27" 1440p feels drunk while gaming but perfect when set to 1080p res

[smjpl]

Hi folks,

(summary for lazy readers : 27" monitor is unplayable due to some sort of lag when set to native resolution(not sure it is lag but easiest way to describe). When I change it to 1080p res, its perfect, no lag so it isn't panel type)

I recently got a 27" Asus PB278Q monitor for games, movies & and a bit of work. Wanted to go with higher res because of quality feel and I came from dual screen set up so liked extra space. Its a 2560x1440 60Hz PLS (Samsungs IPS Panel) panel. Meant to have a decent response time and be as good if not better than any other 1440p monitor for gaming.

My issue is when I am playing fast paced first person shooters. Like title says, it feels like I'm drunk when playing it. I'm not sure its lag but its definitely something. The closest way I could describe it is if you were using mouse acceleration (the feeling that every time you move the mouse it never lands where you expect it to). Even trying to aim and keep it on one spot (i.e. minor adjustments to stay accurate) is near impossible. Its such a horrible feeling. I thought it would just take me a while to get used to but nope.

Here is the weird thing, I just thought I'd set the monitor into 1920x1080 resolution in the graphics options to see what happens. Now its almost perfect. Feels very very similar to my old TN panel (basically I can play without being crap again). So this rules out the big old elephant in the room. It isn't down to IPS/PLS panels cause more lag. Its the same PLS panel but just set to lower resolution and now its fine.

Its not so much of an issue but its still a little annoying. Firstly because I have to change resolution every time I want to play games (not a big deal) but more because I can't figure it out. So I am here to pick your big juicy experienced brains. Anyone had a similar problem. I know other people have 2560x1440 monitors and have had no issues what so ever. It is extremely noticeable in my situation.
Thanks for reading.

Other things to know:
Gtx580
DVI-D (Dual link)
High settings but low Anti Aliasing. (I made sure I had decent fps in 1440p)

 

[smjpl]

If you can, I'd recommend trying displayport and seeing if it behaves any differently from DVI-D.

I will do. Its about the only thing left to try. Have you ever heard of something like this before? I do know that hdmi & vga don't support 1440p monitors and will run 1080p. Maybe DVI-D Dual link is also limited. I will go off and have a read. Cheers for your help. This has been a couple of times that you have helped me out now.

 

[smjpl]

DVI-D isn't limited, but it's possible that the monitor is doing some sort of signal processing on it that is causing lag. I've heard that sometimes this is avoided on DisplayPort.

If you need a DP cable, make sure you grab one for a few bucks off Amazon or something... if you try to go to a store and find one they'll probably try to rip you off for like $30+

Just bought one for €6 + €6 p&p from amazon. €16 from decent Irish online pc stores for cable alone and probably another €10 for postage. I'd hate to see what retail stores in Ireland would be charging. I will let you know in a couple of days when it arrives.

Yeah there seems to be some confusion on the max resolution for DVI-D Dual Link. A lot of people in forums reckon it will only support 2048x1536. Looking up specs myself state 2560x1600, but some sellers say 2560 and others say 2048. DisplayPort seems to be a better cable and the more desired option. Again thanks for your help.

Says 2560x1600:
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Says 2048x1536:
http://
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[smjpl]

DVI-D isn't limited, but it's possible that the monitor is doing some sort of signal processing on it that is causing lag. I've heard that sometimes this is avoided on DisplayPort.

If you need a DP cable, make sure you grab one for a few bucks off Amazon or something... if you try to go to a store and find one they'll probably try to rip you off for like $30+

Hey BigMack,

I upgraded my gpu in the end. I got a gtx 670 second hand and 2560x1440 works perfectly now. I think the gtx 580 was just having too much trouble with it in full resolution as the gtx 670 is fine with the DVI-D. Plus most gtx 580's don't actually have a displayport output so I was stuck with the lower res for games even if that was the problem. I stupidly mistook a mini hdmi for a displayport . It was too much of a wait to hang on for the gtx 700 series so I bit the bullet and went for it.

Thanks for your input. Keep up the good work.

 

[bystander]

You never mentioned the FPS you had at 1440p. You will obviously have lower FPS at the higher resolution, that induces latency as well.

