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Grafic card for 4K on a 5,1 MacPro

C

Coyote2006

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 16, 2006
512
233
I'm thinking about using a 27" 4K monitior on my 5.1 MacPro.

I'm currently using a ZOTAC GeForce GTX 680 4GB witch "only" supports resolutions up to 2560 x 1600, but I guess I'd need 3840 x 2160 or 4096 x 2160 for 4K.

Are there any grafic cards around that could be used for that? Thanks for any ideas.
 
Tom-Create-Pro said:
Here's an article we wrote detailing some cards that work with 4K on the 5, 1. All Nvidia, will be updating with AMD options soon, you might find the info useful.

The cards we use are all custom so they have boot screens and work especially well within our systems, but any of these would support 4k (without a boot screen).

http://create.pro/blog/create-pro-now-offering-4k-capable-mac-pro-5-1-systems/
Click to expand...

Thats helpful.
Firstly, do you sell these cards individually?
Also, do these cards function at full Pci-e 2.0 (5GTs) speed in windows as well as Yosemite?
 
Coyote2006 said:
I'm thinking about using a 27" 4K monitior on my 5.1 MacPro.

I'm currently using a ZOTAC GeForce GTX 680 4GB witch "only" supports resolutions up to 2560 x 1600, but I guess I'd need 3840 x 2160 or 4096 x 2160 for 4K.

Are there any grafic cards around that could be used for that? Thanks for any ideas.
Click to expand...

If your 4k monitor uses single stream (SST), your GTX 680 can handle it. I'm using an EVGA GTX 680 4GB w/ samsung U28D590D - only thing that doesn't work is the boot screen - which is why I also have a 2560x1440 monitor hooked up as well.

Multi-stream (MST) I think is also possible on that card, but requires driver hacking. Others can provide details.
 
omvs said:
If your 4k monitor uses single stream (SST), your GTX 680 can handle it. I'm using an EVGA GTX 680 4GB w/ samsung U28D590D - only thing that doesn't work is the boot screen - which is why I also have a 2560x1440 monitor hooked up as well.

Multi-stream (MST) I think is also possible on that card, but requires driver hacking. Others can provide details.
Click to expand...

Do you run this monitor at 60 Hz with 3840 × 2160 pixels? Can you recommend it?
 
Coyote2006 said:
Do you run this monitor at 60 Hz with 3840 × 2160 pixels? Can you recommend it?
Click to expand...

Yes, I do run 3840x2160x60Hz.

But I wouldn't necessarily recommend it - the panel is a TN type, and shows some color shifting vertically - horizontally it seems pretty good. I don't do any color-sensitive work with it, but I'm not sure one would like it if doing video/photo work. Compared to the panels in the iMac & retina iMac it doesn't look as good to me.

I have a 3840x2160x30Hz TV at work, and frankly it looks better. The refresh rate is a bit annoying, which is why I bought the samsung for home, but in hindsight I wish I had waited for the retina iMac instead. Not sure if there are any great/affordable 3840x2160x60hz models yet - that certainly wasn't true when I bought it.
 
Tom-Create-Pro said:
Here's an article we wrote detailing some cards that work with 4K on the 5, 1. All Nvidia, will be updating with AMD options soon, you might find the info useful.

The cards we use are all custom so they have boot screens and work especially well within our systems, but any of these would support 4k (without a boot screen).

http://www.macvidcards.com/
Click to expand...

There, fixed that for you.

If you're going to pawn off someone else's weeks of work as your own, a little accreditation is nice.
 
omvs said:
Yes, I do run 3840x2160x60Hz.

But I wouldn't necessarily recommend it - the panel is a TN type, and shows some color shifting vertically - horizontally it seems pretty good. I don't do any color-sensitive work with it, but I'm not sure one would like it if doing video/photo work. Compared to the panels in the iMac & retina iMac it doesn't look as good to me.

I have a 3840x2160x30Hz TV at work, and frankly it looks better. The refresh rate is a bit annoying, which is why I bought the samsung for home, but in hindsight I wish I had waited for the retina iMac instead. Not sure if there are any great/affordable 3840x2160x60hz models yet - that certainly wasn't true when I bought it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your feedback!
 
