Blur Busters Forums

Hello everyone! I have a very specific situation over here and Id appreciatte greatly if someone can point me in the right direction, here are is the main question:

What cable do I use to achieve 1080p 120 hz when INPUT IS HDMI 1.4 and OUTPUT can be either DisplayPort or DVID Dual link?


Some basic info that Ive found during my research:



1- I have an old Laptop, LENOVO Y400 released in June 2013

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y-series/y400/
and I want to plug the laptop into an ASUS VG248QE (120 hz capable) to play small games running at 1920x1080 at 120 hz

https://www.asus.com/Monitors/VG248QE/specifications/


2- The laptop comes with a GEFORCE GT 650M which offers 2 graphic ports: HDMI and VGA


3- Lenovo doesnt specify what is the version of the HDMI port on the laptop, but its safe to asume its atleast HDMI 1.4 or higher according to the release dates , (HDMI 1.4 was released earlier in 2009, laptop is from 2013)
source; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI#Version_1.4


4- HDMI 1.4 maximum data rate or bandwith is 8.16 Gbit/s , and according to the HDMI wiki to game 1080p at 120 hz you only require 6.59 Gbit/s bandwith so my HDMI 1.4 port should be capable of playing 1080p at 120 hz, which means the input from my laptop should be capable of sending that to any compatible monitor.


5- The problem is the output, my current ASUS VG248QE only supports 120 hz through their DisplayPort or DVID Dual link ports, HDMI port on the asus monitor has a very simple HDMI chip that is only capable of running at 60 hz (maybe 75 hz with a slight overclock)

I already tried plugging a high speed HDMI cable (10.2 Gbps bandwith) but it became clear that the HDMI port on the asus monitor just cant handle high refresh rates at all, which leaves me wondering what type of cable or converter I need to use to achieve my goal.

Should I use a HDMI to DisplayPort cable?
Should I use a HDMI to DVID Dual link cable?
How can I know for sure which cable will provide at least the 6.59 Gbit/s that 1080p at 120hz gaming requires, (most cable vendors in amazon or newegg dont even offer this information)



Which solution do you consider be the best / cheapest ? Have you found a solution to a similar problem?

Thank you everyone in advance!

Most Hz issues on HDMI are the display side issue.

Your GPU is really old but should still be able to do 120Hz.

The HDMI cable won't be the issue as long as you've got a recent issue.

So the HDMI port on the monitor being the issue (limitation in the HDMI chip inside the monitor is almost always the cause). Some gaming monitors won't do high-Hz on their HDMI inputs.

So targetting to a solution, yes you want either:
- HDMI to DisplayPort adaptor
- HDMI to DVI-D Dual Link

Problem is that some of the adaptors are a bit $$ or reliable. Choose carefully.