27" iMac displayport Input

Terpfen said:
There's your problem right there. An S-IPS panel will always look better than a TN panel.
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I know that, I was merely making a point that it's one of the better TN panels. I'm aware that S-IPS is the superior panel type, but I'd never seen a side-by-side comparison that made the differences so obvious.
 
NathanM said:
They need to sell that screen as a stand-alone monitor!
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according to the article, basically in today's market if the iMac 27" was a stand-alone monitor without anything else it should go for about $1500...huh??? now throw in everything else for $200 and you got a pretty good deal every which way
http://www.marco.org/222434049

embedded link in article
A curious sidenote ................

The 27” iMac’s base configuration is $1699. It has a 2560x1440 resolution and can be used as a standalone monitor from another computer. It’s a new LED-backlit IPS panel likely to have an excellent color gamut, contrast ratio, and pixel response time.

The 30” Cinema Display is $1799. It has a 2560x1600 resolution. It’s an older CCFL-backlit panel with mediocre specifications
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That just goes to show how much they're overcharging for those large monitors. Since they're mainly for an enthusiast market, the prices are jacked up way higher than they should be. Maybe the iMac will cause the price of large, quality monitors to drop some.
 
deja_vu said:
according to the article, basically in today's market if the iMac 27" was a stand-alone monitor without anything else it should go for about $1500...huh??? now throw in everything else for $200 and you got a pretty good deal every which way
http://www.marco.org/222434049

embedded link in article
Click to expand...

Please keep in mind that you have to subtract out of that price to compensate for the disadvantages of the iMac as a monitor. Remember, this is a monitor that requires a full PC booted and running in order to use it as a monitor for another PC, has only one input and pretty much no OSD management or rich display functionality. How much less would you pay for a 30" display that only had one input that only worked with some cards?

I'm simply stating this as an owner of the 27" - it's definitely a value, but it's not a simple case of "you get a free computer for $200."
 
NathanM said:
I know that, I was merely making a point that it's one of the better TN panels. I'm aware that S-IPS is the superior panel type, but I'd never seen a side-by-side comparison that made the differences so obvious.
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Right. All I'm saying is, the 27'' iMac's display isn't great just because it looks better than a TN panel. An S-IPS panel looking better than a TN panel is a given. The 27'' iMac's panel is good because it's a particularly high-quality S-IPS panel. Combined with the LED backlighting, it's one of the best displays you can buy at the moment. That'll change next Spring, but for now, you're basically comparing a Toyota with a Bugatti.
 
sphinx99 said:
Please keep in mind that you have to subtract out of that price to compensate for the disadvantages of the iMac as a monitor. Remember, this is a monitor that requires a full PC booted and running in order to use it as a monitor for another PC, has only one input and pretty much no OSD management or rich display functionality. How much less would you pay for a 30" display that only had one input that only worked with some cards?

I'm simply stating this as an owner of the 27" - it's definitely a value, but it's not a simple case of "you get a free computer for $200."
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granted there are advantages and disadvantages with either way but looking at the prices of S-IPS stand alone panels, including led backlit, decent ppi, large resolutions there ain't much to pick from out there, is there?
here is a list...not sure how up to date it is but looks pretty recent
http://www.pchardwarehelp.com/guides/s-ips-lcd-list.php

which are the higher screen sizes?
which are led backlit?
which have the higher resolutions?

Apple Cinema Display 30" 2560 x 1600 $1,800
Dell 3007WFP-HC 30" 2560 x 1600 $1,400
Dell 3008WFP 30" 2560 x 1600 $2,000
HP LP3065 30" 2560 x 1600 $1,400
LG W3000H 30" 2560 x 1600 $1,400
NEC LCD3090WQXi 30" 2560 x 1600 $2,200

now haven't done all the research but am sure that not all of of these panels are led backlit which would to me be a minus..

