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4K monitor advice for MacPro 5,1

I

iBungie

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 9, 2008
172
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I am still using a pair of acrylic 23" cinema displays - 15 years old and working fine - but due to changes in MacOs I can no longer adjust brightness. I'm thinking this might be the time to buy a new monitor and am looking for advice on what to buy. I have a 2010 MP 5,1 upgraded to 2012 spec with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 4 GB which should handle a 4K/UHD monitor @ 60Hz refresh ok. I tried a budget Dell but returned in as it made me feel seasick - when I scrolled a screen the colours seemed to lag the black and white. No point spending on a new monitor if this is likely to be a limitation of my graphics card though I have no such issues at all with the pair of Cinema Displays @ 1920X1200.

If anyone can provide advice please let me know your suggestions. I like the area of dual screens so thought maybe to try one large 4K screen so I can have documents side by side as at present. I use FCP but don't do gaming.
 
I'm in the same boat I guess.
Just wanted to warn you about the Dell P2715Q. Great monitor, but probably not so great with a Mac Pro, or MacOS, I don't know which one to blame.
 
mikas said:
I'm in the same boat I guess.
Just wanted to warn you about the Dell P2715Q. Great monitor, but probably not so great with a Mac Pro, or MacOS, I don't know which one to blame.
Click to expand...
Why is this not good with MacPro/Osx, can you elaborate.
I was looking at one of these.
 
This one I own does not wake from sleep gracefully. Allmost all the time when waking from sleep I had to switch it off, the on again, to wake it up and show any picture. Sometimes it did not wake up at all until I unplugged the power cord. And after unplugging the power cord, all the program windows and desktop are a mess. I had to tidy it all up before I could continue working.

I just could not stand it. Now I have a better monitor with one of my other old timers, a HP Z400. Dell works perfectly with it. My Mac Pro (4.1->5.1) is updated with an Asus RX570, MacOS 10.12.6. HP Z400 is confed with Gigabyte RX460, Win 10 Pro.

3x HP Z27i and one Dell U2412M 24" just have to make it for now.

I haven't tried all the tricks yet, like every different configuration with my graphics cards etc. So I don't know the exact reason for the problem. I might try my Asus GTX 1060 later, but not this week. All further suggestions are very welcome too, thank you.
 
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Yes I agree it's got a great picture and good stand for the price. And based on the thread and some googling, these wake up glitches might be about indivual monitors, or a batch of them, rather than all of them, or maybe it is indeed this Asus RX 570 with Dell P2715Q combo which is not working.

If you check the review comments, they mention it in there right away. Older Mac Pro and Dell P2715Q not waking up from sleep. Jan 15, 2016.

Because I've got two other Dell monitors without any wake up problems, I did think it's a problem with this particular monitor, or monitor make. But not sure.

I surely would like to get this Dell 4K working fine with this Mac Pro.
 
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iBungie said:
I have a 2010 MP 5,1 upgraded to 2012 spec with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 4 GB which should handle a 4K/UHD monitor @ 60Hz refresh ok. I tried a budget Dell but returned in as it made me feel seasick - when I scrolled a screen the colours seemed to lag the black and white
Click to expand...
Just to double check, the Geforce 680 can't do 4k @ 60hz if you're using the HDMI port - were you using the displayport connection?
 
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hay for display reviews the best place to look is http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/ & http://www.prad.de/ they give in depth reviews including calibration reports both out of the box and after calibration.

as a budget option i recently picked up a BenQ GC2870H 28" 1080p display which im happy with my colormunki display calibrated it & dispcal gave a vary positive report on the calibration (average deltaE is 0.68 max is 2.82 thats with a D65 calibration).
only down side is it's HDMI only but my DVI to HDMI cable solves that fine.
http://www.benq.co.uk/product/monitor/gc2870h/features/

i like the benq display's they tend to be nice and cheep for what you get and a lot of them dont use PWM so they tend to be easier on the eyes (for me).

for video work the BenQ PD2700Q is a nice value option (on sale at the mo on amazon uk) 1440p & 10-bit/rec.709 (not used that one but for the cost the speck looks good).

i always check amazon warehouse deals some times you can get open box displays for close to half price but check the descriptions and be happy to send it back if it has problems.
 
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I am still on the fence as to whether to get a 27 inch 4k or not.
Or if it’s better to have a 2560x1440 27 inch.

A lot of youtube reviews I have looked at all seem to use them at lower ‘retina’ resolutions anyway.
So surely the only benefit is when zooming, like on an ipad where everyting stays clean and sharp.
 
I have a Dell U2718Q. Love it. I run it at the equivalent of 1440p for UI scale, but OSX treats it as a full 4k monitor when it renders text and high-resolution photos and video.

Text is much, much sharper than a 2560x1440 27" display.
 
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I had an LG 4K display (27") which I got for $450-500; and, it was perfect, other than subtle unevenness with the colors... it REALLY annoyed me. I begrudgingly took it back and instead went for a 1440p display. 4K is awesome, but it's excessive, and I can't think of any 4K display out there which would - without any doubts - be reliable. Too many cheap producers out there.
 
