Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MP 6,1 Would studio display work with trash can Mac Pro?

D

darkus

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 5, 2007
383
153
I have a trash can Mac Pro and I still love it. No intention of giving it up until it dies.

My monitor however is in need of replacing. The new studio display sounds phenomenal!

But do you think it would work with the trash can and older thunderbolt?
 
  • Love
  • Like
Reactions: Karlsruhe, loby, ouimetnick and 1 other person
fwmireault said:
It should work but with 4K max resolution, if it’s the same as the LG Ultrafine 5K (chances are good because it is practically the same panel in a nicer enclosure) Source for the LG Ultrafine

Can’t say about how the A13 would be managing the camera and mics that said.

We should definitely wait for reviews or support pages for this display, but from what I know there’s nothing that prevents this display to output a 4K resolution on the 2013 Mac Pro
Click to expand...
I made this comment in an other thread. We don’t know for sure, but chances are that it can output at 4k
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
I've used my LG Ultrafine 5K with the 6,1 Mac Pro, it outputs at 4K ujsing the thunderbolt Adaptor. It looks like the Apple display has similar connectivity.
 
That’s good news. But with an egpu we could go above 4K? It seems like getting that monitor and using it at 4K might not look great?
 
Apple says that it is not compatible. If it were just a standard display, I would agree that it would probably work but I am going to guess that the A13 will cause problems with adapting the display.
 
Of course the 6,1 is not officially compatible. But the Blackmagic eGPU is officially compatible with the Pro Display XDR. So it should work just fine with the Studio Display.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BeatCrazy
Has anyone tested the Apple Studio Display with lets say a 6900XT with a DisplayPort > USB C adapter on a Mac Pro 2019?

I am willing to buy one and test it lol
 
The Mac Pro is officially able to drive three 5K displays at once via Dual-Displayport binding.
For the 5K bandwidth (@60 Hz) it‘s obviously necessary to use two Displayport 1.2 connectors.
I know there are adapters to convert USB-C to Dual-Displayport but does this work the other way around? I have not found anything in this regard.
And the internal camera would probably not work without being able to feed USB into it.

Besides 100 nits more of the Studio Display, the iMac 5K display seems to be the same panel.
A DYI solution with this panel costs you way less than half of the Studio - just fyi.
 
Last edited:
MisterAndrew said:
Someone on Reddit says it works via USB-C. It looks like they are using a DisplayPort adapter, but a GPU with a USB-C output like the W5700 would probably be better.

https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/thm8a1
Click to expand...
That's good to hear thanks for the link!

I want to buy 2x Apple Studio Displays but none are in stock until June lol

My 6900XT is in the Mac Pro 2019 and I took out the 580X MPX module since it actually slowed down the whole system and its a crappy GPU anyway.

The 6900XT has one USB-C port and the rest are HDMI and DisplayPort.

I'm hoping to use DisplayPort+USB cable that some other people are using to also get the speaker and camera function, I don't really care about the hub function that much.
 
June is quite a long backorder, but I think there are better monitors you can buy today. I think the display itself is LG and quite old (same as older iMac). There are 4K monitors that have a better color gamut for a lower price, even with a built-in Thunderbolt 4 hub which the Studio Display does not have.

Of course if you want an Apple logo on it you’ll just have to wait.
 
Has anyone confirmed if the Studio Display with work at 5K with Mac mini 2018 + black magic eGPU?
 
arw said:
I know there are adapters to convert USB-C to Dual-Displayport but does this work the other way around? I have not found anything in this regard.
Click to expand...
It won't work using one of these adapters because they're not bidirectional.

You need to use a Thunderbolt 3/4 add-in card like this one to encapsulate two DisplayPort 1.2 streams into a Thunderbolt 3 signal. This works with the LG UltraFine 5K.
 
  • Like
Reactions: arw
HDFan said:
Which ones? Color accuracy? Sharpness?
Click to expand...

Such as the Lenovo ThinkVision P27u-20, but I didn't want to make a specific recommendation without trying it first. I have the previous P27u-10 (which lacks Thunderbolt) and it works great with the 6,1. However, I just received a P27u-20 and I haven't been able to get it to work over Thunderbolt with Apple's TB2 to TB3 adapter. Not with the 6,1 on Monterey or my 2012 MBP on Catalina. It's disappointing because I was hoping to be able to use the built-in dock to connect TB3 hard drives.