You may also want to confirm that you are at 60hz, it is possible you are at 30hz.

 

[smjpl]

You never mentioned the FPS you had at 1440p. You will obviously have lower FPS at the higher resolution, that induces latency as well.

You may also want to confirm that you are at 60hz, it is possible you are at 30hz.

No it wasn't low FPS causing the lag. I can't remember it exactly but it was well above 60 fps. No I don't think it was at 30Hz. I don't know why it would be at 1440 and not at 1080.

 

[bystander]

You never mentioned the FPS you had at 1440p. You will obviously have lower FPS at the higher resolution, that induces latency as well.

You may also want to confirm that you are at 60hz, it is possible you are at 30hz.

No it wasn't low FPS causing the lag. I can't remember it exactly but it was well above 60 fps. No I don't think it was at 30Hz. I don't know why it would be at 1440 and not at 1080.

You should check to be sure. If your cable is only operating at a single link speed, it cannot do 1440p at 60hz, but it can do 1080p at 60hz.

 

[smjpl]

You should check to be sure. If your cable is only operating at a single link speed, it cannot do 1440p at 60hz, but it can do 1080p at 60hz.

It doesn't really matter now as I upgraded gpu to gtx 670 but I always like to learn .

So are you thinking the cable might not be functioning correctly? This isn't the case as I used the same cable on the gtx 670 and had no issues. How do you actually check what frequency its running at? If you enabled vsync and looked at the fps would that do it?

 

[jacknhut]

Make sure you enable V-Sync. Without V-Sync, the graphics is always "lagging" even if you have 100 fps. Also, a single GTX 670 is a good card, but don't forget you are playing at 1440p, if you have everything on max details and all eyes candies on ie MSAA 8x, high resolution texture and other goodies, it may be too much for your GTX 670 to handle for some demanding games such as Farcry 3 or Crysis 3, even BF3 at this resolution during actions scenes in multiplayers is quite intense.

Do you have fraps? Install it and see how many fps you got without vsync and how many fps you got with vysnc. If you have lower than 60 fps, which is quite possible for some graphics intense games such as Crysis 3 or Farcry 3, then lower your graphics details a notch or so.

If you have higher than 60 fps, enable V-Sync to make sure the graphics card don't produce more than what the monitor can display and you will see the smoothness right away.

 

[smjpl]

Make sure you enable V-Sync. Without V-Sync, the graphics is always "lagging" even if you have 100 fps. Also, a single GTX 670 is a good card, but don't forget you are playing at 1440p, if you have everything on max details and all eyes candies on ie MSAA 8x, high resolution texture and other goodies, it may be too much for your GTX 670 to handle for some demanding games such as Farcry 3 or Crysis 3, even BF3 at this resolution during actions scenes in multiplayers is quite intense.

Do you have fraps? Install it and see how many fps you got without vsync and how many fps you got with vysnc. If you have lower than 60 fps, which is quite possible for some graphics intense games such as Crysis 3 or Farcry 3, then lower your graphics details a notch or so.

If you have higher than 60 fps, enable V-Sync to make sure the graphics card don't produce more than what the monitor can display and you will see the smoothness right away.

You are telling me to Enable V-Sync? I disabled V-Sync because it made it feel laggy (Not due to low fps either. 90fps+ avg without V-Sync or constant 60fps with V-Sync). It just gave me a disconnected feeling through the mouse. I use fraps and I am always above 90fps. I am not one to try put everything on max detail because it looks pretty. I do have details set to max on CoD but that is only because I get decent fps at those settings. I even disabled AA because I read it can induce the smallest amount lag (debatable though). I wouldn't put AA up very high anyway (4xMSAA max).

I will go back and try V-Sync again but I'm nearly 100% sure it made it worse. Normally play multiplayer CoD. One day (recently) I started playing Zombies mode (for first time) which has its own setting separate from multiplayer. Game felt weird so I looked at settings. V-Sync was on so I turned it off and the aiming felt right again.

 

[bystander]

You sound sensitive to latency. I too am sensitive. I get nauseated in time. It makes sense that v-sync would throw you off, and in general, IPS monitors have more latency than TN monitors, something to keep in mind.