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I've just given my old 2560x1600 monitor (Dell UltraSharp 3011 or 3011t) to my parents. Their PC has an Intel mATX early Haswell motherboard, I'd guess about 2013 - 2014 ish? It's got DVI and HDMI ports, I haven't checked if the DVI is DVI-D/I.

When I connect the monitor to the board, it can't go higher than 1920x1200, reporting that the bandwidth needed for the video connection is too high, which is fair.

Can a better HDMI cable or a dual link DVI cable handle 2560x1600, or do I need to plug in a discreet video card?

(If it needs a new video card, that would probably be DP which would also solve it)

I'm sorry, not being there I can't look up the exact motherboard model. But I'm pretty sure its haswell ~ 2014 ish, Intel own-brand on board or on-chip GPU (hence not AMD/nVidia), and can add the correct model later.

Mostly, I can't find the bandwidth/resolution limits for that era HDMI/DVI, and that'll probably be what determines if the hw can cope with a different cable or needs a card update.

Stilez
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  • I’m not seeing the make and model of that monitor or the motherboard (use CPU-Z). Without this information, this question cannot be answered. It’s not about eras, but what the actual device supports. For example, out of ~400 2K+ displays available on the market *today*, only ~160 have HDMI 2.0. – Daniel B May 01 '18 at 13:45
  • Monitor is a Dell UltraSharp U3011 or 3011t, I think they might be the same model, or same as far as this goes. Added to Q, will add motherboard model in a couple of hours – Stilez May 01 '18 at 14:13
  • Generally (dual-link) DVI has a higher resolution than HDMI on equipment that old. Give the DVI cable a try. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams May 01 '18 at 14:37

2 Answers2

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According to the monitor’s manual, the digital input ports support the following resolutions:

  • 2560 x 1600 at 60 Hz (DVI/DisplayPort input sources)
  • 1920 x 1200 at 60 Hz (HDMI input source)

It has the following digital input ports:

  • DVI-D Dual Link
  • HDMI 1.3
  • DisplayPort 1.1a

As such, the maximum resolution can only be achieved over DVI-D Dual Link or DisplayPort.

Whether the motherboard’s DVI port is DVI-D or DVI-I does not matter as long as it supports Dual Link connectivity.

Daniel B
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  • This is the right answer, thank you. It worked. I also found a 2nd solution while experimenting, which I've added below. – Stilez May 02 '18 at 00:53
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While experimenting, I found a 2nd answer which is worth noting.

Although HMDI can't support 2560x1600 @ 60Hz as the monitor's native mode, I found that Intel's driver/graphics control panel does let one define new modes. Specifically it let me add 2560x1600 @ 30Hz as being within HDMI bandwidth, which is a poor refresh rate for games and video, but for basic desktop/office/email/browser use will work properly until dual-link DVI or display port is sorted out.

I suspect nVidia and AMD's display driver software might allow similar. Also it let me define 2560x1600@40Hz but didn't seem to be able to display it.

Stilez
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