After years of denial, Intel finally acknowledges Custom Resolution is broken and fix is on its way!

EDIT: 9/27/2016
some update!

It seems like progress has been made and according to a forum user, intel provided him with a beta driver and he says that

https://communities.intel.com/message/412765#412765


Also according to Intel Employee Bryce@Intel

https://communities.intel.com/message/420468#420468

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Any one who own a Laptop with Intel graphics knows LCD overclocking is impossible as you will get the infamous "the custom resolution exceeds the maximum bandwidth capacity". For years Intel has blamed the manufacturer or a specific laptop model for the issue.

When I got an NVIDIA Optimus Enabled gaming laptop earlier this year, I was very disappointed that the LCD is not overclockable because Intel Graphics handles the display and the custom resolution in it is completely broken and would always say "the custom resolution exceeds the maximum bandwidth capacity" regardless of the setting you put into it. Searching for threads on the internet yielded no fix and I always get the same answer people blaming the manufacturer or specific laptop model for the feature not working correctly.

I initially filed a customer support but I was referred to posting a thread on intel forums to get
the correct exposure to their engineering department.

After months of waiting I finally got a concrete reply

https://communities.intel.com/message/322049#322049

 

I have an alienware 15 w/ 4k panel. The panel is MST, meaning it is actually two (horizontal)1920x(vertical)2160 screens put together. Display port can drive both panels as if one monitor.

With intel's gfx panel, I have been able to create custom resolutions 1920x2160 and below. If I try to use a resolution that exceeds (horizontal) 1920, it will report "the custom resolution exceeds the maximum bandwidth capacity".

So technically custom resolutions was working for me, sort of, but not when using the space of two screens in an MST panel. I am eager if Intel will resolve this issue with this supposed fix.

 

Are you sure it is using MST?

I also have an Alienware 15 w/ 4k touch screen display.

According to latest version of HWiNFO64 my display is Sharp LQ156D1 (Dell P/N: T41VN) and has HW ID: SHP1430.

I am also sure that it is an IGZO.

It has pixel clock of 533.25Mhz.

If it is connected via MST the pixel clock should be way lower.

A monitor will need ~580MHz Pixel Clock receiver or better to receive a single 4K signal at 60Hz. This number is taken from the EIZO FDH3601 4096x2160 display (290MHz per Displayport). This number is calculated by [Vertical Pixels) x (Refresh Rate) x (~1.05) = (Horizontal Refresh Rate)] x [Horizontal Pixels] x [~1.25]. Some of those ~ figures will differ depending on how the monitor is manufactured.

 

I have the same panel as you. I have not been able to determine if this panel was MST, but some research led me to believe that most if not all IGZO 4k panels were MST.

The behavior of the screen in my alienware laptop seems like it fits the bell for MST. For example, often when transitioning from a 1080p full screen application to desktop 4k, the desktop widgets I have in the lower right corner will end up in the lower right corner of the upper left quadrant of screen space (if you divided a 4k screen into 4 1920x1080 quadrants). My OS is win 8.1. For some 3D applications in windowed mode, I notice terrible tearing in the same areas of the screen when there is fast motion. It has lead me to believe these are issues with the intel gfx and/or software applications and a 4k MST panel.

 

A quick search on panel look up says it is using 4 lanes of eDP via 40pin connector.
http://www.panelook.com/resmodlist....38402160&panel_size_inch=15.6&brand_family=SP
http://www.panelook.com/LQ156D1JX01_SHARP_15.6_LCM_parameter_21688.html

A quick search on google for Alienware 15 teardown shows the LCD connector in the motherboard is indeed a 40pin connector (you can count the individual pins to verify).
http://laptopmedia.com/news/inside-...assembly-internal-photos-and-upgrade-options/

Spoiler: click to view

Edit: as for resizing issue that is a Windows Problem.

In the past I cannot afford to get hardware so I always turn down the resolution when playing games, but desktop icons and gadgets gets all over the place after exiting a game.

 

So if it is using 4 lanes / 4pins, does that mean it can't be MST?

 

Does this actually mean that Optimus laptop LCDs may be overclockable?! That would be pretty huge.

 

From bandwidth perspective 4lanes of eDP can drive a 3840x2160 @ 60Hz display without any issues since most laptop LCD doesn't have a built in scaler as that is handled by the GPU.

