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devnull16

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 19, 2018
11
4
Hello.

Does anyone know about Dell UP3218K 8K Monitor compatibility with the Mac Pro 2019?

I own this monitor but I’m only able to drive it using custom resolution on macOS Catalina at 7680x4320 @ 30Hz using two DisplayPort to Thunderbolt converter on an iMac Pro.

I’m speculating this could potentially work using a 3rd-party GPU and using two DisplayPort outputs But unsure if macOS is able to support 8K resolution (Windows does perfectly). I guessing this is still a software limitation rather than hardware.

Thanks in advance.
 
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jinnyman

macrumors 6502a
Sep 2, 2011
762
671
Lincolnshire, IL
I'm not familiar with the mentioned monitor. Have you tried using two displayport to USb-C DP cables directly connecting to the computer like one I linked below:


Theoretically pair of that cable should work? But I'm not really sure how two dp 8k 60hz output is implemented by Dell.

Otherwise, if you have to use a TB3 converter between machine and monitor, it may not work. If all don't work, the best choice may be to get a graphic card with two dp output. All my theories are based on an assumption that Catalina supports 8k 60hZ
 
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Z28McCrory

macrumors regular
Jan 20, 2014
117
54
Indiana
Im kind of curious about this too. I'm not in the market at the moment, but I was thinking about a pair of them down the road.

I ordered my 7,1 yesterday, and decided to go with the base 580X and add a pair of Radeon VIIs. They each have 3x DP 1.4, and the Radeon VII lists the max resolution as 7680x4320. According to the specs of DP 1.4, it can support up to 7680 x 4320 @ 60hz.

As for whether MacOS supports 8k, I don't know.
 
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mattspace

macrumors 68040
Jun 5, 2013
3,329
2,965
Australia
theoretically it should work the same as the up2715k, but as a 2x "retina" version of 4k, buuuut it's entirely possible the iMac Pro has some weird restritions because it's also driving a 5k display internally.

According to Apple's specs for it:


  • Two 5K displays with resolutions of 5120x2880 at 60Hz
  • Four single-stream transport (SST) 4K displays with resolutions of 4096x2304 at 60Hz
  • Two multi-stream transport (MST) 4K displays with maximum resolution of 4096x2304 at 60Hz
  • One 5K display at 5120x2880 at 60Hz and up to three SST 4K displays at 4096x2304 at 60Hz*

May be there's a hard limit of 5K overall? It can't drive the XDR at higher than 5K.
 

fiatlux

macrumors 6502
Dec 5, 2007
352
143
According to the specs of DP 1.4, it can support up to 7680 x 4320 @ 60hz.

It does (with visually lossless DSC compression) - but the Dell 8k monitor still needs two DP cables, probably because its DP inputs are not up to 1.4 version or don't support DSC.

Similar situation as with older Dell/Philips/HP 5k monitors: a single DP1.4 connection would be more than enough to drive them at full resolution but they all need two DP cables because they don't support anything higher than DP1.2.
 

giggles

macrumors 65816
Dec 15, 2012
1,050
1,285
In the Mac Pro specs page, in the GPU section, there’s an easter egg that may be related to future (single tile and single cable, no tricks) 8K displays..let’s see who finds it first..
 
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Pressure

macrumors 603
May 30, 2006
5,166
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I have that monitor. It doesn't support DSC, hence the dual DP1.4 inputs.

However, it isn't supported in MacOS as such. You can only get it running with a single input at 7680x4320 @ 30Hz.

I have used the feedback form a few times from Apple asking for support.
[automerge]1576854599[/automerge]
In the Mac Pro specs page, in the GPU section, there’s an easter egg that may be related to future (single tile and single cable, no tricks) 8K displays..let’s see who finds it first..

The Dell UP3218K is SST but over two DP cables.
 

giggles

macrumors 65816
Dec 15, 2012
1,050
1,285
The easter egg is that one specific card, the newest (and not yet available) one based on RDNA architecture, is purposefully mentioned to support DSC...so I say to anyone interested in 8K wait both for that card and for 2020 8K dsc displays..
[automerge]1576854883[/automerge]
Also, why does apple sell a 8K hdmi 2.1 belkin hdmi cable? What current apple hardware has hdmi 2.1 8K output?
 
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Pressure

macrumors 603
May 30, 2006
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The easter egg is that one specific card, the newest (and not yet available) one based on RDNA architecture, is purposefully mentioned to support DSC...so I say to anyone interested in 8K wait both for that card and for 2020 8K dsc displays..
[automerge]1576854883[/automerge]
Also, why does apple sell a 8K hdmi 2.1 belkin hdmi cable? What current apple hardware has hdmi 2.1 8K output?

