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- Apr 29, 2014
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| System Name | SnowFire / The Reinforcer |
|---|---|
| Processor | i7 10700K 5.1ghz (24/7) / 2x Xeon E52650v2 |
| Motherboard | Asus Strix Z490 / Dell Dual Socket (R720) |
| Cooling | RX 360mm + 140mm Custom Loop / Dell Stock |
| Memory | Corsair RGB 16gb DDR4 3000 CL 16 / DDR3 128gb 16 x 8gb |
| Video Card(s) | GTX Titan XP (2025mhz) / Asus GTX 950 (No Power Connector) |
| Storage | Samsung 970 1tb NVME and 2tb HDD x4 RAID 5 / 300gb x8 RAID 5 |
| Display(s) | Acer XG270HU, Samsung G7 Odyssey (1440p 240hz) |
| Case | Thermaltake Cube / Dell Poweredge R720 Rack Mount Case |
| Audio Device(s) | Realtec ALC1150 (On board) |
| Power Supply | Rosewill Lightning 1300Watt / Dell Stock 750 / Brick |
| Mouse | Logitech G5 |
| Keyboard | Logitech G19S |
| Software | Windows 11 Pro / Windows Server 2016 |
Ok so awhile back I decided after upgrading my machine I would jump into the realm of 4K and skip 1440p because I decided that would be my next attempt after eyefinity (3 1080p displays) as I was tired of stretching my head around. I thought I would make this to post my experience since I still see people having issues some of which I had so I thought I would post this to give you a bit of help in making some choices if you want to jump into that realm. Bear in mind this is based off my experiences and personal tests/research and nothing else with my own system and will not cover every scenario or situation. This is only meant to help out and give you a rough idea of what to expect making your own 4K system specifically with AMD cards.
System specs for reference:
i7 5930K @ 4.5ghz
MSI X99 Gaming 9 AC
Corsair Vengeance 16gb (4x4gb) @ 2666mhz CL 15
3x PowerColor R9 290X @ stock OC speeds (1030mhz) (reference models)
Rosewill Lightning 1300Watt 80+ Gold PSU
Samsung 840Pro 512gb and Seagate Barracuda 1tb 7200RPM
Originally when I was looking at 4K my system had just added 3 PowerColor R9 290X reference cards under liquid. These cards are pre-overclocked to 1030mhz and have their own defined custom overclocks I have made to 1125 and 5500mhz memory clocks that I use when needing extra power/performance. Upon waiting and researching I had seen a couple models that were available at the time which was between 3 models that seemed to have nice recommendations/reviews:
Asus PB287Q
Samsung U28D590D
AOC U2868PQU
Between these at the time, the prices were all ~$600 bucks fluctuating depending on the site and day. After reviewing the Samsung and Asus seemed to be the same panel and had about the same quality though the Asus came with more features and a better stand while also seeing a $50 difference at times (Cheaper) versus the AOC which I had heard was not as good in terms of quality as the other two (And was normally the same price). I waited around a bit more and happened on a deal for the Asus monitor dropping to below $500 which to me considering the options was an excellent deal so I jumped onto it and received it in 3 days from newegg. The monitor itself came in perfect condition as expected and showed up on the computer immediately at 4K settings. However here is where the experience begins:
I noticed that it was not nearly as smooth as the secondary 1080p (1 of my previous monitors still hooked in) with just the basic mouse movements which seemed odd. Upon checking I noticed the monitor was running at 30hz (Using DP cable supplied I might add) and the computer was reporting the same thing. I tried changing it but the computer did not have the option for 60hz which I found quite odd. Then I remember the LinusTechTips review which stated the Asus defaults to DP 1.1 at start and you have to change it to DP 1.2 for it to run properly. I went to the monitor settings to change it and this is of course where things went from bad to worse. Immediately upon changing this the screen went black, when it came back up it would flicker and go back away at a constant pace. I had to get Catalyst open on the secondary monitor just to check the settings and force it back to 4K 30hz which immediately stopped the issue. Curious I decided to start investigating a bit further to find a multitude of people having the same issue I am with the Asus PB 287Q and Samsung U28D590D on the R9 290/X model cards. The issue only occurs when trying to run 60hz on the monitors and there was no fix. Talking with AMD rep Warsam71 on forums and in PM's it was apparent to be a known issue that AMD was working to fix. A week latter AMD had a new CCC version with a fix specifically labeling the issue on the AOC U2868PQU using an abnormal refresh method causing the issue. I tried the driver and sadly this did not resolve my issue so I was back to talking with warsam71 who asked a lot of questions and tried to find different solutions for me. I tried driver sweeper and fresh install but still nothing solved the issue. After talking with other members the first solution they gave me was trying a better quality DP cable and a very short one at that. I bought the Accell UltraAV B142C-003B DP 1.2 cable as it was recommended as being one of the top cable solutions right now (While also being a decent price) so I took the plunge and bought the 1 meter version to give it a shot. Upon receiving it I tried it out to no avail, in fact the flickering had just changed patterns to staying black a lot longer so it was back to the drawing board.
