Question: Q: 4K monitor usable with Mac Pro mid-2010? Can I use a 4K UHD monitor with my mid-2010 Mac Pro 8 core and what replacement graphics card should I use, with how much memory (it has the original ATI Radeon HD 5770 card, 1GB)? If you would like to buy me a coffee click here: video is an outline on how to flash a Mac Pro 4,1 to a 5,1 which will all. Think you're confusing a video card (such as those from Blackmagic Design and AJA) with a graphics card. If your screen supports 4K then your desktop will be that resolution. If you get a BM card that is just for video output from Pro Tools and other video software, that won't affect the desktop.
I wanted an inexpensive way for my 2010 Mac Pro with original stock Radeon HD 5770 video cards to drive a 4K TV as a computer monitor. I'd read conflicting reports about whether it would output 3840 x 2160 4K video, or not. For the benefit of anyone else interested in doing it, I'm posting my results here that it does.
I'm not interested in playing video games, just in using a 40' Samsung 4K TV as a monitor for CAD work and viewing some 4K video. The HD 5770 will output 3840 x 2160 at 24, 25, or 30 Hz with excellent results. It will not output 4K at 60 Hz.
All that's required is a $30 (perhaps less) ACTIVE Mini Display Port to HDMI converter, and possibly depending on your monitor or converter, SwitchResX, which can be downloaded for free unless you want to pay for some of its additional features.
You must use an ACTIVE converter. A passive converter will NOT work. It can be tricky distinguishing an ACTIVE converter from a passive converter, because some passive converters say they support 4K (they do, but not from an HD 5770 video card), and some ACTIVE converters are not marketed as ACTIVE. I used a Kanex KIADAPT4KW, http://www.kanex.com/mdphd4k-adapter, which accepts DisplayPort 1.2 and outputs HDMI 1.4b compatible 297 MHz pixel rate signals.
The Samsung monitor I used showed up in the Display Preferences (and About This Mac) as a native 4096 x 2160 monitor, when in fact it is 3840 x 2160 TV/monitor. I suspect that was because of an EDID problem that could have been in the monitor or the converter. In any event, it did not work correctly when selecting the Native setting or 4096 x 2160 in the Display Preferences. But SwitchResX can be used to easily select the correct 3840 x 2160 output at either 24, 25, or 30 Hz (or 1080p when you don't want the 4K output), and it will default to that setting each time the Mac Pro is booted up.
The results were excellent on CAD and 4K video. I hope this is helpful information for someone else. It certainly would have helped me earlier.
This article applies only to video cards that originally shipped with a specified Mac Pro or were offered as an upgrade kit by Apple. Similar cards that were not provided by Apple may have compatibility issues and you should work with the vendor of that card to confirm compatibility.
Mac Pro (2019)
Learn more about cards you can install in Mac Pro (2019) and how to install PCIe cards in your Mac Pro (2019).
Mac Pro (Late 2013)
- Dual AMD FirePro D300
- Dual AMD FirePro D500
- Dual AMD FirePro D700
Mac Pro (Mid 2010) and Mac Pro (Mid 2012)
- ATI Radeon HD 5770
- ATI Radeon HD 5870
Learn about graphics cards supported in macOS 10.14 Mojave on Mac Pro (2010) and Mac Pro (Mid 2012).
Mac Pro (Early 2009)
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 120
- ATI Radeon HD 4870
- ATI Radeon HD 5870, offered as an upgrade kit
The Radeon HD 5870 card requires Mac OS X 10.6.4 or later and the use of both auxiliary power connections.
Mac Pro (Early 2008)
- ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT
- NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (part number 630-9191 or 630-9897)*
- NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600
- ATI Radeon HD 4870, offered as an upgrade kit
The Radeon HD 4870 card requires Mac OS X 10.5.7 or later.
Video Card For 4k Movies
Mac Pro (Original)
- NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
- ATI Radeon X1900 XT
- NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 (part number 630-7532 or 630-7895)*
- NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (part number 630-9492), offered as an upgrade kit.*
The NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT card requires Mac OS X 10.5.2 or later with the Leopard Graphics Update 1.0 or the computer may not start up properly.
4k Video Card For Mac Pro 2010 Catalina
* To identify a graphics card part number, check the label on the back of the card.