Yeah, we know the 5700 XT supports DSC.
 

giggles

macrumors 65816
Dec 15, 2012
1,050
1,285
I wonder if, while equal on the Display Port and DSC side of things, the W5700X could beat the consumer 5700XT on the HDMI side by sporting an actual fully fledged HDMI 2.1..
[automerge]1576858366[/automerge]
Yeah, we know the 5700 XT supports DSC.
What strikes me is Apple felt the need to mention it about the W5700X, even making the other cards look bad...LG Ultrafine 8K DSC anyone?
 
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Pressure

macrumors 603
May 30, 2006
5,166
1,531
Denmark
I wonder if, while equal on the Display Port and DSC side of things, the W5700X could beat the consumer 5700XT on the HDMI side by sporting an actual fully fledged HDMI 2.1..
[automerge]1576858366[/automerge]

What strikes me is Apple felt the need to mention it about the W5700X, even making the other cards look bad...LG Ultrafine 8K DSC anyone?
Sure however it would be nice if we got support for the UP3218K first ...
 

Blair Paulsen

macrumors regular
Jun 22, 2016
211
157
San Diego, CA USA
Looking to attach an 8K display to the 7,1. Samsung perhaps, or LG. AFAIK, HDMI is the only port on such devices theoretically capable of 8K - no TB, no DP, no SDI. Willing to buy a PCIe card if need be. Is anyone running an 8K display from any of the GPUs on Apple's BTO list? Are we waiting for more support for DSC vs enough actual bandwidth for 8K 10bpc?
Anyone out there living the MacPro 8K life...
 

Pressure

macrumors 603
May 30, 2006
5,166
1,531
Denmark
Looking to attach an 8K display to the 7,1. Samsung perhaps, or LG. AFAIK, HDMI is the only port on such devices theoretically capable of 8K - no TB, no DP, no SDI. Willing to buy a PCIe card if need be. Is anyone running an 8K display from any of the GPUs on Apple's BTO list? Are we waiting for more support for DSC vs enough actual bandwidth for 8K 10bpc?
Anyone out there living the MacPro 8K life...
You are waiting for any graphic cards to ship with the required HDMI version for 8K and MacOS.
 

fiatlux

macrumors 6502
Dec 5, 2007
352
143
Easiest (only?) option for now is to get a regular AMD graphic card with two DP connectors and the DELL 8k monitor.

Sorry, I overlooked Pressure's input above. There's some discussions on egpu.io and netkas forums on this topic as well. It seems that using two USB-C to DP adapters allows to see the 8k monitor as two separate screens. Not ideal but the full macos support may not be that far off?
 
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Blair Paulsen

macrumors regular
Jun 22, 2016
211
157
San Diego, CA USA
I found it interesting that in all the info about driving monitors, it listed how many XDRs or 5K or 4K screens a particular GPU could handle, but nothing about even one 8K monitor. All while boasting about how many 8K streams could be edited in real time...
For perspective, one of my main tasks is to vet takes for focus, anything that shouldn't be in the frame that wasn't seen on the viewfinder/LCD during the roll, etc. I can probably manage just fine with the 6K XDR, its a modest downsample, but I'd still be at risk of false positives on downsampling artifacts.
 

giggles

macrumors 65816
Dec 15, 2012
1,050
1,285
I hope this is the year of 8K displays and 8K single-link connections going more mainstream...hopefully both on DP1.4+DSC and on HDMI 2.1...I’d like to see a Navi 5900 XT and W5900X with HDMI 2.1...and an 8K Ultrafine Display...

For good measure Apple already sells an 8K HDMI 2.1 Belkin cable..

Lisa Su literally half-confirmed that the “5900” (dummy name) is in the works in an interview, and people found evidence of it in the openVR benchmark leaderboard..
 

Pressure

macrumors 603
May 30, 2006
5,166
1,531
Denmark
I found it interesting that in all the info about driving monitors, it listed how many XDRs or 5K or 4K screens a particular GPU could handle, but nothing about even one 8K monitor. All while boasting about how many 8K streams could be edited in real time...
For perspective, one of my main tasks is to vet takes for focus, anything that shouldn't be in the frame that wasn't seen on the viewfinder/LCD during the roll, etc. I can probably manage just fine with the 6K XDR, its a modest downsample, but I'd still be at risk of false positives on downsampling artifacts.
You can run the Dell UP3218K with a single DP 1.4 input at 7680x4320@30Hz.
 

Squuiid

macrumors 68000
Oct 31, 2006
1,877
1,713
Has anyone tried the Big Sur beta to see if anything has changed with regards to native support?
 

devnull16

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 19, 2018
11
4
Ugh, tried (again) connecting the Dell 8K monitor using 10.15.6, no luck so far. 8K@30Hz using ResX only :(
 

Squuiid

macrumors 68000
Oct 31, 2006
1,877
1,713
New development. Wonder if this helps?
  • Single display up to 8K @ 30Hz or 8K @ greater than 30Hz with DSC



EDIT: My bad, just remembered DSC isn't supported on the Dell. Ignore.
 
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