Uncle's 4k60 monitor is laggy unless he switches to 4k30

[VG Docs]

Sorry if this is the wrong thread, never good with categorizing. 

My uncle has a 4k TV (capable of 60Hz) that he runs his PC on to play WoW. He doesn't have any issues except when he switches to 60 Hz. When he does, the PC will get significantly more laggy (during WoW) until it locks up (forcing a hard reset).

 

Any idea what the issue is? My best guess is the GPU doesn't play ball (or WoW rather) with the change, although I've never actually heard this issue before.

 

The PC is an alienware alpha - I believe this model. It uses an 860m (performance is similar to a 750 ti).

[Slottr]

Probably because the gpu isnt meant for 4k @60hz

 

That systems pretty weak, surprised its running at all

[VG Docs]

1 minute ago, Slottr said:

Probably because the gpu isnt meant for 4k..

And it still plays 4k. So, unless you've found any compatibility issues, it's safe to say this comment wasn't helpful. Just states what I mentioned in my comment.  

[refinedskillz]

Yeah, guy above me is correct, whyd you buy a 4k60 monitor to pair with an 860m anyway?

[VG Docs]

1 minute ago, refinedskillz said:

Yeah, guy above me is correct, whyd you buy a 4k60 monitor to pair with an 860m anyway?

To play WoW obviously (4k's intensive, but not THAT intensive). Also, any updates on what the 860m actually supports?

[done12many2]

Wow.  He sure is asking a lot of that poor little Alienware Alpha.  There's a big difference between 4k @ 30 Hz and 4k @ 60 Hz.

[refinedskillz]

Not an Nvidia guy, sorry.

[SCHISCHKA]

maybe the graphics card only has an older HDMI version that does not do 60Hz. I think only HDMI 2 can do 60 and HDMI 1.4 does 30

[VG Docs]

Just now, done12many2 said:

Wow.  He sure is asking a lot of that poor little Alienware Alpha.  There's a big difference between 4k @ 30 Hz and 4k @ 60 Hz.

Sort of (it's WoW), and he's still able to play at 60 fps (which is literally the same thing, only thing different is it's not being visually presented by the display).

[VG Docs]

1 minute ago, SCHISCHKA said:

maybe the graphics card only has an older HDMI version that does not do 60Hz. I think only HDMI 2 can do 60 and HDMI 1.4 does 30

Finally, information that actually goes beyond what my original post thinks of. Now we're getting to the "help" portion of this thread.

[done12many2]

Just now, Trogdor8freebird said:

Sort of (it's WoW), and he's still able to play at 60 fps (which is literally the same thing, only thing different is it's not being visually presented by the display).

 

DVI, HDMI 2.0 or HDMI 1.4?

[Kobathor]

1 minute ago, Trogdor8freebird said:

To play WoW obviously. Also, any updates on what the 860m actually supports?

The 860m probably doesn't support HDMI 2.0, so he can't actually drive the TV at 60Hz, only 30Hz. If he has Display Port, and so does the TV, then switch to DP and it should quit crashing his computer.

[done12many2]

Just now, Trogdor8freebird said:

Finally, information that actually goes beyond what my original post thinks of. Now we're getting to the "help" portion of this thread.

 

Sorry everyone isn't meeting your expectation.

[VG Docs]

1 minute ago, done12many2 said:

 

DVI, HDMI 2.0 or HDMI 1.4?

It's HDMI. Is there any way to check which version? I'm almost certain that it's 1.4 due to its probable age in this house.

 

1 minute ago, done12many2 said:

 

Sorry everyone isn't meeting your expectation.

Well, you make a thread for help to... get help. Not have a bunch of people tell you what you already know

[Enderman]

800 series does not support HDMI 2.0, you need to leave it at 30 or your HDMI signal gets screwed up when trying to push more bandwidth than possible.

[SCHISCHKA]

older games don't really benefit from 4k. If he sets the resolution to 1080p he might not notice any difference in visual quality

[VG Docs]

1 minute ago, SCHISCHKA said:

older games don't really benefit from 4k. If he sets the resolution to 1080p he might not notice any difference in visual quality

I think it's the continually updated engine of WoW's that make it look surprisingly good at higher resolutions. Even my uncle (who is by no means a tech geek) can tell a strong difference in visual clarity between 1080p and 4k. It surprised me as well, to see such a large disparity in clarity.

[VG Docs]

Found a satisfactory conclusion. I couldn't verify whether the GeForce 8xx series is capable of HDMI 2.0, but it's very unlikely that the HDMI cable my uncle uses is 2.0. 

[mariushm]

The laptop is probably equipped with a HDMI 1.4 connector which means it's only capable of 4K at 30 Hz using the HDMI connector.

There may be possible to configure the output from Full RGB or YCbCr 4:4:4  to YCbCr 4:2:0  and then you may be able to get more than 30 Hz at 4k resolution, but the TV has to be smart enough to tolerate the custom color mode, and you also have to accept that the colors may be a bit washed out.

 

Another alternative - if the video card has a DisplayPort connector - would be to buy a DisplayPort to HDMI 2.0 active converter, which will produce 4k at 60 Hz  data on it's output. This adapter is known to output Full RGB 4K at 60 Hz on the HDMI 2.0 connector : http://amzn.to/2hEjSan

This adapter also advertises full rgb 4k at 60 hz and seems to have good reviews: http://amzn.to/2hXWXG5

 

There are other adapters but which may be older generation and only capable of reduced color sampling (4:2:0 instead of 4:4:4 or Full RGB), you'd have to be careful and read the reviews for them before buying cheaper models.

 

[Enderman]

Just now, Trogdor8freebird said:

Found a satisfactory conclusion. I couldn't verify whether the GeForce 8xx series is capable of HDMI 2.0, but it's very unlikely that the HDMI cable my uncle uses is 2.0. 

The 800 series does NOT have HDMI 2.0 http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-860M.107794.0.html

That was introduced in the 900 series.

There is no such thing as an HDMI 2.0 cable.

All HDMI cables are the same, you just need to get a CL2 rated one.

The only difference (other than CL2) is that it either works, or it does not work.

Usually cheap chinese ones will not work, or not work for long.