Outputting to an Apple Color Plus 14 Display from an Nvidia 2070 Super

[Waltz157]

Hi all,

 

Currently in (what I image) is a bit of a unique situation. I've recently come across a an Apple Color Plus 14" Display (Apple produced CRT monitor from 1993), courtesy of my father who has always collected old computers and oftentimes passes them along to me. I'm trying to hook this display up to my current rig (Windows 10 64bit, 650 watt PSU, Nvidia 2070 Super, AMD Ryzen 5 3600, 16 GB DDR4 3600 MHz RAM, MSI B450 Tomahawk Max ATX AM4 motherboard [don't know how much is relevant beyond the graphics card, but I wanted to make sure I was in compliance with the post guidelines]) mainly as a curiosity but also the novelty.

 

Since my GPU only has digital outs, I've daisy chained some converters (specifically, USB-C to HDMI --> HDMI to VGA --> VGA to DA-15). To my surprise, I got *a* signal, but it wasn't perfect. The image was torn and was constantly "rolling" upwards. I downloaded Custom Resolution Utility and set a detailed resolution to 640x480 at 67 Hz. Again, to my surprise, the display signal improved. The "tearing"/unaligned horizontal lines synced up, but the scrolling persists. I've tried multiple solutions since then: changing the refresh rate manually from 50-67 at 640x480 (this changed the speed of the scrolling but reintroduced the image tearing/unsynced the horizontal lines), downgrading the resolution to 320x240 since I can only output in Progressive rather than Interlaced, unplugging and replugging all of my converters, and turning the entire system and display on and off again multiple times. I also plugged the VGA --> DA-15 converter directly into my work laptop, but ran into the same problem: constant rolling upwards and screen tearing. 

 

At this point I'm out of options and looking to the forums for some help. Other digging around the internet reveals that this might be a problem with fixed frequency versus multiple frequency monitors that Apple produced in the 90s (this was, after all, the dark ages of Apple), or, possibly some sort of sync issue? No matter what, any help would be appreciated. Thank you all so much, this is my first post here so if there's anything I left out, please let me know.

 

Link to the monitor specs: https://everymac.com/monitors/apple/classic_monitors/specs/apple_color_plus_14.html

Link to the VGA --> DA 15 converter: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Apple-Macintosh-Compatible-VGA-HD15-Male-to-DB15-Female-Video-Adapter/114447188307

 

[Radium_Angel]

Funny you should mention this. LTT recently did a video using an ancient mac and hooking it up to a modern monitor.

There was some custom hardware used, let me see if I can find it.

Hold please!

 

See if this can help

 

It's a section in the beginning of the video that discusses the challenges.

 

[Waltz157]

7 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Funny you should mention this. LTT recently did a video using an ancient mac and hooking it up to a modern monitor.

There was some custom hardware used, let me see if I can find it.

Hold please!

 

See if this can help

 

It's a section in the beginning of the video that discusses the challenges.

 

Thank you for the quick response and the link! I actually did watch this video and it was one of the things that influenced my ordering of the VGA to DA-15 converter in the first place. I was originally going to leave the monitor in the closet with its accompanying Quadra, but I decided to try and resurrect it. Though the video is helpful, it's unfortunately only addresses the "Quadra to a modern display" problem, rather than a modern output to an older display issue. The display they use in that video (something I looked into earlier) only converts the signal coming from the Mac to VGA, according to its manufacturer. I might try to knock down the resolution a little more to what he mentions towards the end of the video, but I don't think it's going to fix my rolling issue, seeing as lowering the resolution earlier (from 640x480 to 320x240) didn't affect anything. 

 

If I can't find another solution, I might roll the dice on that other converter.

[Radium_Angel]

Sorry I couldn't be of more help, are you certain the monitor works properly to begin with?

Perhaps go find some ancient GT9500 video card from your local Goodwill, and see if that works? (in other words, perhaps the 2070 is simply too powerful?)

[Waltz157]

4 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

Sorry I couldn't be of more help, are you certain the monitor works properly to begin with?

Perhaps go find some ancient GT9500 video card from your local Goodwill, and see if that works? (in other words, perhaps the 2070 is simply too powerful?)

No problem at all! No apology needed either, I appreciate the feedback. I thought that might be the case (the 2070 being too powerful), but that doesn't explain the same problem happening when outputting from my laptop (a Dell Latitude 3500). I'm thinking it's something to do with the frequency or vertical/horizontal sync, but I don't know how to go about fixing that. Hoping someone here might have more experience with older monitor frequencies and behavior. 

[Radium_Angel]

48 minutes ago, Waltz157 said:

No problem at all! No apology needed either, I appreciate the feedback. I thought that might be the case (the 2070 being too powerful), but that doesn't explain the same problem happening when outputting from my laptop (a Dell Latitude 3500). I'm thinking it's something to do with the frequency or vertical/horizontal sync, but I don't know how to go about fixing that. Hoping someone here might have more experience with older monitor frequencies and behavior. 

There is a pretty hardcore group of Mac users on the site ArsTechnica, they may have more info for you.