Is anyone usining thei 27 inch iMac for a monitor

[Shivetya]

and not having any issues?

My friend has been badgering me to get into some PC only games which my iMac does not have the power to play at high detail levels. So I figure I can slap together a good PC and possibly use the iMac as a monitor. The only thing is, I like my iMac more than I would like any PC so I don't want to risk it.



As for PC, probably a i5-2400k (quad core,sb), biostar m/b 8g ram, 6750 or better. Can't decide if to use 128g SSD or 1tg HDD.

 

[Consultant]

Have you tried boot camp?

 

[0186279]

Can't decide if to use 128g SSD or 1tg HDD.

Use both - the SSD for your OS and programs and the HDD for everything else.

Have you tried boot camp?

And this.

 

[SidBala]

The only thing is, I like my iMac more than I would like any PC so I don't want to risk it.

What are you risking here? There is no risk.

Only thing I can think of is the DP not working correctly. Otherwise, it wouldn't damage or mac or anything.

 

[Shivetya]

What are you risking here? There is no risk.

Only thing I can think of is the DP not working correctly. Otherwise, it wouldn't damage or mac or anything.

I understood it requires the iMac to be powered on, so I was wondering why that requirement exists. If it is on it is handling the video in in some way?

I guess I can find the right adapter and run it as my monitor, that will save $300 or so.

As for why not bootcamp? Well I have bootcamp but I prefer to not be in Windows on the iMac as I use it for other things and bouncing back and forth would not be cool. That and it is not future proof like a PC can be, I can upgrade the GPU in the PC to stay good enough with some future games I don't want to miss (Mass Effect 3, Edler Scrolls 5, Battlefield 3, and similar)

 

[euphoria47]

The only way I could imagine doing this would be to have your video out from your gaming rig to come into the iMac which will be handled through minidisplayport. Your windows rig will likely have an iteration of DVI, so a minidisplayport to DVI or Dual-link DVI conversion cable will be required. I haven't tried this because I don't have a 27" imac.

Boot up the PC, then boot up the imac while holding down CMD+F2 to trigger target display mode. If everything works as it should, you will have your imac functioning as your monitor.

Try to borrow a friends PC to test, and let us know if it works!