Laptop display upgrade options

Howdy-ho!

So I own a HP Omen X with a 120Hz IPS panel ( AUO B173HAN01.4). It's not a very good panel. Colors are good, not great, but what really bothers me is the pixel response times.

They are simply abismal! If there's any sort of movement on the screen everything just becomes blurry.
Simple scrolling thru a web or excel page is already quite annoying, gaming is not a good experience at all. In a fast game like PUBG, with lots of grass and trees always moving across the screen, it just becomes a blurred mess and it's getting in the way of my chicken dinners

So I'll probably upgrade the panel. I know my way around laptops but I've never swapped displays so I have a few questions. My laptop model is also offered in some markets with a 144Hz IPS option (same as in the new Asus G703), that particular model should be a straight fit. It's a AUO B173HAN03.0.

However, I can only find this particular panel in some chinese sites and none of them advertise it as being made by AUO. What do you guys think of this? Scam? Poor quality copy? Will the colors and overall quality be lower?
Here's a link for one - Aliexpress

My current display is G-Sync enabled. The 144Hz option from factory is also G-Sync enabled and the Asus G703 also has G-Sync. But none of the panels I find online has G-Sync in the specs. How does G-Sync in laptops work? Does the display also have to be certificated by Nvidia (hence the low price of the unit I posted above?) or is it all done at the motherboard level and I'll keep G-Sync if I upgrade the panel?

Another option, if I'm going after the best response times possible, is the Chi Mei N173HHE-G32. It's a 120Hz TN panel usually available in the MSI GT73 and GT75 range. You guys think it's also a straight fit? These are easier to find online too.

Between the 120Hz TN Chi Mei or the 144Hz IPS AUO which do you think is the better option?

Pardon my newbness, I'm willing to learn though!

 

I call uppon the god of panels @t456

Personally I'm a bit suprised to see a 120hz ips panel performing this bad. Well in terms of response times the MSI panels are the fastest yet. So if that matters for you, the Chi Mei it is then.

 

I know what your talking about with PUBG with the motion blur plus tearing. Mine wasn't as bad as you're describing but it was pretty annoying.

It went away when I enabled Vsync and motion blur. (in game settings).

My external monitor is 144hz at 1ms response time. I'm talking about an external desktop monitor so, I'm not for sure if this will help you or not but might be worth trying at least if you haven't already.

Like Danish said, t456 is the man when it comes to these problems. I'm sure he will have some things for you to try out.

 

I don’t have tearing, at all.
G-Sync is ON and the FPS are limited to 116 so it’s always working. But the motion blur is really noticeable. Specially when coming of another screen.

Thanks for your input guys! I’m leaning toward the Chi Mei as I can get it online knowing what I’m getting exactly. Just the question of compatibility and G-Sync is holding me up

 

Thanks for the vote of confidence you two , but you're being very helpful already.

Price looks alright and it may very well be the genuine article. Not mentioning 'AUO' means little; the 'B' in the part number designates it as such.

Stickers are easily printed though and the tough, gold wrapper obscures the pcb. If you want certainty then ask them to peel away a bit of the wrapper; the pcb will be labeled with the part number. That ' Don't Touch' bit is nonsense, it isn't like you're squeezing the backlight in that area (risk of bleeds). The wrapper does have to be put back in place though; the pcb is abundantly dotted with exposed contacts and they're a poor match for the aluminium Faraday foil in the display lid (this insulates the wifi cable and antenna from em noise).

It's both plus the gpu that have to be 'certified' (an empty process, it's really just down to paying Nvidia). G-Synce is nothing special really, the technology was already there and free-of-charge; see Panel Self Refresh.

There's no guarantee the new panel will be 'approved', unless the seller will vouch for that. Even with two 100% identical panels one may be 'approved' and the other may not since their edid might differ and it's the edid that is whitelisted in the verification process. Same thing for the (v)bios; if a brand-new lcd model is G-Sync approved then that is of little value if the system firmware's whitelist hasn't been updated.

