Resolved Extremely low resol. on Pro Display XDR with RTX 2080 (got 6K eventually :-P)

[henrymyf]

I finally received the Apple Pro Display XDR, and I cannot wait to try it with my also newly bought 17" Razer Blade Pro (4K 120Hz touch version). However, there is only one resolution option which is 640*480.

On the other hand, I tried connecting the Pro Display XDR with my wife's 7th gen Thinkpad X1C, and it could easily drive up to 5K.

My laptop has the price twice as much as my wife's', and the graphics card is also a lot better (Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q vs. Intel Integrated UHD Graphics 620), so I'm very confused. I think it doesn't take much of resource just to support a 5K resolution at 60Hz.

I just wonder what I could do to drive the Pro Display XDR with my Razer laptop at 5K resolution, or at least a resolution higher than 640*480 lol. Any comment would help, thanks!

Henry

(P.S. I have a '17 15" MBP in the office and I should get 5K resol. with no problem, according to my research; but now I am in favor of PC and really dislike MBP's new keyboard design even the new 16" model, so now my personal labtop is no loger Mac)

(P.S.2. I am stuck at home in China because of the coronavirus tragedy, and I couldn't go to office until next week. So I just want to spend this week trying connecting it with PC, mostly for fun and research. From next week on, I will move this Pro Display XDR to the office for work with Mac. If the old Mac is not good enough for this monitor, then I will buy an eGPU or even a new 16" MBP to support 6K.)

 

[MandiMac]

Do you have the current driver installed? I think it's GeForce drivers & GeForce Experience you would need.

 

[henrymyf]

Do you have the current driver installed? I think it's GeForce drivers & GeForce Experience you would need.

Thank you, MandiMac! I updated the GeForce drivers into 442.19 and GeForce Experience into 3.20.2.34, then I got the native 6K resolution of Pro Display XDR! I guess that is because the new graphics card uses the Titan Ridge controllers, which supports the same native 6K as the new Mac Pro and 16" MBP. Hooray!!

Now I'm gonna enjoy the beautiful nano-textured screen with Windows 10...

 

[MandiMac]

Happy to help - enjoy your setup!

 

[henrymyf]

Happy to help - enjoy your setup!

Thank you again.

I almost got a perfect result, until I experienced a strange issue just now. When I first connected the Pro Display XDR, the system notified me to choose whether to allow the Thunderbolt 3 connection (I guess it's about the USB bus and stuff), and I just ignored this notification; After successfully getting the 6K resolution, I had been using the screen for a while, with a very satisfying lightness (I guess it was the max brightness), but then I did a very regretful thing: I chose to allow the connection of the Thunderbolt 3, thinking since everything is all right. But all of sudden, the screen dimmed down (from about 100% down to 30% dark...), and I couldn't find a way to turn it up again.

I kept asking myself why I did that extra click... What I could do now...?

 

[MandiMac]

I kept asking myself why I did that extra click... What I could do now...?

I think restarting the machine and/or manually adjusting the brightness in Settings or in the menu bar to the right can help?

 

[henrymyf]

Thank you again.

I almost got a perfect result, until I experienced a strange issue just now. When I first connected the Pro Display XDR, the system notified me to choose whether to allow the Thunderbolt 3 connection (I guess it's about the USB bus and stuff), and I just ignored this notification; After successfully getting the 6K resolution, I had been using the screen for a while, with a very satisfying lightness (I guess it was the max brightness), but then I did a very regretful thing: I chose to allow the connection of the Thunderbolt 3, thinking since everything is all right. But all of sudden, the screen dimmed down (from about 100% down to 30% dark...), and I couldn't find a way to turn it up again.

I kept asking myself why I did that extra click... What I could do now...?

Solved the problem... I downloaded and installed the latest BootCamp software, and there is a control panel in it to adjust the brightness. I could also select different presets, which is very convenient. Now the backlight is tuned to be strong enough for me. 100% perfect. Happy.