Pending said:
Absolutely agree.
Are those your tweaked cards being sold there?
Click to expand...

Yeah, there was a time when hackers did this stuff for the thrill of discovering things. We gladly credited others when their work led to our own discoveries.

I wouldn't imagine that many people are going to trust their purchase decisions be dictated by a group founded on lies.

They have nothing to contribute, they will only take.
 
MacVidCards said:
Yeah, there was a time when hackers did this stuff for the thrill of discovering things. We gladly credited others when their work led to our own discoveries.

I wouldn't imagine that many people are going to trust their purchase decisions be dictated by a group founded on lies.

They have nothing to contribute, they will only take.
Click to expand...

A US-based company crying about a UK-based one offering the same services seems stupid. So what if the original hack was yours? It's a hack to get hardware working on a Mac Pro. My old quicksilver G4 has an AGP card that was adapted from 8x to run on a 4x bus. Did I care where the hack originated from? No. I was more concerned with the fact I could actually buy it!
 
barkmonster said:
A US-based company crying about a UK-based one offering the same services seems stupid. So what if the original hack was yours? It's a hack to get hardware working on a Mac Pro. My old quicksilver G4 has an AGP card that was adapted from 8x to run on a 4x bus. Did I care where the hack originated from? No. I was more concerned with the fact I could actually buy it!
Click to expand...

Do you know if that company sell macvidcards graphics cards or their own versions ?
 
If you are happy buying from liars, good for you.

BTW, the guy who made the hack public knowledge for 8x AGP cards running on G4s was none other than myself.

The pix and instructions were done by myself.

(Thomas Perrier credited me on the original instructions & pix)

You're welcome.
 
MacVidCards said:
There, fixed that for you.

If you're going to pawn off someone else's weeks of work as your own, a little accreditation is nice.
Click to expand...

Our cards actually don't come from yourself. I don't believe your cards are internally powered? All of ours are.

If you came up with the original solution that's awesome, you did something for the community, as we were trying to do by testing which of these cards are 4K compatible.
 
MacVidCards said:
If you are happy buying from liars, good for you.

BTW, the guy who made the hack public knowledge for 8x AGP cards running on G4s was none other than myself.

The pix and instructions were done by myself.

(Thomas Perrier credited me on the original instructions & pix)

You're welcome.
Click to expand...

Personally I would buy these type of cards from you, in fact hopefully will be soon, just waiting to see what happens with the gtx970. I don't believe anybody else has achieved the level of understanding in these cards' tweakage!
 
Last edited:
barkmonster said:
Both companies are simply flashing Nvidia or AMD branded graphics cards. There are no specifically "Macvidcards" branded graphic cards in the first place!
Click to expand...

Is it just a case of simply flashing these cards though.
There seems to be more to it than that.
For example achieving pci-e 2 speeds in OS X and Win OS not to mention taming the power requirements to avoid overheating.

Coyote2006 apologies for this drifting off your original post.
 
Pending said:
Is it just a case of simply flashing these cards though.
There seems to be more to it than that.
For example achieving pci-e 2 speeds in OS X and Win OS not to mention taming the power requirements to avoid overheating.

Coyote2006 apologies for this drifting off your original post.
Click to expand...

Whether it's firmware, hardware modifications or both, they're both doing a similar thing but for customers in different countries. I wouldn't expect anyone to be able to claim exclusive rights to modify hardware they didn't design in the first place. It's good news for people like me in the UK though because for my uses, I could save a fortune over an 8-core 2013 Mac Pro or useless all-in-one 4Ghz iMac, keep the drives out of my G4 that's currently a backup server and buy a used 2.66Ghz 12-core Mac Pro with a GPU that handles higher res displays in the future. My ideal setup would be a 21:9 29" or 34" screen with 2 x 23/24" HD screens mounted above them. I can now definitely buy a setup like that without having to mess about with international shipping or having to do more than save and then fit my existing drives to a pre-built system with warranty.
 
