Does anybody else hate using DisplayPort technology?

Associate
Joined
18 Nov 2008
Posts
2,430
Location
Liverpool
So, I have two lovely 24" Dell U2414H monitors purchased from OcUK, and until recently they were being used via HDMI and DisplayPort (DP) out from an ATI 5870. Absolutely perfect, no problems at all.

Fast forward and I now have an Nvidia 970, which has three lovely mini DP's on it, suddenly I'm able to move forward in the technology world and use all DP.

Now the first thing I notice, is that in first boot, neither monitor got any input. I chalked this up to teething problems, and after 3-4 reboots one eventually kicked into life, and then the other, problem solved. Though I don't think this should ever have happened originally?

Now onto my normal day to day use. I turn my PC and both monitors on, and usually all is well. However sometimes, one monitor gets an input, and the other doesn't. This has only happened twice over the course of three or so weeks, but when it happens, it's a real pain, as I have to reboot again to fix it (sometimes several times).

Finally, when I turn off my PC, I tend to turn my monitors off as it's shutting down. With DVI / HDMI, this was fine. However with DP, when one is turned off, the PC goes into single monitor mode, the other monitor flicks off and back on, as if getting told it's now the only monitor plugged in, and when I turn my PC back on again, all my sticky noted have jumped into one unreadable pile on the screen I last turned off :mad:.

The solution I've come to is to never turn monitors off before the PC has fully shut down, but I can't help but feel that all of these problems could be fixed by just using the DVI connections on the monitors instead, so that the signal is always kept alive even when off.

Any thoughts?
 
Surprisingly I didn't have any real issues with 3 x 2414 dell screens, but for the most part have always found hdmi and displayport to be a pain in comparison to dvi.
 
Another issue I found is that if the DP cable gets knocked slightly you have to remove it from both GPU & Monitor before it will work again!
 
Well at least I'm glad to hear it's not just me having problems. Might get hold of some Mini DP to DVI adapters. Although would the "kill" signal still be sent to the monitors due to it originating as DP?
 
Not sure if it helps but here goes.

I am using 3 Dell 2412M monitors connected through a 3DClub DP hub, and then my 4th monitor, a LG29UB65, is connected through HDMI. When I switch of a Dell monitor nothing happens with my display setup but if I switch of the LG then all goes black and the display setup changes from 1/3 monitor to just 3 monitors for me.

The hub is similar to this one, maybe a bit pricy but it works. On the other hand you having 3 mini DP ports on your card, maybe just buy these (the total price would be cheaper buying 3 of the cables instead of the hub though). As to if you still would get a "kill" signal using a mDP to DVi cable, that I have no clue about. :(
 
This is a well documented issue with the U2414h, im actually surprised you said you had no issues with hdmi a dp to begin with, as this is where there are some major issues.
nvidia cards seem to think the monitor is a hdtv, and only outputs a limited range of colours making everthing washed out.
Also when using dp people have reported the monitor continually going in to sleep mode.

Just reread your post, the reason you didnt have problems is because of your first Vcard, its an nvidia issue thats why your now having issues.

It is possible to switch it back to hdmi and get it to work properly. However there is no fix (that im aware of) for DP yet. Dell says its nVidia, nVidia dont seem to care.

Here is the issue, double check if this is whats happening to you:
https://pcmonitors.info/reviews/dell-u2414h/
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2414h.htm

fix included =)
 
Last edited:
This is a well documented issue with the U2414h, im actually surprised you said you had no issues with hdmi a dp to begin with, as this is where there are some major issues.
nvidia cards seem to think the monitor is a hdtv, and only outputs a limited range of colours making everthing washed out.
Also when using dp people have reported the monitor continually going in to sleep mode.

Just reread your post, the reason you didnt have problems is because of your first Vcard, its an nvidia issue thats why your now having issues.

It is possible to switch it back to hdmi and get it to work properly. However there is no fix (that im aware of) for DP yet. Dell says its nVidia, nVidia dont seem to care.

Here is the issue, double check if this is whats happening to you:
https://pcmonitors.info/reviews/dell-u2414h/
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2414h.htm

fix included =)

Wow, thanks for this! I've not noticed either monitor looking "washed out" and spent pretty much the whole weekend playing AC so feel like I would have noticed, but having said that, I'm now wondering! I'll check this as soon as I'm home and see if it's the case.

