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nMP officially supports 3x5k - New Display?

triumph71

triumph71

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 16, 2014
77
42
Interesting!

From there "Using 4K displays and Ultra HD TVs with your Mac" article, this section states:
Dual-Cable Displays
Some displays with resolutions higher than 4K require two DisplayPort cables to connect the display at full resolution. With OS X Yosemite v10.10.3 or later, the Dell UP2715K 27-inch 5K display is supported on the following Mac computers:

  • Mac Pro (Late 2013)
  • iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014 and later)
  • MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) with AMD Radeon R9 M370X
Click to expand...
So, I guess with 6 TB2 ports, that means three 5K displays. They don't specifically mention whether they support 60Hz as well? I didn't think it supported more than two 4K displays at 60Hz, but they do reference 10.10.3 specifically, so maybe something changed?

Anyway, I don't know this means a stand-alone Apple 5K display is imminent.
 
Funny stuff:

If you select text like this:
19019522770_b191bcea13_b.jpg


and then paste it and you will get this:

Connect up to

Three

4K

displays
 
IMO, its a placeholder, that leaked.


;)

I would love a 21.5 or 24 inch 4K display from Apple...
 
Wow this is interesting, hopefully a new, updated display is in the works. Following for any more news.
 
AidenShaw said:
Or Apple just realizes that most people buy Dell displays for their Mac Pros....
Click to expand...


What are you getting at - was Apple not first out of the gate with a 5K display in their iMac for the consumer? Because someone does something successful, no one else should follow? Good luck with that.

That's like saying "because technology was progressed by someone else no one else should follow." Because of the positive reaction towards Apple's Retina iMac Dell "realized" people appreciate that technology. So what, they shouldn't have done anything with it because Apple did it first? I don't quite get the point of your post.


Sorry if I'm misinterpreting your post, but if not

There are PC forums out there you know...
 
Last edited:
Tucom said:
What are you getting at - was Apple not first out of the gate with a 5K display in their iMac for the consumer? Because someone does something successful, no one else should follow? Good luck with that.

That's like saying "because technology was progressed by someone else no one else should follow." Because of the positive reaction towards Apple's Retina iMac Dell "realized" people appreciate that technology. So what, they shouldn't have done anything with it because Apple did it first? I don't quite get the point of your post.


Sorry if I'm misinterpreting your post, but if not

There are PC forums out there you know...
Click to expand...

You did misinterpret.

I'm simply saying that the 4K and 5K Dell monitors are very popular with MP6,1 buyers, and Apple might realize that it shouldn't be in that market.

Support the popular 3rd party monitors, but don't make an Apple-branded 4K or 5K monitor - at least not until Apple systems support single-link connections to them.

And check the dates - the Dell UP2715K was announced before the 5K Imac .... ;)
 
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Maybe if there were a way to do 30Hz (which on the Dell UP2715K does not appear possible), but it certainly does not support more than one at 60Hz, as noted in my other thread. I'm not even sure it would support a second monitor at 4K, but I don't have one to test.
 
This is probably just keeping up to date with revisions in OS X 10.10.3, which have enabled better support for MST monitors. The macbook pro 15" with discrete video also includes support for 5k displays in its specs. I suspect we will see an Apple 5k display with thunderbolt 3, as this enables sending 2 displayport 1.2 streams over a single cable.
 
Tucom said:
What are you getting at - was Apple not first out of the gate with a 5K display in their iMac for the consumer? Because someone does something successful, no one else should follow? Good luck with that.

That's like saying "because technology was progressed by someone else no one else should follow." Because of the positive reaction towards Apple's Retina iMac Dell "realized" people appreciate that technology. So what, they shouldn't have done anything with it because Apple did it first? I don't quite get the point of your post.


Sorry if I'm misinterpreting your post, but if not

There are PC forums out there you know...
Click to expand...

They weren't Dell introduced first by about a month but like in the past I think they share a panel so it's close enough.
 
ifraaank said:
Inspecting the page in safari reveals this: http://cl.ly/bmsc

Why would you name two images 4K, when their content shows 5K?
Click to expand...

Simple, the original images displayed "4K" and were named as such. Someone updated the image files to show 5K and simply used the same names as the previous files. It's slightly lazy, but web developers do stuff like this all the time.
 
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triumph71 said:
....
Currently the only 5k display I know of is the Dell UP2715K.
Click to expand...

As noted above Apple's support article on "Dual Cable" 5K displays mentions the systems capable ( including the Mac Pro) and the Dell monitor is explicitly mentioned there as being supported.

There are others. HP has one

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/mpc/monitors/product-detail.html?oid=7130944


There are a couple of 5K panels coming

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/news_archive/32.htm#lg.display_5k

Apple , Dell , and apparently HP are all using the LG one. So not surprising that the Dell monitor works as most of the "guts" are same as inside of the iMac's display subsystem.


ViewSonic was showing some at CES ( probably shipping in a few.... unless Apple and Dell are sucking up everything available. )

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/news_archive/32.htm#viewsonic_ces


It would seem strange to promote the nMP's display capabilities as 5k, when the only product that provides this capability comes from Dell.
Click to expand...

Not so strange. When the nMP shipped, it appeared with an Apple store addition of a Sharp 4K display. Prior to nMP launch there was talk about how Apple "has to do" a 4K display because the nMP does 4K. They didn't. Dell's Sharp based panel was an early addition to the "works with these 4K monitors" list in same Apple support document alongside the Sharp model.