Coyote2006 said:
I'm thinking about using a 27" 4K monitior on my 5.1 MacPro.

I'm currently using a ZOTAC GeForce GTX 680 4GB witch "only" supports resolutions up to 2560 x 1600, but I guess I'd need 3840 x 2160 or 4096 x 2160 for 4K.

Are there any grafic cards around that could be used for that? Thanks for any ideas.
Click to expand...

Think you can do 4k 30Hz in OS X Yosemite. Windows (if you use it) does 4k 60Hz.
 
barkmonster said:
Whether it's firmware, hardware modifications or both, they're both doing a similar thing but for customers in different countries. I wouldn't expect anyone to be able to claim exclusive rights to modify hardware they didn't design in the first place. It's good news for people like me in the UK though because for my uses, I could save a fortune over an 8-core 2013 Mac Pro or useless all-in-one 4Ghz iMac, keep the drives out of my G4 that's currently a backup server. I can now definitely buy a setup like that without having to mess about with international shipping or having to do more than save and then fit my existing drives to a pre-built system with warranty.
Click to expand...

Ok, Mr. Shill. BTW, you gave it away with that last sentence. The other guy never mentioned a warranty.

And I think you'll find that the drives in a G4 won't work in a MP of any sort. (PATA vs SATA)

Nice team work, or maybe same person.

As I said, liars.
 
MacVidCards said:
Ok, Mr. Shill. BTW, you gave it away with that last sentence. The other guy never mentioned a warranty.

And I think you'll find that the drives in a G4 won't work in a MP of any sort. (PATA vs SATA)

Nice team work, or maybe same person.

As I said, liars.
Click to expand...

Just because you can't defend your position without resorting to meaningless accusations. I'm no shill just because I independently disagree with you. For all I know the UK company is the same one as yours. I'm just simply stating that you can't copyright a hardware mod or hack when you don't even produce the hardware it works with! If you hate facts, meaningless accusations, insults and blatant lies based on arrogant conclusions don't give your perfectly ignorable opinion value. It's also VERY CONVENIENT that a GPU I bought on eBay years ago just HAPPENS to be your exclusive domain too. It's almost as if you think you're the only person in the world who's allowed to do what you do.

Utterly utterly pathetic!

As for the warranty comment. I'm capable of visiting both your sites to see what you're both arguing over and then remembering what I see there. Why would I have any incentive to buy anything from you even I was in the states when your attitude stinks?

EDIT: Talking of PCIe cards (or rather PCI), I have both USB 2.0 and SATA on the G4. I wonder how? :)
 
Last edited:
I replied to a forum spy post with an opinion and then visited 2 company sites and googled a GPU for more information about it. What a shill I am :)
 

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Tom Pro to Take over GPU development for Macs

Tom-Create-Pro said:
Here's an article we wrote detailing some cards that work with 4K on the 5, 1. All Nvidia, will be updating with AMD options soon, you might find the info useful.

The cards we use are all custom so they have boot screens and work especially well within our systems, but any of these would support 4k (without a boot screen).

http://create.pro/blog/create-pro-now-offering-4k-capable-mac-pro-5-1-systems/
Click to expand...

Hey, great that you guys are so on top of this that you can sell cards.

We will leave Maxwell development to you and even allow you you to continue GK110 support for future OS releases. If the next OS release kills some displays (like 10.9.3 did for GTX680 4GB) I'm sure you guys can handle.

Glad that you got smart folks on staff to do this tech stuff, always takes Netkas & I weeks to figure stuff out. Guess you are just smarter than us.
 
Tom-Create-Pro said:
Our cards actually don't come from yourself. I don't believe your cards are internally powered? All of ours are.

If you came up with the original solution that's awesome, you did something for the community, as we were trying to do by testing which of these cards are 4K compatible.
Click to expand...

Got to say your comment comes across as being a bit disingenuous given what has been revealed in the thread -
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1813249/
I mean its got Macvidcards written against the Rom Revision in the screen grab from one of your machines.
 
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