Don't really see the benefit of this gimmick on a DTR, tbh. The underlying variable refresh rate technology was mainly developed with energy conservation in mind, helping ultraboooks get a slightly larger battery life. Granted, the gpu can also skip a bit of work, dropping temperatures, but with a sufficiently powerful system pushing 120Hz consistently then no frames will be saved and temperatures gains will be zero. Battery life will even be a little less than for a non-G-Sync screen since the option itself consumes additional power.

Since blur is the primary issue here then look no further; the TN any time of day. Nice panel, too.

Bit of a spoiler might be that it's a 4-lane panel and your current lcd is only a 2-lane. Good sign for the G32 though; 1080p/120Hz would've required only 2 lanes of bandwidth, so it's grossly over-dimensioned, even at 8-bit depth vs. the 6-bit of your AUO. Have a specification sheet for the G32, but not for the AUOs, so can't even tell whether the AUOs are 40-pin or 30-pin. We also have to know whether your cable can actually run a 4-lane lcd, aside from having a 40-pin connector.

If you don't mind a bit of investigation; peel back the cloth-like wrapper from the lcd end of the cable, right near the connector. That will expose the individual wires inside and we'll be able to check whether the cable is fully populated. The wrapper can be quite difficult to remove, so it's often easier to use a tiny, sharp scissor and create an opening that way, being really careful not to snip a wire or two in the process .

Pin count can be determined simply by counting, of course.

Spoiler: Example of a 40-pin LVDS cable, single channel; max res. = 800p

 

Wow, thanks man, really helpful!

I'll try asking them to peel off a bit of the sticker, just hope nothing is lost in translation and I end up adopting a chinese babeh.

I like G-Sync. The no tearing is awesome, specially in games that can't go up to 120Hz, like Witcher 3 for instance. I would miss it but it's not a dealbreaker.

I'll check the LCD connector on my Omen X soon then.
Just to make sure, I'm checking the CABLE that connects the MB to the display, right? Should I see 40 little colored cables inside the wraper then?

Thanks again


*EDIT
Haven't checked the cable yet but started to do some digging:



So if my current cable isn't 40 pin, maybe the one that ships in units with a 4K or 144Hz screen is.
Asked HP Parts for a price on it.

 

Yes, but there's likely less than 40 wires inside; non-generic cables aren't fully populated since part of the pins are only used at the factory.

Excellent! No need for unwrapping it then; you only have to check the sticker attached to the cable and if it says 94059 3-001 then you'll need that UHD cable.

 

Yeah, it's one of those
Good advice on the part #, getting to unwrap the cable to count the wires was proving difficult.

So, with the UHD cable, I can probably get the G32 to work, right?

Can anyone reccommend me a place to get the display from? I want to make sure I get a quality one, want to stay clear of Aliexpress if possible. I'm in europe BTW
I found a few but the have different REV numbers, like C1, B1, etc... Any thoughts on that?

 

Definitely so; eDP is far more standardised than LVDS. The 4K/UHD screen needs a 4-lane/40-pin to run and that is exactly what you need for the G32.

Aliexpress has always worked for me, but you could try ebay instead; some of the listings are UK-based, so if something's amiss the return window is ample and there'll be no issues with customs and duties (i.e., until Brexit is finalised). Just be sure to inquire before ordering and insist on an exact panel, so the G32 or no deal.

Wouldn't worry about revision numbers. Instinct would say later = better, but ssd and hdd manufacturers are known to send high-quality samples to reviewers and skimp on the components in later runs when the product is mass-launched. Don't know about panels, but if they did something similar then you'd want the earliest revision instead. So ... a toss-up, really.

 

Cheers

Gave ebay a go. Ordered a G32 from france. It's an early rev (I think), C1. Same as in the MSI GS73 series.
They have a return window which is is giving me peace of mind at least.

Unfortunately it's proving impossible to find that HP UHD cable anywhere that ships to Portugal. It's not available in the european HP Parts store and the US one doesn't ship to europe. Sent some e-mails to a couple of EU distributors, let's see how that goes.

In the meantime I'll try the panel with the current cable (FHD, 120Hz). maybe it'll work fine...?

 

It'd be interesting to see the result; if it's a 40-pin then there's little harm in trying, but the image will probably be difficult to use.

Worst case there's forwarding services you could use, at some additional expense. Might also send Zand parts an inquiry. Website looks a bit shady, but they're legit and can deliver a lot of obscure parts. Downside is that they're probably a no-inventory middle man, so it might take up to 4 weeks to deliver.

