Solved Cabling Question: Two Displays, Monitors have 2 HDMI Ports + a Display Port

antspants · Feb 16, 2024

There seem to be a few out there. Research could be an advantage

webby · Feb 16, 2024

Thanks for the suggestion, ansty. The display splitter you linked is not currently available. I did find various other splitters, most seem quite pricey, over $100. I'll have to spend some time researching those.

antspants · Feb 16, 2024

webby said:
Thanks for the suggestion, ansty. The display splitter you linked is not currently available. I did find various other splitters, most seem quite pricey, over $100. I'll have to spend some time researching those.

Definitely research them. The link I supplied is in Amazon Australia, just as an example. Yes, a lot of them are over $100. I always search anything I find on the net, then look for it in Amazon, just for the reviews.

webby · Feb 16, 2024

One more question -- for my Monitor #1, would I realize any potential improvement in refresh rate and / or picture by removing the DisplayPort to HDMI cable and purchasing & installing a DisplayPort to DIsplayPort cable?

antspants · Feb 16, 2024

webby said:
One more question -- for my Monitor #1, would I realize any potential improvement in refresh rate and / or picture by removing the DisplayPort to HDMI cable and purchasing & installing a DisplayPort to DIsplayPort cable?

Display port on ther monitor to display port on the laptop? I would guess yes.

If you're using a 4K 120 Hz display, you're only able to use half the refresh rate with an HDMI 2.0 connection while you'd get the maximum refresh rate over DisplayPort 1.3. If you're using a single 4K 60 Hz monitor, you won't be able to tell the difference between HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort 1.2.

antspants · Feb 16, 2024

Differences Between HDMI vs DisplayPort - Which is Best? - The A/V Club

HDMI and DisplayPort are two standards for connecting devices like computers, laptops, and game consoles to TVs and monitors. Each with advantages and disadvantages; there’s no outright winner when comparing the two. Power users will find what DisplayPort offers more appealing, but HDMI is the...

blog.nyrius.com

webby · Feb 17, 2024

antspants said:
Display port on ther monitor to display port on the laptop? I would guess yes.

If you're using a 4K 120 Hz display, you're only able to use half the refresh rate with an HDMI 2.0 connection while you'd get the maximum refresh rate over DisplayPort 1.3. If you're using a single 4K 60 Hz monitor, you won't be able to tell the difference between HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort 1.2.

Thanks, antsy. Both my monitors are 2K 170 Hz.

barreleye · Feb 17, 2024

webby said:
I have two identical new displays. They each have 2 HDMI inputs and one Display Port input. For output to monitors, my desktop computer has one Display Port and one HDMI port.

Due to the 60 Hz Refresh rate limitation on the HDMI cable, and that my monitors are both capable of 170Hz -- For the second monitor I bought an HDMI to Display Port cable,

HDMI cables can support higher refresh rates than 60 Hz, and unless that's a monitor or PC limitation, I would get a new HDMI cable rather than fool around with DisplayPort. I tried two recent monitors from Dell and Asus, and when connected with DisplayPort to my RTX 3060 Ti, the displays disappear from Windows when turned off, which screws up my multimonitor setup. This is an extremely common problem, and it doesn't happen when the displays are connected with HDMI. For me to use DisplayPort, I have to use an active Displayport-to-HDMI adapter cable, which solves that problem. Unfortunately, the one I have knocked out the Dell's ability to use VRR, so if you care about that, it could be an issue. HDMI supports VRR, so maybe there's an adapter that does, too.

webby said:
OK, thank you. With the additional information that you all have provided me with here, I have to conclude sadly, that I might have little to gain by trying to do what I described in this thread, and that perhaps I might have to stick with the HDMI to HDMI cable for my 2nd monitor.

I am quite surprised by the difference in color rendering, espesially the white tones, on the monitor fed from my PC's DisplayPort, as compared to the colors fed by HDMI to HDMI -- those colors are noticeably yellowish while the whites on the monitor fed by the DP are coolish whites, plus colors are a little bit more brilliant. And I can't fix the whites on the second monitor via the settings.

It appears that the Display Port has several advantages to the HDMI port.

There shouldn't be any color difference. Perhaps your monitor inputs have separate settings, and your PC should have independent settings for each of its outputs. You've described possible color temperature differences, and "more brilliant colors" could be several things, including gamma issues, a levels mismatch, or one input using native (wide) color gamut and the other using the standard sRGB.

webby · Feb 17, 2024

barreleye said:
There shouldn't be any color difference. Perhaps your monitor inputs have separate settings, and your PC should have independent settings for each of its outputs. You've described possible color temperature differences, and "more brilliant colors" could be several things, including gamma issues, a levels mismatch, or one input using native (wide) color gamut and the other using the standard sRGB.

