Can my monitor be killing my DP cables? (AOC G2460PF)

[Zyndo]

Hello, I recently purchased an AOC G2460PF 144hz monitor and I'm loving the 144hz experience. However the 144hz experience is available only through 1 DP 1.2 port on the rear of the monitor. So as much as this is my first experience with 144hz, its also my first experience with DP. The issue I'm having is it appears as though my monitor is killing my display port cables (as bizarre as that sounds).

 

Initially, I used the DP 1.2 cable which came included in the box with my monitor (5 ft DP to DP standard cable) and all was happy and glorious in the world. Overwatch in particular looked amazing with my 144hz enabled. However one day after work about 4-5 days later(after roughly 15-20 hrs of screen on time since unboxing it) my monitor was no longer able to receive a signal on its DP port. I initially thought some DP port had died on my GPU (since they had never been used) so I tried the other ones on my card (3x DP 1.2 compliant ports on my 980ti Xtreme Gaming from Gigabyte) and none of them worked... so then I thought the DP on the monitor was toast (at this point I had already tried HDMI from my GPU to my monitor, and display works fine, but only at a mere 60hz). I don't have any other DP enabled displays in my house, everything else is HDMI. My dad has this HDMI-DP passive converter (female HDMI to male DP) so i tried HDMI from my card into the DP on my monitor and still no signal (HDMI 2.0b port on my GPU, HDMI 1.4 cable, so it should have had the bandwidth to fuel the 144hz the monitor was asking for). After that didn't work I was convinced my monitor's only 144hz enabled port had died after less than a week of use and I was about to write an angry email to amazon/AOC to get a refund and/or replacement. However I decided I would run out to the local best buy and see if they had a DP cable, as that should be a cheap and easy last resort way to diagnose the issue.

 

10 minutes and 20 bucks later I returned from Best Buy with a 6ft Insignia cable (Product ID: NS-PDD607-C). It doesn't mention the DP version, but it says it supports "21.6Gbps" which is so much more than 144hz 1080p needs. I plug it in, turn on the monitor, and boom. back to my 144hz glory again! this 144hz monitor was the cheapest I could find (although that doesn't mean by default that its a bad product, AOC makes some decent stuff) so i kinda chalked it up to bad luck on my DP cable happening to be a faulty one. shit happens, still happy with my purchase even with a bad DP cable included. So all was well and good in the world.... for about 2 days (maybe 6-8 hours of screen time). then it craps out and stops receiving signal again. Whilst its not statistically impossible to have 2 bad DP cables back to back like that, its INCREDIBLY unlikely.

 

SO what I'm looking to know here is can a monitor kill DP like this? the drivers are up to date, other ports on the monitor work totally fine, and I have no reason to believe my GPU is causing the issue here. The monitor itself works fine and the ports appear to work fine, but the cables keep dying. Is DP a naturally fragile cable? I'm pretty delicate with all electronics, but perhaps maybe there is some kind of User-error involved with me here and DP since this is my first time using it? (I can't imagine how though, its a cable, its pretty hard to use it incorrectly lol)

 

 

Love to hear your thoughts on the matter. Oh its worth noting that the DP cables never died when actively in use, they merely didn't connect the next time I turned my PC on (and then every time after that).

 

System specs:

6700k (locked to 4GHz and manual 1.225V)

Corsair H100i V2

Asus Z170-A

Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB)@ stock frequency and timings

Samsung 850 EVO 500GB

Gigabyte 980ti Xtreme Gaming

Corsair HX1000i

Fractal Define S

NZXT HUE+

 

 

 

UPDATE: after a power cycle on the computer (to remove the GPU and try the DP on my motherboard via the iGPU, and then after that worked, switched back and reinstalled the 980ti and 144hz DP was working there too) the display port cables seem to be working again, which means my issues do not seem to be (at least for now) caused by any fault on AOC or the monitor. The original DP cable packaged with the monitor is working totally fine. My Best Buy cable is working totally fine.

 

If anyone is thinking of buying a 144hz monitor I can definitely recommend this one thus far. Its stock settings make it MASSIVELY bright, and the colours are a bit off. Mild tweaking and turning down the stock brightness significantly (mine shipped at 90 brightness of 100, I'm currently running 15). Its worth noting the DCR feature of the monitor does not seem to actually do what it is supposed to do when enabled, and is inactive when disabled, but despite that colours are great, Contrast ratio is great(compared to other TN monitors; nothing seems washed out), monitor is great, responsiveness is exceptional, and I'm definitely happy with my purchase so far (assuming these signal issues are irrelevant to the monitor, but like I said, if the issue returns I shall update the thread).

