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Scary Spice

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 31, 2015
270
364
British Columbia
I would like to go to two 4k monitors at retina resolution at my Mac Pro 6,1 workstation.

It would be cool to also be able to use them with my 15" tb mbp and my wife's 13" tb mbp so the LG 4K UltraFine (with the current price break) is my first choice.

Any thoughts on how to go from TB2 on the Mac Pro to the USB-C input on the LG?

And ( I am not sure the Mac Pro has the hardware to support it) is there a way to hook up 2 5K UltraFine monitors to a Mac Pro 6,1? (1 or 2 TB2's to TB3)?
 

chfilm

macrumors 68040
Nov 15, 2012
3,293
1,982
Berlin
It should be possible to drive the displays via the TB2-TB3 adapter.
The question I ask myself regarding the 5k version is - how will the 4K image look on that display (5k is impossible through the one cable on the current Mac Pro) if you st it to scaled 1440p?
Can anybody test this please??
Oh and you won't get the p3 color space through TB2.

Here's Apple official compatibility list:

5120 x 2880 @ 60Hz

  • MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016)
  • MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
  • MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
3840 x 2160 @ 60Hz

  • Mac Pro (Late 2013)*
  • MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) and later
  • MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014) and later
  • iMac (Retina, 27-inch, Late 2014) and later
  • iMac (Retina, 21.5-inch, Late 2015)
  • iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2015)
  • MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015)
  • MacBook Air (11-inch, Early 2015)
3200 x 1800 @ 60Hz

  • Mac mini (Late 2014)*
 

xraydoc

Contributor
Oct 9, 2005
10,721
5,144
192.168.1.1
It should be possible to drive the displays via the TB2-TB3 adapter.
The question I ask myself regarding the 5k version is - how will the 4K image look on that display (5k is impossible through the one cable on the current Mac Pro) if you st it to scaled 1440p?
Can anybody test this please??
Oh and you won't get the p3 color space through TB2.

Here's Apple official compatibility list:

5120 x 2880 @ 60Hz

  • MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016)
  • MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
  • MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
3840 x 2160 @ 60Hz

  • Mac Pro (Late 2013)*
  • MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) and later
  • MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014) and later
  • iMac (Retina, 27-inch, Late 2014) and later
  • iMac (Retina, 21.5-inch, Late 2015)
  • iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2015)
  • MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015)
  • MacBook Air (11-inch, Early 2015)
3200 x 1800 @ 60Hz

  • Mac mini (Late 2014)*
The LG Ultrafine 5K display Apple sells will run off a TB3-TB2 adapter. I don't think the LG Ultrafine 4K will -- I think the 4K is a USC-C monitor and not a TB3 monitor. Same connector but different data protocol.

Edit: the compatibility list above is strictly for the LG Ultrafine 5K display, not the 4K.
 

Distace

macrumors newbie
Dec 19, 2013
6
0
The LG Ultrafine 5K display Apple sells will run off a TB3-TB2 adapter. I don't think the LG Ultrafine 4K will -- I think the 4K is a USC-C monitor and not a TB3 monitor. Same connector but different data protocol.

Edit: the compatibility list above is strictly for the LG Ultrafine 5K display, not the 4K.

any news about that? is there a solution to use the ultrafine 4K display with a new Mac Pro? maybe with a usb-c to hdmi cable?
 

xraydoc

Contributor
Oct 9, 2005
10,721
5,144
192.168.1.1
any news about that? is there a solution to use the ultrafine 4K display with a new Mac Pro? maybe with a usb-c to hdmi cable?
The LG Ultrafine 4K is USB-C only. Without a native USB-C port on the motherboard though which video can be routed, you're SOL.

There are, however, plenty of other 4K displays to choose from that will work on the current Mac Pro.
 

Scary Spice

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 31, 2015
270
364
British Columbia
The LG Ultrafine 4K is USB-C only. Without a native USB-C port on the motherboard though which video can be routed, you're SOL.

There are, however, plenty of other 4K displays to choose from that will work on the current Mac Pro.


Can you give an example of any other 21" 4k monitors?
 

mctrials23

macrumors 6502a
Sep 19, 2013
608
637
The LG Ultrafine 4K is USB-C only. Without a native USB-C port on the motherboard though which video can be routed, you're SOL.

Does this mean that I would or wouldn't be able to hook my tbMBp up to an EGPU and then hook my 2 21.5" ultrafines up to the GFX card via DP - > USB-C adaptors and have it all work?
 

xraydoc

Contributor
Oct 9, 2005
10,721
5,144
192.168.1.1
Does this mean that I would or wouldn't be able to hook my tbMBp up to an EGPU and then hook my 2 21.5" ultrafines up to the GFX card via DP - > USB-C adaptors and have it all work?
No such thing as a DP -> USB-C. They don't exist. USB-C to DP, does, however, exist.
So, unfortunately, the answer to the question is no.
 

aminadab

macrumors regular
May 3, 2005
132
1
Portland, Oregon
Bumping this thread... I went into the Apple Store to check in the 2013 Mac Pro would be compatible with the 21" LG Ultrafine 4k display. They already had it connected to the 5k with the USB-C to TB 2 connector. A kind employee untethered the cables and we tried to connect the Mac Pro via a TB 2 cable to USB-C adapter into the 4k display. I thought it would work, but alas, no joy: it monitor didn't even put on a blank screen. It was working fine with the Macbook Pro 13", but wouldn't work with the nMP.
 

mctrials23

macrumors 6502a
Sep 19, 2013
608
637
Yeah, I'm starting to realise I have bought two pretty gimped monitors when it comes to doing anything that isn't connecting them to usb-c laptops directly. I'm pretty annoyed that I can't use an eGPU with these monitors without doing some ridiculously stupid setup involving pci-e cards and loads of daisy-chaining.

I feel like apple have basically promoted a fantastic display that is so limited in its use that its a bit of a joke. They must have known that they were doing eGPU stuff when they promoted these alongside the tbMBP and they would have known at the time that these were not suitable.
 
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