MP 7,1 Replacing Mac Pro 7,1 with 2 machines

[LEOMODE]

I currently have a 7,1 Mac Pro with 4k 144hz triple monitor setup + 2 4k TV setup with 10+ USB 3.0 ports and 4 additional HDD’s, and 1 speaker in 3.5mm port.

If I were to replace these with having a say Mac Mini and a Windows desktop with a KVM, would I be able to easily switch back and forth to share devices as I am using a Mac Pro with Mac OS and Windows Boot Camp?

I haven’t found any KVM’s that can handle triple 4k 144hz, dual 4k TV, 4 extra HDD’s, and 10+ USB 3.0 ports.

I just don’t want to unplug and re-plug things back but fundamentally there are no KVM’s that I’ve seen that can support my workload.

Any insight will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[4wdwrx]

I currently have a 7,1 Mac Pro with 4k 144hz triple monitor setup + 2 4k TV setup with 10+ USB 3.0 ports and 4 additional HDD’s, and 1 speaker in 3.5mm port.

If I were to replace these with having a say Mac Mini and a Windows desktop with a KVM, would I be able to easily switch back and forth to share devices as I am using a Mac Pro with Mac OS and Windows Boot Camp?

I haven’t found any KVM’s that can handle triple 4k 144hz, dual 4k TV, 4 extra HDD’s, and 10+ USB 3.0 ports.

I just don’t want to unplug and re-plug things back but fundamentally there are no KVM’s that I’ve seen that can support my workload.

Any insight will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

An idea, possibly split up the monitor, TVs amount the two. Connect USB and HDDs to ones that are used most often for the OS. For drives can go with wired network file server.

KVM switch for the mouse and keyboard and/or rest of the USB devices or software mouse/keyboard share.

 

[LEOMODE]

An idea, possibly split up the monitor, TVs amount the two. Connect USB and HDDs to ones that are used most often for the OS. For drives can go with wired network file server.

KVM switch for the mouse and keyboard and/or rest of the USB devices or software mouse/keyboard share.

Appreciate your response but I always need a triple monitor so will be hard to split them up
I did find some that had DP1.4 KVM below:

https://store.level1techs.com/products/14-kvm-switch-dual-monitor-2computer

 

[rezwits]

What you want is a 4K MATRIX Switcher, and the Iogear USB 4-in-1 from Amazon, USB Switcher.

The switcher is unmatched for cost and capability. DON'T buy a KVM Video+USB simultaneous switching. If they are independent "maybe" you'll be ok, but, I've went thru 4 different before I found that sucker... (I have and use 2!)

Laters...

 

[LEOMODE]

Thanks can you give me the list for that 4k matrix switcher?

 

[LEOMODE]

What you want is a 4K MATRIX Switcher, and the Iogear USB 4-in-1 from Amazon, USB Switcher.

The switcher is unmatched for cost and capability. DON'T buy a KVM Video+USB simultaneous switching. If they are independent "maybe" you'll be ok, but, I've went thru 4 different before I found that sucker... (I have and use 2!)

Laters...

Thanks can you please give me a link for that matrix switcher? I can't find one that is 4k capable and has 4 outputs.

 

[rezwits]

I don't have a 4K, 4x2 Matrix Switcher, but you can Google, I only have an HDMI one, but the USB switch is the FIND.

The Matrix Switcher, is "evolving" tho because of HDMI 1.4a, 2.0, 2.1, 2.1a etc it's NOT FUN
and then you have 120Hz, adaptive sync even! It's much more complicated.

And depends what your desires are... and what you may be willing to settle for, SIIG has some at B&H but that was some time ago.

But you also have to look at wether you wanna pay $200 for say an HDMI 2.0, now, and then in 2 years buy another for $200. Or spend like $700 for an HDMI 2.1 right now. And I don't know your budget but there are 4x4 Matrix Switchers, etc or you could get TWO 4x2 Switchers... hehe like I am saying ... 4x2 Switcher

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

edit: oh and don't forget about HDCP, IF you're gonna watch TV content now days...

 

[Soba]

I currently have a 7,1 Mac Pro with 4k 144hz triple monitor setup + 2 4k TV setup with 10+ USB 3.0 ports and 4 additional HDD’s, and 1 speaker in 3.5mm port.

If I were to replace these with having a say Mac Mini and a Windows desktop with a KVM, would I be able to easily switch back and forth to share devices as I am using a Mac Pro with Mac OS and Windows Boot Camp?

I haven’t found any KVM’s that can handle triple 4k 144hz, dual 4k TV, 4 extra HDD’s, and 10+ USB 3.0 ports.

I just don’t want to unplug and re-plug things back but fundamentally there are no KVM’s that I’ve seen that can support my workload.

Any insight will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

This might be a pain with so many displays, but have you considered connecting each computer to a different video input on each of your displays and then using a simple USB switch for everything else? This would require pressing one button to switch all your USB devices, but then changing the current video input on all your displays whenever you switched computers.

You would need some kind of audio switch or a speaker system with multiple inputs (or alternatively, you could use a USB headset that's also plugged into the switch). You'd also need to evaluate whether running all of your USB devices through a single switch (and thus just one port on your computer) will give you the performance you need. You could potentially split things across two or more switches if you need more performance.

You would need to unmount your external HDDs from either Windows or macOS before switching computers, but that's true in any switching situation whether with a KVM or otherwise.

I've had poor luck with KVM switches of all types over the years, I'm sorry to say. I now have 4 computers connected to one display and in my situation it was much easier to just buy a display with 4 inputs and a 4-port IOGear USB switch. I've had zero problems this way and that is a LOT more than I can say about any of the KVMs I've ever used.

 

[4wdwrx]

Appreciate your response but I always need a triple monitor so will be hard to split them up
I did find some that had DP1.4 KVM below:

https://store.level1techs.com/products/14-kvm-switch-dual-monitor-2computer

Interesting scenario, do you have to use both Mac and Windows at the same time on the triple monitor and TV setup?

If some apps are running on Mac and others on Windows, you can still have all of them running. There are software like Synergy that can go between the Mac and Windows in real-time using the same mouse and keyboard.