 

The only part lacking is the viewing angles aren't really all that good. If you're sitting right in front of it its not a big deal, but if you're even a little bit to the side colours start to change very quickly. I've used other TN panels in the past which are far less susceptible to this issue. Not the worst I've seen in this regard, but far from the best. Its not noticeable for a solo user situated directly in front of it (which is how I always use it anyway) so its a mild complaint, but that would be this monitor's only shortcoming IMO thus far.

[Glenwing]

2 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

My dad has this HDMI-DP passive converter (female HDMI to male DP) so i tried HDMI from my card into the DP on my monitor and still no signal

DisplayPort to HDMI adapters only work from DisplayPort source to HDMI display, not the other way around.

 

It sounds to me more like a problem establishing a connection to the display, usually it can be fixed by unplugging the display from power and from the computer for a minute, see if that helps next time it happens.

[Ryujin2003]

5 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

Hello, I recently purchased an AOC G2460PF 144hz monitor and I'm loving the 144hz experience. However the 144hz experience is available only through 1 DP 1.2 port on the rear of the monitor. So as much as this is my first experience with 144hz, its also my first experience with DP. The issue I'm having is it appears as though my monitor is killing my display port cables (as bizarre as that sounds).

 

Initially, I used the DP 1.2 cable which came included in the box with my monitor (5 ft DP to DP standard cable) and all was happy and glorious in the world. Overwatch in particular looked amazing with my 144hz enabled. However one day after work about 4-5 days later(after roughly 15-20 hrs of screen on time since unboxing it) my monitor was no longer able to receive a signal on its DP port. I initially thought some DP port had died on my GPU (since they had never been used) so I tried the other ones on my card (3x DP 1.2 compliant ports on my 980ti Xtreme Gaming from Gigabyte) and none of them worked... so then I thought the DP on the monitor was toast (at this point I had already tried HDMI from my GPU to my monitor, and display works fine, but only at a mere 60hz). I don't have any other DP enabled displays in my house, everything else is HDMI. My dad has this HDMI-DP passive converter (female HDMI to male DP) so i tried HDMI from my card into the DP on my monitor and still no signal (HDMI 2.0b port on my GPU, HDMI 1.4 cable, so it should have had the bandwidth to fuel the 144hz the monitor was asking for). After that didn't work I was convinced my monitor's only 144hz enabled port had died after less than a week of use and I was about to write an angry email to amazon/AOC to get a refund and/or replacement. However I decided I would run out to the local best buy and see if they had a DP cable, as that should be a cheap and easy last resort way to diagnose the issue.

 

10 minutes and 20 bucks later I returned from Best Buy with a 6ft Insignia cable (Product ID: NS-PDD607-C). It doesn't mention the DP version, but it says it supports "21.6Gbps" which is so much more than 144hz 1080p needs. I plug it in, turn on the monitor, and boom. back to my 144hz glory again! this 144hz monitor was the cheapest I could find (although that doesn't mean by default that its a bad product, AOC makes some decent stuff) so i kinda chalked it up to bad luck on my DP cable happening to be a faulty one. shit happens, still happy with my purchase even with a bad DP cable included. So all was well and good in the world.... for about 2 days (maybe 6-8 hours of screen time). then it craps out and stops receiving signal again. Whilst its not statistically impossible to have 2 bad DP cables back to back like that, its INCREDIBLY unlikely.

 

SO what I'm looking to know here is can a monitor kill DP like this? the drivers are up to date, other ports on the monitor work totally fine, and I have no reason to believe my GPU is causing the issue here. The monitor itself works fine and the ports appear to work fine, but the cables keep dying. Is DP a naturally fragile cable? I'm pretty delicate with all electronics, but perhaps maybe there is some kind of User-error involved with me here and DP since this is my first time using it? (I can't imagine how though, its a cable, its pretty hard to use it incorrectly lol)

 

 

Love to hear your thoughts on the matter. Oh its worth noting that the DP cables never died when actively in use, they merely didn't connect the next time I turned my PC on (and then every time after that).