 

[joevt]

Solved the problem... I downloaded and installed the latest BootCamp software, and there is a control panel in it to adjust the brightness. I could also select different presets, which is very convenient. Now the backlight is tuned to be strong enough for me. 100% perfect. Happy.

are there any special instructions for installing BootCamp software in Windows on a non-Apple PC?

 

[henrymyf]

are there any special instructions for installing BootCamp software in Windows on a non-Apple PC?

Yes, I tried to repeat the installation process and I found out that the little detail that I have forgotten to mention:

Don't double click on the "Setup.exe" file in /BootCamp6.1.7748/BootCamp/ (because you would get an error "This version of bootcamp is not intended for this computer model"), but instead run the "BootCamp.msi" file in /BootCamp6.1.7748/BootCamp/Drivers/Apple/.

After the installation, you need to restart the computer, and then, the BootCamp logo will be in the tray at the bottom right corner. Of course, the "boot from Mac OS X" functionality doesn't work.

 

[HanyuuFurute]

hello. I am a chinese too.Did you try use it through desktop pc? I am using 2080ti and bought this display,I have conntected to Apple,but ther also don't know the answer, and 17" Razer Blade Pro using thunderbolt 3 or usbc with dp? Thank you

 

[henrymyf]

hello. I am a chinese too.Did you try use it through desktop pc? I am using 2080ti and bought this display,I have conntected to Apple,but ther also don't know the answer, and 17" Razer Blade Pro using thunderbolt 3 or usbc with dp? Thank you

I think desktop PC should only be more capable than portable one. So you should make it work somehow.

-->First, my laptop has the usb-c/thunderbolt 3 connector, which could be connected directly to the Pro Display XDR through the braided cable given by the monitor;
-->Second, the drivers of the graphics card should be updated to the latest version, check #3 of this page;
-->Third, install the latest Boot Camp software (follow the instructions in #9), which could be downloaded from #7 of this page. Do remember to restart after the installation;
-->Fourth (optional), in the BIOS, do remember to enable the Nvidia Optimus option (I know this is for laptop, but I guess desktop PC might have some other similar options that seem to let you exploit the 2080 RTX graphics card).

I guess after all these steps, you should be able to drive the monitor at least at 5K resolution. Let me know what happens.

 

[HanyuuFurute]

I think desktop PC should only be more capable than portable one. So you should make it work somehow.

-->First, my laptop has the usb-c/thunderbolt 3 connector, which could be connected directly to the Pro Display XDR through the braided cable given by the monitor;
-->Second, the drivers of the graphics card should be updated to the latest version, check #3 of this page;
-->Third, install the latest Boot Camp software, which could be downloaded from #7 of this page. Do remember to restart after the installation;
-->Fourth (optional), in the BIOS, do remember to enable the Nvidia Optimus option (I know this is for laptop, but I guess desktop PC might have some other similar options that seem to let you exploit the 2080 RTX graphics card).

I guess after all these steps, you should be able to drive the monitor at least at 5K resolution. Let me know what happens.

Thank you for your response. I will follow your step.
And may I know your laptop's thunderbolt controller'model? Alpine ridge or Titan ridge,
You can check it through aida64

 

[henrymyf]

Thank you for your response. I will follow your step.
And may I know your laptop's thunderbolt controller'model? Alpine ridge or Titan ridge,
You can check it through aida64

Hi, I am attaching the screen shot of aida64 proving that my laptop has the Titan Ridge controller. Thanks.

 

[HanyuuFurute]

Hi, I am attaching the screen shot of aida64 proving that my laptop has the Titan Ridge controller. Thanks.