 

Wow that was an interesting read... Looking forward to seeing this build.

 

Just noticed something that may be bad news.

The Chi-Mei G32 has "signal interface position reverse" as a spec. No idea what that means. Google isn't proving very helpful either, but the stock IPS 120Hz display does not have that feature.

Anyone know what that is?

 

That means the cable socket is on the bottom-left (when viewed from the back). This is actually true for most modern panels, so perhaps they should call bottom-right ' reverse' instead.

Remember you don't have to verify against the 1080p; it's the 4K cable that has to match, so knowing the 4k panel they use in this model would be helpful. Also, it's just a matter of cable length, so there's also a chance it's really a bit too long. Chances are slim there's actually a problem anyway; don't know of a single 17.3" eDP 3k/4k that is not bottom-left.

 

Chi-Mei is on the way!
I’ll try it with the stock cable as the UHD cable is proving impossible to get in europe. (Am I running into any risks here? Frying the GPU or MB wouldn’t be very nice)
Maybe I’ll try one of those parcel forwarding services, any good ones in the US?

 

Count on needing that cable; it'd be odd if the G32 specification sheet says '4-lane' and it'd actually run on a 2-lane. If that FHD cable is 40-pin then there's little to be concerned about, but that's a big ' if'. See if you can count the pins, that would clinch it.

Have used MyUS before. SkyBOX and Shipito are also well known players. Check each for costs; one-off, per parcel and whether there's a monthly fee involved.

 

Sent a bunch of emails to part resellers based in the US, maybe I can skip the whole parcel forwarding thing


*EDIT
Couldn't skip the parcel forwarding stuff. Trying MyUS, cable is on the way, hooray!

 

Uh-oh....

 

Hm? What's the problem then?

 

I'm not sure.

I finished everything up, booted and everything was working great.
Screen was working properly and was doing 120Hz no problem! (I lost G-Sync though)

I was just now updating this thread, raving about what a great upgrade it was when suddenly the screen went off.
I get fine image thru HDMI and the laptop seems to be working fine, but the display turned off and now it seems dead...

Think it's the cable?

 

Remove it and check for burn marks at the pins of the connector.

 

Nothing burned. Screen works again, i think the cable was pulling slightly on the hinge, fixed it now. Nearly shat my pantalones...

Managed to take a pic of the cable:


Think it’s safe to keep using it? Or should I order the UHD cable?

 

Yep, that was it! Just a badly connected cable.

*huge sigh*

CAn move the hinge now fine and the screen remains on, before it was very sensitive to movement.

 

If that picture is the current state then it still isn't properly inserted into the socket (right side is 'off'). These connectors have very small margins; a slightly slanted angle and two adjoining pins may short. That why it's imperative to check that all power is off, including the battery.

Always use my thumbnail and index finger to 'squeeze' together the extending flap of the connector and the broad non-pin part plug at the very edge of it.

Anyway, nice to see the wrapper pulled back; it is a 4-lane cable (black+grey, brown+grey, red+grey and orange+grey at right-hand side are the lanes), so that would explain it's working alright. However, there are a few control voltage+grounds and backlight voltage+grounds missing. That does not mean they'll be populated in that other cable though; panel builders play things safe and laptop builders tend to skip a few of them, drawing more current over the remaining pins. That aside, the NVSR pins are missing as well, but the G32 may not actually need them.

If the additional expense is not too much of a concern then I'd still take that second cable. It'd be weird if HP has two part nrs. for the same 4-lane cable, so you'd think there'd be some additional pins on that 'official' 4K version. Could very well be it's just the NVSR pins though; the HP 4K may have required them, whereas this G32 doesn't.

Missing G-Sync is a small loss, I'd think. Can also overclock it to 150Hz or more, if you like. This panel, being a TN, ought to have quite a bit of leeway.

 

That is super impressive! Let us know how it is once it packaged up and firing!

 

Thanks for all the help, you are the man! The forum isn't even letting me give you more rep x)

What is NVSR? Googling isn't helping, does it have to do with hardware decoding G-Sync?

