BenQ XL2730Z Freesync Owners Thread

[Falkentyne]

Those cables are rated up to 3 meters. Remember they are VESA certified so they are guaranteed to work up to 4k resolutions as well, without dropouts. The 3 meter one will work just fine at 1440p @ 144 hz.

The cable matters ones are not VESA certified, that's why you see all these 5 and 10 meter and even longer versions of those cables.

 

[LtMatt]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately the cable you linked is out of stock on the UK version of that website, and it seems to be the only place to buy that specific cable from the UK.

I'm quite keen to get a 1M cable, as I read that the longer the cable, the more likely it is to have issues supporting a 144hz refresh rate reliably.

Is it a known thing that the "Amphenol DP E326508 2M" included with the BenQ monitor is a 'bad' or poor quality cable?

Hopefully I can find somewhere stocking the 1M Accell Ultra AV cable soon, as if my problems continue with the new cable, I'd like to send this monitor back for a refund before my two week window is up.

EDIT - I found a 2 meter version of that cable that's in stock, "Accell B142C-007B". I'm just looking for confirmation that the 2M cable is just as good as the 1M cable for supporting 1440p 144hz? As I did read length can affect these cables etc.

Excellent choice of cable. As long as it's 3 metres or less, you should be fine.

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

Ah, that's not too good. I would certainly tell them how you feel after being dragged through that lot to get evidence. At the end of the day we all want a good working monitor for our money and at £499 (What I paid a few months after release - really envious of you £395 owners ) the service is shocking and the quality control even more so.

If it's under a year old they should send you a brand new monitor NOT a refurb.

I hope you fair better with your replacement.

I did contact them to tell them of my disappointment.
They told me that after 21 calendar days a monitor will be replaced with a refurbished unit.

 

[jason-uk]

Ive not been following this thread for sometime now as not had any problems for a long time now since the firmware update, ive and just had a quick read to catch up and for you chaps suffering with black screen for a second or two , i had this problem as well when i first setup this monitor and it was driving me mad .

After i changed the Display Port cable for a good quality one the problem went away immediately and has never come back , personally if you ask me it was the enclosed cable that comes with the monitor that was the problem ,BenQ should not have had that cable in the box of a monitor of this calibre.

 

[Dave2150]

Ive not been following this thread for sometime now as not had any problems for a long time now since the firmware update, ive and just had a quick read to catch up and for you chaps suffering with black screen for a second or two , i had this problem as well when i first setup this monitor and it was driving me mad .

After i changed the Display Port cable for a good quality one the problem went away immediately and has never come back , personally if you ask me it was the enclosed cable that comes with the monitor that was the problem ,BenQ should not have had that cable in the box of a monitor of this calibre.

Wonderful to hear - my new cable (Accell UltraAV) arrives tomorrow, and I really hope it also solves my problems.

My screen is absolutely perfect apart from the black screen issue, no dead pixels, no backlight bleed, just fantastic image quality and 144hz goodness

 

[TonyTurbo78]

any update Dave?

 

[overd0se]

Hi there, look up a few posts, I'm experiencing this issue too, although I only noticed it after alt-tabbing out of games a couple of days ago.

Games menus and load screens flicker quite badly sometimes, especially SWBF, also using 290x but not o'cd (but CPU 2500K is o'cd)

I think it's definitely the drivers, when I roll back, it goes away (except for in game in heroes of the storm) and when I updated to the crimson drivers it came back. I tried this in Windows 8.1 as well (usually I'm in Win10) and it did the same thing, flickering on the desktop in the crimson drivers when I have most games running, but when I roll back it goes away. Both setups have flickering in game in heroes of the storm so I just disable it when I play that since tearing isn't really a problem there.

I'm hoping AMD can iron out these issues, I made a thread on their site about it but it hasn't gotten much attention there. I'm pretty positive it's the drivers and not my particular monitor because I replaced my first one due to bad backlight bleed (new one has almost none) and my new monitor has the exact same issue. I'm just not sure of the best way to get AMD to notice it's a problem and fix it.

Edit: I forgot to add that I tried downclocking my card and that did not make a difference, it still showed the same behavior. Likewise if I lowered the refresh rate of the screen, even with it at 60 the screen will flicker a bit when it's in the freesync range. Since it's only the desktop I can live with it, it'd be nice if it was fixed though.