Desktop monitor on the other hand have a built in scaler to handle multiple input such as HDMI, DVI, Displayport, VGA, etc...(with the exception of single input dispay like the overclockable korean QX2710 EVO II).

The scalers in first-generation 4K desktop panels had a peak resolution of 1920x2160, which is exactly half the resolution of a 4K LCD. At a typical gaming refresh rate of 60 Hz, these scalers simply did not offer enough bandwidth to display a 3840x2160 image 60 times per second.

You could also verify if the display is MST by completely removing the graphics driver (it should appear standard vga graphics driver in device manager). If it is MST you should be able to see under display settings there is two monitors.

 

Intel Graphics handles the display so yes Optimus laptop LCD will be overclockable.

 

A new intel driver came out a few weeks ago, still doesn't fix the issue for me.

 

Agreed, still not fixed.

I posted this to Intel forums https://communities.intel.com/message/339775#339775:



And still no response.

 

HTWingNut, strangely it did go full screen, but then you continued to "work the settings" and it broke... maybe just leave it at scaled full screen when it is there and don't worry about moving the settings again to a different resolution / view? It could just be an app bug with the refresh after setting - some apps say to restart for the resolution change to take effect.

 

Did you try Alt+Enter?

It would be TOO GOOD to be true that Optimus laptops could become LCD overclocked.

 

James D, LCD OC would be nice too, but HTWingNut was showing how the scaling was broken, not the refresh.

I played around with the latest drivers a while back, and there is a custom mode now, but it isn't very user friendly and reminds me of the old days of custom settings in CRT's, lots of useful technical detail, totally opaque to a non-technical user.

The current driver 10.18.15.4279 ( win64_15407.4279.exe ) shows some UI improvement, but still fails, not even allowing bump from 60hz to 65hz:



It also fails for 40hz / 50hz / 70hz... and if I try to do 60hz, it takes it, but warns it already exists and do I want to overwrite it - no I don't

 

It did not go full screen. I selected full screen and it stayed in windowed mode. Trust me I've tried numerous game titles like this and resulted in the same issue. If I select "Windowed Borderless" it appears to go full screen but it is running at screen native resolution which defeats the purpose. For a low powered GPU I want to run at 720p even though LCD is 1080p or 3K. Only way around it is to set desktop to 720p and then run borderless windowed mode, but that reduces performance as opposed to full screen mode.

It also seems to affect DirectX 11 titles mainly but DX9 titles seem OK.

Alt Enter does not work. First thing I tried.

 

Ahh, think I see, it tries to get smart and just run the native "full screen" mode, and short cut's your actual request to run a lower than native resolution scaled up...

Hmmm, I wonder how I have done that before. I think I have turned on display scaling, and left the GPU set at the resolution I desire, and let the display do the upscale.

Trying to get the GPU Control panel to both run at lower than native and then scale up to native isn't intuitively obvious to the developer, most likely a conceptual gap, they are trying to out think the request.

Have you tried setting the GPU control panel at native 1080p, and set the application setting to 720p, with scaling set in the GPU control panel? I think that's what you are actually looking for.

When you try to set the GPU control panel to 720p, and then upscale, you are up-scaling to 720p... not 1080p, does that make sense?

 

Just to add insult, it appears that instead of fixing it on the Windows side they recently made resampling for custom resolution under Linux broken as well.

 

In games with AMD or Nvidia (not Optimus) usually you just set the resolution you want and poof it runs at that res. With Intel it borks out. Shouldn't have to set any scaling. Only reason I set it in the Intel control panel is because that's what the Intel rep told me to do and I was just showing the result is the same regardless.

Bottom line:

Full screen should set resolution of game whatever you set in game and run full screen mode at that res

Full screen borderless is just running in a window but at max native resolution without border

Windowed mode is just that, running in a Window.

Best performance and least heat/power comes when running in full screen mode.

 

HTWingNut, I think he meant to turn on scaling, but not set the resolution to less than non-native, leave it at the display panel native resolution. That way it will scale from whatever the app/game is using up to the display's native resolution.

Another way to do it would be to set the GPU resolution to the non-native resolution of the panel used in apps/games, like 720p, and then set the display hardware to scale to native resolution. I usually try one and then the other to see which provides the best / sharpest scaling and least GPU/CPU drain.

 

I was able to get what you want to work by setting the GPU to 1920x1080, and select Scale Full Screen, but don't check the Override Applications Settings box:





Update: so I also tried it with "Override Application Settings" and left the Saints Row IV set the same, quit the app and restarted, and it came up full screen as well. So it's working for me.

