Post your setup: 2009-12 cMP, 4K, FCPX, GPU, etc...

[lexR]

I wanted to start this thread as a guide for me and others on confirmed and un-problematic 4K systems on the cMP as there is no definitive guide as to what monitors work with what OS X or GPU or cables etc etc. So here are 2 set ups I have tried:

______________________________________________________________

cMP 2009 4.1>5.1 3.46 12 core cMP with 48GB 1333 RAM

OS X 10.10.2

GTX 770 2gb (non flashed)

Display port 1.2

Samsung U28D590 monitor

Natively supports upto 3200 x 1800 @ 60Hz with no problems.

BruceX bench mark here exports in 118 seconds

______________________________________________________________
cMP 2009 4.1>5.1 3.46 12 core cMP with 48GB 1333 RAM

OS X 10.10.2

Gigabyte R9 280X 3gb efi flashed

Display port 1.1 with mini DP to DP

HDMI 1.4

Samsung U28D590 monitor

Natively supports upto 2560 x 1440 @ 60Hz with DP which is a bit fuzzy or full 4K with HDMI 1.4 which is clear and crisp but @ 30Hz.

BruceX benchmark exports in 55 seconds.

______________________________________________________________

If you have a stable 4K set up with the cMP please post your details as above so we can build a bit of a list of products that work well with OS X, cMP, cables, Monitors and bias on the side of FCPX.

Just as important is the users experience and price of set up.

 

[Stageshoot]

cMP 2009 4.1>5.1 3.33 6 Core with 16Gb 1066 RAM

OSX 10.10.1

GTX970 4Gb (Non Flashed)

HDMI

Seiki 39" UHD 3840x2160 @ 30Hz and 1920x1080 @ 120Hz (3840x2160 Native)

 

[lexR]

Great thanks, are you using SwitchResX for any of those displays or are they selectable from the systems pref>display settings? Which one do you regularly use?

I've read through the following thread quite a few times now and realise from it that's it's not all plane sailing out there in the world of SST, MST, HDMI1.4, DP1.2, OS X 9/10, AMD, nVidia, boot camp... All are different depending on your setup and most have issues with certain aspects.

Apple remain surprising...4K

 

[Stageshoot]

Great thanks, are you using SwitchResX for any of those displays or are they selectable from the systems pref>display settings? Which one do you regularly use?

I've read through the following thread quite a few times now and realise from it that's it's not all plane sailing out there in the world of SST, MST, HDMI1.4, DP1.2, OS X 9/10, AMD, nVidia, boot camp... All are different depending on your setup and most have issues with certain aspects.

Apple remain surprising...4K

Both are selectable from Display settings.

I mainly work in 4k, (Photo Editing), but have used the 1920x1080@120Hz for some minor gaming and its very good. So simple to switch between via display settings.

 

[lexR]

Please post your setups to help others in knowing what is and isn't working in the world of 4k and the 2009-2012 cMP. ###

 

[thevidness]

i ran for the early adopter setup which was brutally expensive at the time but works already for nearly a year (only 10.9.3 broke it temporarily):

cMP 2010 6-core 3.33ghz
sapphire radeon hd 7950 mac edition 3gb
sharp 32" pn-k321 3840x2160 on displayport 1.2 mst
(+ dell 24" u2413 1920x1200 on dvi)

it was more or less the first way to set up a cMP for 4K@60hz, and it felt semi-official with the mac edition graphics card and the display model promoted by apple for the then new nMP. i'm running it at 1920x1080 hidpi (since 10.9.4 i need not only quartz debug for that but also switchresx). i'm also running a 1920x1200 secondary display.

graphics always crash (need to force shutdown) when i plug something in or out of the graphics card. major annoyance. (at least pre-yosemite, didn't dare to plug since the upgrade some time ago)

 

[lexR]

Yeah I'm getting the feeling that if you have AMD then the MST route will be the easier way to go however nVidia work with both? And especially the GTX and the SST screen I had, problem is FCPX has better times with AMD cards, like ALOT faster, GTX 770 = 118 seconds, R9 280X = 55 seconds... But more problematic when it comes to getting a UHD screen... Hence starting this thread of confirmed setups and user experiences, thank you ##

 

[lexR]

Quick update, tried the pin 20 trick with DP cable but still no luck but found if you boot under OS 10.10.1 with gigabyte R9 280x with the bios switch set to default and not flashed, you get full 4k at 60Hz on the Samsung SST 4k 590D, it's only with the bios switch in flashed EFI that it just loops booting sequence, tried the BruceX benchmark and it has added 4/5 seconds into the export time but that's a small price as I now have a crystal clear screen at 60Hz with 4K ability.

I did not personally flash the bios but is there possibly an issue with the EFI or is that still a MAC issue with drivers? I also noticed that with both DVI, HDMI and DP that during startup the loading bar would start in the right place then half way through screen would go black and bar drops to the bottom left then goes to the login screen??

 

[mikeboss]

I also noticed that with both DVI, HDMI and DP that during startup the loading bar would start in the right place then half way through screen would go black and bar drops to the bottom left then goes to the login screen??

same here with Yosemite 10.10.1 running on a flashed 7970 and a 1920x1200 LCDisplay.

