Dell 2713 in 27" iMac 2012 - New iMac retina project? Curved iMac?

Hey all.

First post, and I just wanted to thank everyone for all the time and effort they have put into this site. I have loved reading everything here!

Last spring, I decided to put together an iMac monitor @ 2560x1440 for my surface pro.

To build it, I bought two things on ebay,
1. iMac Chassis and Mobo, with glass and display, missing gpu, psu, and pretty much everything else. --- 200 USD shipped
2. Dell 2713hm used, broken stand and vesa mount --- 225 USD shipped

TOTAL COST = $425

I sold the processor out of the imac for 140, the display for 200, and the mobo for 125.

This brought in a total EARNED = $465

So now I am left with an imac chassis and a functional 2713hm.

To make a long story short, I pulled all the parts out of the 2713hm and put them in the imac. To do this, I had to use a pair of pliers to pull the plastic mounts out of the imac chassis, and then mount the 2713hm innards on cardboard for insulation. To hold the actual display in place, I mounted an L-bracket to the bottom bezel of the glass using super glue. The display simply rests on top of the mount.

Here are some pictures.














I have put an i5 sandy bridge build inside, and the original power cord can be split into an extension cord on the inside to power everything inside.

That didn't meet my needs, so I sold those parts and bought a 980x - stable under water @ 4.5ghz all cores. I was going to mount the system in this monitor/iMac

I saw the new retina iMac, and ordered one immediately, but then found out it will not support target display mode. If it did, I would finish my low profile e-Atx build and use them together, but it looks like it might not.


My proposal - I will buy an retina iMac and try to hack it to use as a monitor. There are two ways I could see this working:

1. I could do a firmware mod to support target display mode. Maybe? Anyone understand the path that a signal into an imac takes in target displaymode?

2. I would prefer to do a displayport to LVDS conversion. Ideally I could wire it to work @ 60hz via two displayport cables, or at the very minimum at 5k 30hz over a single DP.

As I understand it, I would need a power supply for the screen, and an LVDS cable compatible with the slot on the motherboard:

https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/EgscnBEfIAGEIX6Q.huge

The top connector is the lvds to the 1440p screen, and the bottom one is the lvds to 2880p in the retina iMac.

Anyone got thoughts?

Any ideas?

If this doesn't work, I will likely ditch the 27" idea and build an AIO with the samsung UN55HU9000... I think at DP hack is possible for 4k at 60hz there...

Cheers and happy modding,
Bob

First, this mod looks amazing. Are you really going to build that HexCore in there? What Motherboard will you use?

Also, are you serious about buying a Retina iMac just as a display? Is a 4k Display simply not enough? Or do you need the high (5K) resolution for work?

I did get the hexacore in the build with quad ssds in raid 0 along with 64gb ram and a 7990 reference from XFX with the lifetime warranty.... it was blisteringly awesome.

To answer your question, yes, it did work. Imo, though, it isn't a great solution for an AIO. I had to remove the standard mount (which takes up the best space inside the imac) and install a vesa mod.

Moving forward, I have learned that the dell 5k uses 2 dp, and gets screen tearing as a result. I expect the same from the imac.

I work in the financial services industry, so a professional looking computer is on the top of my wishlist at the moment. I found a source for a small scroll compressor for a phase change cooling system. This should be very easy to make.

I am considering buying the 34" dell 1440p monitor that is 21:9. That should meet my needs. Putting an unlocked multiplier cpu in a mineral oil bath and phase cooling the system should be silent and powerful.

A friend of mine does a ton of work with aluminum and CF, so we will see where this goes....

Cheers and happy modding!!
Bob