Switching back to Nvidia mode, requires a reboot to switch between Intel and Nvidia... GT80 SLI-263.

 

Which Intel GPU do you have? This is with Intel 5500. And you're not Optimus, which is the heart of the issue I believe.

 

Intel Iris Pro 6200 on a 5950HQ CPU.

Here is the Information page with the details:



That's true, it might be Optimus... which means it might be an interaction between Intel / Nvidia settings? Are you locking the app to run on the Nvidia or Intel GPU?

I thought you were trying to get better performance when running on Intel - thus the drop of resolution in the game.

Maybe check out what the Nvidia settings are showing if anything, and/or force Intel GPU for that game?

I just tried Batman: Arkam Origins, and it also works setting the in game resolution to 1280x720, and by doing that I only had to turn off Physics effects, and I could leave everything else at high settings - DX11. The in game benchmark Averaged 39 FPS, which is playable, and surprisingly high. I get 105 FPS with the 980m SLI OC with Physics on High @ 1920x1080.

I should note that there is a lot more CPU fan noise running Intel GPU mode than I normally notice when running with CPU + Nvidia dGPU. This is just running at the desktop / browser with only 1 tab open, and the idle Batman: Arkam Origins game Alt-tabbed in background.

The little CPU/iGPU really has to work hard doing double duty, and is running at it's TDP limits generating a lot of heat

 

I have tried this on many notebooks ect over the year, and could never get it to work.

Samsung use have a feature that you could force an higher resolution than your native resolution in the graphics control panel, it looked kind of strange but it could come in handy on low resolution device like netbooks, Is there any way to do this on other brands, my Win8.1 tablet is only 1200x800, 1366x768 ect would be interesting.

John.

 

It's an Intel 940m. Not too powerful for 1080p, but fine for 720p.

 

HTWingNut, when I went back to Nvidia, and tried to run Batman: Arkam Origins using the same settings, at first it put the video in a area - not a window - on the top left - not scaling to full screen. I needed to go and set the Nvidia settings to scale on GPU - there is no display scaling option for this screen:



Then it went full screen upon game startup. Checked the in game benchmark at same settings - 1280x720 without Physics, and got 314 FPS vs 39 FPS with the iGPU at the same settings.

I should also mention that I can't OC the CPU when using iGPU - the settings are there, but there isn't enough TDP to spare.

Maybe Nvidia Inspector can affect the settings for Optimus for each game effectively running at full resolution with the panel, but reduced for in game?

 

So what, until recently I actually could set LCD to above 60Hz on Optimus laptops on Linux? Really?

If that is so then it's fully software problem and perhaps I can override it with reflashing EDID to other Hz values.

 

reflashing edid should always work no matter what, kinda like vbios flashing. would forego any os/driver level and go directly to the hardware itself

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

I don't think so. Never tried to over clock panels with the old Intel Linux driver. With the current driver you can't even under clock. It seems to ignore your timing setup completely. But like jaybee83 said, editing EDID should always make a difference.

I was talking about resampling, similar to what Tinderbox described in #23. Previously you could tell the driver to do something like "render a 4K desktop, scale to 50% and display it on this FHD panel, send another panning partial copy to the other FHD panel at the same time following the mouse cursor", and it will work. Now it does not scale.

 

For me, the issue is I can't create custom resolutions between 2k and 4k. I have an sharp 4k screen on the alienware 15. If I try to make a custom resolution like 2560x1440x60, it says bandwidth exceeded. The highest custom resolution I can make is 1920x2160, which is half the screen. Makes me think the screen is MST, but raclimja pointed out its not.

 

Intel GPU's suck period.. Don't ever want Optimus after the P771ZM

 

they should kick those igpus to the curb already and give us server-like cpus with 12+ cores! if they NEED to implement an igpu then just leave JUST enough shaders to take care of desktop/browsing/video/office tasks and a manually switchable mux to avoid driver and gpu switching hassles and to get the most out of battery runtimes. anything else is a total waste of critical die space!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

Won't likely happen. Battery life and people who are unwilling to carry the weight big reasons. And the obsession with excessive thinness.

 

Should have done this from the very beginning. This frankly would be the perfect setup for any laptop. When I'm off power I'm not playing games, just browsing web and watching videos, having this mux would be perfect. But Optimus is evil.

