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5K Resolution (5120x2880) via NVIDIA Drivers on Dell UltraSharp 27" Monitor

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Hey you might want to try some of the new progress I've made, especially if you only have 1 GPU. Basically go into Clover and set the sys def you prefer, whether that's MacPro6 or 5 etc. Click ok. Then on the board ID just change it by 1 digit at the end. Copy the board id. Then go into S/L/CoreServices and change the PlatformSupport.plist and add this fake board-id to the list. That way it'll still boot.

Now you should have a fully functioning GPU fully utilizing the nvidia web driver features including MST or 5K. Doing it this way, I no longer have any cursor issues, and you can potentially keep other enhancements based on sys def that you may have set up. You shouldn't have to change AGDP plist either, so this change will survive updates.

Note however, that I'm not sure what else might BREAK elsewhere because it's a fake board-id. For instance, I don't bother with iMessage. But everything else for me has continued to work and work better than before. Airdrop, wifi, bluetooth, USB, sound, all the normal things that sometimes are hard to make work... everything. Not sure about CPU states and power management, that's another thing I don't care much about.

Your mileage may vary.

For me, with a 2nd GPU, this hack doesn't let the 2nd GPU's ports be active. It's still in the machine and accessible to apps if an app wants to use it, but didn't solve my problem of being able to run a 5K AND a MST display off the one card (I wanted to plug the 4K MST display into my second GPU but can't get any luck out of the ports). Only way I can make the ports work is if I use a valid board-id, but then I lose MST/5K support which I don't want to give up.

Anyway, hope this helps someone who wants to try this out especially if you have a MST or 5K display (of any kind).
 
Hey you might want to try some of the new progress I've made, especially if you only have 1 GPU. Basically go into Clover and set the sys def you prefer, whether that's MacPro6 or 5 etc. Click ok. Then on the board ID just change it by 1 digit at the end. Copy the board id. Then go into S/L/CoreServices and change the PlatformSupport.plist and add this fake board-id to the list. That way it'll still boot.

Now you should have a fully functioning GPU fully utilizing the nvidia web driver features including MST or 5K. Doing it this way, I no longer have any cursor issues, and you can potentially keep other enhancements based on sys def that you may have set up. You shouldn't have to change AGDP plist either, so this change will survive updates.

Note however, that I'm not sure what else might BREAK elsewhere because it's a fake board-id. For instance, I don't bother with iMessage. But everything else for me has continued to work and work better than before. Airdrop, wifi, bluetooth, USB, sound, all the normal things that sometimes are hard to make work... everything. Not sure about CPU states and power management, that's another thing I don't care much about.

Your mileage may vary.

For me, with a 2nd GPU, this hack doesn't let the 2nd GPU's ports be active. It's still in the machine and accessible to apps if an app wants to use it, but didn't solve my problem of being able to run a 5K AND a MST display off the one card (I wanted to plug the 4K MST display into my second GPU but can't get any luck out of the ports). Only way I can make the ports work is if I use a valid board-id, but then I lose MST/5K support which I don't want to give up.

Anyway, hope this helps someone who wants to try this out especially if you have a MST or 5K display (of any kind).


Hey man,

I'm using iMac17,1 and I was using the AGDP patch. I've reverted to the original kext, booted up and my 3 1080p monitors work.

When I turn the 5K display on, all of the displays turn to black.

P.S. : I've also noticed that the AGDP patch causes weird graphic issues with Avid Media Composer (frame skipping, getting one plain color on the full screen display sometimes, getting a zoomed picture on the source/record monitor sometimes, etc.)
When I've reverted to the original one, I don't get this anymore.

BTW, tried updating to 10.12.4 with the fake board-id and it didn't work. Had to switch back.
 
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Hm. What have you set your GPU to be called in SSDT? Using iMac though, which is different than MacPro ones. As far as I understand it, all AGDP fix does is switch things to 'none' in the plist (unless I'm mistaken, I never used it).

