Splitter Help

Truvidienn

Greetings!

So my fiance bought me two of these: https://www.amazon.com/LG-27GN950-B-Ultragear-Response-Compatibility/dp/B08BCRYS6B/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=LG27gn950-b&qid=1616266588&sr=8-1

However I'm using a laptop and not sure what I need to view them in 4K? The laptop it self does not have a DisplayPort so I'm having to use the HDMI cord to make use of it. I was told that I needed to buy a splitter but not sure which one I need to buy for me to use the monitor or monitor's at maximum capacity. My goal is to build me another desktop but for now the laptop has to do the trick.  

Thanks!

Quizzical

It's very unlikely that you'll be able to use those monitors with your laptop at their rated specs of a 3840x2160 resolution and 144 Hz.  That takes really a lot of monitor bandwidth, so you'd basically need a very recent desktop video card to offer that.  I haven't seriously looked into whether laptops offer high end monitor ports, but if your laptop doesn't offer DisplayPort at all, then it probably doesn't.

Any sort of multiplexer would only make the situation worse.  If a monitor port doesn't have enough bandwidth for one monitor, then dividing that bandwidth between two monitors would only make the situation worse, if it even works at all.

It's probably possible to get the monitor to run at greatly reduced specs.  It can probably handle 1920x1080 at 60 Hz, and may even be able to do 1920x1080 at 144 Hz or 2560x1440 at 60 Hz.  But laptops don't necessarily want to offer high end connectivity, as that will drain power, which is at a premium.

If your laptop has a Thunderbolt port, you may want to look at whether you can get a DisplayPort adapter for that, and if so, what specs it will offer.  It's not clear what that would be able to do, however, and your laptop likely doesn't have any such port at all.

Quizzical

Mars_OMG said:

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/best-egpus

An external GPU is another way to do it.  You'd need to have a laptop that has the appropriate connector, and you'd still need the desktop GPU to put into the box.  But if you can find something recent (good luck at that), it would probably at least have the monitor ports you need to make full use of the monitors.

Truvidienn

Quizzical said:

It's very unlikely that you'll be able to use those monitors with your laptop at their rated specs of a 3840x2160 resolution and 144 Hz.  That takes really a lot of monitor bandwidth, so you'd basically need a very recent desktop video card to offer that.  I haven't seriously looked into whether laptops offer high end monitor ports, but if your laptop doesn't offer DisplayPort at all, then it probably doesn't.

Any sort of multiplexer would only make the situation worse.  If a monitor port doesn't have enough bandwidth for one monitor, then dividing that bandwidth between two monitors would only make the situation worse, if it even works at all.

It's probably possible to get the monitor to run at greatly reduced specs.  It can probably handle 1920x1080 at 60 Hz, and may even be able to do 1920x1080 at 144 Hz or 2560x1440 at 60 Hz.  But laptops don't necessarily want to offer high end connectivity, as that will drain power, which is at a premium.

If your laptop has a Thunderbolt port, you may want to look at whether you can get a DisplayPort adapter for that, and if so, what specs it will offer.  It's not clear what that would be able to do, however, and your laptop likely doesn't have any such port at all.

Right now I'm using a HP Omen 2.  The connecting ports that is are: Headphone/Microphone Combo, 3 USB 3.1 Type-A, 1 RJ-45, 1 HDMI, 1 USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C(TM) Would a DisplayPort to HDMI cable possibly work for me? 

Hyperpsycrow

She gave you 2 x monitors for 2300 $ usd !

Either she is a ritch woman or Mr. Bidens giveaway check works well

Quizzical

Truvidienn said:

Quizzical said:

It's very unlikely that you'll be able to use those monitors with your laptop at their rated specs of a 3840x2160 resolution and 144 Hz.  That takes really a lot of monitor bandwidth, so you'd basically need a very recent desktop video card to offer that.  I haven't seriously looked into whether laptops offer high end monitor ports, but if your laptop doesn't offer DisplayPort at all, then it probably doesn't.

Any sort of multiplexer would only make the situation worse.  If a monitor port doesn't have enough bandwidth for one monitor, then dividing that bandwidth between two monitors would only make the situation worse, if it even works at all.

It's probably possible to get the monitor to run at greatly reduced specs.  It can probably handle 1920x1080 at 60 Hz, and may even be able to do 1920x1080 at 144 Hz or 2560x1440 at 60 Hz.  But laptops don't necessarily want to offer high end connectivity, as that will drain power, which is at a premium.

