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lukasz.bromirski

macrumors newbie
Feb 23, 2019
5
4
Poland
Info on numerous review pages states the monitor can do 5k but with refresh rate set to 38Hz. So, the original question stays I believe - did anyone run this and can share experience of doing so? It seems for Mac Pro 2013 the only 5k options are LG Ultrafine 5k with this fancy downsampling/upsampling tweak over TB3->TB2 cable, or this one - as Dell is no longer there to buy.

Thoughts, personal experiences?
 

joevt

Contributor
Jun 21, 2012
6,689
4,086
Info on numerous review pages states the monitor can do 5k but with refresh rate set to 38Hz. So, the original question stays I believe - did anyone run this and can share experience of doing so? It seems for Mac Pro 2013 the only 5k options are LG Ultrafine 5k with this fancy downsampling/upsampling tweak over TB3->TB2 cable, or this one - as Dell is no longer there to buy.

Thoughts, personal experiences?
You are referring to this page? https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8250470?page=2

He said it works 5K 60Hz with later version of MacOS with new AMD card supporting DisplayPort 1.4.

For his DisplayPort 1.2 tests, it looks like he didn't use the CVT-RB option in SwitchResX so the timings may have incorrect blanking settings. DisplayPort 1.2 should be able to do 5120x2880 8 bpc up to 46 Hz (pixel clock under 720 MHz) but maybe there's some overhead margin to be considered. Or maybe the gap in supported vertical refresh frequencies is affecting things (Vertical: 24-30,55-75Hz). The list of compliant timings in the manual has 5K at 967 MHz but CVT-RB uses 938 MHz which may indicate that the blanking periods need to be longer than what CVT-RB calculates. I would look at the timing in the EDID for 5K and try the same blanking intervals at lower refresh rates (try the same count of pixels, and if that doesn't work, adjust the pixels of the blank so the time (pixels/pixels clock) is the same).
 

lukasz.bromirski

macrumors newbie
Feb 23, 2019
5
4
Poland

That's one of the pages, yes.

He said it works 5K 60Hz with later version of MacOS with new AMD card supporting DisplayPort 1.4.

Yeah, but I don't want to buy external GPU enclosure and then on top of that, GFX card. Doesn't make much sense.

For his DisplayPort 1.2 tests, it looks like he didn't use the CVT-RB option in SwitchResX so the timings may have incorrect blanking settings. DisplayPort 1.2 should be able to do 5120x2880 8 bpc up to 46 Hz (pixel clock under 720 MHz) but maybe there's some overhead margin to be considered. Or maybe the gap in supported vertical refresh frequencies is affecting things (Vertical: 24-30,55-75Hz). The list of compliant timings in the manual has 5K at 967 MHz but CVT-RB uses 938 MHz which may indicate that the blanking periods need to be longer than what CVT-RB calculates. I would look at the timing in the EDID for 5K and try the same blanking intervals at lower refresh rates (try the same count of pixels, and if that doesn't work, adjust the pixels of the blank so the time (pixels/pixels clock) is the same).

Good info, however I'd like to keep it standard - 30Hz which is way too low. I'd like to have at least 60Hz or even higher when technology will be there. Mac Pro 2013 without external GPU is simply aging and I'm not too much interested in investing into external plugins. Driving the display with specific SwitchResX settings may be interesting tweak, but again, it's hard to tell how long the display will run and if that will be stable.

I'm actually going for Eizo 27" (2785) or 32" (3285) IPS 4k monitors. No Dell/Philips/Samsung/Acer and other vendors can match the quality apart from maybe NEC. They're not 5k but I've made up my mind.
 

frou

macrumors 65816
Mar 14, 2009
1,307
1,808
For the record, I can confirm that the iiyama XB2779QQS works well in Mojave with a Mac-Mini-2018 → Sonnet-eGFX → AMD-Vega setup.

Its LCD panel including bonded glass surface may well be the exact same component that is/was used in the iMac 5K, because there is a lens where the iSight camera would be, that has nothing behind it.
 
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alchemistics

macrumors member
Dec 27, 2018
71
73
Switzerland
For the record, I can confirm that the iiyama XB2779QQS works well in Mojave with a Mac-Mini-2018 → Sonnet-eGFX → AMD-Vega setup.