Surely this means that Apple must be readying a 5k display of its own?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Intel talking up "5K over Thunderbolt 3" at their TBv3 introduction recently is probably a better grounding for the possibility. Not many other folks have done Display docking stations with TB other than Apple. So if Intel alludes to someone working on that kind of offering...... Apple is a good bet.

These solutions are dual DisplayPort cable monitors. I highly doubt Apple would do one of those. First, Apple isn't really in the general monitor market ( as oppose to the specialized display docking station market ). Second, there is probably going to be a flood of very good offerings from several 3rd parties. If Apple's solution requires TBv3 then the current number of TBv2 system need a dual DP cable based solution for GPUs that can output two independent DP v1.2 streams and MST then back into one screen in the monitor.
 
ixxx69 said:
...
So, I guess with 6 TB2 ports, that means three 5K displays. They don't specifically mention whether they support 60Hz as well? I didn't think it supported more than two 4K displays at 60Hz, but they do reference 10.10.3 specifically, so maybe something changed?
Click to expand...

That article has a link to "use multiple displays with the Mac Pro (late 2013) " at almost the bottom. That covers the 3 4K monitor constraints. 10.10.3 was required for the new MBP 15" model (and the new more affordable iMac model). I suspect they got the code that initial 5K iMac used to a more mature state where could run it out two external DP streams as well as the internal two inside the iMac.

I would be surprised if many folks would be happy with the performance loaded down with 3 of these. There is another thread were someone tried as second 5K with an and it started to bog down.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/dual-dell-up2715k-monitors-mac-pro-success.1893671/

three 5K monitors ( unless all dropped back to 30Hz) is probably worse. The update to the Mac Pro's web page is probably pretty close to the "over promise and under deliver" zone than the three 4K monitor capability is/was.


P.S. on that dual 5k thread about there is a link to hack to get the HP monitor to work... really all that is needed is for Apple to update the displays id with their drivers and validate it. If basically the same panel it wouldn't be too hard. Over time it may happen.
 
How is this possible?

If I'm not mistaken, a 5K 60Hz display signal requires about 26Gbps. Thus 3 5K displays would require 78Gbps of output.

The nMP has 3 TB2 buses each with 20Gbps capacity for a total of 60Gbps of output.

Perhaps it could drive 3 5K displays at 30Hz, but who would want that?
 
VirtualRain said:
The nMP has 3 TB2 buses each with 20Gbps capacity for a total of 60Gbps of output.
Click to expand...

I'm sure others here are better versed with the way that the Thunderbolt controllers in the nMP work, but I my understanding is that when you hook up a Displayport monitor to the Thunderbolt port, the TB controller uses a "compatibility mode" that basically passes the DP output of the GPU straight through to the TB port, so the 20Gbps bandwidth capacity of the bus doesn't apply.
 
VirtualRain said:
How is this possible?

If I'm not mistaken, a 5K 60Hz display signal requires about 26Gbps. Thus 3 5K displays would require 78Gbps of output.

The nMP has 3 TB2 buses each with 20Gbps capacity for a total of 60Gbps of output.

Perhaps it could drive 3 5K displays at 30Hz, but who would want that?
Click to expand...
The Mac Pro 6,1 iss able to drive 6 TB displays at 2560x1440 @ 60HZ. Dell UP2715K uses MST which means 2 panels at 2560x1440 each combined into one display (5120x2880) so why not?
 
maplingstorie said:
The Mac Pro 6,1 iss able to drive 6 TB displays at 2560x1440 @ 60HZ. Dell UP2715K uses MST which means 2 panels at 2560x1440 each combined into one display (5120x2880) so why not?
Click to expand...

5120x2880 is *4 times* the resolution of 2560x1440. That's why :)

I find it very interesting that Apple is now claiming 3x5K support. Unless there are new 5K displays that are less than 60Hz, I don't see how it is possible. My own testing showed that 2x5K did not work. I will have to test more now that 10.10.4 is out. 2x5K@60Hz seems to me as moderately plausible. 3x5K@60Hz seems completely impossible.
 
zesta said:
5120x2880 is *4 times* the resolution of 2560x1440. That's why :)

I find it very interesting that Apple is now claiming 3x5K support. Unless there are new 5K displays that are less than 60Hz, I don't see how it is possible. My own testing showed that 2x5K did not work. I will have to test more now that 10.10.4 is out. 2x5K@60Hz seems to me as moderately plausible. 3x5K@60Hz seems completely impossible.
Click to expand...
i see. i've read from somewhere in this forum that multiple 5k monitors work better on the Mac Pro 6,1 on Windows.
 
zesta said:
5120x2880 is *4 times* the resolution of 2560x1440. That's why :)

I find it very interesting that Apple is now claiming 3x5K support. Unless there are new 5K displays that are less than 60Hz, I don't see how it is possible. My own testing showed that 2x5K did not work. I will have to test more now that 10.10.4 is out. 2x5K@60Hz seems to me as moderately plausible. 3x5K@60Hz seems completely impossible.
Click to expand...

If you read the details of this AMD slide deck, it seems theoretically possible that a D700 could drive 3x5K with the right drivers, or at least that it would drive them for a short time before very bad things started happening ;). In practice, lots of nMP owners have had to have their GPUs replaced just using them under normal conditions.
 
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