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    Can an HDMI cable affect graphics performance?

    Discussion in 'Accessories' started by Danja, Aug 15, 2009.

  1. Danja

    Danja Notebook Evangelist

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    I'm experiencing a performance cut when using an HDMI cable to output from my Gateway to a Sony 1080p TV. When on the TV, games are significantly more laggy than they are at the same resolution on the laptop's native screen. Movies have a tendency to freeze and frame skip on intervals between 15 seconds for 1080p movies to about a minute for 720p. At first I thought it may have been because the movies were stored on a 5400 rpm hard drive, but reading the movies from the original disk had the same amount of lag.

    I'm using a 15 ft. HDMI cable that I bought from ebay and appears to be generic. Is it possible that the problem is from the cable not being a brand name?
     
    Danja, Aug 15, 2009
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  2. zhaden

    zhaden Notebook Consultant

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    Very unlikely. If there's a picture and sound showing up on the other end of the cable, it's working. Digital signals are, generally speaking, all or nothing.

    Is your laptop plugged in to an outlet and set to a performance oriented profile when plugged in to the TV?
     
    zhaden, Aug 15, 2009
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  3. archer7

    archer7 Notebook Evangelist

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    The higher the resolution, the more strain there is on the graphics engine.
     
    archer7, Aug 15, 2009
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  4. c19932

    c19932 Notebook Guru

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    I believe so. My fps drops when I use an external monitor rather than the laptop screen
     
    c19932, Aug 15, 2009
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  5. tizzao

    tizzao Notebook Evangelist

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    The higher resolution of your TV might cause it. If you are running dual monitors (laptop screen and TV) that may cause a slowdown also.

    I use my computer with a generic DVI to HDMI cable on my TV from time to time and have no issues. The cable actually only cost me about $8.
     
    tizzao, Aug 15, 2009
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  6. Danja

    Danja Notebook Evangelist

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    The computer is plugged in and in high performance mode. I don't think the higher res of the the TV is an issue; the screen on the laptop is 1900x1200 and everything runs on it without hiccups. In either case, I feel like if a $20 DVD player can handle DVDs, an 8800 card should be able to also. I'm running a single monitor at all times; either the laptop screen or the TV.


    I'm going to try to upgrade to the new 190 driver; I'm using the nVidia 186.03 right now and it has other issues, such as not being able to switch between monitors with the designated hotkey. I've tried other drivers before though so I'm not expecting much.
     
    Danja, Aug 15, 2009
    #6