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WTF? My old VE248H has a 120hz/144hz panel?!

Posted: 30 Sep 2017, 21:02
by flexy123
I just found that the VE248H I just got for €50 has a AUO M240HW01 V8 panel, which is the standard panel found in all 120hz and 144hz monitors. The monitor, obviously, is an old 60hz monitor...

What does this mean? Is there some hack potential to turn this monitor into a 120hz/144hz one?
Alternatively...one could think about getting a defective BenQ 144hz or similar with a broken panel...and then put this panel in.
Voila! 144hz monitor for cheap...

Re: WTF? My old VE248H has a 120hz/144hz panel?!

Posted: 30 Sep 2017, 23:01
by Falkentyne
You would have to test higher refresh rates with ToastyX Custom Resolution Utility to see if they work.
The monitor's scaler or firmware may not allow it though. But you'll have to test it for yourself.
Some of these panels on hardware without scalers (I think) were able to overclock to 185hz or higher (those DP2414 variants with the exact same panel); I believe one person got it up to 240hz before it just white screened.

Re: WTF? My old VE248H has a 120hz/144hz panel?!

Posted: 30 Sep 2017, 23:44
by flexy123
Holy crap, I just overrode my EDID with a fake .INF (was a pain in the ass because of Windows secure boot and driver enforcement tho)

I forced a BenQ XL2411T driver (same panel), and low and behold, I now have the option for 120hz or 144hz in control panel.

But, I can't test tho since I don't have a dual-DVI cable (only HDMI)...but it MAY well be there is a hardware lock or that the firmware/scaler doesn't allow it anyway. As for now I can't even overclock to 75Hz (which was no problem with my previous 24", which had actually lower specs than that one, eg. lower pixel clock and lower h/v frequencies). So THIS one should definitely do 75Hz, but for some reason doesn't. This is why I think there may be a firmware lock in there somewhere....but will keep testing...

Re: WTF? My old VE248H has a 120hz/144hz panel?!

Posted: 01 Oct 2017, 01:05
by lexlazootin
The panel spec doesn't mean much, it's just saying it can do 120hz, but so can many 60hz panels. Or a 120hz doing 240hz. It's not ideal but it works.

You probs are firmware locked like pretty much every other 60hz monitor.

The 120hz option in the control panel doesn't mean much either, i can hack in a 1000hz option, doesn't mean it will work.

Re: WTF? My old VE248H has a 120hz/144hz panel?!

Posted: 01 Oct 2017, 12:22
by flexy123
I think here on the forum I have the best chances to get an answer to that:

So, we know that the *panel* itself is the same as in most 120hz/144hz monitors, Benq, Asus VG248QE etc. Check.

Now out of curiosity, here the idea of getting a board of some 144hz monitor and putting the board in.

Question: On the VE248H, from the main driver board to the panel there is only ONE flat ribbon cable (LVDS ribbon), but all the comparable monitors I am looking at, in particular Asus VG248QE, or Asus VG278H, or Benq XL2411, they use the exact same panel, but with two DIFFERENT flat cables with different connectors.

* Am I seeing this right that there must be a way to connect the panel either (as with my monitor) using one single plastic ribbon, but it should also be possible to connect the panel to a board that is using this "double cable", right? (I guess these "double cable" are used for 120hz and above)

* I am looking at "scrap" PCBs/monitors on ebay, and I have (almost) no doubt in my mind that a VG248QE board would work (99,99%)...and possible even VG278HE boards, and possibly/likely even many more, like BenQ Xl24xxxx assuming I would find boards that would fit into the case. I am especially interested in VG278 since someone is selling a broken monitor cheap.

Any thoughts? :)

Re: WTF? My old VE248H has a 120hz/144hz panel?!

Posted: 01 Oct 2017, 19:01
by Chief Blur Buster
It often requires a modified/custom/upgraded monitor motherboard to drive a panel at a higher Hz. There are several 1080p 60Hz monitors and 1080p 144Hz monitors using the exact same 1ms TN panel.

TN panels are capable of going far beyond their specs. Zisworks managed to make a 120Hz panel do 480Hz, and is now selling engineering samples -- http://www.zisworks.com/shop

Re: WTF? My old VE248H has a 120hz/144hz panel?!

Posted: 02 Oct 2017, 17:01
by flexy123
Yeah it's obvious just from looking at the boards/connectors, the 120hz+ monitors all have this double LVDS connector. So even if it was (somehow) possible to override/hack a firmware lock, it would not work using the current board, I am pretty certain of that.

However, it is intriguing and was quite a suprise to me that this "ebay find" for €50 uses the same panel like all those "gaming monitors" like BenQ Xl24xxx, and that I *could* get some €20 board and turn this monitor into a 144hz if I wanted.

Re: WTF? My old VE248H has a 120hz/144hz panel?!

Posted: 03 Oct 2017, 13:35
by flexy123
Disregard this entire thread...I need my eyes checked!

I am just seeing in the service menu that this one doesn't have the V8 version of this panel, but the VD version which is a 60hz panel.
I can lay my fantasies of "converting" the monitor to a rest :)

Re: WTF? My old VE248H has a 120hz/144hz panel?!

Posted: 04 Oct 2017, 18:20
by Chief Blur Buster
flexy123 wrote:Disregard this entire thread...I need my eyes checked!

I am just seeing in the service menu that this one doesn't have the V8 version of this panel, but the VD version which is a 60hz panel.
I can lay my fantasies of "converting" the monitor to a rest :)
That hasn't always stopped everybody. There are surprising overclocks around here:

-- Successful overclock of a 60 Hz laptop LCD to 180 Hz
-- QNIX 2414 overclocked to 220 Hz

It's possible the V8 and VD are identical panels, differentiated only by the TCON and other electronics embedded in the back of the panel. 2ms TN is 2ms TN, whether it's 60Hz or 144Hz. And the 3-year old 4K TN panel that is now being sold at http://www.zisworks.com/shop was never designed to operate at 240Hz nor 480Hz, but does successfully (our 480Hz tests).

That said, good overdrive algorithms does differentiate crap 144Hz from good 144Hz, though!

Re: WTF? My old VE248H has a 120hz/144hz panel?!

Posted: 04 Nov 2017, 01:34
by Friard
What parts do I have to buy from zisworks in order to mod my benq xl2411z. I dont want the 4k at 120hz only the 1080p, 720p and 540p. And how hard would it be to do so having 0 experience units with this kind of stuff.