Solved: Outputting 2560x1440 (1440p) signal via HDMI output

I am cross-posting this in the General Accessories forum, and the Lenovo Ideapad Y500 sub-forums, because I think this information has value to people beyond just Lenovo Y500 owners. Please note that I have only tested this on a Lenovo Ideapad Y500p, and do not intend to test it with any other laptop model, etc.


I recently purchased a Dell Ultrasharp U2713HM monitor (27" 2560 x 1440) display. This particular Dell U2713HM monitor only accepts 1440p resolution over its DVI (dual-link) and DisplayPort inputs. The monitor supports HDMI input, but it is limited to 1920x1200 resolutions.
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I did a bunch of searching online, and dug deep into the bowels of internet forums to find out that this is a common problem, and that someone had success using a particular brand & type of HDMI to Dual-Link DVI cable:
Amazon.com : Kumo High Speed HDMI to DVI 24+1 Cable (RED) - 15 FT : Electronics

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I had to go into nVidia Control Panel and set a custom resolution of 2560x1440 @ 55Hz (could not get 60Hz to be stable). But at the very minimum, I am now running a Lenovo Ideapad Y500p that outputs native resolution to a 1440p display through its HDMI port.




Expected Questions & Answers:

• Ok, 1440p output on a Lenovo Y500p. So what?
  The "so what" is this... you know all of those cheap Korean 27" 1440p panels (Catleap, Yamazaki, etc brands) that you've heard about for the past 12 months? The ones that sell for about $350 on eBay, and about $400 from Monoprice? Well, those do not have built-in scalers on them. That means that those monitors can ONLY accept a 2560x1440 (1440p) input signal over their typically one input connector (dual-link DVI). Using this cable and a custom resolution means you can use one of those 1440p panels as an output device to a Lenovo Ideapad Y500, which only has HDMI as a digital output.
  
  
  
• Are you gaming at 1440p?
  Nope. My intended purpose of 1440p output is entirely for use as a work-related computer running desktop applications. Any gaming to be done on my Lenovo Ideapad Y500 will be done on its integrated 1080p panel while I am on the road and away from my home-office desktop setup.
  
  
  
• Ok, I get it, no gaming. Can you run gaming benchmarks anyway, so we know how 2x GeForce 650M's in SLI would fare at 1440p?
  If requested (reply to this thread), I'll run this thing through a few game-related benchmarks that can scale to different resolutions like Bioshock Infinite and Metro 2033. Unfortunately, I don't have the paid / professional versions of any of the 3DMark suites, so I can't apply custom resolutions to that.
  
  I *CAN* say that 1440p absolutely devours GPUs. My desktop rig had 2x GeForce GTX 560Ti's SLI, and could not run 1440p at max detail settings for every game. (If you're a parent of young kids, just think of the story "On Tuesday, the 1440p monitor ate through two GeForce GTX560Ti's. But it was still hungry). I'm about to put 2x GeForce GTX 770's in SLI into my desktop rig, and see if those are powerful enough to feed this GPU-hungry monitor.
  
  To be honest, I'm kind of hoping that people request benchmarking, just so I have an excuse to make the time and see what happens.

 

benchmark it please. my sager does have a display port out, but i've been eyeing those monoprice monitors for a while, but don't want to waste the money if i can't get it to output correctly.

 

Got some numbers done. Your GeForce GTX 675M should be about the same performance as 2x GeForce GTX 650M SLI (about 3400 - 3500 in 3dMark11). Here are the numbers I got for 2x GeForce 650M SLI running agaist a 2560x1440 (1440p) monitor @ 50Hz. I've added my desktop rig results in for comparison.

My general opinion is that using our mid-tier laptop GPUs (GeForce 675M, or 2x GeForce 650M SLI) is not viable for 1440p gaming, especially considering the relative difficulty and unpredictability of getting 1440p to even output over HDMI --> Dual-Link DVI. I would say that 1440p gaming is best done with a beefy desktop and plenty of GPU power behind it (at least a single GeForce GTX780 to run at high-to-max settings in games).



Metro 2033 benchmarks

• Laptop (2x GeForce GTX650M SLI) | Medium Settings @ 1440p: Unplayable (3.4fps)
• Desktop (2x GeForce 560Ti SLI) | Max Settings, no AA @ 1440p: 26 fps
• Desktop (2x GeForce 770 SLI) | Max Settings, 4xAA @ 1440p: 35 fps
• Desktop (2x GeForce 770 SLI) | Max Settings, no AA @ 1440p: 47 fps
• Desktop (2x GeForce 770 SLI) | High Settings, no AA @ 1440p: 61 fps

Bioshock Infinite Benchmarks

• Laptop (2x GeForce GTX650M SLI) | Max Settings @ 1440p: 20.7 fps
• Desktop (2x GeForce 560Ti SLI) | Max Settings @ 1440p: 36 fps
• Desktop (2x GeForce 770 SLI) | Max Settings @ 1440p: 94fps

3dMark11 Benchmarks - for Comparison Purposes

• Laptop (2x GeForce GTX650M SLI) | Performace Mode 1280x720: 3,383
• Desktop (2x GeForce 560Ti SLI) | Performace Mode 1280x720: 8,255
• Desktop (2x GeForce 770 SLI) | Performace Mode 1280x720: 14,806

 

Thanks and repped. I actually have the 675mx, so it's more powerful than the 675m (fermi architecture) and has a 256 bit bus, but I still don't think it is powerful enough. Maybe with an overclock, as i believe the 675mx can almost reach 680 levels. I just really, really REALLY miss the extra screen real estate that my old gateway lappy provided with its 1920 x 1200 screen.

