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M1X Mini featuring HDMI 2.1?
- Thread starter JEuro2285
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No one will know until its officially announced
yeah was kinda figuring no one really knew. would be a great feature if they do. i love high refresh rates. announcement coming in October or November?
W6000-Series MPX modules now exist for the Mac Pros but Apple chose to use their HDMI 2.0 converter instead of the built-in HDMI 2.1 capability.
https://www.apple.com/mac-pro/pdf/Mac_Pro_White_Paper_Aug_2021.pdf
Maybe they made that decision because the card's can only do 6 outputs and all 6 are configured as DisplayPort. To use the built-in HDMI 2.1 capability, they would need to remove a port. In that case, they could have used a newer DisplayPort to HDMI converter that can output HDMI 2.1.
Well, the AMD W6600 and W6800 (not MPX modules) don't have any HDMI so maybe none of these workstation GPUs (including what's used in the MPX modules) have HDMI capability? There's no AMD W6900 but there is a W6900X MPX Module.
While it's true that the W6800X and W6900X MPX Modules only have 6 outputs, the W6800X Duo has two GPUs which could have 12 total outputs. 9 outputs are implemented (the white paper says 8 are usable simultaneously) and the HDMI output is not shared with a Thunderbolt controller. So in this case they could have used the GPU's builtin HDMI 2.1 capability (if it exists) but again it's using Apple's DisplayPort to HDMI 2.0 converter.
HDMI in current Macs (Intel Mac mini, M1 Mac mini, Apple TV) and the MPX modules are probably all using Apple's HDMI 2.0 converter (actually a Microchips MCDP2920A4)
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Mac+mini+Late+2018+Teardown/115210
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Apple+TV+4K+Teardown/97511
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Apple+TV+4K+2021+Teardown/142845
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Mac+Pro+2019+Teardown/128922
https://tech-en.netlify.app/articles/en544378/index.html
The Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter A2119 probably uses a different chip (requires DSC for full HDMI 2.0 capability because it only has two lanes of DisplayPort).
There exists a couple DisplayPort 1.4 to HDMI 2.1 converter chips. They'll require DSC from DisplayPort 1.4 to get full HDMI 2.1 capability. Example adapters are Club-3d CAC-1085 and Cable Matters 201388.
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ransfers-recommendation.2278473/post-29466205
Anyway, if it doesn't come with the HDMI 2.1 converter built-in, then you can try it as an external adapter. I prefer having DisplayPort outputs so I can choose the HDMI converter and upgrade it when a better converter is made available.
https://www.apple.com/mac-pro/pdf/Mac_Pro_White_Paper_Aug_2021.pdf
Maybe they made that decision because the card's can only do 6 outputs and all 6 are configured as DisplayPort. To use the built-in HDMI 2.1 capability, they would need to remove a port. In that case, they could have used a newer DisplayPort to HDMI converter that can output HDMI 2.1.
Well, the AMD W6600 and W6800 (not MPX modules) don't have any HDMI so maybe none of these workstation GPUs (including what's used in the MPX modules) have HDMI capability? There's no AMD W6900 but there is a W6900X MPX Module.
While it's true that the W6800X and W6900X MPX Modules only have 6 outputs, the W6800X Duo has two GPUs which could have 12 total outputs. 9 outputs are implemented (the white paper says 8 are usable simultaneously) and the HDMI output is not shared with a Thunderbolt controller. So in this case they could have used the GPU's builtin HDMI 2.1 capability (if it exists) but again it's using Apple's DisplayPort to HDMI 2.0 converter.
HDMI in current Macs (Intel Mac mini, M1 Mac mini, Apple TV) and the MPX modules are probably all using Apple's HDMI 2.0 converter (actually a Microchips MCDP2920A4)
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Mac+mini+Late+2018+Teardown/115210
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Apple+TV+4K+Teardown/97511
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Apple+TV+4K+2021+Teardown/142845
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Mac+Pro+2019+Teardown/128922
https://tech-en.netlify.app/articles/en544378/index.html
The Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter A2119 probably uses a different chip (requires DSC for full HDMI 2.0 capability because it only has two lanes of DisplayPort).
There exists a couple DisplayPort 1.4 to HDMI 2.1 converter chips. They'll require DSC from DisplayPort 1.4 to get full HDMI 2.1 capability. Example adapters are Club-3d CAC-1085 and Cable Matters 201388.
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ransfers-recommendation.2278473/post-29466205
Anyway, if it doesn't come with the HDMI 2.1 converter built-in, then you can try it as an external adapter. I prefer having DisplayPort outputs so I can choose the HDMI converter and upgrade it when a better converter is made available.
Last edited:
It's up to the graphics driver and HDMI converter to allow that mode.
4K120 is 1188 MHz for HDMI.
That's doable by DisplayPort 1.4 using 4:2:2 10bpc.
For HDMI 2.0, 4:2:0 8bpc is the max.
Problems:
- Apple doesn't let the user choose pixel format / depth.
- Apple might not choose some pixel formats for some modes / connection methods / displays even if it supported those pixel formats otherwise.
- The MCDP2920A4 might be limited to 4K60. It might not accept 4:2:0 from DisplayPort. https://www.kinet-ic.com/mcdp2900/ This is why I prefer DisplayPort outputs - so you can choose a better HDMI adapter.
4K120 is 1188 MHz for HDMI.
That's doable by DisplayPort 1.4 using 4:2:2 10bpc.
For HDMI 2.0, 4:2:0 8bpc is the max.
Problems:
- Apple doesn't let the user choose pixel format / depth.
- Apple might not choose some pixel formats for some modes / connection methods / displays even if it supported those pixel formats otherwise.
- The MCDP2920A4 might be limited to 4K60. It might not accept 4:2:0 from DisplayPort. https://www.kinet-ic.com/mcdp2900/ This is why I prefer DisplayPort outputs - so you can choose a better HDMI adapter.
The Datasheet brief has more info. It says it can do 4:2:0 passthru. It seems 4K60 is the max. It's sad that it can do 4K60 4:2:0 16bpc but not 120Hz 8bpc (I have no way to test that since my Mac mini is limited to DisplayPort 1.2 which can't do 4:2:0).
https://www.kinet-ic.com/uploads/MCDP2900-03b_Datasheet_Brief.pdf
While the adapter supports DisplayPort 1.4, it only supports HBR2 link rate but that's still more bandwidth than HDMI 2.0 so it's not a problem.
With HBR2, DisplayPort 1.4 can do 4K120 using 4:2:0 8bpc max (assuming 1188 MHz).