Question on Display resolution due to data rate limits

[Buzz.Lightyear]

Hi everyone.

 

TL;DR: Is it possible to send a smaller resolution signal to a 5K2K screen? And what would be some potential implications or problems?

 

Long version:

I want to purchase a new display, but I am not sure what to buy. I am thinking about getting a 40" 5K2K screen (WUHD, 5120 x 2160), but due to some Hardware limitations, I think I will not have enough data rate to make use of the resolution. The alternative is a 38" QQHD+ screen (3840 x 1600). Well, thanks to the awesome "Guide to Display Cables / Adapters" by @Glenwing I learned that my current graphics cards (Desktop -> Nvidia GeForce GTX 970, Laptop -> Intel HD 620) are limited to 17,28 Gbit/s with its DP 1.2 connectors. This means that the 38" QHD+ (3840 x 1600) can be powerd with up to 75 Hz signal. For the 40" WUHD screen (5120 x 2160) the bandwidth only would allow 30 Hz, which I want to avoid even for office/productivity work. I am not playing games often and even if I play, the games are mostly older ones. Even if I will update my graphics card (and in a consequence the whole Desktop PC) to DP1.4 or higher, my office Laptop still will have the limitation to not propperly support the 5K2K screen.

 

As I know that you can e.g. set the Windows Screen Setup to 150% to increase the size of the screen content but still have the benefit of the great resolution. But I assume the graphics card still sends the full-resolution signal to the display, right? So it would be a bad idea to buy the 5K2K but not use the full resolution, right?

 

Thanks a lot in advance! :)

[ARandomPerson]

If you are talking about inputting a lower resolution into a high-resolution display, one of 2 things will happen:

1. The Display stretches out the input(a sort of crappy upscaler). An extreme case of this is playing retro consoles on a 4k TV.
2. You basically have some thick bezels.

Unless you have a use for those extra pixels (or you are going to upgrade your output in a couple of weeks), just get the Display that fits your resolution capabilities.

[Glenwing]

4 hours ago, Buzz.Lightyear said:

Hi everyone.

 

TL;DR: Is it possible to send a smaller resolution signal to a 5K2K screen? And what would be some potential implications or problems?

 

Long version:

I want to purchase a new display, but I am not sure what to buy. I am thinking about getting a 40" 5K2K screen (WUHD, 5120 x 2160), but due to some Hardware limitations, I think I will not have enough data rate to make use of the resolution. The alternative is a 38" QQHD+ screen (3840 x 1600). Well, thanks to the awesome "Guide to Display Cables / Adapters" by @Glenwing I learned that my current graphics cards (Desktop -> Nvidia GeForce GTX 970, Laptop -> Intel HD 620) are limited to 17,28 Gbit/s with its DP 1.2 connectors. This means that the 38" QHD+ (3840 x 1600) can be powerd with up to 75 Hz signal. For the 40" WUHD screen (5120 x 2160) the bandwidth only would allow 30 Hz, which I want to avoid even for office/productivity work. I am not playing games often and even if I play, the games are mostly older ones. Even if I will update my graphics card (and in a consequence the whole Desktop PC) to DP1.4 or higher, my office Laptop still will have the limitation to not propperly support the 5K2K screen.

 

As I know that you can e.g. set the Windows Screen Setup to 150% to increase the size of the screen content but still have the benefit of the great resolution. But I assume the graphics card still sends the full-resolution signal to the display, right? So it would be a bad idea to buy the 5K2K but not use the full resolution, right?

 

Thanks a lot in advance!

Setting scaling percentage uses the full screen resolution.

 

To lower the bandwidth you need to change the resolution itself. GPU scaling will also need to be disabled, otherwise the graphics card will still upscale the image to max resolution before transmitting, and your refresh rate will be limited the options at max resolution. But this isn't always possible, AMD drivers for example don't always handle this correctly right now. It's not good to rely on software to behave. If you can't drive the full resolution it's better to just get a lower resolution monitor.