looking at the above price points and the imac 27" 2560 x1440 with the low end price at $1699, as was stated before you are basically paying $200-$300 for a Mac computer with I think the largest backlit led s-ips panel on the market....don't quote me on that but just read it in few articles...have to dig deeper to confirm

before getting the imac 27, was shopping the 30" ips panels and almost pulled the trigger on 1 or 2 from the list above...the prices always though held me back, second thoughts prevailed.....having a few hackintoshes also, loved the OS but again when looking to purchase a MAC the prices always held me back....well with the iMac 27 it was more or less a no brainer....even if you were to split the difference in the cost of say $850 for the display and $850 for the Mac you still in my opinion come out on top...the PC has the horsepower, the iMac 27 has eyecandy display and each have the own OS....that's an "all in one" for me....

different needs for different folks produce different choices...so whatever floats your boat go for it....i'm a happy camper, at least for today and until something better comes out at a cheaper price :eek:
 
deja_vu said:
looking at the above price points and the imac 27" 2560 x1440 with the low end price at $1699, as was stated before you are basically paying $200-$300 for a Mac computer with I think the largest backlit led s-ips panel on the market....don't quote me on that but just read it in few articles...have to dig deeper to confirm

before getting the imac 27, was shopping the 30" ips panels and almost pulled the trigger on 1 or 2 from the list above...the prices always though held me back, second thoughts prevailed.....having a few hackintoshes also, loved the OS but again when looking to purchase a MAC the prices always held me back....well with the iMac 27 it was more or less a no brainer....even if you were to split the difference in the cost of say $850 for the display and $850 for the Mac you still in my opinion come out on top...the PC has the horsepower, the iMac 27 has eyecandy display and each have the own OS....that's an "all in one" for me....

different needs for different folks produce different choices...so whatever floats your boat go for it....i'm a happy camper, at least for today and until something better comes out at a cheaper price :eek:
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Very well put. I almost bit on 3007/3008 a few times, but something or other always held me back. No hesitatation on getting a 27" iMac though.
 
circularreference said:
On a related note, AMD technical support is slowly responding to a support ticket I filed a couple weeks ago on the 5770 and they are now claiming that the 5770 requires an ACTIVE DisplayPort to mini DisplayPort adapter whereas the 4890 did not require this, which makes no sense to me. When I pressed for specific examples of what they meant, they sent me a list of qualified DP/mDP adapters, but a Google search could not find any of them. I've replied asking for more details. We'll see where that goes.
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After several weeks and numerous back and forths with AMD support, I'm giving up on trying to get a reasonable explanation on why the 5770 does not work with the iMac. They are still claiming that due to the way EyeFinity was designed, you need a powered/active adapter to go from DisplayPort -> mini DisplayPort but they cannot provide any examples of such an adapter or provide a technical explanation of why this is even needed.

I returned my 5770 a couple weeks ago, but I was still curious to figure out the real problem here. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like AMD support is interested in helping out and I don't have the patience to keep dealing with them. It would seem that anybody with a 5770/5870 hoping to connect it to the iMac is going to be out of luck.

If anyone with a 5770/5870 has the patience, file a support ticket with AMD and see if you can get any further.
 
Looks like someone on the Apple boards got an ATI FirePro V3750 to work with the Apple 24" Cinema Display:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2194066&start=15&tstart=0

Given the compatibility similarities between the 24" ACD and the 27" iMac, I would guess this card works with the iMac as well.

If true, that would bring the list of compatible iMac cards up to 4 (3470, 4890, 5970, and possibly this V3750). Still all ATI cards, though.
 
circularreference said:
Looks like someone on the Apple boards got an ATI FirePro V3750 to work with the Apple 24" Cinema Display:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2194066&start=15&tstart=0

Given the compatibility similarities between the 24" ACD and the 27" iMac, I would guess this card works with the iMac as well.

If true, that would bring the list of compatible iMac cards up to 4 (3470, 4890, 5970, and possibly this V3750). Still all ATI cards, though.
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I bought the GTX 295 for a reason. I wanted it to last at least almost two years. I need it to get me by at least another year before I upgrade my main video card. I may have to look elsewhere for a monitor solution, or simply stick with my inferior 24" TN panel for now.
 
I just noticed that Apple posted a support article last week describing Target Display mode:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3924

They mention using a mDP->mDP cable, which implies the video card on the source computer has a mDP (not DP) output, but that's probably because they're assuming you are connecting another Apple computer to the iMac.

