DisplayPort or HDMI for GTX 1070?

[Johnny Lucky]

I purchased an MSI GTX 1070 Quicksilver graphics card for my case mod project. The card and my BenQ 32 inch monitor both have DisplayPort and HDMI ports. Is there a preference for one over the other? I've tried both but my eyes can't discern any difference on screen.

 

[CakeMonster]

I would have said DP a couple of years ago, but AFAIK the problems with colors (basically the card put out the wrong color range assuming HDMI meant a TV was connected) has now been fixed.

 

[Bacon1]

Displayport has more bandwidth and is generally "better". Plus if you use GSync you'll need to use display port as they don't support HDMI. Some monitors have higher refresh rate with DP over HDMI because of the bandwidth, but otherwise they'll output the same image.

 

[Hi-Fi Man]

DisplayPort has been problematic for me on various monitors so I tend to stick to HDMI/DVI. For example, my BenQ BL3200 has DP, DVI, HDMI, and 15 pin D-sub (for RGB and YUV). I tried DP at first however, I quickly switched to DVI because with DP the monitor had sleep resume issues and for whatever reason steam in home streaming would not work properly with DP and the monitor powered off. Sometimes when I would boot it would even use a different resolution! I had enough so now everything goes through a five port HDMI switch.

 

[bystander36]

If HDMI and DP support the features you want, there is no different in image quality.

 

[Johnny Lucky]

I did a little more research. I discovered that some monitors require use of a DisplayPort to get a refresh rate of 60Hz. If HDMI is used, then the refresh rate is 50Hz. Turns out my Benq 3201PH is like that. I do not know if that is true for all monitors.

I am using DisplayPort with the monitor set for DisplayPort 1.2. I tried HDMI too. To be honest, I couldn't tell any difference.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Maybe it depends on how much you spent on your BenQ -- which -- without lying to you, would be a good monitor for whatever features and price range you choose. Me -- I've got an XL 2420Z 144Hz.

I don't think I've discovered everything I need to know about my hardware yet. I don't think I can go beyond 60Hz on this monitor and my current graphics card through HDMI, and my card is a 1070 GTX as well as a double GTX 970 in another machine. But I'm satisfied to have DVI on the monitor allowing for 144Hz. I also have DisplayPort.

But DisplayPort with this hardware isn't HDCP compliant, upon which I still insist. I only get compliancy with either DVI or HDMI.

Now I think this model is too small, and 1920x1080 may be fine, but I want to see what my rig can accomplish at 1440. So I have my eye on a 27" model. It is a model which also features the "S-switch" doo-dad that allows on-the-fly switching between ports (like the V in KVM), and access via a mouse-scroll button to the monitor's own configuration menu. I don't fiddle with the software, although it works fine. The biggest problem with the software is any multi-PC install. The S-Switch doesn't foul anything up, after you've saved a configuration to the monitor itself. You could create the configuration in the software, save it to the monitor via the S-Switch, and then uninstall the software.

 

[master_shake_]

if it's 4k DP.