If your laptop has a Thunderbolt port, you may want to look at whether you can get a DisplayPort adapter for that, and if so, what specs it will offer.  It's not clear what that would be able to do, however, and your laptop likely doesn't have any such port at all.

Right now I'm using a HP Omen 2.  The connecting ports that is are: Headphone/Microphone Combo, 3 USB 3.1 Type-A, 1 RJ-45, 1 HDMI, 1 USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C(TM) Would a DisplayPort to HDMI cable possibly work for me? 

You can probably get a USB type-C to DisplayPort adapter, and that might be the best option.  But USB 3.x versions are a complete mess of a bunch of things that are incompatible with each other, so it's easy to get the wrong thing.

You don't just need compatible ports.  You need ample bandwidth.

You might want to contact HP and see what they say.  They presumably know exactly what is in your laptop, and might offer an external adapter designed to work with your particular laptop.

Truvidienn

Mars_OMG said:

Not sure of your laptops graphics but

https://www.amazon.com/Splitter-Keliiyo-Powered-Converter-Resolutions/dp/B076JDXPRG

or 
https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-HDMI-Cable-Splitter-ST122HD4KU/dp/B00M3NZT7G

It has a Geforce RTX 2080 Max-Q Design. 

Truvidienn

Hyperpsycrow said:

She gave you 2 x monitors for 2300 $ usd !

Either she is a ritch woman or Mr. Bidens giveaway check works well

Yes she did lol. I was amazed myself. 

Truvidienn

Quizzical said:

Truvidienn said:

Quizzical said:

It's very unlikely that you'll be able to use those monitors with your laptop at their rated specs of a 3840x2160 resolution and 144 Hz.  That takes really a lot of monitor bandwidth, so you'd basically need a very recent desktop video card to offer that.  I haven't seriously looked into whether laptops offer high end monitor ports, but if your laptop doesn't offer DisplayPort at all, then it probably doesn't.

Any sort of multiplexer would only make the situation worse.  If a monitor port doesn't have enough bandwidth for one monitor, then dividing that bandwidth between two monitors would only make the situation worse, if it even works at all.

It's probably possible to get the monitor to run at greatly reduced specs.  It can probably handle 1920x1080 at 60 Hz, and may even be able to do 1920x1080 at 144 Hz or 2560x1440 at 60 Hz.  But laptops don't necessarily want to offer high end connectivity, as that will drain power, which is at a premium.

If your laptop has a Thunderbolt port, you may want to look at whether you can get a DisplayPort adapter for that, and if so, what specs it will offer.  It's not clear what that would be able to do, however, and your laptop likely doesn't have any such port at all.

Right now I'm using a HP Omen 2.  The connecting ports that is are: Headphone/Microphone Combo, 3 USB 3.1 Type-A, 1 RJ-45, 1 HDMI, 1 USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C(TM) Would a DisplayPort to HDMI cable possibly work for me? 

You can probably get a USB type-C to DisplayPort adapter, and that might be the best option.  But USB 3.x versions are a complete mess of a bunch of things that are incompatible with each other, so it's easy to get the wrong thing.

You don't just need compatible ports.  You need ample bandwidth.

You might want to contact HP and see what they say.  They presumably know exactly what is in your laptop, and might offer an external adapter designed to work with your particular laptop.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07T2FXD6H/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 This is the laptop if that helps. 

Theocritus

Haha my background I see "splitter help" and I think the OP needs help with his pitching.......

Truvidienn

Mars_OMG said:

Not sure of your laptops graphics but

https://www.amazon.com/Splitter-Keliiyo-Powered-Converter-Resolutions/dp/B076JDXPRG

or 
https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-HDMI-Cable-Splitter-ST122HD4KU/dp/B00M3NZT7G

For these two so it mimics the same as the main display? So if I wanted to have other programs running on my laptop and gaming on my other monitor is it possible? 

Quizzical

Truvidienn said:

Mars_OMG said:

Not sure of your laptops graphics but

https://www.amazon.com/Splitter-Keliiyo-Powered-Converter-Resolutions/dp/B076JDXPRG

or 
https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-HDMI-Cable-Splitter-ST122HD4KU/dp/B00M3NZT7G

For these two so it mimics the same as the main display? So if I wanted to have other programs running on my laptop and gaming on my other monitor is it possible? 

Do you want the same thing to be displayed on multiple monitors, or do you want for the monitors to be able to display completely independent things?  Or would you perhaps be happy if you could just get one of the two 4K monitors to work with your laptop?

