Dell 6K U3224KB Monitor

[PaulD-UK]

I can’t answer your question, but I wonder if the limitation is in the performance of the M1 Max GPU cores?
I have run a simple M1 mini 16GB, and that can’t even support a 5K @1440 HiDPi monitor without being ‘laggy’ in FCP.
Perfectly usable but I notice the display is not keeping up at high frame rate graphics screen rendering, showing only about 30fps.

All that has gone with M4.

 

[Flash1000]

I can’t answer your question, but I wonder if the limitation is in the M1 Max GPU?
I have run a simple M1 mini, and that can’t even support a 5K @1440 HiDPi monitor without being ‘laggy’ in FCP.
Perfectly usable but I notice the display is not keeping up at high frame rate graphics screen rendering.
All that has gone with M4.

I briefly tested Photo Mechanic on an M4 Max and encountered the same issue. It was a bit faster, but still not as seamless compared to the laptop alone. Very frustrating.

 

[asus389]

On the spec sheet, it says “10-bit” for the mDP 2.1 but “10-bit FRL” for the HDMI 2.1 port. That gives me hope it’s a true 10-bit panel.

I’m confused by the TB4 specs though, which is probably most important for Mac users.

Did anyone ever confirm this? Is this a true 10-bit panel or is it 8 bit + FRC? Does the backlight use PWM to control dimming? Trying to estimate whether it’s worth a shot to try this. I get eye strain on some displays that use one/both of those technologies.

 

[MikeDr206]

I don’t feel that my Mac Mini M2 Pro struggles with the U3224KB at all. I used to use the default pixel doubling HiDPI resolution, and now do a larger (Zoomed In) resolution (fractional).

 

[xraydoc]

I've skimmed this thread and appreciate the insights shared. It just seems that macOS struggles with 6K HiDPI scaling on third-party monitors, which is unfortunate since I don't want to sell my Dell.

My issue: I use an M1 Max 16” MacBook Pro with the U3224KB over DisplayPort. At default 3072 x 1728 (HiDPI), apps like Final Cut Pro and Photo Mechanic lag when editing video or culling high-res RAW files. Switching to 3072 x 1728 (Low Resolution) fixes the lag but makes text and UI blurry. Lowering to 1920 x 1080 (HiDPI) works fine but defeats the purpose of a 6K monitor.

I've tried safe mode, guest user, cable swapping, HDMI, and firmware/software updates. Activity Monitor shows CPU core spikes during HiDPI scrolling and performance drops considerably. Unplugging the monitor and running the same task on the built-in display (at default HiDPI res) maxes out all CPU cores, yet everything stays smooth. GPU usage shows minimal difference across tests. Day-to-day tasks are fine, but graphics-intensive tasks are unusable unless I drop the resolution.

Does Apple's Pro Display XDR handle this better, or is this a macOS limitation? I'd appreciate any thoughts or suggestions. Thanks again for letting me join the discussion!

The M1 Max shouldn't really be lagging with 6K resolutions, especially if you're using a non-scaled HiDPI setting (exactly 1/2x in each dimension of your display's native resolution).

Try running it over HDMI or USB-C/TB4 instead of DisplayPort. Sometimes there's display connection voodoo that is hard to track down.

 

[Flash1000]

The M1 Max shouldn't really be lagging with 6K resolutions, especially if you're using a non-scaled HiDPI setting (exactly 1/2x in each dimension of your display's native resolution).

Try running it over HDMI or USB-C/TB4 instead of DisplayPort. Sometimes there's display connection voodoo that is hard to track down.

I've tried all three connection types, but the result was the same. I recently switched to DP, as I believe it's the fastest. I had previously used HDMI first and TB4.

 

[hevaKmaI]

FWIW...if anyone uses DDPM, version 2 was released recently and seems to fix a few bugs, but it introduces one where DDPM overrides macOS volume control and makes the volume steps huge with no audio feedback. What's more, the visual feedback seems to be limited to the internal display only. This didn't seem to happen on v1, but for anyone that uses DDPM, you can workaround this issue by disabling Accessibility permissions in System Settings for DDPM.

