MAJOR problems with sending a 120hz signal through my GTX 780

Kevin Weinberg · Jan 29, 2015

Please help! I'm having a major, massive problem with getting my new Vizio P-series to work properly.

Basically, I'm using GTX 780s in SLI (doesn't matter if SLI is turned off or not), and any time I use the port that enables me to use a 120hz refresh rate over HDMI (port 5), it will work for a few minutes, and then the screen will flash black, and then it'll work again for a few minutes.

The TV does *not* turn off during this. It's more that the picture just cuts out, but the TV stays on (I once had the TV's menu opened while this happened and it remained functional and open)

I thought maybe it was my HDMI cable so I got 2 more, both of very high speed and neither showed any variance in this issue.

It only happens when using 1080p @ 120hz

If I go to any other port which would let me do either 1080p at 60hz or 4k at 30hz, I do not have this problem.

But I want to use 120hz because, honestly? Games look so much better with it.

Chemist Knight · Jan 29, 2015

I guess, your card isn't having enough power to maintain the refresh rate long enough or may be it gets heated much. This causes flickers, and often the screen goes blank.

Kevin Weinberg · Jan 29, 2015

Chemist Knight :

Well, I don't think it's the GPU's temperature, because I'm not getting any artifacts and it's not overclocked by any means. I believe that even with HDMI 1.4, 120hz should be possible over HDMI, right? Or do you really think the extra frames are causing too much heat?

Blubberykollis · Jan 29, 2015

well basically, HDMI 1.4 has a low bandwidth and can't utilize 120Hz using 1080p.
If you want to use 120Hz you will have to lower the resolution to 1280x720p using HDMI.
The same thing goes for 4K monitors(3840x2160p) if you want to use 4K with HDMI, the hertz will go all the way down to 30.

If you want to use 1080p and use 120Hz, you will need to use either DisplayPort or DVI-I or DVI-D.

Kevin Weinberg · Jan 29, 2015

Ahhh, okay! Because I read online that HDMI 1.4 *DOES* support 60hz @ my res. I did not know that!

Kevin Weinberg · Jan 29, 2015

The only problem is that I can't force a game to NOT run at 120hz. I did actually notice that games that don't run at 120hz are fine.

But the ones that do (such as Dying Light) don't stay at 60hz even if I make my desktop run at 60hz. And Adaptive Vsync (half) doesn't "actually" make 120hz into 60hz, but rather, it effectively caps the framerate while maintaining the refresh rate.

Is there any way of making games like Dying Light and Lords of the Fallen run with a 60fps limit?

Blubberykollis · Jan 29, 2015

It do support 60Hz, but on 1920x1080.
Personally I think the only positive thing about HDMI is that it transfer sound.

Kevin Weinberg · Jan 29, 2015

Blubberykollis :

Err, sorry, I meant 120hz at my res.

But I just did some researching and apparently that is only for 3D.

So I'm gonna have to trade in my 780s it seems.

I'm wondering if I buy a GTX 980 TI if it'll be ALMOST as good as 780s in SLI.

Blubberykollis · Jan 29, 2015

I am also waiting for the 980 Ti's. I've read that they have been delayed to somewhere around 2016. Sadly.

And about the 3D, I tried HDMI on my 144 monitor. It didn't let me use more than 60Hz on 1080p. But on 720p it let me.

I do not think the resolution matters when it comes to playing using 3D vision. I've played with 3D vision on 1280x1024, looks weird, but it works.
As long as the refresh rate is on 120 or higher.

JUICEhunter · Jan 29, 2015

Display port seems to be one of the best options, G-sync uses DP and so far so good. Not sure if your monitor has DP if not try DVI 780 can crank out high hz, were you able to change the hz in your windows settings?

Kevin Weinberg · Jan 29, 2015

Blubberykollis :

Well, in my case, my 50inch Vizio P-something (there's only one 50 inch TV in the Vizio 4k Line the P series) is more than happy to allow me to run games at 120 hertz. In fact, it insists upon it! Even using the nvidia tool thing I can't get the frame limited to 60.

Some games run at ONLY 60, and those games never have these issues.

But the games that insist upon running at 120 refresh rate can sometimes get so bad that my entire TV freezes and needs to be hard reset.

I'm thinking it's simply the fact that the GTX 780 cannot output enough bandwidth, because it's a 1.4 slot (on the graphics card).

I'd love to use Display-port but I don't believe there are any capabale DP -> HDMI 2.0 out yet that are all that functional lol

Kevin Weinberg · Jan 29, 2015

I just got off the phone with Vizio. Turns out there are HDMI Handshake issues with my TV and they're currently working on a software update for it.

Blubberykollis · Jan 30, 2015

Oh great.
At least they are aware of the issue.

MattH95 · Apr 2, 2015

please email matthobbs1995@yahoo.com if you have an answer for this~ im running gtx 980 on a 50 inch vizio p serious... when going 4k at 60 or 1080 at 120 my screen flickers for a second black ever 30sec or so....drivers all updated using hdmi 2.0... what do I do please help

Kevin Weinberg · Apr 10, 2015

MattH95 :

Hey Matt. I posted an answer to this some time ago.

Vizio is aware of this issue and claims (has been claiming for months, really) that there is a firmware update coming out to address this. When? I don't know. I'm pushing for a refund at this point.

Jmalinowski83 · Jun 8, 2015

Kevin Weinberg :

If you go to nvidia control panel and go to 3dsettings and change refresh rate to highest available then apply, you will no longer have this issue, also set your resolution to 1280x1080 and advanced change monitor to 120hz, this is what I did and no more blank screen.

Kevin Weinberg · Jun 9, 2015

But wait. Won't I then be forced to game at 720p ?

Jmalinowski83 · Jun 9, 2015

Kevin Weinberg :

Kevin Weinberg · Jun 10, 2015

Jmalinowski83 :

Kevin Weinberg :

They've been saying that since January lol

MAJOR problems with sending a 120hz signal through my GTX 780

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