I wonder, would using a Mini-DP to DVI cable, which then goes through a DVI-HDMI adapter into the monitors, give me a DVI signal (and thus solve all of these problems)?
 
np dude. Check under your nvidia control panel, all the info should be in those links.

I remember one review mentioning something about this issue and mini-dp, so maybe double check that.

I would try the fix first, and potentially save all the bother of this cable to this adapter and adapters galore /vom :)
 
I just read far more of this thread than I care to admit (it's huge :() and have determined that this is a huge problem that will never be "fixed".

I have however found two workaround:
1. To replace my DP cables with HDMI cables, and then block off the pin that indicated a monitor has been turned off
2. To experiment with having the Nvidia control panel saving the EDID information rather than constantly scan for it

The second solution interests me much more, and is documented here: https://sites.google.com/site/ebobster/stuff/displayportblanking

Anybody heard of this before?
 
I have the U2414H's as well and DP causes loads of issues for me, such as the BIOS being the completely wrong resolution, therefore making it unusable, trying to run dual monitors was also temperamental as it would only work when it felt like it. I'm now on HDMI and it works fine.
 
I have read that using HDMIs and changing stuff in the nvidia control panel should be fine.

No need to block pins as the turning on and off was just a DP issue if i remember correctly.
 
I have had many issues with Display port on both my AOC and Dell 1440p screens with AMD and Nvidia GPU's. I just use DVi now and everything works perfect.
 
Another issue I found is that if the DP cable gets knocked slightly you have to remove it from both GPU & Monitor before it will work again!

That might be exclusive to you and or your setup, as I've used a few different setups with DP screens and graphics cards and not had that issue. A friend also runs 3 DP monitors and doesn't have that issue either.
 
Not had any trouble personally on my three with either vendors GPUs but I still wish the U2414H had DVI input as an option. Given DP gives some people trouble with nVidia, and HDMI gives some people trouble with either nVidia or AMD (OK, correctable in both cases) while DVI doesn't I just prefer it. Sure, not scalable to higher res / refresh rates but the screen is 1080p/60Hz so DVI would be perfect. Daisy chaining is not used so much that I really care about it (indeed it's not so much with the working on OSX, works on Windows tho)

Meh. Took a star off my rainforest review for no DVI & DP issues.
 
I just read far more of this thread than I care to admit (it's huge :() and have determined that this is a huge problem that will never be "fixed".

I have however found two workaround:
1. To replace my DP cables with HDMI cables, and then block off the pin that indicated a monitor has been turned off
2. To experiment with having the Nvidia control panel saving the EDID information rather than constantly scan for it

The second solution interests me much more, and is documented here: https://sites.google.com/site/ebobster/stuff/displayportblanking


Anybody heard of this before?

Sorry to quote myself, but just so it doesn't get lost in the thread, has anybody tried this? I'm planning on giving it a go tonight as wasn't able to last night, but interested to see if anybody else has first?
 
Havnt tried this no, but would be interested to know what works and what dosnt, as i am considering buying one.
Apparently using hdmi to hdmi and changing colour range in control panel should fix all the issues (from my original links) Maybe just try this first?
Failing that you can also create your own resolution and refresh rate of 59.999hz which apprently fixes the sleep issue.
 
Thought i would just link interesting info from pcmonitors:
An Nvidia GTX 780 was used on our test system and we tested both DisplayPort and HDMI – with interesting results. When using either DisplayPort or HDMI the GPU sent out the wrong colour signal (‘Limited Range RGB 16-235’ instead of ‘Full Range RGB 0-255’). This reduced gamma, skewed white point, hugely impacted contrast and simply gave everything a washed out look. We are quite used to seeing this with Nvidia GPUs connected via HDMI as that is their default behaviour – treat the connected device as an HDTV. But we aren’t used to seeing this over DisplayPort which is currently a PC-only output.

This can be rectified for both DisplayPort and HDMI by creating a custom resolution with a 59.999Hz refresh rate. This will be treated by any application* as 60Hz but uses the correct Full Range RGB 0-255 colour signal. The process for setting this up is shown in the video below.
 
Back
Top Bottom