 

[DM8104]

I'm no longer getting flickering (*touch wood*) since disconnecting my secondary Monitor and updating to the latest Crimson drivers.

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

I did contact them to tell them of my disappointment.
They told me that after 21 calendar days a monitor will be replaced with a refurbished unit.

The replacement arrived today. With a non-UK power cable/plug...

I think it's obvious that BenQ hate me and it's becoming mutual!

Sell me a monitors that goes wrong in 5 months, take a week to believe me when I raise an RMA request, send me a refurbished unit as a replacement and send the wrong power cable with it. The communication was mediocre too.

 

[Dave2150]

any update Dave?

New cable arrived and partly fixed my problem. I no longer get the black screens during gaming, so very happy with that.

Though I still get the black screens that last 1-2 seconds while on the desktop.

I have narrowed this down to my 390X - it seems it needs to run it's core and memory at full 3D clock speeds in order not to blackscreen on the desktop/browsing the web etc.

The main issue now is that the card obviously uses much more power than it should do on the desktop - I can only hope a driver fix resolves this, as running the card via HDMI causes no such issues. DP must simply be very sensitive to the core/memory frequency or something.

I found countless threads where other 290/390/fury owners have the same problem on the desktop, running the memory at full speed seems the only fix at the moment.

@AMDMatt - any fixes upcoming in drivers to resolve this issue?

 

[Falkentyne]

Add GPU voltage through Afterburner or Trixx. Try +25mv-50mv.

does this do anything to help?

I think this is the same problem that R9 290X's had.
If you overclocked the memory past stock, you had to add GPU voltage or you would black screen. The difference was on the 290X, once you black screen that's good game. Computer is hard locked.

Some boards even at stock memory clocks had a default VID too low to handle those memory clocks. There were a lot of issues with Elipda memory (however its called) even when not overclocking.

 

[Dave2150]

Add GPU voltage through Afterburner or Trixx. Try +25mv-50mv.

does this do anything to help?

I think this is the same problem that R9 290X's had.
If you overclocked the memory past stock, you had to add GPU voltage or you would black screen. The difference was on the 290X, once you black screen that's good game. Computer is hard locked.

Some boards even at stock memory clocks had a default VID too low to handle those memory clocks. There were a lot of issues with Elipda memory (however its called) even when not overclocking.

25mv did the trick Thanks for your help, much appreciated. I've tested this for several hours today on the desktop, not one single black screen (running 2d clock speeds, so low temperatures and fanless mode once again).

Now I need to figure out a more permanent solution to increase the voltage, as I dislike having MSI Afterburner startup with my PC. Ideally I'd prefer to edit the BIOS and nudge up the voltage that tiny bit, though there doesn't seem much out there for the MSI 390X BIOS wise, just a reviewer bios and the consumer shipping version.

 

[Falkentyne]

If you can contact someone who did the Bios mods for the 290X cards, for mining, etc, they might be able to tell you how to edit it.

At least it's recovering from the black screens. On the 290X, if you black screened, there was no recovery at all. Really nice to see that people are still shipping cards without enough 2D voltage for the memory controller to handle idle speeds when the memory clock jumps to 3D clocks

 

[Dave2150]

If you can contact someone who did the Bios mods for the 290X cards, for mining, etc, they might be able to tell you how to edit it.

At least it's recovering from the black screens. On the 290X, if you black screened, there was no recovery at all. Really nice to see that people are still shipping cards without enough 2D voltage for the memory controller to handle idle speeds when the memory clock jumps to 3D clocks

I think the issue would be far more prevalent if 144Hz DP was more common - I bet 90% of users are still using DVI or HDMI, both of which work perfectly on my 390X with default voltages etc. It was only when I swapped to DP and set 144hz that the issue began.

Though how they got through quality control is strange indeed.

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

The replacement arrived today. With a non-UK power cable/plug...

I think it's obvious that BenQ hate me and it's becoming mutual!

Sell me a monitors that goes wrong in 5 months, take a week to believe me when I raise an RMA request, send me a refurbished unit as a replacement and send the wrong power cable with it. The communication was mediocre too.