 

[lexR]

That's encouraging to know thank you! seems so strange that everything "works" when in PC bios but has major issues when using the gashed bios... Hope there's a fix in the future, until then I will have to live without a boot screen and whatever other conflicts it throws up but a clear and vivid 4K screen

 

[lexR]

I retract the last statement, the samsung, r9 280x, DP 1.2 and the cMP still do not play nicely when using the default bios, completely crashes unigine valley or heaven on any setting, poor export times in FCPX so I'm back on the flashed EFI bios and using DP 1.1 with 2560x1440 @60Hz with the U28U590D samsung monitor, i have still noticed glitches in the bruceX 5K benchmark test which i can only assume is down the conflict of the above items.

gutted...

 

[128keaton]

Mines so weak compared to your monsters.

cMP 1.1 2x2.66Ghz Dual Core (hopefully quad soon) HD6790/GT210, 6GB of RAM, 128GB SSD, 1TB storage.

 

[lexR]

So before installing my other flashed R9 280X, i decided to install a clean version of OS X which would have cleared out the CUDA drivers and nVidia drivers i had previously installed as mentioned here which has cause 'conflicts' for others.

i then pulled apart my PSU as i could not find anywhere the location of a 'ps-on' signal which was required for the additional PSU, having found that i was able to install the additional card. this then returned a great bump in performance with FCPX and Luxmark sala scene.

FCPX exported BruceX benchmark in 25 seconds avg over 3 runs which I thought was pretty good for the slightly down clocked cards.

however there was quite severe glitches as shown below, it appears as though OS X is not managing the memory on the R9 280X's efficiently as after a while the memory fills up and the moment you go to do something graphic orientated the screen goes crazy:

If you open up something like FCPX and then close it again the memory normally clears and then you can run the same program without a glitch... very strange.

i then tried the guidelines set here about using the override text to set the display to 50Hz which for me has already been noticeably better.

Im now running at 3008x1692@50Hz HiDPI setting and it 'SEEMS' ok, not glitches as of yet however i have not tried to simulate the above as a test but others are welcome to try as this is currently the best i can get the set up i have...

2009 cMP 4.1>5.1 3.47 12 core 48gb 1333 ram

samsung U28U590D 4K screen using DP 1.2

3008x1692@50Hz HiDPI but can go up to full 4K@50Hz

Dual R9 280X's using flashed bios on OS X 10.2

BruceX FCPX benchmark 25 seconds.

 

[Amethyst]

I have 2 2009 mac pros.

The first one :
4,1 8-Core 2.26 -> 5,1 12-Core 2.93
GTX 680 Flash
32GB DDR3 Ram
3x120 GB Intel 320 Raid 0
3TB HDD
24" 4K Dell UP2414Q

The second:
4,1 Quad 2.66 -> 6-Core Intel Core i7 3.2GHz
Radeon 7950 Flash
16GB Ram
120 GB Intel 320
21" Full-HD LG IPS224

Other than 2009 cMP i has own variety of mac pro include.

1,1->2,1 Mac Pro
Quad 2.66 GHz -> 8-Core 2.33 GHz
5670 Non flash
8GB DDR2 FB-Dimm

3,1 Mac Pro
8-Core 2.8 GHz
4870 Flash
12GB DDR2 FB-Dimm

PS. this pic i take from its original configuration.

 

[lexR]

Back to Mavericks....

It appears after a lot of testing and swapping things around the only solid solution for now is to go back to mavericks...

I have had 2 days of testing and no issues at all... nothing, not one glitch, the memory usage is stable and returning to a low amount, i can open up FCPX and have the bruceX bench mark open in the background and run valley at extreme HD with no glitches, if i try and do anything close to that in Yosemite it has major issues.

The bench marks are ok in 10.9.5, slightly lower than 10.10.2 but only fractionally, i have set the samsung display to 50Hz and have HiDPI at 2560X1440 which is fine for me for now...

Just such a shame i cannot get a happy set up with the kit i have with yosemite!! knowing this now, i would have bought a different monitor and gone with the nvidia GTX 980 on internal power.

The dual R9 280X setup is great but like i said limited (for me) to Mavericks.

Is there anyone out there running the same set up as me with gigabyte R9 280x's on a samsung U28U590D monitor via mDP to DP cable at 1.2?? any luck??

 

[MacMutsch]

It’s quite some time since your last report concerning the R9 280X and your UHD display – any changes due to OS X 10.10.3 and it’s new graphics drivers?

