Hooking a brand new PC as much as my monitor’s HDMI 2.1 port was a nightmare

I lately bought my fingers on a ridiculously highly effective Asus ROG G700 (2025) gaming rig geared up with Intel’s Core Extremely 7 Processor 265F and Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5090. I am nicely conscious that that is overkill for Halo Infinite and Age of Empires IV — the 2 video games I play most steadily — however when an organization reaches out and gives you the possibility to check out a PC this highly effective, it is tough to say no.

My basement workplace setup is considerably difficult. I’ve a Swap OLED mannequin, a PlayStation 5 Slim, a Xbox Sequence X, and a M3 Professional Max MacBook Professional, all hooked as much as a 27-inch LG UltraGear 27GP950-B, a comparatively well-reviewed, however now discontinued monitor that dropped again in 2021. On the time, it was one of many few screens on the market that featured full bandwidth HDMI 2.1, opening the 4K 120Hz floodgates for the few supported video games on the PS5 and Xbox Sequence X (actually, it was largely only for Halo Infinite on the Xbox Sequence X). Help for NVIDIA and FreeSync Premium Professional is an added bonus, too.

To set the stage concerning my concern, it is essential to say that this monitor has a really commonplace variety of ports. There’s DisplayPort 1.4 — which I take advantage of with my MacBook and a USB-C-to-DisplayPort 1.4 cable to get 120Hz output to the monitor — and two HDMI 2.1 ports. For years, I’ve used one HDMI 2.1 port for my Xbox Sequence X and the opposite for an HDMI 2.1-capable switcher that my Swap OLED Mannequin and PS5 Slim are plugged into. I’ve no clue what model this HDMI switcher is, however again after I purchased it in 2020, it was one of many first accessible on Amazon (it appears to have been discontinued since I am unable to discover it anymore).

Although this setup is considerably difficult, it is labored fairly flawlessly — no less than till now.

Associated

This $40 HDMI accessory saved my sanity

Who knew this tiny, comparatively low-cost system may clear up all of my TV connection woes?

HDMI continues to be a complicated mess

Increased bandwidth cables make issues much more difficult

I shortly decided that plugging the Asus ROG G700 (2025) into my HDMI 2.1 switcher could be the simplest answer to my drawback. Nonetheless, no matter what I attempted, I could not determine a option to get my 144Hz-capable (160Hz when you overclock it and use show stream compression) monitor to push previous 120Hz over HDMI 2.1, regardless of the port format supporting the 48Gbps bandwidth switch. I would navigate to Superior beneath Show Settings and 120Hz remained the one choice.

Here is the place I attempted a number of issues. I hooked the Asus ROG G700 (2025) up by means of Show Port 1.4 to see if the 144Hz choice appeared in Home windows 11’s Superior Show Settings. Fortunately, it did. I then tried a special HDMI cable after noticing the one I used to be utilizing did not say “Extremely Excessive Pace” on it and as a substitute was labelled “Excessive Pace.” HDMI 2.0 10.2Gbps Excessive Pace cables can hit 4K/30Hz (there’s additionally HDMI 2.0a and HDMI 2.0b that assist 18Gbps — these are typically referred to as Premium Excessive Pace HDMI cables), whereas 48Gbps Extremely Excessive Pace cables can attain a most of 8K/60Hz and 4K/120Hz/144Hz. I additionally ensured the HDMI cable operating out of the switcher was Extremely Excessive Pace suitable. Confused but? I don’t blame you.

Sadly, this nonetheless did not clear up the problem. At this level, my subsequent guess was that the HDMI switcher was someway the supply of my woes, so I grabbed the HDMI 2.1 switcher I’ve been using in my living room. Whereas this one labored, 144Hz nonetheless did not present up as an choice. My guess is that the majority switchers can solely deal with 120Hz and never 144Hz, regardless of technically being able to supporting the bandwidth. This is sensible given HDMI 2.1 144Hz is comparatively new within the PC area, and the ROG Astral RTX 5090 is likely one of the first graphics playing cards to function two HDMI 2.1 ports.

The following step was to skip the switcher and plug the ROG G700 (2025) instantly into my monitor’s HDMI 2.1 port. Sadly, the 144Hz choice nonetheless did not seem in Home windows 11. Does HDMI 2.1 simply not assist 144Hz? Are all of the Reddit threads I learn over the previous a number of hours simply totally flawed?

Associated

I can’t believe no one is talking about this massive HDMI problem

With so many gadgets, TVs are struggling to maintain up with the HDMI drawback.

Be sure that your monitor is up to date and all the time use Extremely Excessive Pace cables

Welcome to the wild work of HDMI 2.1

It seems that I wanted to replace my monitor by way of a USB-B cable by means of LG’s OnScreen app so as to add 144Hz HDMI 2.1 compatibility. Subsequent, I navigated to the UltraGear 27GP950-B’s Settings and chosen Basic. Then I scrolled previous the primary row of choices to get to HDMI Extremely HD Deep Shade and chosen the 144Hz choice. Like magic, the power to set the monitor to 144Hz appeared in Home windows 11’s Superior Show Settings. Why is that this setting listed as being associated to paint and never refresh fee? I’ve no clue. My

55-inch Hisense U8H
has an identical setting for its one HDMI 2.1/120Hz port.

So what have I discovered from this expertise? First, I am all the time going to ensure my monitor is updated with the newest firmware. On prime of that, after I’m coping with high-bandwidth resolutions and refresh charges like 144Hz/4K, I now know it is essential to double-check what kind of HDMI cable I am utilizing and to solely stick to Extremely Excessive Pace cables. You may often determine these cables by the Extremely Excessive Pace label on them alongside the 8K (they’re sometimes braided, too).

Hopefully, this convoluted journey by means of the world of HDMI and excessive refresh charges helped you out indirectly. Within the coming weeks, I am going to have extra on Pocket-lint about my return to PC gaming and the Asus ROG G700 (2025).

Associated

Is the Galaxy S25 Edge really worth $1,100? I went hands-on and here are my thoughts

The primary skinny telephone has arrived, however does it dwell as much as the hype?