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ItsAShaunParty

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 20, 2013
67
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I'm planning to buy a 2015 or 2017 5K iMac to convert into a standalone display. I’ve seen boards on eBay, and I remember reading about one that also supports the speakers and camera, but I can’t find it now.

Has anyone come across this or have recommendations? Also, does anyone know of a detailed tutorial for the conversion process?

Thanks!
 
I'm planning to buy a 2015 or 2017 5K iMac to convert into a standalone display. I’ve seen boards on eBay, and I remember reading about one that also supports the speakers and camera, but I can’t find it now.

Has anyone come across this or have recommendations? Also, does anyone know of a detailed tutorial for the conversion process?

Thanks!

I recommend you to drop the idea. Unless you have one iMac at hand and want to convert it, starting the whole process from scratch is not advisable.
 
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I would highly recommend such a project. I myself bought a 2017 iMac 5k and a JRY-W9RQUHD-SA1 conversion board on AliExpress and it works really well. I have not added camera & speaker support but there is audio amplifier on the board so the speakers can be connected. I would not recommend using the built in USB-hub in combination with USB-C since then you need to use DSC (display stream compression) and at least for me that caused eye strain even-though I were not able to visually detect it. But it is possible to route an extra USB-cable for the camera or tuck in a thunderbolt hub that supports the full video bandwidth needed without compression.

For reference this is the thread to dig into where I started:

It is many pages with a lot of helpful information. Now and then there are summary's posted with the current options available.
 
@ItsAShaunParty It's a great idea to do this conversion if you want an excellent 5K monitor to go with a new Mac.
It requires a bit of expertise and time, but the result is excellent. :)

Here's my list from the DIY 5K Monitor thread of the DIY conversion boards available.
Also see this page of further info.

"one that also supports the speakers and camera":
The speakers can be retained and give good results, but the webcam has to be disabled, as there is no way to use the PCIe data stream it outputs.
Older USB webcams from 2011 or earlier iMacs don't give good results.
You can get USB webcam kits from AliExpress, but the results are mixed.

The best webcam solution is to use an iPhone, and Apple's Continuity Camera.
 
Thanks for the positive feedback! Just waiting ro a cheap 27" on ebay...
Hi everybody, i’m doing the conversion. I’m at that point: got a late 2015 iMac full working for 120€, bought at Amazon the tool kit to open the screen and adhesive stripes for 10€, the AliExpress 27” 5K driving board and power for 120€. I also bought the crossover filters to use the original speakers with the driving board 14€ and a usb cam 5MP for 20€. A thunderbolt to display port 13€. My iMac is empty, just the two speakers are back waiting for the board and the filters I’m waiting from china. I received the camera and it works perfectly with my M4 Mac Mini. The quality is acceptable, but I wish I could use the original front cam if I could connect the 20 or 25 pin connector to a usb out… but never found any post about… the Apple camera continuity seems the best solution but I’ll try the usb webcam before. I enter this adventure after viewing hundreds times the YouTube examples. So when I receive the all parts and finish the transformation, I’ll be back to share with you. By the way if there is a post with reusing the original cam, I’m very interested.
So, see you soon, in about 10 days (I’m going skiing in the French Alpes) and sorry for my poor English. Francis from Paris, France.
 
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