Truvidienn

Quizzical said:

Truvidienn said:

Mars_OMG said:

Not sure of your laptops graphics but

https://www.amazon.com/Splitter-Keliiyo-Powered-Converter-Resolutions/dp/B076JDXPRG

or 
https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-HDMI-Cable-Splitter-ST122HD4KU/dp/B00M3NZT7G

For these two so it mimics the same as the main display? So if I wanted to have other programs running on my laptop and gaming on my other monitor is it possible? 

Do you want the same thing to be displayed on multiple monitors, or do you want for the monitors to be able to display completely independent things?  Or would you perhaps be happy if you could just get one of the two 4K monitors to work with your laptop?

Right now I'll be happy if I can get one monitor to work with 4K. I plan on setting up the other monitor once my get my desktop built. 

Quizzical

Truvidienn said:

Quizzical said:

Truvidienn said:

Mars_OMG said:

Not sure of your laptops graphics but

https://www.amazon.com/Splitter-Keliiyo-Powered-Converter-Resolutions/dp/B076JDXPRG

or 
https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-HDMI-Cable-Splitter-ST122HD4KU/dp/B00M3NZT7G

For these two so it mimics the same as the main display? So if I wanted to have other programs running on my laptop and gaming on my other monitor is it possible? 

Do you want the same thing to be displayed on multiple monitors, or do you want for the monitors to be able to display completely independent things?  Or would you perhaps be happy if you could just get one of the two 4K monitors to work with your laptop?

Right now I'll be happy if I can get one monitor to work with 4K. I plan on setting up the other monitor once my get my desktop built. 

If the monitor has an HDMI cable and you plug it into the HDMI port, what happens?  Lower resolution and/or refresh rate?

Truvidienn

Quizzical said:

Truvidienn said:

Quizzical said:

Truvidienn said:

Mars_OMG said:

Not sure of your laptops graphics but

https://www.amazon.com/Splitter-Keliiyo-Powered-Converter-Resolutions/dp/B076JDXPRG

or 
https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-HDMI-Cable-Splitter-ST122HD4KU/dp/B00M3NZT7G

For these two so it mimics the same as the main display? So if I wanted to have other programs running on my laptop and gaming on my other monitor is it possible? 

Do you want the same thing to be displayed on multiple monitors, or do you want for the monitors to be able to display completely independent things?  Or would you perhaps be happy if you could just get one of the two 4K monitors to work with your laptop?

Right now I'll be happy if I can get one monitor to work with 4K. I plan on setting up the other monitor once my get my desktop built. 

If the monitor has an HDMI cable and you plug it into the HDMI port, what happens?  Lower resolution and/or refresh rate?

Resolution I think remains the same? Refresh rate comes down to 60hz. 

Cleffy

Your monitor should have come with an HDMI 2.0 cable, so just use that. It should be capable of at least 4k 60hz. It may do 144hz, windows will tell you if it can.
You can try the USB-C cable as well since the laptop and monitor support it. That's limited to 8-bit 4k 60hz.

You can also try an HDMI in one monitor and a USB-C in the other monitor. But I don't think it will work. So I would expect to only use one of these until you get a desktop.

Windows will take care off how the monitor and laptop screen are used under Display Settings.

Quizzical

Either the HDMI port or the USB type C port (which may need a DisplayPort adapter) will work the best.  You could try both of those, and see if they both work at once.  Or you could just stick with HDMI and call whatever it does good enough.

If you're not sure what the settings are, then right click on the desktop, click "Display settings", and then click "Advanced display settings" (which may require scrolling down to see).  That should show your resolution and refresh rate for whatever monitors are available.

Quizzical

One other thing:  when you get a desktop video card in the future and want to plug in both monitors, check the monitor ports on the back of the card.  Make sure that the exact SKU that you buy has at least two DisplayPort ports.  It's common to have at least two, but you don't want to get the wrong SKU and not be able to plug in both monitors with their full functionality.  Different cards based on the same GPU chip will often have different combinations of monitor ports.

Vrika

Cleffy said:

Your monitor should have come with an HDMI 2.0 cable, so just use that. It should be capable of at least 4k 60hz. It may do 144hz, windows will tell you if it can.
You can try the USB-C cable as well since the laptop and monitor support it. That's limited to 8-bit 4k 60hz.

You can also try an HDMI in one monitor and a USB-C in the other monitor. But I don't think it will work. So I would expect to only use one of these until you get a desktop.

