5120x1440 support?

[HiVolt]

15.4 rolled around, and still no support for 5120x1440 resolution on the super ultrawide monitors. max is 3840x1080, which is obviously blurry.

One change happened, is that my Dell 49" is no longer recognized as a TV, but as a monitor and has the scaling options like on a retina screen, but the native 5120x1440 is not supported, at least not on my 2018 mini via USB-C.

It's not a hardware limitation, the resolution works properly under BootCamp.

Has anyone successfully been able to bypass this limitation under Catalina?

 

[MacGizmo]

Have you tried running one of the display manager apps like Display Menu or Display Maestro? It may give you the resolution you want.

 

[joevt]

macOS Intel graphics drivers do not support timings wider than 4K (even though Windows drivers does). I don't know why. Maybe some Apple feature would go away if they enabled 5K - I would be ok with that if that feature remained available by switching back to 4K.

The above is true for Intel graphics prior to MacBook Air 2020 which has 11th gen graphics. AMD graphics is not limited to 4K width.

Therefore, the work around is to connect the display to an eGPU, or a newer computer, or use Windows, or use a lower resolution.

 

[frou]

macOS Intel graphics drivers do not support timings wider than 4K (even though Windows drivers does). I don't know why.

But the 2018 Mini will do full height 5K (5120x2880) with the LG 5K Display?

My guess is that whatever Apple/Intel did to make the above possible was a special purpose kludge and unfortunately wasn't generalized to other unusually wide resolutions like OP's.

 

[joevt]

But the 2018 Mini will do full height 5K (5120x2880) with the LG 5K Display?

My guess is that whatever Apple/Intel did to make the above possible was a special purpose kludge and unfortunately wasn't generalized to other unusually wide resolutions like OP's.

It's not special purpose.

Displays can specify multiple tiles in their EDID. Many displays like the LG UltraFine 5K (5K60Hz), Apple Pro Display XDR (6K60Hz), LG 5K2K (5120x2160 60Hz), Acer XV273K (4K144Hz), Dell UP2715K (5K60Hz), Dell UP3218K (8K60Hz), and others specify two tiles - one for the left half of the display and one for the right half of the display. The LG UltraFine 5K uses two DisplayPort 1.2 (HBR2) 2560x2880@60Hz tiles. Each tile is a separate DisplayPort signal. Each DisplayPort signal has a separate EDID that specifies what tile it is for. Since 2560 is less than 4K, it works with the Intel graphics of the MacMini8,1. Use the AGDCDiagnose to see the real EDID for each DisplayPort signal. Utilities like SwitchResX only show a fake EDID for tiled displays (it's a representation of what a single connection EDID might look like - no tile info included).

For some unknown reason, macOS doesn't support multiple tiles for arbitrary displays. For example, the Acer XV273K and Dell UP3218K are not supported by Apple with any GPU at their max resolution/refresh rate. Apple knows about the UP3218K and have purposefully decided not to support 8K 60Hz mode. In fact, they specifically eliminated single cable 8K 30Hz and half screen width modes 3840x4320 even though they work in macOS.

A Thunderbolt cable can transmit two Thunderbolt DisplayPort streams. A Thunderbolt controller in the computer has two DisplayPort inputs from the GPU and does the DisplayPort to Thunderbolt conversion (Many PCs have Thunderbolt controllers with only one DisplayPort input). A Thunderbolt controller in a Thunderbolt display or Thunderbolt dock can convert the Thunderbolt DisplayPort streams back to DisplayPort.

 

[MriX]

macOS Intel graphics drivers do not support timings wider than 4K (even though Windows drivers does). I don't know why. Maybe some Apple feature would go away if they enabled 5K - I would be ok with that if that feature remained available by switching back to 4K.

The above is true for Intel graphics prior to MacBook Air 2020 which has 11th gen graphics. AMD graphics is not limited to 4K width.

Therefore, the work around is to connect the display to an eGPU, or a newer computer, or use Windows, or use a lower resolution.

Are you sure or tested that the MacBook Air 2020 supports ultra wide 5120x1440 screens?

 

[joevt]

Are you sure or tested that the MacBook Air 2020 supports ultra wide 5120x1440 screens?

1)
Apple Tech Specs for the MacBook Air 2020 says it supports 6K. With that, the question is, does it support 6K with dual HBR3 connection (two 3K tiles) or single HBR2 connection with DSC (one 6K tile)? We want the latter (single connection 6K) which means that single connection 5K should work (because 5K is less than 6K).

2)
The MacBook Air 2020 has the same processor/iGPU as the Surface Laptop 3. There are YouTube videos showing that the Apple Pro Display XDR works at 6K with the Surface Laptop 3 in Windows. Since Windows doesn't support dual HBR3 over Thunderbolt, it means that a single connection is being used for 6K.

3)
Therefore, it's not much of a stretch to say that macOS should allow single connection 5K. 5120x1440 is less bandwidth than 3840x2160 and therfore only requires HBR2. It should be easier to do that than 6K using HBR2 with DSC.

 

[joevt]

If you test Big Sur with > 4096 width timing on Intel graphics, then please post results at https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/intel-graphics-and-5120x1440-testing-in-big-sur.2244174/
I want to narrow down where the support was added or not added (not just driver, but also ig-platform-id).

 

[cosmolv]

15.4 rolled around, and still no support for 5120x1440 resolution on the super ultrawide monitors. max is 3840x1080, which is obviously blurry.

One change happened, is that my Dell 49" is no longer recognized as a TV, but as a monitor and has the scaling options like on a retina screen, but the native 5120x1440 is not supported, at least not on my 2018 mini via USB-C.