 

System specs:

6700k (locked to 4GHz and manual 1.225V)

Corsair H100i V2

Asus Z170-A

Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB)@ stock frequency and timings

Samsung 850 EVO 500GB

Gigabyte 980ti Xtreme Gaming

Corsair HX1000i

Fractal Define S

NZXT HUE+

You'll have better luck with cheap knockoff Chinese DP cables from Amazon than Insignia....

 

I had my first couple DP cables die. I learned don't buy bottom of the barrel gold tipped and as fast as light doesn't matter. Don't buy cheap quality.

[EvelynX]

Random Anecdote. I have had problems with DP cables and my AOC monitor.
I've had better luck however since I bought a new cable

Third time seemed to be a charm. Apparently theres some sort of silicon lottery with DP cables if you want a full 4k60hz signal.

[Zyndo]

@ChocoROID @Ryujin2003@Glenwing

 

So when I was typing out my system list it occurred to me that I have a DP on my motherboard I could test via the iGPU in my 6700k (to definitively eliminate my GPU as a variable). Power system down, shut off PSU with switch, unplug from wall, remove 980ti from system (sure I could have left it in and used BIOS to tell it to use the iGPU instead, but this is a more reliable way to force it on the iGPU with no potential hidden issues IMO), put the DP into motherboard, power back on. boom. working 144hz again. which then freaks me out about my GPU. so I slap that back in there, hook up the same DP cable again (thought to previously be dead) and boom, easy signal again at 144hz.

 

Turns out a true power cycle may have been all I needed (rather than just a simple shut down), as you suggested Glenwing. its amazing that after all this time with computers and all my saavy hardware expertise, that sometimes I still forget the age old adage of "unplug it and plug it back in" lol. If the issue presents itself again I shall update this thread.

 

@Glenwing any chance you have any specific knowledge or reason that lead you to believe it was a power based issue? its worth noting here that I power cycled only the computer, and not the monitor itself.

[EvelynX]

Good work Zyndo.
I have had my particular AOC monitor in the past require (as daft as it sounds) the screen to be physically unplugged for five minutes for the hardware in the monitor or whatever to fix itself.
Power cycle plus a rest period! Who'd have thought!?

[Glenwing]

22 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

@ChocoROID @Ryujin2003@Glenwing

 

So when I was typing out my system list it occurred to me that I have a DP on my motherboard I could test via the iGPU in my 6700k (to definitively eliminate my GPU as a variable). Power system down, shut off PSU with switch, unplug from wall, remove 980ti from system (sure I could have left it in and used BIOS to tell it to use the iGPU instead, but this is a more reliable way to force it on the iGPU with no potential hidden issues IMO), put the DP into motherboard, power back on. boom. working 144hz again. which then freaks me out about my GPU. so I slap that back in there, hook up the same DP cable again (thought to previously be dead) and boom, easy signal again at 144hz.

 

Turns out a true power cycle may have been all I needed (rather than a simple shut down), as you suggested Glenwing. its amazing that after all this time with computers and all my saavy hardware expertise, that sometimes I still forget the age old adage of "unplug it and plug it back in" lol. If the issue presents itself again I shall update this thread.

 

@Glenwing any chance you have any specific knowledge or reason that lead you to believe it was a power based issue? its worth noting here that I power cycled only the computer, and not the monitor itself.

It's a common issue, problems with detecting proper resolution or refresh rate, or failing to wake up after sleep, or things like that, usually can be solved with a hard reset, which can only be forced by unplugging it. It's not so much a power issue as a communication issue, just that removing power forces it to reestablish communications from scratch.

[Zyndo]

1 minute ago, Glenwing said:

I'm not really sure on specific causes but it seems to be a problem with the computer properly communicating with the monitor, rather than an actual power issue; power cycle just forces a reset so the computer and monitor perform a new handshake process. It's a common problem, whether it happens consistently or just once varies from case to case.

ah okay... I initially thought it could be an HDCP thing as well, but I dismissed that since when I was trying to enable my 144hz in windows (since it didn't automagically adjust) i encountered, in my display settings somewhere or maybe display adapter window or monitor configuration window or something) I came across the HDCP window and it said everything was going fine. Not sure that this is the only kind of handshake process two devices may have, but I suppose I shouldn't have dismissed that possibility so quickly. Thanks for the assistance. I learned something today. yay!