LG UltraFine 5K Build

[tholstro]

If I remember correctly, it worked if I had my iGPU enabled.

What SSDT are you using? I would like to give it a try.

Specs show that the iGPU is HDMI only and only 4096x2160@30 Hz.

SSDT for USB I/O mapping? I'm using a USB mapping injector KEXT I created from USBMap in lieu of an SSDT.

 

[joevt]

So the Titan Ridge adapter arrived, installed and the LG 5K is indeed working at full 5K.

The downside with this configuration is the loss of the camera, speakers and brightness controls in the LG 5K. I believe this is because the Titan Ridge adapter Thunderbolt header isn't connected. So this configuration is merely a DisplayPort bridge between the RX 580 and LG 5K I believe...

Anyone know if the LG 5K camera, speakers and brightness controls work with the Titan Ridge Thunderbolt header connected to the MOBO?

Thunderbolt add-in cards don't need the header cable to allow PCIe tunneling. For example, I can get Thunderbolt working in my 2008 Mac Pro with a GC-TITAN RIDGE. Software needs to enable the functionality. Windows 10 does that for me. The functionality continues to work when I warm boot into macOS.

Motherboards that support Thunderbolt have software in their firmware (EFI and SSDT) to enable Thunderbolt functionality. That software might depend on the header cable. That software might depend on a certain generation of Thunderbolt controller (either Alpine Ridge or Titan Ridge). A BIOS setting might be able to disable the firmware software. Software in the OS might be able to enable Thunderbolt functionality (like how Windows 10 makes it work in my 2008 Mac Pro but without hotplug support for Thunderbolt devices).

 

[FrankyBreuninger]

I am wondering if it is worth the hassle to buy a LG 5K or 4K and configure a Gigabyte Alpine Ridge (or Titan Ridge) Card (hotplug / sleep issues). The price is relatively high and I would normally prefer an Eizo with integrated color management, but fonts look pretty ugly on non-retina. Not sure if the upcoming Apple Screen will bring some development and make others like Eizo offering more HiDPI choice for Mac users.

 

[joevt]

I am wondering if it is worth the hassle to buy a LG 5K or 4K and configure a Gigabyte Alpine Ridge (or Titan Ridge) Card (hotplug / sleep issues). The price is relatively high and I would normally prefer an Eizo with integrated color management, but fonts look pretty ugly on non-retina. Not sure if the upcoming Apple Screen will bring some development and make others like Eizo offering more HiDPI choice for Mac users.

There are non-Thunderbolt 5K and 4K display alternatives. The Apple display could use a Titan Ridge Thunderbolt 3 controller which can allow now-Thunderbolt connections like the LG5K2K (LG 34WK95U-W) display does (DisplayPort 1.4 connection, or USB-C DisplayPort 1.4 alternate mode connection).

 

[tholstro]

It would be nice if they offered the UltraFine displays with DP 1.4 inputs.

Unfortunately the LG 34WK95U-W is 34" wide with only a 5120 x 2160 display. Not the same pixel density as the UltraFine variants.

The 5K UF is 5120 x 2880 which is the same horizontal resolution and more vertical all in a 27" display. And the 4k UF is 4069 x 2304 in a 22" display.

 

[FrankyBreuninger]

That is the point - pixel density. I tried a DELL 24" 4k, but (besides a sleep/wake issue with the device), the pixel density is not fine enough: native scaling results in too big fonts; software scaling looks not great either.
I do not see any real alternatives for 5k with a 5120 x 2880 resolution. Dell, HP etc do not offer them anymore.

 

[joevt]

Planar and Iiyama make 5K 16:9 displays:

Best 5K Monitors of 2019

If 4K monitors are still not enough for you but you find expensive 8K monitors to be overkill, check out the best 5K monitors on the market. However, shopping for monitors with a native 5K

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DisplayPort 1.4 only has 50% more bandwidth than DisplayPort 1.2.
Thunderbolt 3 has 100% more bandwidth than DisplayPort 1.2 (5K monitors using Thunderbolt 3 usually use two DisplayPort 1.2 signals over Thunderbolt similar to dual-cable displays like the Dell UP2715K or HP Z27q).

DisplayPort 1.4 is not enough bandwidth for 10bpc color at 5120x2880 but is enough for 8bpc or 10bpc at 5120x2160 (assuming no Display Stream Compression (DSC)). 8bpc color should be good enough.

Anyone seen a computer display that uses DSC?

 

[Skimble]

Question regarding dual 5K configuration - most high-end graphic cards have only 3 DisplayPort 1.4 ports. I'd really like to use two externally powered PCIE Titan Ridge converters to convert 4 Display Port 1.2 streams for dual 5k configuration.

As far as I understand, on MacOS dual graphics card configuration won't help, as the secondary card can be used for off-screen rendering or GPGPU (please correct me if I'm wrong). So I wonder - is there a box that converts a single DisplayPort 1.4 stream into 2 DisplayPort 1.2 streams that I can feed into the Titan Ridge cards?

 

[joevt]

Question regarding dual 5K configuration - most high-end graphic cards have only 3 DisplayPort 1.4 ports. I'd really like to use two externally powered PCIE Titan Ridge converters to convert 4 Display Port 1.2 streams for dual 5k configuration.

As far as I understand, on MacOS dual graphics card configuration won't help, as the secondary card can be used for off-screen rendering or GPGPU (please correct me if I'm wrong). So I wonder - is there a box that converts a single DisplayPort 1.4 stream into 2 DisplayPort 1.2 streams that I can feed into the Titan Ridge cards?

Dual graphics cards is probably the solution. Or buy a card with four DisplayPort outputs.

It sounds like you're saying dual graphics cards won't help because the secondary card can only be used for off-screen rendering or GPGPU. That's not true. macOS has always been able to support multiple graphics cards with displays connected to each.

A box that converts DisplayPort 1.4 to two DisplayPort 1.2 streams would be interesting. It would have to pretend to be a 5120 x 2880 display. It seems a little bit too niche for someone to implement.

Another solution would be a DisplayPort 1.4 MST Hub. I don't think anyone sells one of those (StarTech has many DisplayPort 1.2 MST Hubs but no DisplayPort 1.4 MST Hubs)? The HP Thunderbolt Dock G2 has a built in DisplayPort 1.4 MST Hub. It works with both a USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 input (because it uses a Titan Ridge Thunderbolt 3 controller) so here you would connect a bi-directional DisplayPort 1.4 to USB-C cable (such as the one from Moshi) from your graphics card to the HP Thunderbolt Dock G2 (I believe the dock's Thunderbolt cable is removable but I don't know if the dock will work with a USB-C connection that doesn't include USB). Then connect two DisplayPort cables from the HP Thunderbolt Dock G2 to the GC-TITAN RIDGE which is connected to the LG UltraFine 5K display. There's a couple issues with this.
1) macOS does not support MST for multiple displays, so you'll need to use Windows.
2) The graphics driver probably won't see the two outputs as a single display (maybe it could - I don't know).

There's also a problem with DisplayPort 1.4 itself: DisplayPort 1.4 only has 50% more bandwidth than DisplayPort 1.2. Dual DisplayPort 1.2 (as used by the LG UltraFine 5K) has 33% more bandwidth than DisplayPort 1.4. So you'll be reduced to 8 bit color instead of 10 bit unless the box, graphics card, and graphics driver supports Display Stream Compression (anyone know if DSC is a thing in macOS?).

 

[joevt]

Actually, the DisplayPort 1.4 MST Hub in the HP Thunderbolt Dock G2 is not sufficient since the USB-C connection reserves two of the four lanes for USB.