I finally found an european seller that can send me the cable, but if this is a safe config maybe I won't even get it. Or maybe I will IDK, let's see how it goes.

 

It's for the Panel Self-Refresh. Could send that seller a photo of your pulled-back cable ask if he's willing to make a similar photo of that 'true' 4K cable. We could then check for the differences, if any.

And thanks for the rep !

 

Will do!

Things are working wonderfully! Really happy with the upgrade.

 

That sounds awesome! Pics of the finished product?

 

Left some more pics of the process in the Omen X owners lounge.
Check it here.

 

They won't send me pics. It's on backorder.
Thinking about getting the UHD cable or not. I kind of miss G-Sync but there's no assurance the new cable would fix this. And it's a pain in the arse to swap the cable, I have to disassemble everything

Still considering if I should bet 30€ on it.

 

It's a fairly slim chance tbh, since it's more likely certification, rather than purely hardware. A more fully populated cable would be welcome too, though.

A more probable method to get G-Sync back is to write the edid of the old 120Hz panel to the new G32 (you paid for it, after all). Afaik, the only feasible method is with a programmer+soldering and you don't want to tackle that without some practice. Software is possible, but you first need a full firmware copy and this can only be gotten via the programmer since they're rarely dumped online.

Could do that for you, but it'd take some transit time. Send me a pm if you're interested; no fees, except return shipping. Hm ... optionally, a nice bottle of wine (or port) .

 

Damn you nvidia!
Thanks for the offer man.

So I'd need to send you my old panel or both of them? Are you located in europe?
Port? I can hook you up, I'll send you stuff to make you drunk you've never even heard about

 

I am always interested in learning as much as possible when it comes to custom screen swaps/upgrades/replacements. I was curious, so I pulled the spec sheet on your stock panel B173HAN01.4 panel. It looks like it's a slightly older model or revision though since the spec sheet is technically for a B173HAN01.1.

Anyways, here it is in case it helps:

 

Haha, sounds great ; pm sent.

Thanks, much appreciated .

Do take care that the 01.0 and 01.1 both use a 30-pin connector, whereas the 01.4 is a 40-pin. Unfortunately, the last digit of a panel nr. does not necessarily indicate a revision number. That 01.4 is hard to come by; not even Panelook has one and they're hoarding the largest online collection (behind a tit-for-tat payment system).

 

Hi guys, this is my first time posting and I apologize for waking up this thread.
But I am facing the same issue on my HP Omen 17-AN037NG.

I just pulled out the broken screen and it is also B173HAN01.4 and I am looking to upgrade. But whats is confusing me is that here is stated that the panel is 40pin 2-lane while the panelook says it is 4-lane. http://www.panelook.com/modeldetail.php?id=31911

Can someone please elaborate, I'm sorry if this is a stupid question.
Thank you all

edit: In the manual the cables are the same for 120hz and 144hz panel, but different for 4k and also different for 60hz for some reason.
I couldn't figure out how to upload pictures of the manual so you could have a look, but here's the link than http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c06001792

 

Not at all; Panelook has corrected its listing after someone uploaded a specification sheet (a 2-lane would normally be expected for a 120 Hz/1080p). It used to be listed as '2-lane' and google still shows it as such.

So you're good to go with the 4-lane G32 then.

 

Thank you for clarifying that, so the shark00ns g-sync didn't work due to the panel not being "certified", not because of the cable, right?
I was looking at B173QTN01.0 screen so could you tell me if it is compatible, due to my current resolution being FHD, and some data missing
http://www.panelook.com/B173QTN01.0_AUO_17.3_LCM_overview_30300.html

 

Yeah I lost G-Sync because the panel I got wasn't certified for it.
Small price to pay. I'm still loving the G32, quite happy with it.

 

G32 is definitely one of my top picks, but I'm trying to find one with g-sync. My gpu is 1060 and g-sync would definitely future proof it a little, by also making lower frame rates appear "smooth".
But I'm still trying to figure out whether I can install QHD panel.

 

You have a 4-lane capable system atm and it's this which determines maximum possible resolution (bandwidth constraints). So yes, the QTN01.0 could work. Trouble is that data is sparse for this panel (no sheet), but the similar model QTN01.4 looks like it's compatible, only being a few mm taller which shouldn't pose a problem.

