MP 1,1-5,1 cMP 5,1 with GTX970 -can anyone confirm whether I can output 4K video and at what refresh rate?

[bllx]

As subject line.
Owned my cMP 5,1 from new, love the machine; it has the 6 core 3.33GHz CPU upgrade, and 16GB RAM.

I am thinking of upgrading my monitor/adding a new one, currently have a 1080p monitor but am looking into 1440p and 2160p 4K monitors, probably no bigger than 28 inch.
I have tested 4K video files and they run with no lag, though obviously they did not display at 4K res on my current 1080p monitor.
I am looking for feedback from other cMP owners with the GTX970 video card- can this machine function reasonably while ouputting 4K video resolution?
Can desktop icons and text be made readable, and do 4K files generally play with decent performance?

Thanks for any answers.

 

[bllx]

I'm running High Sierra 10.13.6 for macOS, and legacy boot Windows 10; both work well with 1080p output.

 

[h9826790]

I don't have GTX970, but I see no reason why it can't output 4K 60Hz.

For the same UI resolution, 4K monitor won't make the icon / text harder to read, but will only make them easier to read than 1080P monitor.

Some people insist to use native resolution as the UI resolution on small 4K monitor, then complain the UI is too small. IMO, that's the incorrect way to use 28" 4K monitor. For such small size 4K monitor, user should set UI resolution to 1440P or 1080P with HiDPI, but not 2160P LoDPI.

For video playback, in macOS, it will be the CPU's job to decode the video on your cMP. No matter you upgrade to 970 or not, as long as your CPU cannot decode the video fast enough, you won't have smooth playback. e.g. Your cMP may not able to play some 4K HDR HEVC / VP9 / AV1 videos smoothly in macOS.

But in Windows, the Nvidia driver will able to use NVDEC, which allow the GPU to hardware decode some videos. In that case, you will able to play more videos smoothly, but still no guarantee that you able to play any 4K videos decently (especially the newer videos). At the end, it's all about the codec, bitrate, and compression parameters.

 

[bllx]

Interesting- thanks a lot.
I know 28 inch is small for a 4K monitor, but I am short-sighted and prefer to work at the computer without my glasses on, so I need my eyes to be within a distance of about 30 cm of the screen, so monitors any bigger might need me to move my chair about to see opposite sides of the screen.
I understand that scaling the res to a lower than native one might be sensible for everyday use, but if I choose to try using it at 4K, perhaps the tiny fonts etc will be ok given how close I sit to the screen.

 

[h9826790]

Interesting- thanks a lot.
I know 28 inch is small for a 4K monitor, but I am short-sighted and prefer to work at the computer without my glasses on, so I need my eyes to be within a distance of about 30 cm of the screen, so monitors any bigger might need me to move my chair about to see opposite sides of the screen.
I understand that scaling the res to a lower than native one might be sensible for everyday use, but if I choose to try using it at 4K, perhaps the tiny fonts etc will be ok given how close I sit to the screen.

You can try, nothing hurt, and you can always switch resolution whenever you want.

In general, 1440P HiDPI is the best resolution for 28" 4K monitor. This is the settings that 27" iMac use. macOS is highly optimised to this UI resolution.

 

[bllx]

I am assuming I will not get audio to output through either the HDMI or Display Port outputs of the GTX 970 with hi-sierra, tho they may work in Windows 10- sound right?

 

[h9826790]

I am assuming I will not get audio to output through either the HDMI or Display Port outputs of the GTX 970 with hi-sierra, tho they may work in Windows 10- sound right?

You may able to get that by using the AppleALC.kext

But from memory, still only audio via DP, but not HDMI for GTX970.

 

[mateo14]

Interesting- thanks a lot.
I know 28 inch is small for a 4K monitor, but I am short-sighted and prefer to work at the computer without my glasses on, so I need my eyes to be within a distance of about 30 cm of the screen, so monitors any bigger might need me to move my chair about to see opposite sides of the screen.
I understand that scaling the res to a lower than native one might be sensible for everyday use, but if I choose to try using it at 4K, perhaps the tiny fonts etc will be ok given how close I sit to the screen.

Everyone is making their own choices, and every situation is different.

I want to say that the correct distance doesn't protect your eyes from even the best monitor. I was a person that was always near-sighted. I almost always didn't wear my glasses when I used a monitor. My terrible behavior was the main cause of my developing glaucoma and dry eye syndrome.

Frequently, it's something that you can't cure effectively. It's too risky.

Please treat it as a piece of advice from my experience.

I wish I could change my attitude from the past and purchase a bigger monitor earlier.

 

[bllx]

Matteo, I'm not sure I get your drift...are you saying you think not wearing glasses at the computer was unwise? Why would it contribute to your conditions?
And what has the size of monitor got to do with it? Whatever the monitor size I have to be 30cm from screen to see in focus.
Do you think the best solution is a large monitor, wearing glasses, sitting further back?

 

[mateo14]

Matteo, I'm not sure I get your drift...are you saying you think not wearing glasses at the computer was unwise? Why would it contribute to your conditions?
And what has the size of monitor got to do with it? Whatever the monitor size I have to be 30cm from screen to see in focus.
Do you think the best solution is a large monitor, wearing glasses, sitting further back?

Back then, I thought that not wearing glasses was cool.

I'm not the doctor, and it's just the advice.

I always was near-sighted, and it took me years to have serious health issues. My eyes slowly started to get weaker. I didn't feel relief after hours of using a computer even If I had started to take longer breaks.

I started to have problematic situations like the inflammation of the eyes. Initially, there were easily curable, but I slowly started to rely on
using eye drops.

One day, a doctor checked the pressure in my eyes and said that I had glaucoma. Later, I was diagnosed with dry eye syndrome.

The correct distance, using glasses and a bigger monitor could help your eyes feel more relaxed when you use a computer. It's less risky for the eyes.

 

[bllx]

Well as you said above, each situation is different.
I take my glasses off to sit in front of a monitor because my eyes feel more relaxed focusing uncorrected at 30 cm, than focusing corrected at 100 cm or whatever the normal distance might be. I hadn't considered the cool factor, but yes I suppose it might look pretty cool.
Also, in my experience, not wearing glasses for whatever reason, has the side-effect of slightly improving my vision, ie reducing the short-sightedness. The key thing is not to fall down an unexpected and unseen hole when walking about with uncorrected vision, and to apologise later to people you ignored because you couldn't recognise them.