Will the 2013 Mac Pro play nice with 4K and Ultrawide monitors?

[rondocap]

I have an Acer Predator 27 inch 4k monitor, and a 34 inch 3440x1440 monitor as well.

They usually do their max hz through displayport, for gaming.

Will the 2013 Mac Pro work with both with HDMI, getting the full proper resolution? I understand likely I'll be limited to 30hz, but it won't be for gaming so that may be ok.

HDMI or should I use some type of thunderbolt to displayport adapter?

 

[CLS727]

Yes it will work. I got a lowest-spec 2014 MacMini to work with the new Samsung ultra-wide (49-inch screen with 32:9 aspect ratio).

For an older 2012 MacBook Air, it worked by setting the monitor's display port setting from 1.2 down to 1.1 (was only getting a black screen in 1.2)

Display port is always better than HDMI for a computer monitor.

You can get a display port to Thunderbolt 2 cord.

Outside of that, most people here will tell you not to buy the trash can. It's been hated since 2013 and should be updated soon anyway.

 

[rondocap]

I know, I used to have the 2010 Mac Pro, and moved to Windows for the last few years. Still have an older Macbook pro retina, but wanted something a little more powerful to work with FCPX.

I was thinking of picking up a sub 2k 2013 Mac Pro, I know it's outdated, but I have always had a soft spot for Mac Pros.

 

[MarkJames68]

I have an Acer Predator 27 inch 4k monitor, and a 34 inch 3440x1440 monitor as well.

They usually do their max hz through displayport, for gaming.

Will the 2013 Mac Pro work with both with HDMI, getting the full proper resolution? I understand likely I'll be limited to 30hz, but it won't be for gaming so that may be ok.

HDMI or should I use some type of thunderbolt to displayport adapter?

Both will work fine. No need for TB to DisplayPort adapter, get a mini DP to DP adapter or cable. You will then get 60Hz out of both monitors.
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I know, I used to have the 2010 Mac Pro, and moved to Windows for the last few years. Still have an older Macbook pro retina, but wanted something a little more powerful to work with FCPX.

I was thinking of picking up a sub 2k 2013 Mac Pro, I know it's outdated, but I have always had a soft spot for Mac Pros.

Now is a good time. Between the Sintech NVMe adapter allowing standard Samsung drives to be used, memory cheap on eBay and lots of cheap 6 and 8 core CPUs if you’re handy you could have a 6 core 64GB 512GB SSD system for little more than $2K.

 

[AidenShaw]

Both will work fine. No need for TB to DisplayPort adapter, get a quality mini DP to DP adapter or cable. You will then get 60Hz out of both monitors.

Edited it for you. Beware of cheap no-name cables which claim to be able to do 60Hz, but can't.

We had some issues with 60Hz vs 30Hz when we rolled out dozens of Dell P2715Q 4K monitors. Fortunately, some of the systems had a popup message like "cable does not support 60Hz, downgrading to 30Hz". eWasted all of those cables and got better ones. We're happy campers now.

 

[MarkJames68]

Edited it for you. Beware of cheap no-name cables which claim to be able to do 60Hz, but can't.

We had some issues with 60Hz vs 30Hz when we rolled out dozens of Dell P2715Q 4K monitors. Fortunately, some of the systems had a popup message like "cable does not support 60Hz, downgrading to 30Hz". eWasted all of those cables and got better ones. We're happy campers now.

Fair point. Ideally the cable should say 4K 60Hz.

 

[rondocap]

Fair point. Ideally the cable should say 4K 60Hz.

Ok, I got the Mac Pro, 2013 4 core. Using an Acer 4k Predator monitor. Here's my question:

Using Displayport to Mini DisplayPort into the thunderbolt 2 port, the monitor works perfectly fine, displays at 4k properly scaled and sharp.

If I try to use the HDMI port, the monitor will display at 4k 30hz, but does not scale. The text is very tiny. There is no option to scale in 4k, I can change the resolution and make the text larger, but it becomes fuzzy.

Is proper 4k scaling not available through HDMI and only works with DisplayPort? I have high speed, high quality cables for HDMI.

 

[MarkJames68]

I unfortunately don't know the answer to HDMI and scaling. You could always try SwitchResX and see if that makes a difference.

Honestly I've found it just easier to go through the Mini Displayport. On a 6,1 unless you need every port I would just use Bus 0 (one of the 2 bottom ones) and skip HDMI.

 

[rondocap]

I wanted to connect my PC to the DisplayPort, which takes more advantage of the higher refresh rate.

 

[saulinpa]

If I try to use the HDMI port, the monitor will display at 4k 30hz, but does not scale. The text is very tiny. There is no option to scale in 4k, I can change the resolution and make the text larger, but it becomes fuzzy

There is an Apple note about HDMI using 4K with MST on the Mac Pro 2013. See if you have the option to set SST.
From https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202801:

Scaling and display rotation are supported for 4K Ultra HD TVs or 4K displays connected to your Mac Pro using the HDMI port. Some 4k displays might not work with display rotation when the display is set to multi-stream (MST) mode. If this happens, use the display in single-stream (SST) mode instead.

 

[R3k]

I have a 34'' 3440x1440 Dell monitor and 1080p tv plugged in to a 2013 MP with D300's and it works perfect.

2 years ago i plugged in 2 x 4k monitors and had major frame rate issues when running Logic Pro. I assume it likely that apple has fixed this however I'm not going to be testing it.

 

[iMactouch]

I have a LG 34UM95-P Monitor with 3440x1440 here and it is connected to a Mac Pro 2013 via Thunderbolt 2 with D300 and it plays nicely in 60Hz. Also it uses 30 bit!
My Mac mini 2012 is also connect via Thunderbolt and it uses 3440x1440 in 50Hz but only 24bit.