60hz or OSX. It is even possible to have 5k at 30hz with Mac Mini.
 
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New update with Single display port cable I was able to get 50hz on Windows, and 60hz on Linux.
Tried changing custom resolution settings on Windows but I get error not enough bandwidth. Any Pointers ?

I have the base model.
I didn't buy a Mac to use Windows screw you apple.
 
Childs said:
My first 4K monitor had PIP modes, so I tried using it to get 4K@60Hz using HDMI and DP on my Mac Pro 2010 and 280x. It worked, but I had a contrast issue as well on each side. I couldnt adjust it to where I wasnt noticeable, so I stopped doing it. 4K@60Hz is such a hassle on otherwise great older Macs. At least with the eGPU option I can get more life out of my MacMini 2012, but it still required some fiddling. I wish Apple would just enable it out of the box already. I guess they want people to buy new machines, but they dont even release new desktops that could do it.
Click to expand...
The contrast issue is probably because HDMI on Mac Pro is 1.4, and can't do full chroma subsampling @4K60 (4-4-4), so it can't display all the colors correctly.
 
EnesM said:
The contrast issue is probably because HDMI on Mac Pro is 1.4, and can't do full chroma subsampling @4K60 (4-4-4), so it can't display all the colors correctly.
Click to expand...

but there is no contrast issues On Windows 10 using the same setup
 
Hi,

did you finally manage to run a Mac mini 2012 with a 4k monitor at full 60hz speed?
Using latest OSes (both high Sierra and Mojave) can run a 4k monitor at 30hz without any hack, but not at 60hz.

Have you tried to use SwitchResX ?

thanks
 
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