The next solution was posted for being a "temporary" fix and involved finding the next best setting that the monitor would run fine at. I used the CRU (Custom Resolution Utility) to create different resolutions at different refreshes to try and solve the issue or find a sweet point at 4K. To my surprise I was able to only go up to 37hz at 4K before flickering came back which was not nearly enough for a nice gaming experience. Using this idea I decided that based on responses this was a bandwidth problem specifically with the R9 290X's DP port. I decided to try changing the resolution to 1440p (Using CRU because the Asus does not have that resolution built in oddly enough) at 60hz. The flickering issue persisted, in fact even down to 1920x1080p had the same exact results unless I used the HDTV settings in CCC for 1080p which just confused me with this problem even more because if it was bandwidth causing the problem then I should have been able to drop the resolution to solve the problem. At this point drivers had come out in higher volumes labeling more fixes for 4K monitors but none had solved my problem or even improved it. Oddly enough some of the users with the same monitor had said the issue had been resolved which confused me even more as to why I still had the problem.
At this point I had run out of ideas and decided to consult @cadaveca to see if he had an idea to try or if I should even just find an updated Bios version and go flash my cards to see if that solved the issue or RMA the monitor. He doubted the bios flash would solve the issue and had said based on what I said/had tested it sounded like hardware incompatibility as seen in the past with some odd resolutions/monitors. After that I decided that I was going to RMA the monitor to see if a firmware update resolved the issue until I saw a special black Friday sale on another 4K monitor:
Acer B286HK $349.99
I decided to give it a try for that price and see if I had the same issues or if anything else presented an issue. Upon receiving it I hooked it up via my Accell cable and immediately the monitor came up 4K at 60hz no questions asked and no flickering or other issues. The quality was all there in the stand similar to the Asus, it came with more pre-set resolutions available should they be needed, and the monitor runs well in everything I have done including games and movies.
The conclusion I draw is simple and my advice to you is simple if your wanting to do 4K on R9 290/X cards. The Acer B286HK is an excellent budget friendly (well as friendly as you can be at this range) monitor especially if you can get it under $500 (Or even $350 like I did). Just make sure before hand to research if you want a different monitor and I would say stay away from the Asus or Samsung 28inch 4K's because they have been hit or miss on the 290/X. I suggest buying also getting your own DP cable and the shortest you can to eliminate any chance of issues.
Hopefully this can help or save one person at least from running into the same experience/problems I did and get them into a proper experience like I am now. Please note this is just my experience in hoping to help people avoid problems that I had, I do not have every scenario nor can I account for them all. If you have a question feel free to ask.
Also for the record, the Asus PB287Q does work on my friends machine with an GTX 780 at the proper 4K 60hz so it looks like it just has compatibility issues on AMD cards (Maybe even just the 290/X).
Edit (Additional info):
1: Disabling CFX did not add to or improve my issues with the 290X and Asus monitor.
2: I tried all three DP cables I have which are the Asus supplied, Acer supplied, and the Accell cable to which the Asus does not change the issues except the flickering happens at different intervals and the Acer does not have any problems with all three cables.
Thanks,
GSR
System specs for reference:
i7 5930K @ 4.5ghz
MSI X99 Gaming 9 AC
Corsair Vengeance 16gb (4x4gb) @ 2666mhz CL 15
3x PowerColor R9 290X @ stock OC speeds (1030mhz) (reference models)
Rosewill Lightning 1300Watt 80+ Gold PSU
Samsung 840Pro 512gb and Seagate Barracuda 1tb 7200RPM
Originally when I was looking at 4K my system had just added 3 PowerColor R9 290X reference cards under liquid. These cards are pre-overclocked to 1030mhz and have their own defined custom overclocks I have made to 1125 and 5500mhz memory clocks that I use when needing extra power/performance. Upon waiting and researching I had seen a couple models that were available at the time which was between 3 models that seemed to have nice recommendations/reviews:
Asus PB287Q
Samsung U28D590D
AOC U2868PQU
Between these at the time, the prices were all ~$600 bucks fluctuating depending on the site and day. After reviewing the Samsung and Asus seemed to be the same panel and had about the same quality though the Asus came with more features and a better stand while also seeing a $50 difference at times (Cheaper) versus the AOC which I had heard was not as good in terms of quality as the other two (And was normally the same price). I waited around a bit more and happened on a deal for the Asus monitor dropping to below $500 which to me considering the options was an excellent deal so I jumped onto it and received it in 3 days from newegg. The monitor itself came in perfect condition as expected and showed up on the computer immediately at 4K settings. However here is where the experience begins:
I noticed that it was not nearly as smooth as the secondary 1080p (1 of my previous monitors still hooked in) with just the basic mouse movements which seemed odd. Upon checking I noticed the monitor was running at 30hz (Using DP cable supplied I might add) and the computer was reporting the same thing. I tried changing it but the computer did not have the option for 60hz which I found quite odd. Then I remember the LinusTechTips review which stated the Asus defaults to DP 1.1 at start and you have to change it to DP 1.2 for it to run properly. I went to the monitor settings to change it and this is of course where things went from bad to worse. Immediately upon changing this the screen went black, when it came back up it would flicker and go back away at a constant pace. I had to get Catalyst open on the secondary monitor just to check the settings and force it back to 4K 30hz which immediately stopped the issue. Curious I decided to start investigating a bit further to find a multitude of people having the same issue I am with the Asus PB 287Q and Samsung U28D590D on the R9 290/X model cards. The issue only occurs when trying to run 60hz on the monitors and there was no fix. Talking with AMD rep Warsam71 on forums and in PM's it was apparent to be a known issue that AMD was working to fix. A week latter AMD had a new CCC version with a fix specifically labeling the issue on the AOC U2868PQU using an abnormal refresh method causing the issue. I tried the driver and sadly this did not resolve my issue so I was back to talking with warsam71 who asked a lot of questions and tried to find different solutions for me. I tried driver sweeper and fresh install but still nothing solved the issue. After talking with other members the first solution they gave me was trying a better quality DP cable and a very short one at that. I bought the Accell UltraAV B142C-003B DP 1.2 cable as it was recommended as being one of the top cable solutions right now (While also being a decent price) so I took the plunge and bought the 1 meter version to give it a shot. Upon receiving it I tried it out to no avail, in fact the flickering had just changed patterns to staying black a lot longer so it was back to the drawing board.
