ROG Swift PG278Q stuck at 120hz

[dmbr]

In the NVIDIA Control Panel (GTX 760) the maximum resolution allowed is 120hz.

Oddly enough, if I right click my desktop and use the Windows "Screen Resolution" option, I can set my refresh rate to 144hz successfuly, but I am limited to 16-bit color.

I've done a clean uninstall and reinstall of the newest NVIDIA drivers, tried two different DisplayPort cables, and installed what Asus' support download site had to offer.

Any ideas? This was a major investment and I certainly wouldn't have made it if I'd anticipated this

[lexlazootin]

I'm probably wrong, but are you using a Display port 1.0 cable? i'm thinking maybe the older cables only supported the bandwidth of 1080p120 so it only allows 144 at a lower colour depth.

but I could be wrong.

[rijst]

I also had this once... do not recall how i fixed this...
But try this:
1. make sure no screens are cloned or extended in the driver.
2. only hook up your PG278Q so no other DVI or HDMI screens or AV amplifiers are connected to your NVIDIA graphics card and do a system stop/start (Note that a reboot is sometimes not enough to 'reset' the NVIDIA driver: system stop / start is needed.)
There are 2 options were to change your resolution in your nvidia control panel:
Under display:
1. Change resolution
2. Adjust desktop size and position
I facepalmed once, that I did not notice the other option.

Also a clean install sometimes also does not work as expected. Go in safe mode with network functionality, unstall the nvidia driver completely, remove C:\NIVDIA downloaded folders. Then redownload & reinstall the driver. This was advised a while back by NVIDIA support when I noticed this dependency in the driver: 340.52 had the 120Hz issue, and 337.88 did not. It did not solve my issue at the time though, so I kept running on 337.88 for a while.
I am currently running 350.12 without any issues.

If 'Change resolution' or 'Adjust desktop size and position' are not listing 144Hz (even in non standard modes) than either the driver is not installed correctly, or the EDID of the monitor is somehow broken/corrupt (if you were never able to run at 144Hz).
To check the driver, go to device manager, Monitors > If you have one screen hooked up, only one should be listed. By right clicking on that one you could update the driver... that is if you have a good .inf file of the monitor. I have never tried this on a gysnc monitor before so I advise to contact Asus support to create an inf file based on the EDID of the PG278Q.

By the way, at 144Hz my PG278Q is experiencing some input lag (I also read this in other places), this seriously messes with my aim in CS:GO. If you play FPS games, ...or others ... enable gsync and cap your fps_max at 125 for the best results.

[rijst]

I'm probably wrong, but are you using a Display port 1.0 cable? i'm thinking maybe the older cables only supported the bandwidth of 1080p120 so it only allows 144 at a lower colour depth.

but I could be wrong.

Good point, this might also be the case. The PG278Q does come with a good DP 1.2 cable.

[Haste]

Try unplugging and replugging the Display Port cable.

[dmbr]

So it turns out this happens if I have a second monitor plugged in. I've tried two different monitors, used HDMI and DVI (the only options I have), and same results. Nothing suggested here has worked so far.

I was able to get 144hz with a second monitor by rolling back my drivers to an earlier version (can't recall which off the top of my head), but then I can't use the recent addition to use GSYNC in Windowed mode, which is important to me.

Any ideas, guys? This is a real bummer for me....I stream for part of my income and a second monitor is very important for me to have.

Thanks in advance.