Take a look at our
ThinkPads.com HOME PAGE
For those who might want to contribute to the blog, start here: Editors Alley Topic
Then contact Bill with a Private Message

W530 and 144Hz Monitor

W530/W540/W541/W550 Series
Post Reply
Message
Author
indicium
Freshman Member
Posts: 101
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2008 5:54 pm
Location: atlanta ga

W530 and 144Hz Monitor

#1 Post by indicium » Tue Aug 25, 2015 8:58 am

Is there any way to drive a 144Hz monitor at 144Hz with the W530 and mini dock 3? Right now, I'm just getting the standard 60Hz using the DVI-D port for one monitor and the Display port with an DP to DVI adapter on the other.

dr_st
Admin
Admin
Posts: 9691
Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2005 6:20 am
Location: Israel

Re: W530 and 144Hz Monitor

#2 Post by dr_st » Tue Aug 25, 2015 2:19 pm

I believe that the DVI port on the Mini-Dock Series 3 which the W530 uses is only Single-Link. The DP-to-DVI adapter may also only be single-link, which is not enough for 144Hz at any reasonable resolution. Do your monitors only have DVI inputs?
Thinkpad 25 (20K7), T490 (20N3), Yoga 14 (20FY), T430s (IPS FHD + Classic Keyboard), X220 4291-4BG
X61 7673-V2V, T60 2007-QPG, T42 2373-F7G, X32 (IPS Screen), A31p w/ Ultrabay Numpad

indicium
Freshman Member
Posts: 101
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2008 5:54 pm
Location: atlanta ga

Re: W530 and 144Hz Monitor

#3 Post by indicium » Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:04 pm

My monitors have DVi-D, HDMI and VGA. Your right, it seems that the DVI is Single Link. Would HDMI work? Now its not absolutely important that I have the 244HZ working, I do a lot of Virtual Machines and Trading. I like that they are 350 cm2 and have a 1 ms response but IU[m the kind of person that likes every feature to work!

dr_st
Admin
Admin
Posts: 9691
Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2005 6:20 am
Location: Israel

Re: W530 and 144Hz Monitor

#4 Post by dr_st » Tue Aug 25, 2015 10:59 pm

You can try with a DP-HDMI adapter. Not sure if it would work or not, but worth a shot.
Thinkpad 25 (20K7), T490 (20N3), Yoga 14 (20FY), T430s (IPS FHD + Classic Keyboard), X220 4291-4BG
X61 7673-V2V, T60 2007-QPG, T42 2373-F7G, X32 (IPS Screen), A31p w/ Ultrabay Numpad

indicium
Freshman Member
Posts: 101
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2008 5:54 pm
Location: atlanta ga

Re: W530 and 144Hz Monitor

#5 Post by indicium » Thu Aug 27, 2015 3:49 pm

I went ahead and bought a miniDP to HDMI cable (the local Fry's didn't have a standard DP to HDMI) and plugged it into the W530. Only one monitor works whichever one that I have cable plugged into. The other monitor show no signal. I'm going to play around with it in the morning. Now the W530 is still reporting that the monitor is at 60Hz but the monitor information popup indicates that the vertical is at 120Hz output with the HDMI cable. the monitors are Acer GN246HL and they came with VGA and DVI-D cables.

EDIT: This is with Optimus on using the W530 Display with mini dock and one monitor attached to the dock and the other attached to the miniDP port on the W530.

indicium
Freshman Member
Posts: 101
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2008 5:54 pm
Location: atlanta ga

Re: W530 and 144Hz Monitor

#6 Post by indicium » Fri Aug 28, 2015 1:24 pm

I don't think that I'm going to be able to get a refresh rate of 144Hz unless I get a couple of Active Adapters and I don't feel like spending the extra money now. However, today I got the laptop display to work with the 2 monitors on both the K2000M and the K1000m GPU's previously I had to boot to BIOS and change the setting from Discrete to Optimus. Don't ask what I did because I was doing several things trying to the higher refresh rate and somehow I got all 3 displays working on the K200M first, then I tried the K1000M and it worked too.

The only problem that I had was when I used the mini-Displayport on the W530, it messed up the order of the monitors and I had to move the cursor to the left to go between displays. When I went back to the DVI-D cables, the order was correct moving the cursor to the right went to the next display.

I did read an article this morning that indicated using the Displayport on the dock will give you 120Hz, I may try in the future.

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “ThinkPad W530/W540/W541/W550 Series”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 21 guests