View attachment 895426

I can't install bootcamp on my desktop and rog gx501,

After I run it as admin

but xdr still work with 5k 6bit on gx501.I think my tb3 controller is old.Thanks ,and I will buy a gigabyte titan ridge then try again on my 2080ti

 

[joevt]

I can't install bootcamp on my desktop and rog gx501,

After I run it as admin

but xdr still work with 5k 6bit on gx501.I think my tb3 controller is old.Thanks ,and I will buy a gigabyte titan ridge then try again on my 2080ti

gx501 can't do single cable 6K because it has GTX 1080 and Intel CPU that is not Ice Lake. Both do not support Display Stream Compression (DSC).

gx501 does have Thunderbolt though. Does a display connected to the Thunderbolt port get powered by the iGPU or the GTX 1080? The Thunderbolt controller is Titan Ridge which should allow single HBR3 connection from GTX 1080 but only if it is connected to the Thunderbolt port. Does the Thunderbolt port support one or two displays? 6K60 at 8 bpc should be possible with dual HBR2 but only if the Thunderbolt port supports two displays. I guess your Thunderbolt port doesn't support two displays, because otherwise it would allow at least 5K 10 bpc. If it does support two displays, then maybe an EDID override using CRU to add missing tile timing of 3008x3840 can get you 6K60 8bpc?

Does the desktop have Alpine Ridge or Titan Ridge? The RTX 2080 Ti supports DSC and DSC only requires HBR2 for 6K60 but I don't know if HBR2 + DSC can pass through an Alpine Ridge which only supports DisplayPort 1.2.

If your RTX 2080 Ti has a USB-C port, then you could use that instead of Thunderbolt.
[automerge]1582453806[/automerge]
Edited my last post

 

[joevt]

Another correction to my last post.

 

[henrymyf]

I can't install bootcamp on my desktop and rog gx501,
View attachment 895688
After I run it as admin
View attachment 895689
but xdr still work with 5k 6bit on gx501.I think my tb3 controller is old.Thanks ,and I will buy a gigabyte titan ridge then try again on my 2080ti

I'm sorry to hear that. I really don't know how I could install it and you cannot. Maybe it's the combination of the hardwares? I was using a Windows 10 Home Edition, and it could install, later I upgraded the system to Win 10 Pro, and it could also install..

 

[lilkwarrior]

All I had to do was use a USB-C to Displayport 1.4 Adapter to get 6K full HDR. I used the drivers since 3/10 this year for my 2080TIs.

No need to care if you have Titan Ridge or Not and still be able to get your Display rendered by the GPU instead of a Thunderbolt 3 controller.


Compared to my Mac Pro, my PC supercomputer is bottlenecked by using Alpine Ridge TitanRidge, so I can't use the Display on my TB3 port–not that I would want to having 2080TIs

 

[Executor]

All I had to do was use a USB-C to Displayport 1.4 Adapter to get 6K full HDR. I used the drivers since 3/10 this year for my 2080TIs.

No need to care if you have Titan Ridge or Not and still be able to get your Display rendered by the GPU instead of a Thunderbolt 3 controller.


Compared to my Mac Pro, my PC supercomputer is bottlenecked by using Alpine Ridge TitanRidge, so I can't use the Display on my TB3 port–not that I would want to having 2080TIs

That’s great news. Could you please share which particular cable you bought?

 

[lilkwarrior]

I thought I responded to this via email, but it apparently didn't go through. Got the one from Club 3D (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R1NBCXK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1), but the one Apple directly works as well

 

[Executor]

I thought I responded to this via email, but it apparently didn't go through. Got the one from Club 3D (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R1NBCXK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1), but the one Apple directly works as well

Thank you so much!

 

[joevt]

I thought I responded to this via email, but it apparently didn't go through. Got the one from Club 3D (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R1NBCXK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1), but the one Apple directly works as well

Is it just me or do all amazon links get replaced with a buy.geni.us link in this forum? (I'm using Safari on macOS 10.15.3)

Club3D CAC-1557 USB Type C to Displayport 1.4 Bi-Directional Cable with 8K 60Hz, 4K 120Hz HDR Video Support 1.8m-6ft M/M

The Club 3D cac-1557 is a DisplayPort signal converter. Powered by the USB Type C port, The adapter requires no external power and is ideal for use with the latest notebooks/ MacBook (Pro) and tablets. Supports up to 4K UHD resolution at 120Hz and 8K at 60Hz and HDR

buy.geni.us

 

[Stairway]

Yes, I tried to repeat the installation process and I found out that the little detail that I have forgotten to mention:

Don't double click on the "Setup.exe" file in /BootCamp6.1.7748/BootCamp/ (because you would get an error "This version of bootcamp is not intended for this computer model"), but instead run the "BootCamp.msi" file in /BootCamp6.1.7748/BootCamp/Drivers/Apple/.

