120hz no more, I'm stumped.

[bupeNdex]

Ok Ill try and be concise with dot/bullet points, Also I think I've narrowed it down to the mini display port so If i'm not meant to post this here (guessing that would constitute a hardware issue) I'm sorry.


* I bought a 2nd hand 120hz monitor to play Overwatch as my new laptop can only display 60hz (Alienware AW2310)
* I plugged it in and both windows and nVidia CP saw it as 120hz but when I clicked apply on either it crapped out..
* I managed to create a custom res w/NCP @95 hz and figured its a huge improvement and the monitor was cheap so it will do for now.
* Then I loaded Overwatch and to my amazement it ran at 130hz!! (Both FRAPS and in game counter had the same 130FPS) So I figured that was fine, Windows was 95hz but the game ran so that's all I cared about.
* A few days later I updated nVidia Control Panel and that's where tings go down hill, Now I'm rocking a sweet 60hz again... Shits out as soon as its over 62hz!! It no longer has the drop down box option for anything over 60hz.


After reinstalling windows and rolling back (and forward) drivers I'm still in the same spot. By this time I'm thinking it has to be the mini DP not being able to send that much data. Have a look at the attached pic and tell me if it should say Dual Link or DVI-D as I didn't pay any attention once I got it working before.

Laptop is a Clevo i7 6700HQ/16GB/1070GTX

Also when I first plugged it in windows knew it was a 3D monitor and now it doesn't say that in display settings at all.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated and if you think the monitor has just crapped it that's cool, I just want to resolve this as it was a recent eBay purchase and if I cant get it to work I want to take it back.

[ToastyX]

You said you're using mini DisplayPort, so it shouldn't say DVI at all unless you're using a passive single-link DVI adapter, which is the wrong type of adapter. Laptops don't usually have dual-link DVI, so the only way to get 120 Hz is with an expensive active DisplayPort to dual-link DVI adapter. If the adapter doesn't have a USB plug for power, then you don't have the right adapter.

[bupeNdex]

(10-18-2016 05:47 PM)ToastyX Wrote:  You said you're using mini DisplayPort, so it shouldn't say DVI at all unless you're using a passive single-link DVI adapter, which is the wrong type of adapter. Laptops don't usually have dual-link DVI, so the only way to get 120 Hz is with an expensive active DisplayPort to dual-link DVI adapter. If the adapter doesn't have a USB plug for power, then you don't have the right adapter.

Ok then how was it working at 120 before then?? Or anything over 60hz for that matter? Ive heard this comment a million times I can see the difference between 60 and 120hz and Im guessing you can too, Plus I created a custom resolution of 4k to test it could push that and its fine.. Its only having an issue with the refresh rate. Its worked at 95hz, 100 and 120-30hz..

Not to mention windows saw it as a 3d monitor when I first plugged it in and now it doesn't.. Windows/nVidia CP also had the option for 120hz and now they both don't???

Trust me it was working, I updatded NCP and now its gone?

[ToastyX]

(10-18-2016 11:42 PM)bupeNdex Wrote:  Ok then how was it working at 120 before then??

You clearly said it didn't:

(10-18-2016 11:29 AM)bupeNdex Wrote:  * I plugged it in and both windows and nVidia CP saw it as 120hz but when I clicked apply on either it crapped out..

(10-18-2016 11:42 PM)bupeNdex Wrote:  Or anything over 60hz for that matter? Ive heard this comment a million times I can see the difference between 60 and 120hz and Im guessing you can too

Technically it's possible to push 1920x1080 @ 120 Hz over single-link DVI, but normally the driver won't allow that because DVI is not designed to work that way, although some monitors will accept it.

(10-18-2016 11:42 PM)bupeNdex Wrote:  Plus I created a custom resolution of 4k to test it could push that and its fine..

I don't think that monitor will accept 3840x2160, and if it did, it would have to be at 30 Hz because 3840x2160 @ 60 Hz is not possible with any DVI adapter. You probably created a GPU-scaled resolution, which happens if you create a custom resolution without changing the active pixels to match. Check the monitor's OSD to see what resolution and refresh rate it's really receiving.

(10-18-2016 11:42 PM)bupeNdex Wrote:  Its only having an issue with the refresh rate. Its worked at 95hz, 100 and 120-30hz..

Not to mention windows saw it as a 3d monitor when I first plugged it in and now it doesn't.. Windows/nVidia CP also had the option for 120hz and now they both don't???

Trust me it was working, I updatded NCP and now its gone?

Were you using my pixel clock patch? I know the AMD patch can get around this limit, but I'm not sure if the NVIDIA patch works with DisplayPort adapters.

If not, maybe you ran into a driver bug that allowed you to use the higher refresh rates, but if you don't have the right adapter, then you were pushing it over single-link DVI. It's impossible to do dual-link DVI without one of those expensive active adapters.

If you do have one of those adapters, then something might be wrong with it. The 62 Hz limit doesn't make sense because even single-link DVI can handle 1920x1080 @ 66 Hz with CEA timing and 71 Hz with CVT-RB timing.