I have the 24" P2415Q. I prefer the smaller size for optimal text clarity. I run it in HiDPI 1080p.
Love it, though it could use an update these days (HDR, HDCP 2.0 support). It came out a while ago. No sleep/wake issues though I'm on a 2016 MBP.

orph said:
i always check amazon warehouse deals some times you can get open box displays for close to half price but check the descriptions and be happy to send it back if it has problems.
Click to expand...

I tried this and had to send two P2415Qs back...sometimes they are a warehouse deal for a reason.
 
I use the Samsung CHG90. It's single monitor, but provide 2x 1080P monitors working area (and vision).

Screen Shot 2017-11-17 at 06.18.23 copy.jpg


I tried to use my 4K TV as the monitor. And then realise I don't really need 4K.

For 27". I prefer 1080P resolution. Otherwise the text may be a bit too small (at a comfortable distance).

This is what I discover when I upgrade from my 24" ACD to 27" ACD. The higher resolution actually offset the extra size. It provides more working space, but not that comfortable (at the same distance).

So, this time I try this 49" (equivalent to 2x 27" side by side) 3840x1080 monitor. Work really well.

I personally believe 1080P HiDPI on a 4K 27" monitor is OK. Everything should be nicely scaled. However, the working space will be same as 1080P monitor, really not much. But if set the resolution to 1440P, then again, the text will be smaller. Still readable, but just not comfortable (my eye position is about 3 feet away from the monitor). If your eye position is closer, 1440P on a 4k monitor should work very well.

I prefer able to lay back and relax when using my computer. But when using 1440P resolution, I found that I often lean forward to make my view point closer to the monitor. Not idea for long period of time, especially almost daily.
 
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I finally had some time for tests with my gear.
A cMP 4.1->5.1, MacOS Sierra 10.12.6, Asus GeForce GTX 1060 OC 6GB, nVidia webdriver 378.05.05.25f01, Dell P2715Q.

This combo has been working great this morning, waking and sleeping gracefully. Dells picture quality is super fine.

Testings continue though, but I wanted to chime in and tell about my observations. Aforesaid sleep-wake issue was probably not the fault of this Dell monitor, not particular make or model, nor was it the fault of this particular individual. Well at least not alone. I don't believe it was the cable either, but I will have to make it sure about that too.

There is another problem though. There is a considerable lag after wake ups. It lasts something like 20-30 seconds, and then goes away. It might happen other times too, not only at wake ups. Kernel_task goes up to 100%, so I do suspect it's the nVidia driver acting up.

But good news are, that this (Dell P2715Q) is a great monitor to consider with Mac Pros. One just has to be aware of possible culprits, and avoid them. And it's affordable too. I bought this one used at 350€ (including VAT24%). New P2715 sell in my country at about 600-700€
 
mikas said:
I'm in the same boat I guess.
Just wanted to warn you about the Dell P2715Q. Great monitor, but probably not so great with a Mac Pro, or MacOS, I don't know which one to blame.
Click to expand...

I have this monitor, two as a matter of fact.
It is 4K and looks awesome in 4K. I have found scaling to be an issue, other than native resolution.

Text falls apart and distorts.

I run boot camp. Mac looks better than windows.

I have seen boot camp on the apple LGs and it’s nice but those monitors seem to have issues.

Just picked up a dell UP2718Q for $409 on an amazon sale. Should be here tomorrow.
 
mikas said:
I'm in the same boat I guess.
Just wanted to warn you about the Dell P2715Q. Great monitor, but probably not so great with a Mac Pro, or MacOS, I don't know which one to blame.
Click to expand...
I've been using a P2715Q I bought for 275$ about a year ago with no issues whatsoever. This is connected to a 2014 MBP though so it might be that the Mac Pro is not compatible as those systems are rather ancient.
 
Yes it might be like that. What kind of ancienty you would be talking about? Is it so, that older stuff just gets to be not so compatible, without any real reason?
 
Please guys, if you quote me or any other member of this forum, please do quote the latest observations of mine or any other poster, please, not the first one. That will serve better the readers and seekers of information, don't you think?
 
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Squuiid said:
That's one hell of a price. Link please?
Are you sure you didn't actually buy a U2718Q?
Click to expand...

You are correct. Thank you.
I was looking at the UP but came to the conclusion I would buy an iMac before spending that much on a monitor, especially for my needs.
 
mugwump said:
No one is suggesting a 40” 4K monitor at native unscaled resolution? That’s the best experience.

https://www.amazon.com/Seiki-SM40UNP-40-0-Inch-LED-Lit-Monitor/dp/B00RVGXZ08/ref=sr_1_12?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1511727139&sr=1-12&refinements=p_n_size_browse-bin:3547809011
Click to expand...

IMO, everything still looks a bit too small at 4k on 40” display.

The text size etc will be same as 1080p at just 20”, not big at all. (A bit smaller than 1440p at 27")

I’m my own experience. Unless you sit really close to the monitor. Otherwise, 1080p need at lease 23” to be comfortable to read (27” is better if the view point is about 2’ away). With this scale, we need 46” or above display to make 4k content at a decent size to read comfortably.

Of course, it’s just my personal experience. I prefer can sit back and relax to use my computers. If anyone use to lean forward and sit really close to the display, 40” should be good enough. However, in this case, 40” will make the user require to have lots of head movement.
 
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