REFRESH RATE HANDLING
One of the issues with the ASRock CoreHT 252B was the fact
that the integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 was unable to refresh the display at
23.976 Hz even when configured manually. AMD GPUs have had a history of being
close to the desired refresh rates out of the box, while NVIDIA GPUs end up
needing some tweaking. This is further compounded by the fact that different
setups behave differently even with the same card. How does the GT 540M
in the Vision 3D 252B fare?
As we have recounted in earlier HTPC reviews, a GPU should
ideally be capable of the following refresh rates at the minimum:
- 23.976
Hz
- 24
Hz
- 25
Hz
- 29.97
Hz
- 30
Hz
- 50
Hz
- 59.94
Hz
- 60
Hz
Some users demand integral multiples of 23.976 / 24 Hz
because they result in a smoother desktop experience, while also making sure
that the source and display refresh rates are still matched without repeated or
dropped frames. The gallery below shows the refresh rate handling for 24, 25
(x2 = 50 Hz), 29.97 (x2 = 59.94 Hz), 30 (x2 = 60 Hz), 50, 59.94 and 60 Hz
settings.
The native 23 Hz setting, unfortunately, resulted in a
23.971 Hz refresh rate.
However, with some custom timing setup, we were able to
achieve 23.97634 Hz.
The custom timing feature is usable, but not without its
quirks. Adding a custom resolution is straightforward. Setting the vertical
parameters to values similar to the ones in the screenshot above achieves
desired results, but the 23 Hz resolution gets saved as 24 Hz. The pictures in
the gallery below bring out the issue. The first picture shows that the 23 Hz
setting gets saved as 24 Hz in the NVIDIA control panel. The second picture
shows that the 24 Hz setting is no longer available in the set of native
refresh rates. The third picture shows that all the available EDID resolutions
are displayed in the monitor properties. The fourth screenshot shows that
setting the 23 Hz option in the monitor properties puts the control panel in 24
Hz custom mode (with the screen refreshing at 23.97637 Hz). The fifth
screenshot shows the effect of setting the 24 Hz option in the monitor
properties. Note that the control panel still shows the custom 24 Hz setting.
In the sixth screenshot, we selected the 23 Hz setting of the NVIDIA control
panel (under native resolution - the one that we actually intended to replace
in the first place) only to get the display refreshing at 23.971 Hz. The final
picture shows the NVIDIA control panel set to custom 24 Hz resulting in a
display refresh rate closer to the intended 23.976 Hz. We hope NVIDIA fixes
this annoying issue in one of the upcoming driver releases.
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