I’m currently having trouble using the UHD Dell UP3214Q and the 4K LG 31MU97 with only one GigaByte R9 280X @ 60 Hz – to be honest I haven’t checked yet if this is possible at all.

my current setup:
---------------------
cMP 5,1 / 8-Core 2,4 GHz (Mid 2010)
flashed GigaByte R9 280X OC Rev 2.0, 64 GB Ram, 750 GB SSD (Apricorn X2 Solo) „Mavericks“, 256 GB SSD „Yosemite“, 5 TB HDD (2 TB Bootcamp, Win 7), Inateck KT4004

OSX 10.9.5
1.HDMI, SwitchResX, 3840x2160 + HiDPI @ 30 Hz
2.mDP, SwitchResX/Display Menu, 4096x2160 + HiDPI @ 50 Hz
3.mDP, System, 2560x1440 @ 60 Hz

OSX 10.10.3 (Beta)
1.HDMI, SwitchResX, 3840x2160 + HiDPI @ 30 Hz
2.mDP, SwitchResX/Display Menu, 4096x2160 + HiDPI @ 60 Hz
3.mDP, System, 2560x1440 @ 60 Hz

1 = Dell UP3214Q
2 = LG 31MU97
3 = 27“ ACD (camera + microphone)


Any ideas if or how to get both UHD Dell & 4K LG working @ 60 Hz appreciated.

 

[lexR]

Hi, thanks for your reply, I have to admit defeat on this one I'm afraid, I've been working with a guy in the states that originally flashed the Two R9 280x's that I got and I managed to kind of get a workable system with forcing the native resolution to 50Hz and it "seemed" to work... However that was only in Mavericks, as soon as I tried going into a clean install of Yosemite 10.10.2 it would start maxing out the ram and causing artefacts to appear. So long story short I sold them both with clearly stated issues when it comes to the CMP, AMD, OSX and 4K monitors! I have since gone back to nVidia with a GTX Titan (as I already had the internal PSU fitted) and even though it is woeful in FCPX it seems to do the business EVERYWHERE else, the screen is sharp and crisp, openGL is great, CUDA performance is great and I've change to DaVinci Resolve for my video editing that supports CUDA and dual precision.

Unfortunately I just couldn't stand holding on to see if Apple mature the AMD drivers to the point where it's a usable system for my display and setup up needs.

I've heard and had great success on using SwitchResX and changing the native Hz setting of the display in the overrides folder.

Hope you have success soon and please update the thread for others?

 

[Zorn]

Hi, thanks for your reply, I have to admit defeat on this one I'm afraid, I've been working with a guy in the states that originally flashed the Two R9 280x's that I got and I managed to kind of get a workable system with forcing the native resolution to 50Hz and it "seemed" to work... However that was only in Mavericks, as soon as I tried going into a clean install of Yosemite 10.10.2 it would start maxing out the ram and causing artefacts to appear. So long story short I sold them both with clearly stated issues when it comes to the CMP, AMD, OSX and 4K monitors! I have since gone back to nVidia with a GTX Titan (as I already had the internal PSU fitted) and even though it is woeful in FCPX it seems to do the business EVERYWHERE else, the screen is sharp and crisp, openGL is great, CUDA performance is great and I've change to DaVinci Resolve for my video editing that supports CUDA and dual precision.

Unfortunately I just couldn't stand holding on to see if Apple mature the AMD drivers to the point where it's a usable system for my display and setup up needs.

I've heard and had great success on using SwitchResX and changing the native Hz setting of the display in the overrides folder.

Hope you have success soon and please update the thread for others?

Are you saying that with an nVidia card and 10.10.3, the Dell UP3214Q works at native resolution at 60hz?

 

[lexR]

I cannot confirm that as I'm not using the dell monitor you have referenced however others might be able to confirm this??

The nVidia driver package for Mac seems to be extremely more stable and wide ranging on perhiprals than Apples AMD drivers they include with OSX.

Until AMD delvelop a catalyst for Mac I fear there will always be issues with after market AMD cards and OSX as I feel that Apples attention will not be on you or I fitting a R9 290x into our 2009-2012 classic Mac Pro but on making certified cards compatible until a certain date and on the new systems that Apple sells... As many have said before, thank god for nVidia supporting us

 

[echoout]

I've just been waiting for more options before I take the plunge. Seems like things are getting better.

 

[Jon King]

So am I correct in seeing here that no one is successfully running 4k@60hz at this time?

 

[lexR]

So am I correct in seeing here that no one is successfully running 4k@60hz at this time?

I was unable to run 4K@60Hz with my R9 280X with my Samsung U28D590 monitor. However I can easily run 4K with my monitor with my nVidia GTX Titan with the nVidia drivers installed. All connections were via DP 1.2. Depending on monitor and cable connection and GPU is weather you can get 4K@60Hz.

What would be your setup?

 

[Jon King]

LexR,

That's really strange to me. I was using a MVC Flashed GTX 780TI and couldn't get 60hz to work. I'm now using a R9 290X and having the same problem. What version of OS X are you running?

Cheers,
Jon

 

[netkas]

Just got U28D590, wanted to share results:

using 980 Mac Edition from mvc, everything works great in my MP3,1
4k @ 60 hz.

boot up in 4k, in osx using 2560x1440 hidpi (10.10.2 with webdriver)

with switchresx can choose native res, but everything is too small.

This card really enables 4k experience for sst displays on MacPro.

btw, at default brightness my eyes were hurting. decreased it to 35% and using some icc profile from internet, much better now.

 

[Jon King]

NetKas,

Have you tested the 980 with a MST display?

Jon