Mid 2011 iMac as Screen for PC

[Selwo]

Hey guys! I´m owning a mid 2011 Thunderbolt iMac that served me well for all those years.
While I will continue using it for work and other stuff, playing games is just not possible.
Older iMacs with MidiDisplayPorts could be used as a screen if the graphics card of the PC had a MiniDP-Exit.

Now my question: can I hook a PC with Displayport to my Mid 2011 iMac (27") (using an DP to MiniDP Adapter) with the iMac working as a Screen? (Target Display Mode)
Sources tell different things as far as I read them and I got kind of confused.

If this does not work with a simple cable, are there some kind of other adapters that work? Or should I pick a different graphics card? Or am I screwed and it just does not work?

I´m really looking forward to the new Star Wars game (battlefront) and I want to use this awesome screen for gaming

Thanks for the Help

Alex

 

[DeltaMac]

Yes, you can use your Mid 2011 iMac as an external screen from another computer - if that computer has a thunderbolt port. Your iMac has Thunderbolt, so the controlling computer also has to have a Thunderbolt port.

Ah, and the other computer must be a Mac running OS X.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204592
Read the short list of supported Macs. If the Mac has Thunderbolt, then the target display mode needs Thunderbolt on the other Mac, too - not just a mini DisplayPort.

Note: I have read that Target Display mode can work from a PC running Windows, but the PC requires a motherboard that supports Thunderbolt. DisplayPort is not enough.

 

[Selwo]

Thanks for the quick Answer!
So if I have a motherboard that supports Thunderbolt and a DisplayPort exit of my graphics card it should work? (if I want to use it with a PC running Windows)
Sorry for the dumb questions.... I´m not really well informed about hardware :-/

 

[Taz Mangus]

*deleted*

 

[DeltaMac]

Thanks for the quick Answer!
So if I have a motherboard that supports Thunderbolt and a DisplayPort exit of my graphics card it should work? (if I want to use it with a PC running Windows)
Sorry for the dumb questions.... I´m not really well informed about hardware :-/

All you need is a Thunderbolt port (DisplayPort will not work) , native to the motherboard.
That's the only connection needed for the Target Display mode - nothing else is necessary.
There's no connection from a graphics card, only from the motherboard.
I can't help you with getting that to work from Windows, but I can only say that I have read somewhere that it can work.