Since I've point out the negative things I've experienced with BenQ Customer services I thought I should point out a positive thing. They have informed me that the monitor I received as a replacement was in fact a new monitor not a refurbished unit.
I'm not sure if this was because I complained, but I still think the rule of less than 21 days old or it's a refurb is a silly rule and you shouldn't have to complain in order to get a new replacement, if that is in fact why they changed it.

BenQ also informed me that they have asked RepairTech to send me the correct power cable. So if they send it fairly quickly I could get it in less than 2 weeks since I got the monitor!

So far, from the time I raised the RMA request it's been 19 days and so far I've still not received everything required to get my monitor working again.

Well, technically it is working as the power cable is a standard kettle lead, which I've managed to source, but I don't think I should have to.

And earlier in this thread people were praising BenQ's customer service!
If it's for a firmware upgrade it seems fine, if it's for a fault with the monitor, it seems a little more frustrating.

 

[Dave2150]

25mv did the trick Thanks for your help, much appreciated. I've tested this for several hours today on the desktop, not one single black screen (running 2d clock speeds, so low temperatures and fanless mode once again).

Now I need to figure out a more permanent solution to increase the voltage, as I dislike having MSI Afterburner startup with my PC. Ideally I'd prefer to edit the BIOS and nudge up the voltage that tiny bit, though there doesn't seem much out there for the MSI 390X BIOS wise, just a reviewer bios and the consumer shipping version.

I spoke too soon - I still get the occasional black screens even with +25mv. I even get these black screens at 60Hz via DP. Note that the system never crashes, I just get a black screen for 1-2 seconds then back to normal.

I've ordered a 1M Accell DP cable (currently using a 2M Accell Ultra AV cable) - though it's not in stock so it could take a few weeks to arrive. If that doesn't fix it (it wil be my third DP cable), I'll start with RMA'ing my 390X.

I believe the problem to be either my 390X's DP port, or my monitor's DP port. I've had three displays connected to test over the last week, one via DVI, one via HDMI and the benq in question via DP. The black screen only appears on the DP BenQ.

Very frustrating issue for sure, and quite a common one. I've googled quite extensively and the amount of NVIDIA/AMD users having a similar problem with DP is quite shocking, though there do appear to be far more AMD users affected.

 

[Dave2150]

I spoke too soon - I still get the occasional black screens even with +25mv. I even get these black screens at 60Hz via DP. Note that the system never crashes, I just get a black screen for 1-2 seconds then back to normal.

I've ordered a 1M Accell DP cable (currently using a 2M Accell Ultra AV cable) - though it's not in stock so it could take a few weeks to arrive. If that doesn't fix it (it wil be my third DP cable), I'll start with RMA'ing my 390X.

I believe the problem to be either my 390X's DP port, or my monitor's DP port. I've had three displays connected to test over the last week, one via DVI, one via HDMI and the benq in question via DP. The black screen only appears on the DP BenQ.

Very frustrating issue for sure, and quite a common one. I've googled quite extensively and the amount of NVIDIA/AMD users having a similar problem with DP is quite shocking, though there do appear to be far more AMD users affected.

I've decided it's RMA time for me. I'll RMA the 390X first I think, since that's more likely to be the issue.

Unfortunately I don't have another GPU with display port, to rule out the 390X as the problem. I did consider buying the cheapest GPU that can do 1440p 144HZ DP (obviously not in games!) just to see if I get the same black screen/flickering on the desktop.

 

[ultranoodles]

I need your help !!!
I got this monitor but i encountered a lot of judder in videos (youtube , movies ) .
Worse than every other device or monitor that i own.Watchable but i must say distracting.

I tried every setting possible . Every refresh rate possible.
Used display-port , hdmi cables , my 290x or the integrated graphics.
AMA high or premium made no difference.
I even tried a fresh windows 10 installation on a different hard disk . (on my main rig i use windows 7 )
Only blur reduction at its maximum setting seemed to help a little bit.

By the way...
Before this monitor i also tested the Asus MG279Q.
Which i had to return anyway , because i had 5-6 dead/stuck pixels but apart from that
the ips glow was very distracting.
Color was just a little bit better on the Asus but overall the Benq is a better monitor.
I didn't find the viewing angles that bad.It was more distracting on the MG279Q where a lot of times i found my self moving or tilting my head because of the ips glow .
At least on the BenQ i could work without getting distracted.