 

[ckuwajima]

FWIW...if anyone uses DDPM, version 2 was released recently and seems to fix a few bugs, but it introduces one where DDPM overrides macOS volume control and makes the volume steps huge with no audio feedback. What's more, the visual feedback seems to be limited to the internal display only. This didn't seem to happen on v1, but for anyone that uses DDPM, you can workaround this issue by disabling Accessibility permissions in System Settings for DDPM.

Thanks.
I was never able to use DDPM.
The version 1 refused to open in my dual monitor configuration with the second monitor being a LG Ultrafine 5K.
The installation of this new version crashes on my Mac mini M2 Pro running Sequoia 15.3.1.

 

[hevaKmaI]

Thanks.
I was never able to use DDPM.
The version 1 refused to open in my dual monitor configuration with the second monitor being a LG Ultrafine 5K.
The installation of this new version crashes on my Mac mini M2 Pro running Sequoia 15.3.1.

Same exact issue, I reported it to Dell but their support was not hearing me that it was a bug in DDPM. 2.0 came out recently and finally fixed that bug (it remains open when I have the Ultrafine 5k connected), but then introduced this bug. If you install it, just don't enable the Accessibility permissions for now. You'll still be able to modify the webcam settings (which is what I primarily use it for).

 

[xraydoc]

Why has this display gotten so expensive lately? It used to have discounts. Now it's strictly list price everywhere. Tariffs?

 

[EugW]

Why has this display gotten so expensive lately? It used to have discounts. Now it's strictly list price everywhere. Tariffs?

Periodic fluctuations? End of life?

Anyhow, I'll wait for the new models coming this year.

 

[Udy7000]

Hi, all.

It happened after 8 months of usage.

I contacted Dell Romania, they asked to send some information and said they will replace it.

 

[Riot Nrrrd]

Why has this display gotten so expensive lately? It used to have discounts. Now it's strictly list price everywhere. Tariffs?

B&H Photo has it for $1,970. That’s well under list price. Combined with no sales tax (Payboo card), seems like a darn good deal to me.

Now if only it wasn’t so butt ugly lol

 

[EugW]

B&H Photo has it for $1,970. That’s well under list price. Combined with no sales tax (Payboo card), seems like a darn good deal to me.

Now if only it wasn’t so butt ugly lol

The price for the Dell 6K was less than that last year on Amazon. That's why I've been hopeful the new 2025 LG 6K will be released at a decent MSRP with sale pricing bring it to below $2000 too.

 

[Riot Nrrrd]

Does anyone use this monitor with an M4 Pro or M4 Max-based Mac?

If so, does it suffer from any of the M4-related scaled HiDPI issues that plague the 5K/5K2K UltraWide monitors?

 

[Riot Nrrrd]

The price for the Dell 6K was less than that last year on Amazon. That's why I've been hopeful the new 2025 LG 6K will be released at a decent MSRP with sale pricing bring it to below $2000 too.

Agreed. I’d love that new LG, but I’m retiring soon and desperately need to buy some combination of a Mac + high-res monitor (and one that doesn’t have UltraWide HiDPI issues) while I’m still making bank and not on a fixed income. I could buy an M3-based Mac and avoid the issue, but compared to an M4 it seems pointless to buy an M3 now. (Plus, no nano-texture displays on the M3 MacBook Pros.)

I really wish there wasn’t this huge lag time between the CES announcements and when you can actually buy the darn things. 😞

 

[USB3foriMac]

Does anyone use this monitor with an M4 Pro or M4 Max-based Mac?

If so, does it suffer from any of the M4-related scaled HiDPI issues that plague the 5K/5K2K UltraWide monitors?

I'm using it with M4 Mini, does this count? If so, no issues here. Let me know if you need me to do any specific tests.
I have however not found any method to change or increase the camera resolution.
On PC, I can set my resolution manually in most apps.
On the Mac, I haven't found any option to do so, anywhere. Anyone can point me to how to do that?

 

[TMF93]

Does anyone use this monitor with an M4 Pro or M4 Max-based Mac?

If so, does it suffer from any of the M4-related scaled HiDPI issues that plague the 5K/5K2K UltraWide monitors?

I'm Running it with one of the new M4 max Studios: as I have not read read through the 22 pages of the other thread, what is the issue there?