Then the last bullet says "iMac can receive only DisplayPort compliant video and audio signals" which seems to imply any DP video card should work so why the 5770/5870 do not work is still a mystery.

Another interesting point from that article: they DO support connecting two iMacs together with one in Target Display mode. Now that would be a lot of screen real estate!
 
Hey All,

I've logged two support requests with ATI regarding the incompatibilities between the 57/5800 series cards and the iMac and Cinema Display. I still haven't received any response from ATI directly, but I did get the following response back from the Sapphire Tech Support team who is the ODM for my 5870 card:

"Yes we are waitting on AMD to see if they can come up with a fix that can make these two parts more compatible with each other. This is a known issue".

It's not much, but apparently they are at least aware of the problem.
 
How is fast swtiching between the two machine on the imac.

For example if I had a game running in win7 and I switched back to osx on the imac and wrote an email and came back would it sync right back up and I could start playing again?

I know the mouse and keyboard are issues but just curious.
 
If you're wondering about Nvidia Displayport options, I went looking for them on newegg and did not find a single one.
 
hornkiku23 said:
How is fast swtiching between the two machine on the imac.

For example if I had a game running in win7 and I switched back to osx on the imac and wrote an email and came back would it sync right back up and I could start playing again?

I know the mouse and keyboard are issues but just curious.
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It takes about a second or two after pressing CMD+F2 for the display to switch over. It actually takes Windows a bit longer to detect my keyboard/mouse after using my USB switch, but other than that I have no issues having programs running on both the PC and Mac and constantly switching between the two.
 
Meatybone said:
It's not much, but apparently they are at least aware of the problem.
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Hopefully something conclusive will come out of that. I got at least a dozen different responses from my AMD support ticket and every time I though I was making some progress with them, a different support rep would answer my next question and it was like starting all over again. Good luck!
 
It certainly would be great if the 5800 series could get working by some driver update on the apple or ATI side. I got a 5970 to use with the iMac, but it has the "rattling fan" problem so I think I'm going to RMA it. And with the way the stock situation is, I'm not expecting newegg to send me a replacement, which leaves me stuck with my old 5870, which of course doesn't work with the iMac. I don't want to downgrade to a 4890, so hopefully a resolution is in the works, although I'm not holding my breath as it doesn't seem to be a high priority for either company.
 
Is the monitor/mac hdcp compliant? I think if I remember correctly the 30inch one is not therefore if you tried to display some blue ray on it you might hit some boundaries.
 
I think that's just because the 30" cinema display is so ancient that it was when HDCP wasn't so widespread. Since my 5970 is off to RMA for the fan issue I might try boot-camp into Windows 7 and using a USB connected Blu-ray drive.
 
I'd love to test it, but I don't have a displayport to mini-displayport cable... and my old 5870 is already sold as I suspected there wouldn't be a fix anytime soon. It would be great if this new bios fixed the problem though.
 
alamone said:
I'd love to test it, but I don't have a displayport to mini-displayport cable... and my old 5870 is already sold as I suspected there wouldn't be a fix anytime soon. It would be great if this new bios fixed the problem though.
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Ah well. I guess that i will have to bite the bullet and try it over the weekend. I hate to do this to a card as difficult to come by as my 5870, but I guess I will have to be first. Wish me luck. I will post the results (assuming I don't brick the card) Sunday or so.
 
C0Y0TE said:
Ah well. I guess that i will have to bite the bullet and try it over the weekend. I hate to do this to a card as difficult to come by as my 5870, but I guess I will have to be first. Wish me luck. I will post the results (assuming I don't brick the card) Sunday or so.
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Looking forward to seeing your results! The 4890 is a decent card, but doesn't really cut it at 2560x1440.
 
Hi All,

Since other people are fighting with the whole 5850/5870 DisplayPort issues, I thought I would post a reply that I finally got from AMD concerning the issue:

Your service request : SR #{ticketno:[8200261374]} has been reviewed and updated.

