Picking a Graphics card that works with Apple Cinema Display (27inch) Mini-Displayport

[NimrodUK]

Hello All,

 

For the past 4-5 years I've been much been in the Apple Camp, but recently I decided I'd like to build a Gaming Rig to get into PC gaming. The problem I'm having however is picking a graphics card which will work with my current display.

 

I've got one of those Apple Cinema Display's 27inch, (Mini Displayport - not the new Thunderbolt one) which has a 2560 x 1440 resolution which I'd like to hook up to the gaming PC. While I know it's not ideal mixing Apple hardware with custom PC builds, sadly this monitor is too expensive just to replace.

 

I was thinking of buying the below card:

MSI GTX 660 2GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card

http://www.ebuyer.com/487041-msi-nvidia-gtx-660-1072mhz-6008mhz-2048mb-192-bit-ddr5-fan-dl-dvi-i-hdmi-n660-2gd5-oc

 

It has a Display Port at the back, which if I bought a DisplayPort to Mini Displayport adaptor I'm hoping I'd be able to hook up however I am bit worried about compatibility.

 

For example, both the Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2 have Mini Displayports, yet if you plug the Cinema Display into the Surface Pro 1, it just won't work yet it works perfectly fine with the Surface Pro 2. Something must be different which causes some to work some to not work.

 

Also Goggling on this issue, while I couldnt confirm the exact cards to use, it does seem hit and miss where some people say the screen doesnt work some saying it does.

 

Two important considerations I have, is even if I get it to work, it needs to do the native resolution (no way do I want to upscale) and the HDCP handshake needs to take place as I do use quite a few Windows 8 Modern Apps (with ModernMix of course for windowed mode) to watch Netflix, Hulu Plus and other HDCP required applications).

 

Does anyone have any experience of trying to use an Apple Cinema Display in their PC builds, and if so did they managed to get native res + HDCP? If so, could they say what cards they used or recommend one to use (or confirm if my choice was a good one?)

 

Any help would be much appreciated :)

[PGHammer]

Hello All,

 

For the past 4-5 years I've been much been in the Apple Camp, but recently I decided I'd like to build a Gaming Rig to get into PC gaming. The problem I'm having however is picking a graphics card which will work with my current display.

 

I've got one of those Apple Cinema Display's 27inch, (Mini Displayport - not the new Thunderbolt one) which has a 2560 x 1440 resolution which I'd like to hook up to the gaming PC. While I know it's not ideal mixing Apple hardware with custom PC builds, sadly this monitor is too expensive just to replace.

 

I was thinking of buying the below card:

MSI GTX 660 2GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card

http://www.ebuyer.com/487041-msi-nvidia-gtx-660-1072mhz-6008mhz-2048mb-192-bit-ddr5-fan-dl-dvi-i-hdmi-n660-2gd5-oc

 

It has a Display Port at the back, which if I bought a DisplayPort to Mini Displayport adaptor I'm hoping I'd be able to hook up however I am bit worried about compatibility.

 

For example, both the Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2 have Mini Displayports, yet if you plug the Cinema Display into the Surface Pro 1, it just won't work yet it works perfectly fine with the Surface Pro 2. Something must be different which causes some to work some to not work.

 

Also Goggling on this issue, while I couldnt confirm the exact cards to use, it does seem hit and miss where some people say the screen doesnt work some saying it does.

 

Two important considerations I have, is even if I get it to work, it needs to do the native resolution (no way do I want to upscale) and the HDCP handshake needs to take place as I do use quite a few Windows 8 Modern Apps (with ModernMix of course for windowed mode) to watch Netflix, Hulu Plus and other HDCP required applications).

 

Does anyone have any experience of trying to use an Apple Cinema Display in their PC builds, and if so did they managed to get native res + HDCP? If so, could they say what cards they used or recommend one to use (or confirm if my choice was a good one?)

 

Any help would be much appreciated :)

In the case of the original Surface Pro, it may have issues interpreting the EDID data it gets from the display; this is a problem with some DP and mini-DP tablets and slates - it's NOT unique to the Surface Pro.  (Further, the Surface Pro 2 does not have that issue, according to you.)  Compatibility of displays with hardware is entirely a matter of whether the hardware being plugged into can read the data the display sends.  (Further, it would do Apple zero good - literally - to restrict their Cinema Displays to Macs, as the Cinema Display has had a major calling in the high-end/niche non-Mac market; you'd be surprised how many Cinema Displays never even see a Mac or other Apple product through their lifetime.)

[mkol]

This will work is well at full resolution. Bear in Mind that you will need mini display ports Found on this,

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-161-PC&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1982

[iKenndac]

I have a hard time believing that any modern desktop-class graphics card will have trouble with an Apple Cinema display. The resolution has been standard on big displays for a long time now, and since DisplayPort supports this sort of high bandwidth out-of-the-box (so no need to get special "dual-link" cables like with DVI) there's no issue there, either.

 

My gaming PC is a few years old now and has a Radeon HD 6950 in it, which only has the big DisplayPort connector on it. Using a DisplayPort -> mini DisplayPort cable, it drives my iMac in Target Display Mode (which turns the iMac into a standard monitor) just fine, and I even get sound out of the iMac through the DisplayPort cable. I'm sure you'll be fine with a Cinema Display.

[xWhiplash]

I got a 27" Cinema display for my Mac Pro.  I put a standard PC graphics card in there (EVGA GTX 680) NOT a mac edition.  The Mini-display port to display port adapter works fine.

[riahc3]

Hello,

Do note that the user requires HDCP...

OP: I think the problem lies in the adapter itself as well: You must check that the adapter is also HDCP compliant...