5k Resolution with original iMac Panel and Nvidia Card

[macnexus]

Still waiting to hear back from the seller...

I'm certainly leaning that way mainly because I don't know what else to even do or try at this point.

Despite the dust behind the panel, the rest of it is so cherry that I think I'm going to be hard pressed to duplicate anything like this anywhere remotely close to this general price range.

I mean - if they'd sell an Ultrafine 5k that had "normal inputs", I'd consider it even despite the high price simply because it would presumably be possible to get one with no issues and would have a warranty, etc..

But - they don't sell that - So.... what to do, right?

I am looking to purchase a brand new QQ1 panel. I am considering to get the C1 variant.. The B1 works very well with the 5K driver board and I expect the same for C1.

I attempted to remove the glass on my "test" panel and it was hard work. It took me almost the entire day to completely remove the cracked glass from the LCD and to clean up the glue... Not surprised that I damaged the LCD in the process (expected, although majority of the LCD is undamaged).

The screen actually looks better without the glass. The text feels sharper. If only I could remove the glass without damaging the LCD (probably close to impossible!).

End result:

 

[TurbineSeaplane]

Wow!

a. That really is clear and gorgeous
b. wow what a mess - haha!!

Excited to hear you are going for at least a C1 panel. The reports about it "not being bright enough" with that driver board though -- you going to buy from a place you could return it? (for that or any other issues)

 

[macnexus]

Wow!

a. That really is clear and gorgeous
b. wow what a mess - haha!!

Excited to hear you are going or at least a C1 panel. The reports about it "not being bright enough" with that driver board though -- you going to buy from a place you could return it? (for that or any other issues)

The B1 panel is very bright. I set it to 20% backlight and it is bright enough for daily use. At 100% it is just insane. I expect the same for C1. I am not sure if the "not being bright enough" issue affected just one user or more?

I do not believe I will be able to find a merchant that will accept return as I will most probably be buying from eBay. The price for the LM270QQ1 panels have increased by a lot since the last few weeks!

 

[TurbineSeaplane]

The B1 panel is very bright. I set it to 20% backlight and it is bright enough for daily use. At 100% it is just insane. I expect the same for C1. I am not sure if the "not being bright enough" issue affected just one user or more?

I do not believe I will be able to find a merchant that will accept return as I will most probably be buying from eBay. The price for the LM270QQ1 panels have increased by a lot since the last few weeks!

You in the USA? or where?

 

[macnexus]

You in the USA? or where?

UK

 

[TurbineSeaplane]

UK

Gotcha - I was going to suggest a few USA sites I've seen that have been getting C1's in stock at reasonable prices here and there ($380-415 USA - $380 with a coupon)

 

[Namok88]

I attempted to remove the glass on my "test" panel and it was hard work. It took me almost the entire day to completely remove the cracked glass from the LCD and to clean up the glue... Not surprised that I damaged the LCD in the process (expected, although majority of the LCD is undamaged).

Holy cow!

Did you use a hairdryer to melt the glue between the panel and the glass?

 

[macnexus]

Holy cow!

Did you use a hairdryer to melt the glue between the panel and the glass?

No I did not use a hairdryer. I used a card to break the ring of adhesive around the glass and then lift the broken glass, one at a time, very carefully and gently to break the glue. I also insert a card between the glass and LCD panel to help with "cutting" the glue. I think a hairdryer would have helped but there wasn't one lying around that I could use. I tried the dental floss and fishing line methods but they did not work because the glue was strong (and I could not melt them).

Unfortunately, I spotted the damage on the LCD panel (bottom right) even before I attempted to remove the glass for that area. I knew it was impossible to recover the LCD panel fully so I did not put in too much care and effort for the rest of the experiment (even ended with several cuts on my fingers!). I was surprised that I managed to damage the LCD panel further while cleaning the glue, possibly because I applied too much downward force on the LCD panel while scrapping out the glue with a card.

Although the surface of the exposed LCD panel looks smooth and clean now, there are blue marks all over the screen on black background. The pattern of the blue marks matches the direction when I scrapped the glue. Interestingly, the screen still look glossy even without the glass (reminds me of the LG UltraFine 5K).

 

[macnexus]

For those that are wondering how the R9A18 5K driver board (paired with the LM270QQ1 SD B1 LCD panel) performs in terms of brightness and colour, I have done a comparison between the iMac 5K panel and the MBP 15" 2015 Retina display. It is worth noting that the iMac panel went through some torture and abuse when I removed the glass resulting in slight damage to the LCD.

The test was carried out in macOS Catalina and the R9A18 was set to use DCI-P3 (not sure if it made any difference).

LM270QQ1: 100% backlight
MBP 15": 100% brightness
The iMac panel was very bright compared to the MBP but the camera did not quite capture that. It is safe to say that the backlight of the iMac panel is not dimmed at full backlight. The colour of the wallpaper looked almost similar to my eyes on both panels and they looked really gorgeous!

Different wallpaper with both backlight still at 100%:
Again, the colour looked quite similar across both panels.

LM270QQ1: 0% (first), 50% (second), 50% (third)
MBP 15": 1 out of 16 "boxes" - 6.25% (first), 8 out of 16 "boxes" - 50% (second), almost 100% (third)
The camera used the brightness of the iMac panel for metering so it might look as though the brightness has not changed.

The high pixel density made the text looked very sharp. They looked a lot better than the photos below. For those that are used to high pixel density display, this should be nothing new.

 

[TurbineSeaplane]

I'm really interested to see what "issues" (hopefully none) the next panel has that you purchase.

I have to think it will be better than the Planar iMac panels, as I've never heard anything from the other iMac DIY monitor makers about stuck pixels and other issues the IX2790's had.

Aren't there third party Apple repair shops out there too?
It must be possible to buy a "new" (perhaps meant for repair if someone needs it for their iMac 5k) QQ1 panel somewhere, right?

I really hope you can get one!
This driver board sure sounds like a winner!

It's nice to know that is a legit option. For me I would need to figure out what enclosure I would use though, as the chin on the iMacs makes the screen too high for my setup, even if the chin is literally touching the desk surface to get as low as possible.