Its LCD panel including bonded glass surface may well be the exact same component that is/was used in the iMac 5K, because there is a lens where the iSight camera would be, that has nothing behind it.

Thanks for the info!

You simply connect one DP 1.4 cable and get 5k 60hz?

If so this should work with a MacPro Vega 56 right?
 

alchemistics

macrumors member
Dec 27, 2018
71
73
Switzerland
Yep.

Probably, but I can't say for sure.

Thanks for the fast response, appreciate it.

May I ask, overall how is your experience with the monitor.

I'm used to an LG5K and iMac5K - how does the panel compare and how user-friendly is the brightness control?
Can a VESA mount be attached?
 

frou

macrumors 65816
Mar 14, 2009
1,307
1,808
May I ask, overall how is your experience with the monitor.

I'm used to an LG5K and iMac5K - how does the panel compare and how user-friendly is the brightness control?
Can a VESA mount be attached?
Overall, a great experience.

It has the typical section-based On-Screen-Display, which is controlled by 4 touch-sensitive buttons. It takes four taps to be adjusting the brightness (I settled on Contrast 50, Brightness 60 and never change it now. Also disabled all the post-processing features and set the colour temperature to "Normal"). It has a nice so-called "Dot by Dot" mode (aka 1:1), meaning that you can show a less than 5K signal with black borders rather than being upscaled.

Based on the advertised specs (oddly they say 6-bit panel, but no such 5K panel seems to exist), there's some question about the image quality. But as someone who's actually used it, I have no complaints about any aspect of the image quality. This is from someone who, although not a pro photo/video editor, is fussy about just about everything when it comes to computers (I was already seeking out IPS monitors in the mid 2000s).

Haven't used the LG UltraFine personally, but compared to the 5K iMac, this monitor doesn't feel substantially different.
 
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joevt

Contributor
Jun 21, 2012
6,689
4,086
Based on the advertised specs (oddly they say 6-bit panel, but no such 5K panel seems to exist), there's some question about the image quality.
They say 8 bit using (6bit + Hi-FRC).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_rate_control
https://www.researchgate.net/public...Color_Depth_and_High_Color_Performance_Hi-FRC

The LG UltraFine 5K can do 10 bit (8bit + A-FRC) because dual DisplayPort 1.2 has 33% more bandwidth than DisplayPort 1.4. The iMac 5K also supports 2^30 colors but I don't know if it uses dual DisplayPort 1.2 or something else.
 

Squuiid

macrumors 68000
Oct 31, 2006
1,863
1,611
LG 5K is one hell of a screen (we buy a lot of them) but they’re also very expensive, especially compared to the Iiyama.
 

alchemistics

macrumors member
Dec 27, 2018
71
73
Switzerland
Overall, a great experience.

It has the typical section-based On-Screen-Display, which is controlled by 4 touch-sensitive buttons. It takes four taps to be adjusting the brightness (I settled on Contrast 50, Brightness 60 and never change it now. Also disabled all the post-processing features and set the colour temperature to "Normal"). It has a nice so-called "Dot by Dot" mode (aka 1:1), meaning that you can show a less than 5K signal with black borders rather than being upscaled.

Based on the advertised specs (oddly they say 6-bit panel, but no such 5K panel seems to exist), there's some question about the image quality. But as someone who's actually used it, I have no complaints about any aspect of the image quality. This is from someone who, although not a pro photo/video editor, is fussy about just about everything when it comes to computers (I was already seeking out IPS monitors in the mid 2000s).

Haven't used the LG UltraFine personally, but compared to the 5K iMac, this monitor doesn't feel substantially different.

Thank you very much for the feeback.

I wonder if the 10 bit in a traditional 4k IPS (LG 32UD99 / LG 27UD88) panel is worth sacrificing over the 1:2 scaling in macOS which you get on the 5K. I work with FCPX and 4k (mostly 8bit, but 10bit as well) footage.. The iiyama seems to give good value for the price, considering the much higher resolution..

Can you connect a MBP 15" 2017+ with 5k res to it? The 4K monitors do have much cleaner bezels and make your life easier with more device support I'd guess..
 
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