The next solution was posted for being a "temporary" fix and involved finding the next best setting that the monitor would run fine at. I used the CRU (Custom Resolution Utility) to create different resolutions at different refreshes to try and solve the issue or find a sweet point at 4K. To my surprise I was able to only go up to 37hz at 4K before flickering came back which was not nearly enough for a nice gaming experience. Using this idea I decided that based on responses this was a bandwidth problem specifically with the R9 290X's DP port. I decided to try changing the resolution to 1440p (Using CRU because the Asus does not have that resolution built in oddly enough) at 60hz. The flickering issue persisted, in fact even down to 1920x1080p had the same exact results unless I used the HDTV settings in CCC for 1080p which just confused me with this problem even more because if it was bandwidth causing the problem then I should have been able to drop the resolution to solve the problem. At this point drivers had come out in higher volumes labeling more fixes for 4K monitors but none had solved my problem or even improved it. Oddly enough some of the users with the same monitor had said the issue had been resolved which confused me even more as to why I still had the problem.
At this point I had run out of ideas and decided to consult @cadaveca to see if he had an idea to try or if I should even just find an updated Bios version and go flash my cards to see if that solved the issue or RMA the monitor. He doubted the bios flash would solve the issue and had said based on what I said/had tested it sounded like hardware incompatibility as seen in the past with some odd resolutions/monitors. After that I decided that I was going to RMA the monitor to see if a firmware update resolved the issue until I saw a special black Friday sale on another 4K monitor:
Acer B286HK $349.99
I decided to give it a try for that price and see if I had the same issues or if anything else presented an issue. Upon receiving it I hooked it up via my Accell cable and immediately the monitor came up 4K at 60hz no questions asked and no flickering or other issues. The quality was all there in the stand similar to the Asus, it came with more pre-set resolutions available should they be needed, and the monitor runs well in everything I have done including games and movies.
The conclusion I draw is simple and my advice to you is simple if your wanting to do 4K on R9 290/X cards. The Acer B286HK is an excellent budget friendly (well as friendly as you can be at this range) monitor especially if you can get it under $500 (Or even $350 like I did). Just make sure before hand to research if you want a different monitor and I would say stay away from the Asus or Samsung 28inch 4K's because they have been hit or miss on the 290/X. I suggest buying also getting your own DP cable and the shortest you can to eliminate any chance of issues.
Hopefully this can help or save one person at least from running into the same experience/problems I did and get them into a proper experience like I am now. Please note this is just my experience in hoping to help people avoid problems that I had, I do not have every scenario nor can I account for them all. If you have a question feel free to ask.
Also for the record, the Asus PB287Q does work on my friends machine with an GTX 780 at the proper 4K 60hz so it looks like it just has compatibility issues on AMD cards (Maybe even just the 290/X).
Edit (Additional info):
1: Disabling CFX did not add to or improve my issues with the 290X and Asus monitor.
2: I tried all three DP cables I have which are the Asus supplied, Acer supplied, and the Accell cable to which the Asus does not change the issues except the flickering happens at different intervals and the Acer does not have any problems with all three cables.
Thanks,
GSR
Last edited:
, I like being a bit crazy with my rigs as I did in the past. I had a dual GTX 295 rig (yes two of them and they were both the dual PCB variants) that I had under water and sold a bit later due to me deciding that I did not have enough time to game that hard and did not need something like that (Plus it was an expensive system). My previous system had Dual HD 6990's under water which was great for 3 monitor surround at the time but lately even with my recent system I had found doing eyefinity was more of a pain than fun anymore hence why I went ahead and decided to go 4K.