After the installation, you need to restart the computer, and then, the BootCamp logo will be in the tray at the bottom right corner. Of course, the "boot from Mac OS X" functionality doesn't work.

I recently set up my XDR display with my Windows 10 PC. All is well, except with the Bootcamp drivers. I followed the instructions from earlier in this thread; however when I open Bootcamp manager, it says "No supported external displays connected" on the Display tab.

I am on Windows 10 Pro version 1903. I am using a DisplayPort-USB C cable (Moshi, bi-directional). Display port connector plugged into my rtx 2080 ti, and the other end into the Thunderbolt 3 input of the xdr display.

Anyone have any thoughts as to what might be wrong? I am wondering if the Bootcamp drivers really installed properly. I say this because the Boocamp manager icon does not appear in the system tray -- I have to launch it from the Control Panel.

 

[joevt]

I recently set up my XDR display with my Windows 10 PC. All is well, except with the Bootcamp drivers. I followed the instructions from earlier in this thread; however when I open Bootcamp manager, it says "No supported external displays connected" on the Display tab.

I am on Windows 10 Pro version 1903. I am using a DisplayPort-USB C cable (Moshi, bi-directional). Display port connector plugged into my rtx 2080 ti, and the other end into the Thunderbolt 3 input of the xdr display.

Anyone have any thoughts as to what might be wrong? I am wondering if the Bootcamp drivers really installed properly. I say this because the Boocamp manager icon does not appear in the system tray -- I have to launch it from the Control Panel.

The DisplayPort end of the Moshi cable does not allow you to use the USB features of the display (brightness control, presets, ...)
You need a USB-C connection that includes USB 2.0. Many RTX cards have a USB-C port. Did you try that?

If you don't have a USB-C port on your GPU, then the Belkin VR cable is known to work with the XDR.

eGPU and Apple Pro Display XDR?

I was able to use the Apple XDR with my Mac Pro 5,1 by using an AMD 5700 XT card and the Belkin Charge and Sync Cable for Huawei VR Glass. With that setup I was able to get 6K HDR using MacOS Catalina and open core. As fellow MacRumors user @joevt pointed out, you will need a 5700XT to drive the...

forums.macrumors.com

There are many ways to add USB-C to a computer. Not all of them will work for this situation.

Page 4 | Does a USB-C monitor support DisplayPort input over...

Page 4 | I have the new generation of the LG Ultrafine 4k for Mac, which eschews DisplayPort and HDMI inputs for just two (2) Thunderbolt 3 inputs. L...

egpu.io

 

[Stairway]

The DisplayPort end of the Moshi cable does not allow you to use the USB features of the display (brightness control, presets, ...)
You need a USB-C connection that includes USB 2.0. Many RTX cards have a USB-C port. Did you try that?

If you don't have a USB-C port on your GPU, then the Belkin VR cable is known to work with the XDR.

eGPU and Apple Pro Display XDR?

I was able to use the Apple XDR with my Mac Pro 5,1 by using an AMD 5700 XT card and the Belkin Charge and Sync Cable for Huawei VR Glass. With that setup I was able to get 6K HDR using MacOS Catalina and open core. As fellow MacRumors user @joevt pointed out, you will need a 5700XT to drive the...

forums.macrumors.com

There are many ways to add USB-C to a computer. Not all of them will work for this situation.

Page 4 | Does a USB-C monitor support DisplayPort input over...

Page 4 | I have the new generation of the LG Ultrafine 4k for Mac, which eschews DisplayPort and HDMI inputs for just two (2) Thunderbolt 3 inputs. L...

egpu.io

Thanks for the info. I tried with a Gen 2 3.1 USB-c cable between the XDR and the video card. Bootcamp Manager still not seeing the display. I have verified though, that the USB-C ports on the rear of the display do work properly (so I know that there is a working USB connection between my PC and the XDR).