Now , i need your help with 2 questions i have :
1) Is the second service menu disabled on the V2 firmware ?
I couldn't enter it.I only managed to enter the first one where the internet cafe option is.
2) Can you please test a video for me (concerning my judder problem)
I want to confirm,whether this problem was with my specific panel or whether is something common.
The test video in question,is situated here http://tessive.com/time-shaper-demos/
The second playable one from top.
Can you please run it at full screen and tell me if there is a lot of judder also on your part after min2:00.
On my screen , everything flickers . The tree , the fences . It flickers a lot and it is very distracting. On every other device i test this same video , the judder is not that bad.
(P.S:i might be wrong on calling it "judder"...it might be called "strobing" (reconstruction aliasing) , i am not sure, but anyway it is very distracting.
a little bit you will encounter on every device but not as flickering as i encountered on my screen.I just need your confirmation.)

 

[Dave2150]

I need your help !!!
I got this monitor but i encountered a lot of judder in videos (youtube , movies ) .
Worse than every other device or monitor that i own.Watchable but i must say distracting.

I tried every setting possible . Every refresh rate possible.
Used display-port , hdmi cables , my 290x or the integrated graphics.
AMA high or premium made no difference.
I even tried a fresh windows 10 installation on a different hard disk . (on my main rig i use windows 7 )
Only blur reduction at its maximum setting seemed to help a little bit.

By the way...
Before this monitor i also tested the Asus MG279Q.
Which i had to return anyway , because i had 5-6 dead/stuck pixels but apart from that
the ips glow was very distracting.
Color was just a little bit better on the Asus but overall the Benq is a better monitor.
I didn't find the viewing angles that bad.It was more distracting on the MG279Q where a lot of times i found my self moving or tilting my head because of the ips glow .
At least on the BenQ i could work without getting distracted.

Now , i need your help with 2 questions i have :
1) Is the second service menu disabled on the V2 firmware ?
I couldn't enter it.I only managed to enter the first one where the internet cafe option is.
2) Can you please test a video for me (concerning my judder problem)
I want to confirm,whether this problem was with my specific panel or whether is something common.
The test video in question,is situated here http://tessive.com/time-shaper-demos/
The second playable one from top.
Can you please run it at full screen and tell me if there is a lot of judder also on your part after min2:00.
On my screen , everything flickers . The tree , the fences . It flickers a lot and it is very distracting. On every other device i test this same video , the judder is not that bad.
(P.S:i might be wrong on calling it "judder"...it might be called "strobing" (reconstruction aliasing) , i am not sure, but anyway it is very distracting.
a little bit you will encounter on every device but not as flickering as i encountered on my screen.I just need your confirmation.)

That video @ 2:00 minutes plays smoothly for me - a girl walking down a pavement ye? No issues at all with the fence etc.

What resolution are you testing at?

 

[Dave2150]

I've decided it's RMA time for me. I'll RMA the 390X first I think, since that's more likely to be the issue.

Unfortunately I don't have another GPU with display port, to rule out the 390X as the problem. I did consider buying the cheapest GPU that can do 1440p 144HZ DP (obviously not in games!) just to see if I get the same black screen/flickering on the desktop.

Yet another update.

Decided to try a few things before I commenced RMA proceedings.

I cleaned the DP connectors on my 390X and on the BenQ (used compressed air, to get out any possible dust/debris).

This seemed to have worked, and I was able to have the monitor on for 8 hours+ yesterday without any black screens or flickering.

Today when I started my PC, the black screens started happening straight away again.

I then thought to disconnect the DP cable and reconnect it, and yet again the problem went away. So this is probably what fixed it yesterday, as I had to disconnect the DP cable before I could clean the connectors.

So basically it seems my monitor needs to have it's DP cable disconnected after the PC has booted, then reconnected, and then it operates perfectly.

Any help as to what the cause of this could be would be appreciated - I'm convinced this is just some glitch - perhaps a UEFI boot problem? I'm using a Maximus VIII Hero (Skylake) setup if that makes a difference.