Response and Service Request History:

Please be advised that we have requested our Product Specialists to investigate issues with the Display Port compatibility related with Radeon 5700/5800 series of graphics cards with both the iMac Target Display Mode and the Apple 24" Cinema Display. In addition, we will request comparison with the Radeon HD 4890/5970 Series.

We have requested high priority on the issue, however, we encourage you to report your issue to AMD Software Engineering through the Catalyst Crew Feedback Form. Please encourage others who have experienced the issue to do so as well.

Catalyst Crew Feedback

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/CatalystCrewFeedback.aspx​

I just thought I'd pass the word along... I may also check out this new firmware that people mentioned.
 
Hi All,

I decided to try out the new firmware that was posted to see if it resolved the DisplayPort problems with the iMac in target disk mode.

To make a long story short, although the firmware flashed successfully, it didn't have any impact on the 5870 iMac target display mode incompatibility.

For the record, before doing the flash, my hardware was reported as:
BIOS Version 012.011.000.006
Part Number: 113-c00101-101
Bios Date: 2009/9/14

After the flash, I have:
BIOS Version: 012.014.000.005
Part Number: 113-c00101-103
BIOS Date: 3009/11/12

The good news is that I'm somewhat happy that I now know that flashing the firmware is possible on the card, however, no luck on the Apple DisplayPort problem front.

A quick question to the forum: Has anyone gotten the 5870 to work with any displayport enabled device? Maybe a dell displayport enabled monitor?
 
I have a 5870 that was connected to a Dell 3008WFP.

Now sold the 3008WFP, and waiting for my i7 27incher :)
 
You know the 5870 doesn't work outputting video to the 27" btw right? That's what this whole thread is trying to figure out...
 
yeh i know, i'm hoping there will be a fix in the future, but otherwise I'll use the imac with my 17" MBP
 
So you have a desktop PC with a 5870 and no monitor?
 
Spentan,

Sorry for the dumb question, but was your Dell 30" hooked up over DVI or DisplayPort? I also have a Dell 30" Monitor, but it only has dual-link DVI, but it's a few years old so yours may be newer.

Also, seeing the Dell 30" Monitor and the iMac right next to each other the difference is striking. I always loved that Dell monitor and really enjoyed it, but when you see it side by side with the backlit LED IPS panel, it just looks awful by comparison. The iMac display is really in a league of it's own (now if I could just use the stupid thing!)

(Edit: I just read the spec's on the 3008WFP and it does have DisplayPort and looks to be a much higher quality model than my 30" Dell is, so your difference between the displays will probably be a lot less dramatic. You will still probably like the higher DPI of the Apple display, and the 16:9 27" panel size just feels nicer than the 30" which makes you look up and down a lot of you are editing a lot of source code, etc).
 
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I have a current 4890 with only DVI. I was thinking of getting the DP 4890 and crossfiring them. Would this be theoretically possible to still display on the 27" imac?
 
I would think so, as long as your DP 4890 is in the first slot.

Newegg finally came through with my Sapphire Vapor-X 4890 and I tried it out yesterday. It was awesome. DoW II ran pretty well at high/ultra settings, so until I play a game requiring more horsepower I'll be happy with my current setup.
 
Regarding the question of cross-fire 4890's on the iMac, I am almost positive that I saw a thread on AMD's forum saying that this was confirmed to be working with the iMac, which makes sense to me since the output wouldn't seem to be affected by adding an additional card... just the rendering.

I think that 2 4890's in Cross-fire are about the same rendering horsepower as a 5870, and the price isn't too much difference so this may be the way to go for people that haven't already spent their money on a 5870. It sucks to be buying old tech, but really the 4890 is still a good card by any standard.
 
0ptional said:
So you have a desktop PC with a 5870 and no monitor?
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hehe, no I have 2 BenQ E2200HDs also connected. I'm still waiting for my 27 iMac to be delivered, seem to be a few delays here in Perth, Western Australia. :S
 
well..... expecially adapters for apple products :D

like a mini DP to HDMI adpater that was expensive!!!!!

that is part of Apples revinue scheme..... (not here though since they are not making an adapter)

Apple loves to limit its users to only use their devices they way apple intended.... which is not to hook their lovely 27" IPS monitor to a PC for gaming!
 
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