Either of those panel will only run in g-sync mode if they're an original option that came with this model laptop. Your 1060 also has to be vetted; if you didn't pay for the option then that too will make it a dead end. Can't simply flash a different vbios either; gpu device id is either set by a several resistors on the board or laser-cut in the die.

 

G-Sync is very much an nvidia technology and they seem to make it very difficult to transition to other panels or systems in laptop form.

Wondering, if I replace the G32 with the stock panel would I get G-sync working again easily?

 

Thank you, I was confused by the variety of cables provided by HP for each panel.
I'm looking at QTN01.0 in particular because I have found a seller that guaranties g-sync.
I have also came across QTN01.4, and while data is scarce as you say, there weren't any noticable differences between 1.0-1.1-1.2-1.3-1.4, it just seems a bit odd...
Yes, my gpu is g-sync enabled, at least I'm sure about that.

edit: of course it was too good to be true, after reading some reviews on QTN01.0 panel, it turns out that it has banding issues..
Edit2: I missed this part "Either of those panel will only run in g-sync mode if they're an original option that came with this model laptop." Oh, I thought the only thing that matter was certified gpu and certifed screen, not regarding the origin of the panel. Edit3: Sorry, I am new to this laptop screen stuff. I just realized that the whitelist depends on each laptop model, not that there is some general nvidia panel whitelist as I first thought.

As far as I know, it should still working as it did before.

 

Your BIOS also needs specific white list entries to actually use gsync. So unless your laptop came with gsync in the first place it's pretty tricky/nearly impossible adding it to a system afterwards, even if all your other hardware is technically compatible.

 

I'm aware of that, but thank you. It did come with g-sync.
I've decided to go for G32 as Shark00n did.

There is N173HHE-G32 standard available , but also C1 and C2 revisions.
Does anyone know any differences between these panels?

 

Sorry for bumping an old thread guys but it seems similar to my Issue , I have the MSI GP73-RE(1060) with the N173HHE-G32 120hz TN panel and have this week just discovered that my eyes can not handle the TN types screens and I am getting Headaches/pain behind the eyes. Till now I have always had IPS screens on my computers , so this is a disappointment to say the least as I was looking forward to 120hz vs 60 , so I was thinking to maybe swap it out for an IPS screen, instead of returning the Computer as everything else seems okay with it, so I am wonder if someone is able to recommend an IPS Screen ( or other type?) for me that wold be great.

Thanks,

KB

 

Sorry for reviving the thread. I have an omen 17an0xx whith that horrible 120hz ips panel and since im used to 144hz 1ms external panels i use at home, i finally decided to replace it in the laptop after almost a year of trying to live with it. I’ve also checked the 144hz panel, that should be supported by default, but I’ve seen some reviews on the internet where people claim there’s also masive ghosting, so I’ve decided to go with the 120hz chi mei and give up gsync, which was the only negative really.. but the ghosting is way worse than the image tearing and its not sure if gsync will actually work with the 144hz panel . The question I have tho, as noone really mentioned it, @Shark00n , does display brightnes control work with the chi mei panel?

 

I did the same upgrade on my 17-AN037NG with Chi Mei N173HHE-G32 C.2, everything is great except the G-Sync but that was expected and the brightness is still adjustable.
Mine came from laptop-lcd-screen.co.uk , and it was the cheapest that I could find. You can also choose on different revisions but there is no info on differences between them.

 

Good news, thanks for reply!
Giving up Gsync was really hard for me, as it was one of the 5 mandatory features when I was buying the laptop, but after some thinking I realised Gsync isn't much of a help on such a bed screen anyway as the ghosting is so bad it seems sometime the screen is actually tearing apart... making the gsync to work somehow would make it all perfect, but seems nvidia already took care for that never to happen. I sadly haven't checked the response time of the screen when I was buying it as I expected it to be at least decent... but jeez, 30ms grey to grey and 45ms black to black... the hell were they thinking.
Anyhow.. I've already ordered it earlier today from ukscreenspecialists on ebay, as it was the only reliable and confirmed source I managed to find on this forum, but it was roughly 10€ more expensive (including postage) and it seems it's the first revision... do you know if there are any big differences between the revisions?