Thank you for your input. I cannot find any independent settings in Win11 or my computer for the two monitor outputs. As mentioned, I tweaked the settings in both monitors to be identical, and yet the colors apprear noticeably different on the two (identical) monitors.

Web searching about any difference in colors on a monitor using HDMI out vs DP out, I found a lot of peeps who observed definite color differences, so I'm not alone in that perception. Interestingly, some preferred the color rendition of an HDMI output and some preferred the color rendition of DP output. I guess it's personal preference. It's not any kind of deal breaker for me, so if I don't find a solution for a modest cost, I'll just live with it. Thanks again for your input!

antspants · Feb 17, 2024

barreleye said:
There shouldn't be any color difference.

Actually, it’s very common. I have 6 display monitors running on my desk, 4 are identical and grouped on one stand, plugged in to the Asus GPU. There is a very noticeable difference depending on how they are connected. Same goes for the PC onboard GPU, it is noticeable.
4 connected by 3 x Display Port 1 x HDMI on Asus GPU
2 connected to onboard GPU 1 x HDMI 1 x Display Port.

barreleye · Feb 17, 2024

webby said:
Thank you for your input. I cannot find any independent settings in Win11 or my computer for the two monitor outputs.

That's weird. Monitors have different resolutions and other capabilities, so it's there when you have multiple displays connected, in both Windows settings and every video driver I've ever looked at.

As mentioned, I tweaked the settings in both monitors to be identical, and yet the colors apprear noticeably different on the two (identical) monitors.

Web searching about any difference in colors on a monitor using HDMI out vs DP out, I found a lot of peeps who observed definite color differences, so I'm not alone in that perception.

I'm not doubting your perception. I just gave some things to look at to help fix it, because there's no inherent reason for there to be a difference.

Interestingly, some preferred the color rendition of an HDMI output and some preferred the color rendition of DP output. I guess it's personal preference.

I calibrate my monitors to sRGB with Calman and a meter, so it's about adherence to the relevant standard for me. "DisplayPort has different colors than HDMI" is not a thing.

shaftofxistence · Feb 17, 2024

@webby what is your GPU exactly like specifically exactly model number and revision ?
Your monitor is 1080p 170Hz on the DisplayPort 1.2a port and 1080p 120hz on the hdmi 1.4b port without monitor overclocking.

Winuser · Feb 18, 2024

I think this might work. It's HDMI output to Display port input. Amazon.com

shaftofxistence · Feb 18, 2024

Let's try to get more Hz with monitor overclocking if it fails then he should get another DisaplayPort out video adapter . The cable may need to be hdmi 2.1 to displayport? Once you go above 90Hz you never go back. NEVER.

Winuser · Feb 18, 2024

This article may help you to get a better understanding. 6 Pitfalls When Buying an HDMI to DisplayPort Adapter

Helmut · Feb 18, 2024

"I am quite surprised by the difference in color rendering, espesially the white tones, on the monitor fed from my PC's DisplayPort, as compared to the colors fed by HDMI to HDMI -- those colors are noticeably yellowish while the whites on the monitor fed by the DP are coolish whites, plus colors are a little bit more brilliant. And I can't fix the whites on the second monitor via the settings."
" I tweaked the settings in both monitors to be identical, and yet the colors apprear noticeably different on the two (identical) monitors."

I very much doubt they are identical.

Already been said, but the mere fact that one has a yellowish tinge (MSI Warm) means the Colour temperature is set differently on each monitor.
The yellow tinged one has to be set to a higher colour temperature to match the other, MSI description is Cool.
See manual:
P.20, and P.18 Professional settings, several in there, "Anti-Blue, Movie, Low Blue Light" will also affect Colour temperature. For simplicity I would set that to sRGB.

People randomly twiddling monitor settings they know nothing about come to wrong conclusions regarding cables.

webby · Feb 19, 2024

I see one or more posts of folks attempting to volunteer useful information have been deleted, which I don't quite understand the reason for. Also, it has been implied that perhaps I was mistaken when I stated that the settings in my two identical monitors were set identically and that yet the monitors rendered colors noticably differently. Therefore at this point I am going to say thank you very kindly for the time, effort, and input from you all, mark the problem as solved, and withdraw from the thread that I started.
Kind Regards, webby

antspants · Feb 19, 2024

webby said:
I see one or more posts of folks attempting to volunteer useful information have been deleted, which I don't quite understand the reason for. Also, it has been implied that perhaps I was mistaken when I stated that the settings in my two identical monitors were set identically and that yet the monitors rendered colors noticably differently. Therefore at this point I am going to say thank you very kindly for the time, effort, and input from you all, mark the problem as solved, and withdraw from the thread that I started.
Kind Regards, webby

Will message you.