It's not a hardware limitation, the resolution works properly under BootCamp.

Has anyone successfully been able to bypass this limitation under Catalina?

No problom on Mac pro 5.1 GTX 980ti my Dell running just fine OS x 10.13.6

 

[joevt]

No problom on Mac pro 5.1 GTX 980ti my Dell running just fine OS x 10.13.6

You have shown framebuffer resolution. It might not match output resolution. Show picture of onscreen menu showing 5120x1440 or screenshot of SwitchResX timing info or AGDCDiagnose output (I don't think AGDCDiagnose provides much info for 980ti).

 

[cosmolv]

You have shown framebuffer resolution. It might not match output resolution. Show picture of onscreen menu showing 5120x1440 or screenshot of SwitchResX timing info or AGDCDiagnose output (I don't think AGDCDiagnose provides much info for 980ti).

Without SwitchResX - the only problem what i have and the reason why i try SwitchResX is because it won't boot with this display I boot my mac using other display. When standart definition display is attached and this widescreen dispaly are detached, then my mac boots up, then i attach this ultrawide and disconnect my standart def. display. don't know how to fix this issue. Seems that some kind of apple Firmware issue that not recognise such wide resolutions at boot. Or something is with that GTX980Ti. but i think problem is at mac Firmware. Or may be the issue with DP 1.4 that cannot be recognised by GTX980ti at boot stage.

 

[joevt]

Without SwitchResX - the only problem what i have and the reason why i try SwitchResX is because it won't boot with this display I boot my mac using other display. When standart definition display is attached and this widescreen dispaly are detached, then my mac boots up, then i attach this ultrawide and disconnect my standart def. display. don't know how to fix this issue. Seems that some kind of apple Firmware issue that not recognise such wide resolutions at boot. Or something is with that GTX980Ti. but i think problem is at mac Firmware. Or may be the issue with DP 1.4 that cannot be recognised by GTX980ti at boot stage.

The photo of the on screen menu showing 5120x1440 60Hz is sufficient.

SwitchResX doesn't affect booting. I don't know why a 5120x1440 display would affect boot - it should switch to 4K or something if it doesn't know how to do 5120x1440. Make sure the display is connected to the first DisplayPort output?

GTX 980Ti is limited to DisplayPort 1.2. You need a 10xx card for DisplayPort 1.4. That's ok because 5120x1440 only requires DisplayPort 1.2 (it has less pixels than 4K). Does the display have a DisplayPort 1.2 mode? Or can you switch the display to PBP (picture by picture) before boot, then switch the display to 5120x1440 after boot?

 

[cosmolv]

The photo of the on screen menu showing 5120x1440 60Hz is sufficient.

SwitchResX doesn't affect booting. I don't know why a 5120x1440 display would affect boot - it should switch to 4K or something if it doesn't know how to do 5120x1440. Make sure the display is connected to the first DisplayPort output?

GTX 980Ti is limited to DisplayPort 1.2. You need a 10xx card for DisplayPort 1.4. That's ok because 5120x1440 only requires DisplayPort 1.2 (it has less pixels than 4K). Does the display have a DisplayPort 1.2 mode? Or can you switch the display to PBP (picture by picture) before boot, then switch the display to 5120x1440 after boot?

i have 1070Ti card laying around, but these 10xx cards are problematic on mac pro 5.1, 4.1 and PBP also tryed, nothing and option for DP 1.2 on this display is not available. HDMI also not working at boot. Maybe i need some Radeon card for this... don't know...

EDIT: got to manage HDMI to work at boot. don't know why, but it now boots ok with HDMI. Hmmm.... strange, but works now.

EIDIT 2: Looks like MacVidCards do not have updated Firmware in their cards to support DP 1.4 boot mode.
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/nv-uefi-update-x64/

It is safe to update and not ruin the modified MacVidCards EFI? I'm not so strong at these things.

 

[penny00]

Many displays others specify two tiles - one for the left half of the display and one for the right half of the display. Each tile is a separate DisplayPort signal. Each DisplayPort signal has a separate EDID that specifies what tile it is for.

For some unknown reason, macOS doesn't support multiple tiles for arbitrary displays. For example, the Acer XV273K and Dell UP3218K are not supported by Apple with any GPU at their max resolution/refresh rate. Apple knows about the UP3218K and have purposefully decided not to support 8K 60Hz mode. In fact, they specifically eliminated single cable 8K 30Hz and half screen width modes 3840x4320 even though they work in macOS.

A Thunderbolt cable can transmit two Thunderbolt DisplayPort streams. A Thunderbolt controller in the computer has two DisplayPort inputs from the GPU and does the DisplayPort to Thunderbolt conversion (Many PCs have Thunderbolt controllers with only one DisplayPort input). A Thunderbolt controller in a Thunderbolt display or Thunderbolt dock can convert the Thunderbolt DisplayPort streams back to DisplayPort.

I was looking at buying a 3840x2160 120hz monitor that uses two displayports using EDID tiles, would it not work? Really sucks if that's the case 😢😢😢

 

[joevt]

I was looking at buying a 3840x2160 120hz monitor that uses two displayports using EDID tiles, would it not work? Really sucks if that's the case 😢😢😢

Maybe. Probably not. Do they advertise macOS support? What's the display model? My display can do 4K up to 120Hz 8bpc with a single DisplayPort 1.4 connection (some MST hub connections require a drop to 118Hz). I guess you need EDID tiles for 10 bpc or HDR without going to chroma sub sampling or Display Stream Compression (DSC).

 

[penny00]

No macos support, did some more research and no it won't work 10 bit @ 4k120hz on mac will work on windows though