 

Even without mux, a low power on board GPU can handle output from the dGPU through PCIe or whatever data bus they are on. Just don't waste all the die space on a iGPU.

The way I see it, there are 3 ways to do it that makes sense from a performance perspective (not necessarily from a economic perspective):
1. Make a pure GPU without iGPU. Have a weak onboard GPU on the mobo like the old days. Add a powerful dGPU when you need to.
2. Make a really powerful iGPU with enough juice to rival middle-high range dGPUs, preferably with HSA support.
3. Throw out the i/dGPU concept all together and connect everything with a fast low latency bus (think about NVLink or even AMD Zen hybrid memory bridge). Arrange different parts at will.

 

some update!

It seems like progress has been made and according to a forum user, intel provided him with a beta driver and he says that

https://communities.intel.com/message/412765#412765


Also according to Intel Employee Bryce@Intel

https://communities.intel.com/message/420468#420468

 

It's been 6 month since I figured out how to flash CRUs values directly to EDID chip of monitor. By the time they invent CPU which will survive opened space vacuum I custom build spaceship and drive to Mars.

 

I made an account just to thank you for this post, and for updating it even after one year!
I recently started looking into how to improve my Clevo laptop that is pushing on 4 year, and found that Intel and Optimus is limiting most of the nice things other people can do, and no one is talking about it (often).

The same issue as was seen with the whole G-sync on mobile graphics card, that seems to have died out a year ago.
The fact that some have managed to mode their GeForce cards to Quadro cards
Etc.

I understand the logic of a large company to avoid turning on advanced/developer features for the masses (whom rarely even update their graphics drivers). But they could still attempt something like Android's AOSP verison, where they just release a "Dev Driver" allowing more control and basically "see what happens and what works", especially on old cards that they no longer produce/support.

Again, thank you for the post and please keep us updated! I would love to find a way to increase the refresh rate on my screen!

Can you expand on what you did?
Are you saying you got custom Hz values on an Optimus enabled laptop? or just that you managed to do what CRU does without it?

 

Yeah, Optimus based laptop had 4 different Hz mode to choose in Intel Control Panel. You mod your current EDID (CRU for instance), flash it from Linux USB thumbdrive or installed OS and here you go. But there is always a risk, of course.

 

So is there any updates on this "official" modded driver for Intel cards with Optimus? OP said around 30 Oct, but I have not seen him post here in ages...

(three weeks ago I didn't even know this might be a possibility, and now i have no patience left )

 

Bump, need this in my life.

Edit:
If anyone is reading this, 'Bryce@intel' is pushing for this on all our behalves and probably needs some more support (it couldn't hurt) - so it would be nice if people could leave some messages on intel's official thread
https://communities.intel.com/thread/78158

I read through the intel forum threads and it was mentioned that custom resolutions were approved for external panels in September (and it will unfortunately take months to years for official drivers with these changes to trickle down), but no word on whether internal laptop panels will ever see working custom resolutions.

I PM'd Bryce to see if custom res/refresh rate is approved in laptop internal panels but idk if he will get back to me. Will let you all know if he does.

 

Yay.

 

That's part of the point of this. Yes, you can overclock your laptop refresh rate with this driver, one of my RL friends has done so.

 

NICE! Is this going to support older iGPUs like Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge or Haswell or only current Skylake models?

 

I pointed target iGPUs.

 

It should support at least Haswell or newer from what I know about it. One of my friends is in the beta and used it successfully on a Haswell laptop.

 

Does your friend still have this beta driver or any other insight on the ETA for the public release of this driver?

I'm skeptical intel will actually allow this to exist. Half expecting them to pull the plug on this or wait until we're all dead.

 

He does have the driver, he doesn't know the ETA. They won't pull the plug on this. Intel is actually doing something for this, and there ARE people who have this.

 

ETA is the date Intel officially release new driver for a public. That being said, I would be happy to grab that beta release after that considering it might have support for older iGPUs than that new driver. Old one was 1 year ago afterall.

 

According to the discussion board for this driver, the changes have been implemented and it's supposed to be in the next official driver from Intel. They did release a beta driver this month but I don't have a laptop or desktop that uses intel graphics to test this.

Anyone want to give these beta drivers a go and see if you can make custom resolutions with CRU?

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26464/Intel-Graphics-Beta-Driver-15-45-?product=80939

 

Wish I could download them, but it's for Broadwell and Skylake...