 

Hi!

Please read!

I am the guy who originally found the Khumo HDMI to DVI adapter and posted that it worked to help others in the same boat. I was enjoying 55hz 1440p for a while. Then when windows 8.1 came around, they removed the ability to make the custom resolution!

Are you still running this resolution at 55hz? If so, how?

Thanks!

 

The Nvidia Control Panel should solve this issue.

 

How did you find this out? Does it have to be the 15 foot cable, can I use a shorter one? Where is your original post, please! I'm tearing my hair out trying to get my new monitor to talk to my Y510P. I bought a "Bluerigger High Speed to Dual Link DVI" cable off of amazon, what's different about the Kumo?

thanks

 

Hi folks, just registered as I'm interested in this topic. I have a Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro on the way. Can I use a micro-HDMI to HDMI adapter then connect the Kumo cable that way?
regards

 

Unsure. But it's only going to be $20 in cables and HDMI adapters to try.

There are two ways in which this would work:

1) Both your Lenovo Yoga 2 and your 27" 1440p monitor support HDMI v1.3 or higher. That HDMI revision spec has enough bandwidth to natively support 1440p @ 60Hz. However, most inexpensive 1440p monitors (<$1000) do not support HDMI v1.3, and require you to use either Dual-Link DVI or DisplayPort to get 1440p resolution.

2) Basic HDMI / DVI has enough bandwidth to output to 1440p at 30Hz using a custom resolution. So you can safely assume that to be your "minimum" output quality. Anything that you achieve beyond that will depend on the quality / length of your cable, gremlins in your monitor, the stars aligning properly, etc. You're asking your hardware to do something unsupported, so there aren't any guarantees that anything beyond 1440p @ 30Hz will work. And there is no way to determine what will work, until you actually try it.



Another thing I should mention... I would not recommend buying a 1440p monitor if the primary computer you connect it to is a laptop using unsupported HDMI-to-DVI resolutions. It's really a pain in the rear. And the <60Hz refresh rate doesn't look pretty. If you planned on buying a 1440p monitor anyway to connect to a different primary computer (e.g. a gaming desktop), and want to plug your Lenovo Yoga 2 into it as a secondary video input source, I'm all for that.

But if you're looking for a monitor that will be dedicated for use as an external monitor to your Lenovo Yoga 2, I'd recommend you go with a 24" 1080p or 1200p monitor instead. It will be cheaper, give you better image quality, and be much easier to use / support than a comparably priced 27" display.

 

I completely agree with you, but I'm already using the monitor with a desktop. I'll be selling the desktop and using the Yoga as my main system as I want a portable system. I can't afford to keep both. I'd happily sell the monitor for a smaller one, but it's not easy to sell a second hand Korean IPS, many people haven't heard of them.

It seems others are getting higher refresh than 30hz by clicking 'CVT reduced blank' in the custom resolution settings.

I'll wait for everything to arrive and see how I get on. Thanks for the info

 

well the cable arrived and the yoga 2 pro detects the external monitor but I can't select it and when I try to create a custom resolution I get an error saying it exceed the bandwidth capacity regardless of timing standards...

in fact, i can't set any resolution at any refresh on either internal or external display without said error!

 

Have any of you tried VGA to DVI? I can run 2560x1600 @ 75Hz to my Sony FW900 over VGA after creating the custom resolution in the NVIDIA control panel.

 

Not surprising, to be honest. 1440p over HDMI is not a resolution supported by your laptop. So whether it works or not is a complete toss-up.

Your only options here are to search the internet for other people who own Lenovo Yoga 2's that have run 1440p, or scrap the whole idea and return the cable.

 

I returned the cable. I wonder if I could connect the Yoga 2 to a usb 3.0 dock and connect to the monitor that way

 

Need help picking up a basic graphics card to get 1440p on 2713 HMT monitor.
Currently I have this motherboard, however the DVI port does not get 1440p
Pegatron Corporation Violet6 6.01 Specs

thanks.

 

I have a similar problem. I have a Nvidia GEForce GT520 graphics card. It has two output ports: a DVI and a HDMI. I am hooking it up with two 2560 x 1440 screens. The DVI-DVI hook up is used for one already and works fine. Can the second one be done with HDMI (output) - DVI (input) cable? When I looked up the control panel of the graphics card, it only says HD, SD max resolution 1920 x 1080. Is my grahics card not up to snuff or can this be remedied using the HDMI-DVI cable. I have two new Samsung S32850T. They can take HDMI as well as DVI. Just that my HDMI-HDMI max-ed out at 1920 x 1080.

Cheers
Elwyn

 

Probably your card can't push enough pixels. Have you tried disabling the laptop panel and seeing if it works then?

 

What is the maximum display resolution of your card? I'm pretty sure you've reached it and need to upgrade for a higher resolution.

Nvidia doesn't advertise number of displays together with resolution. In any event, this is a pre-Kepler cards. All of those should be capable of 4k, meaning 2 X 1440p monitors.