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MP 1,1-5,1 Use iMac 2013 as Main Display (Mac Pro 5,1)

S

saw27

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 7, 2015
29
1
I have a 5,1 with a Radeon RX 560 128-bit 2GB GDRR5 DirectX 12 VR Ready CFX Graphics Card (RX 560 AERO ITX 2G OC). I can run a DVI to mini display and get a signal to a monitor. If I try to use HDMI or Display port output I get no signal on any display.

What I was trying to do is to use a 2013 iMac in target display mode with a Display port to mini display port...but no joy. I know that process can be quirky but I have managed to get it to work with another 2013 iMac with thunderbolt to thunderbolt.

Am I out of luck here or do you think it could be a driver issue on the Mac Pro graphics card? My luck generally is, if I update the drivers, I will probably lose display all together so I wanted to post here first for thoughts.
 
The target iMac is on Yosemite and works with iMac on Catalina and formerly on Mojave. The Mac Pro is on Mojave.
 
saw27 said:
I have a 5,1 with a Radeon RX 560 128-bit 2GB GDRR5 DirectX 12 VR Ready CFX Graphics Card (RX 560 AERO ITX 2G OC). I can run a DVI to mini display and get a signal to a monitor. If I try to use HDMI or Display port output I get no signal on any display.

What I was trying to do is to use a 2013 iMac in target display mode with a Display port to mini display port...but no joy. I know that process can be quirky but I have managed to get it to work with another 2013 iMac with thunderbolt to thunderbolt.

Am I out of luck here or do you think it could be a driver issue on the Mac Pro graphics card? My luck generally is, if I update the drivers, I will probably lose display all together so I wanted to post here first for thoughts.
Click to expand...
Target display mode to a 2013 iMac will only work over Thunderbolt.
 
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I figured...I had slight hope when I saw someone use an iMac as a monitor for a Windows machine using DP to miniDP...
 
saw27 said:
I figured...I had slight hope when I saw someone use an iMac as a monitor for a Windows machine using DP to miniDP...
Click to expand...
That works if you have an older iMac without Thunderbolt.
 
I have a 2013 iMac and 2010 iMac connect as external displays to my work 2016 MBP. The 2013 requires usb-c to thunderbolt converter and a thunderbolt cable and the 2010 can do usb-c to mini-displayport.

If the 2010 is on, I can plugin the cable and it automatically goes into TDM which is nice. The 2013 requires an apple keyboard and holding the correct keys until the display is sensed and then you let go... and if it didnt get recognized, you must either pull the cable out or do the keyboard setting to get out of TDM (even though it's not displaying) and then you get to do it all over again.

So the older 2009-2010 (edited) work better as an extra display, imo. Used Thunderbolt displays were twice as much as a user 2010 iMac.

I'd but a new iMac if it would also do TDM for my MBP, even would have bought a iMac Pro but Mac is "Pro" in price, but no longer in features. The thermals are terrible so "pro" use is a joke. I need VMs so the M1 is out for me.
 
Last edited:
Jobeo said:
So the older 2009-2011 work better as an extra display, imo
Click to expand...
I think you might have ment 2009-2010. A 2011 iMac is a thunderbolt machine allready.
Jobeo said:
If the 2010 is on, I can plugin the cable and it automatically goes into TDM which is nice.
Click to expand...
I did not know that, never actually tried it that way, thanks for the information. I've got a couple of 2010s myself, and I sometimes use them as a display too. This feature will make it somewhat easier.
 
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