New Monitor Resolution Problems

[chalky]

After struggling with the 1680x1050 resolution of my old Windows 7 machine's monitor, I bought a ViewSonic VX3276-2K-MHD so that I could up the resolution to 2560x1440. Since my old Geforce DTS 450 graphics card boasted a maximum digital resolution of 2560x1600, I expected everything to boot up at the maximum resolution supported by the card.

However, connecting the supplied HDMI lead between the two resulted in the monitor switching to the maximum VGA resolution of 2048x1152 pixels (the highest available resolution in Windows and NVidia Control Panel was 2560x1080). The card has 2 x DVI Dual-Link, 1 x HDMI (2.0b) and 1 x VGA outputs, while the monitor has 2 x HDMI (1.4 compliant), 1 x DisplayPort and 1 x Mini DisplayPort inputs. I therefore tried a DVI Dual-Link to HDMI lead - but the result was the same.

A search on the internet suggested any one of the following could be the reason:

1. Part of the HDMI chain between the card and the monitor is lower than the HDMI 1.4 standard
2. The lead may be too long (anything above 2m in length is unlikely to work unless it is rated high-speed)
3. The lead may be too cheap and therefore sub-standard
4. HDMI hasn't enough bandwidth to support the dual signal coming from the DVI Dual-Link port

Looking at the above:

1. According to their online specifications, my card, monitor and lead are all [at least] HDMI 1.4 compliant
2. My DVI Dual-Link to HDMI lead is 3m [and not rated high-speed] - so might be the cause (though the supplied HDMI lead [which also didn't work] is 2m)
3. My DVI Dual-Link to HDMI lead was cheap - so this might also be the cause
4. I am assuming this is true as DVI Dual-Link to HDMI is not working for me

However, also on the web:

2. Many people claim the length of lead (within reason) doesn't matter and that the difference between 2m and 3m is irrelevant
3. Many people claim the cost of a lead is irrelevant and that cheap ones are just as good (for this purpose) as expensive ones

Suggested solutions from the web:

1. Buy a new HDMI 1.4 compliant card and/or lead
2. Only use a lead which is <= 2m in length
3. Only use a high-class lead which is rated high-speed
4. a) Buy a high-speed 'active' (must not be 'passive') DVI Dual Link to HDMI adapter
4. b) Buy a DVI Dual Link to DisplayPort adapter (no clarification as to whether this needs to be 'active')
5. Create a custom resolution via NVidia Control Panel of 2560x1440 @ 50Mz

I am left feeling very confused by 1-4, and tried 5, but the result was unusable. Unless I can find a solution I will be left with only 80% of my graphic card's potential resolution, and from what I have read online, it seems I am reliant on the DVI Dual-Link port from the card if I want 2560x1440 output. I therefore need a way to 'convert' this to a digital signal compatible with one of the inputs on the monitor. The only port I haven't been able to try is the DisplayPort input. Does anyone know whether this is likely to work - and if so what I need to do/buy?

[GfK]

Had similar issues many years ago which turned out to be a generic monitor driver reporting incorrectly.

Installed the proper driver (think it was an oldish 4:3 HP monitor at the time that I was setting up for game testing), and that fixed it.

This is what taught me to not rely too heavily on what resolutions Windows said was available.  It only knows what the drivers are telling it.

[chalky]

Sadly I have already tried replacing the generic Windows PNP driver with the latest one (dated 2017) from the ViewSonic support page but it made no difference. I even tried creating a custom resolution but the result was so blurry it was totally unusable.

The 2560x1080 resolution offered by the driver does work - but looks really odd as the screen is stretched vertically to fill 1440 pixels...

[chalky]

@Gfk - well, you were right - it was a driver issue...

My initial attempt to set up a custom resolution of 2560x1440 @ 50Mz with a 'Scan Type' of "Progressive" (as suggested on another website) resulted in a distorted and blurred display. However, further investigation on the internet suggested changing the refresh rate to 60Mz and the Timing parameter to "CVT reduced blank".

I did this, and - voila! - a rock solid 2560x1440 display! It's thanks to your post that I kept trying - and although it's taken me the best part of 2 days to get there, I didn't need another lead after all (the supplied HDMI one works just fine). 

Very annoying that ViewSonic's own driver didn't offer it as a native resolution...