Otherwise, it runs great at 3072x1728 HiDPI, but that is perfect 2x scaling. One issue I had with the previous machine it was connected to (a M2 pro Mini): It was impossible to get HDR at full resolution at 60hz, but the M4 Studio clearly has no such limitation.

As others have offered, let me know if I can test something specific.

 

[splifingate]

Hi, all.

It happened after 8 months of usage.

I contacted Dell Romania, they asked to send some information and said they will replace it.

Nice screensaver!

 

[Riot Nrrrd]

I'm running it with one of the new M4 Max Mac Studios: as I have not read read through the 22 pages of the other thread, what is the issue there?

Let me summarize:

On full 5K or 5K2K Ultrawide monitors, the preferred/default/“ideal” resolution (scaled HiDPI) is not available on M4-based Macs unless the monitor is capable of 120Hz. (One single 5K2K monitor - the Dell 40” U4025QW - runs at 120 Hz.)

For example, a 5K2K monitor (5120x2160) seems to have a preferred/default/“ideal” resolution of 3840x1620 scaled HiDPI. (3/4ths scaling, in other words.)

No M4-based Mac will show that resolution other than the Dell 40” U4025QW so far. M1/M2/M3-based Macs will.

Some people have claimed that Apple have told them it will be fixed in an upcoming OS update. So far, no dice.

I have one of the afflicted 5K2K monitors (a 34” LG Ultrawide) but if a 6K monitor is not affected, I would consider switching. That’s why I asked.

 

[Riot Nrrrd]

I'm using it with an M4 Mac mini, does this count? If so, no issues here. Let me know if you need me to do any specific tests.

Do you have Better Display, or SwitchResX?

A list of scaled HiDPI resolutions supported by this monitor would be useful.

 

[TMF93]

Let me summarize:

On full 5K or 5K2K Ultrawide monitors, the preferred/default/“ideal” resolution (scaled HiDPI) is not available on M4-based Macs unless the monitor is capable of 120Hz. (One single 5K2K monitor - the Dell 40” U4025QW - runs at 120 Hz.)

For example, a 5K2K monitor (5120x2160) seems to have a preferred/default/“ideal” resolution of 3840x1620 scaled HiDPI. (3/4ths scaling, in other words.)

No M4-based Mac will show that resolution other than the Dell 40” U4025QW so far. M1/M2/M3-based Macs will.

Some people have claimed that Apple have told them it will be fixed in an upcoming OS update. So far, no dice.

I have one of the afflicted 5K2K monitors (a 34” LG Ultrawide) but if a 6K monitor is not affected, I would consider switching. That’s why I asked.

Do you have Better Display, or SwitchResX?

A list of scaled HiDPI resolutions supported by this monitor would be useful.

First, here is a screen grab from Better Display with the defaults:

Thank you for the summary on the 5k2k issue.
A 6k display does not have this kind of problem because it will run "by default" at the resolution above, which is 2x scaling and not fractional scaling.
For me, that was the main reason for choosing this model. I also have a 27" 4k display connected to another Mac, and it runs @2560x1440, so 1,5x scaling: while it is perfectly serviceable, when using the display, I can't help but feel like averaging is fuzzier than it should be. On the 6k@2x, everything is pin sharp. (Same reason for the second display on this machine being 5k)

If I may, my personal opinion:
- Don't hold out much hope that such edge cases will get fixed, If it does not work "out of the box", then it probably never will.
- And to copy/paste something I mentioned in this very thread over a year ago: "FWIW, as someone who has run 2 or more monitors on every machine I've had for nearly 20 years, there is simply no replacement for the convenience/comfort of use of multiple monitors, no matter what." I feel that you would perhaps be better served with a couple of 27" 5 k displays, they can be had for "reasonably" cheap, with none of the issues such as fractional scaling, etc..

 

[Udy7000]

Does anyone here own a U3224kba revision 7 or newer (manufactured nov 2024 or later)?

 

[Ladd]

Does anyone here own a U3224kba revision 7 or newer (manufactured nov 2024 or later)?

How do we access that information?

 

[Udy7000]

How do we access that information?

I'm not near the monitor right now, but if I remember correctly, the serial should end with A07 or higher. The manufactured date and the serial number are both located at the back.