The update probably looks at board-id to figure out whether the update can be installed...

What happens if you try MacPro5,1? The iMac 15, 17 and MacPro6 don't work too well unless you do the full SSDT thing, but I don't think you can get 5K under those changes. I've been told MacPro5,1 and Macmini6,2 are the only sysdef/board-ids that will allow the nvidia spanmodepolicy boot-arg to work for 5K/MST. Macmini is missing as a board-id in the info.plist, so it mimics deleting the board-id. So try that one too. At least that's a legit board-id that's missing elsewhere and thus triggers 5K working.
 
Hm. What have you set your GPU to be called in SSDT? Using iMac though, which is different than MacPro ones. As far as I understand it, all AGDP fix does is switch things to 'none' in the plist (unless I'm mistaken, I never used it).

The update probably looks at board-id to figure out whether the update can be installed...

What happens if you try MacPro5,1? The iMac 15, 17 and MacPro6 don't work too well unless you do the full SSDT thing, but I don't think you can get 5K under those changes. I've been told MacPro5,1 and Macmini6,2 are the only sysdef/board-ids that will allow the nvidia spanmodepolicy boot-arg to work for 5K/MST. Macmini is missing as a board-id in the info.plist, so it mimics deleting the board-id. So try that one too. At least that's a legit board-id that's missing elsewhere and thus triggers 5K working.
Isn't MacPro5,1 not working with 100 series mobos?
 
So I've tried MacMini6,2 and here's what happens:

If I boot with the 5K display on, I get signal to all of the monitors but on the 5K display I only get 2560x1440 with just one display showing up in system pref (the 5K was usually showing up as 2 separate displays).

If I boot with the 5K monitor off, I turn it on then I get black screen on all of the monitors.
 
So I've tried MacMini6,2 and here's what happens:

If I boot with the 5K display on, I get signal to all of the monitors but on the 5K display I only get 2560x1440 with just one display showing up in system pref (the 5K was usually showing up as 2 separate displays).

If I boot with the 5K monitor off, I turn it on then I get black screen on all of the monitors.

You have both display port cables plugged into the 5K? And 3 other monitors? That's 5 monitors essentially - isn't that too much for the 980? If I have my 4K display in MST as well as my other 1440p monitor on, my 5K monitor won't work in 5K no matter what I do, as that's a total of 5 display streams. If I switch my 4K back to SST then my 5K magically switches to 5K, but only if I'm on Macmini or the other hacks I mentioned.

I have no idea about 100 series boards, incidentally, and what sys defs work. Sorry.

Like I said, your mileage may vary.

Do you have a setup where 5K works already? Or you have never seen 5K out of that monitor? It's the DELL model?
 
Yes, both ones. Well apparently it's not too much since it works under windows.

MacPro5,1 doesn't work with 100 series mobos.

I do have a setup where 5K works, but it only works if I have the 5K monitor and one extra 1080p monitor connected to DVI. If I connect another monitor, I get black screen.

Yes, it's the DELL model.
 
Yes, both ones. Well apparently it's not too much since it works under windows.

MacPro5,1 doesn't work with 100 series mobos.

I do have a setup where 5K works, but it only works if I have the 5K monitor and one extra 1080p monitor connected to DVI. If I connect another monitor, I get black screen.

Yes, it's the DELL model.

You're kinda in the same boat as me except me having an X79 board. I want more monitors but when I connect more then it ruins 5K. That's why I put another GPU in (my old GTX 680) to run 2 monitors and leave the 5K on it's own 980. But I can't get both dual GPU ports AND 5K/MST to work at the same time.
 
You're kinda in the same boat as me except me having an X79 board. I want more monitors but when I connect more then it ruins 5K. That's why I put another GPU in (my old GTX 680) to run 2 monitors and leave the 5K on it's own 980. But I can't get both dual GPU ports AND 5K/MST to work at the same time.
You do need to use nv_spanmodepolicy tho, correct? And do you still need to keep the 5k monitors off when booting?
 
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