The monitor needs to go back unfortunately because the whole bottom half has lines through it. Update: I contacted support and they are sending out a replacement.

Update: I got a M1 Mac mini today and it works over Thunderbolt with the monitor. The dock works too and I can connect a TB3 hard drive, although it does work a little slower than if I connect it directly to the Mac mini. I thought perhaps my TB2 to TB3 adapter is faulty, but I connected it to the 6,1 to use in Target Disk Mode and it works. I don't know why the adapter isn't working with the monitor. Maybe it doesn't support USB4? That's the protocol it shows connected with on the Mac mini.
 
Last edited:
For clarity...after looking through the threads I did not see a definite conclusion...

Anyone hook up macpro6,1 to the Studio Display and it worked with Apple's thunderbolt TB2 to TB3 adapter?

Would you need two adapters (using two thunderbolt 2 ports out on macpro6,1 to the studio display)? Does one single out-port work? How does it look..ok (4k I presume)? 5K might be pushing it since Apple does not say macpro6,1 is compatible with the monitor.

Any success?

One should not buy the Studio Display for just macpro6,1, but if you have macpro6,1 around...it would be great to see if it works with it anyway...
 
loby said:
Anyone hook up macpro6,1 to the Studio Display and it worked with Apple's thunderbolt TB2 to TB3 adapter?
Click to expand...
Yes, it works. See here.

loby said:
Would you need two adapters (using two thunderbolt 2 ports out on macpro6,1 to the studio display)?
Click to expand...
That's not possible. The Studio Display only has one input.

loby said:
Does one single out-port work?
Click to expand...
Yes, at "4K" resolution. 5K at 60 Hz and ≥8bpc isn't possible via a single DisplayPort 1.2/Thunderbolt 2 port due to bandwidth constraints. (It's possible at 6bpc but macOS doesn't support 6bpc.) But there's more to it:

loby said:
5K might be pushing it since Apple does not say macpro6,1 is compatible with the monitor.
Click to expand...
In addition to bandwidth constraints, there's another two reasons the MacPro6,1 cannot output 5K to the Studio Display:
  1. Its AMD GPUs cannot handle resolutions wider than 4096 pixels properly. The output is heavily corrupted.
  2. The Studio Display requires DSC for 5K at 60 Hz via a single DisplayPort signal. The GPUs don't support DSC.
However, the MacPro6,1 can output 5K at 60 Hz on a "dual-link SST" display such as the Dell UP2715K and HP Z27q. These require two DisplayPort signals, i.e. two cables going to the Mac Pro, each driving one half of the display at 2560×2880 at 60 Hz and 10bpc. That is both doable via one DisplayPort 1.2/Thunderbolt 2 port and below the single-output 4096-pixel width limit of the AMD GPUs.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: loby
A thread came up in the accessories forum that the Studio Display does not work with previous macOS versions. So you need to use Monterey with it. That’s a pretty big limitation for an expensive monitor.

However, I suppose then it’s wrong to think of the Studio Display as just a monitor and it should be thought of as part of a Mac (the Mac Studio), but also happens to work with some other Macs. IMO poor choice to pair with a Mac Pro 6,1, but I suppose if you plan to get a newer Mac later and don’t use any other OS then it’s fine.
 
Amethyst1 said:
It won't work using one of these adapters because they're not bidirectional.

You need to use a Thunderbolt 3/4 add-in card like this one to encapsulate two DisplayPort 1.2 streams into a Thunderbolt 3 signal. This works with the LG UltraFine 5K.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link. Unfortunately no standalone version (for Mac Pro 6,1) but good info!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Amethyst1
Amethyst1 said:
I think PCIe tunnelling doesn’t work in this case so you’d be missing out on brightness control, speakers, camera and the USB hub.
Click to expand...
Not directly relevant, but with „normal“ monitors, brightness/contrast/volume/input, etc. can be controlled via DDC/CI through the normal video cable.
A.e. with Lunar I can control my current 5K-display via Dual-Displayport from my MP6,1.
But I have no idea if the PCI card passes the relevant pins/information through or/and if the Studio Display uses this standard.

edit (additional information):
"Supporting DDC/CI" is simply a matter of having the DDC wires hooked up. Effectively, your monitor and your computer are connected with an I2C interface that the display guys just call DDC.
When it goes through USB-C, the signals are not disturbed. The DDC wires in HDMI or Displayport get assigned to two pins and wires in USB-C called SBU1 and SBU2.“
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back