Windows will take care off how the monitor and laptop screen are used under Display Settings.

I think that his GPU supports only up to 4K 60Hz or 1440p 144hz through its HDMI port, but not 4K 144hz through that port. If he already gets 4K 60 Hz, then changing the HDMI cable would not help anything.

The GPU could do more through Displayport, but if that particular model does not come with a displayport then that doesn't really help.

Truvidienn

I have something that comes with like 4 USB ports on one side, a displayport at the end of it that I can plug into my laptop. The issue it seems to have though is when I plug in the DP it comes up with "No signal" on the monitor. 

Truvidienn

Cleffy said:

Your monitor should have come with an HDMI 2.0 cable, so just use that. It should be capable of at least 4k 60hz. It may do 144hz, windows will tell you if it can.
You can try the USB-C cable as well since the laptop and monitor support it. That's limited to 8-bit 4k 60hz.

You can also try an HDMI in one monitor and a USB-C in the other monitor. But I don't think it will work. So I would expect to only use one of these until you get a desktop.

Windows will take care off how the monitor and laptop screen are used under Display Settings.

Cleffy said:

Your monitor should have come with an HDMI 2.0 cable, so just use that. It should be capable of at least 4k 60hz. It may do 144hz, windows will tell you if it can.
You can try the USB-C cable as well since the laptop and monitor support it. That's limited to 8-bit 4k 60hz.

You can also try an HDMI in one monitor and a USB-C in the other monitor. But I don't think it will work. So I would expect to only use one of these until you get a desktop.

Windows will take care off how the monitor and laptop screen are used under Display Settings.

It came with a HDMI cord. One Displayport that says 5K on it? And some other cable that I've never seen before. 

Truvidienn

Quizzical said:

Either the HDMI port or the USB type C port (which may need a DisplayPort adapter) will work the best.  You could try both of those, and see if they both work at once.  Or you could just stick with HDMI and call whatever it does good enough.

If you're not sure what the settings are, then right click on the desktop, click "Display settings", and then click "Advanced display settings" (which may require scrolling down to see).  That should show your resolution and refresh rate for whatever monitors are available.

Display Resolution is: 3840x2160 60hz

Vrika

Truvidienn said:

I have something that comes with like 4 USB ports on one side, a displayport at the end of it that I can plug into my laptop. The issue it seems to have though is when I plug in the DP it comes up with "No signal" on the monitor. 

There are at least four issues that could cause the "No signal"

1: USB-C supports displayport only if your laptop is wired to carry the signal from GPU to the USB-C port. To find out whether yours is, you need to either read technical specs of the laptop or ask the manufacturer

2: If you have multiple ports that you could connect that USB thingy to on your laptop, it might only work on one. Check by connecting it to each of them

3: Check that your monitor's input port is set to Displayport, so that the monitor looks for signal from that port (and not for example a signal through the HDMI port)

4: You could be exceeding the supported refresh rate or resolution for something. When trying to get the signal to work, it's good idea to drop to 1920 x 1080 resolution and 60 Hz refresh rate at first since at least that is supported by everything. Then try whether the better ones work only once you've got that working

Ridelynn

Just stick with 4k 60Hz with the HDMI you got. You aren't really going to be pushing anything at 4K over 60Hz with a laptop anyway.

Cleffy

The LG monitor supports 4k 60hz directly from USB-C as long as the Laptop also supports it. But its limited to 8-bit color rather than 10-bit color. This makes no difference for gaming. Now outputting to 2 external displays at the same time may be an issue. But it's not like it would be difficult to check.

Ridelynn

Cleffy said:

The laptop port is an HDMI 2.0b which should be capable of displaying 8k. More than enough for 4k 144Hz. The monitor supports HDMI 2.0 for 4k 60hz. LG recommends to use their supplied cables. The DisplayPort cable that comes with it should be capable of 4k 144Hz.

The LG monitor supports 4k 60hz directly from USB-C as long as the Laptop also supports it. But its limited to 8-bit color rather than 10-bit color. This makes no difference for gaming. Now outputting to 2 external displays at the same time may be an issue. But it's not like it would be difficult to check.

Hmm, I thought you needed HDMI 2.1 for 4K 120Hz. HDMI 2.0 was 4K 60Hz, and the a/b variants added various HDR formats

Displayport 2.0 may be what you are thinking, as that's the latest and greated DisplayPort revision: DP 1.4 could already do 4k 120Hz, but 2.0 can support up to 16k and a whole host of other tricks.