Using Samsung 4k TV as Gaming Monitor @60hz...

[deadman_uk]

I game on my 2k monitor but sometimes I want to sit on my bed and game on my 4K TV. Unfortunately when I connect my PC to my TV via HDMI cable, it defaults to 30P meaning the refresh rate is 30hz and I get screen tearing. I want to be able to game at 60hz. I have looked at my settings in NVIDIA control panel and set the TV to 60hz but it still shows as 30p on my TV. I use the duplicate screen option to mirror what my monitor displays to my TV.

My PC is connected to HDMI port 2 where I have to force UHD colour to off. If I enable UHD colour, I finally get 60P BUT the TV will keep flickering black on and off every few seconds. The flickering stops when UHD colour is off but it then goes back to 30P.

I have an NVIDIA 980TI graphics card and Samsung UE55KS8000 4k TV connected with a HDMI 2.0 cable. I have tried another HDMI cable too but the problem persists. I also have tried other HDMI ports.

 

[jdempsey]

I game on my 2k monitor but sometimes I want to sit on my bed and game on my 4K TV. Unfortunately when I connect my PC to my TV via HDMI cable, it defaults to 30P meaning the refresh rate is 30hz and I get screen tearing. I want to be able to game at 60hz. I have looked at my settings in NVIDIA control panel and set the TV to 60hz but it still shows as 30p on my TV. I use the duplicate screen option to mirror what my monitor displays to my TV.

My PC is connected to HDMI port 2 where I have to force UHD colour to off. If I enable UHD colour, I finally get 60P BUT the TV will keep flickering black on and off every few seconds. The flickering stops when UHD colour is off but it then goes back to 30P.

I have an NVIDIA 980TI graphics card and Samsung UE55KS8000 4k TV connected with a HDMI 2.0 cable. I have tried another HDMI cable too but the problem persists. I also have tried other HDMI ports.

I could be incorrect here, but I think the problem you're having is that the 980 isn't fully HDMI 2.0 compatible.

FWIW I'm using a 1080Ti and a Samsung KS8000 also, with no problems at 60hz, with HDR. I'm using port 3 fwiw though, I think that's the one they had labeled PC, but I don't believe there's any physical difference.




I personally had to upgrade from an older, but still very functional (2nd or 3rd tier) card, because of the lack of HDMI 2.0 support, for this particular reason.

 

[nameBrandon]

There are lots of variations on the cards between manufacturers, but my GTX 980 (non Ti) predates yours, and supports 4K @60Hz. I would still suspect the cable, but you may want to double check the specs on that particular video card.. it would surprise me though if it didn't support HDMI 2.0 being a later release in that generation. Perhaps pick up an active DP to HDMI 2 adapter and see if you can run 60hz over DP? I know from first hand experience the Accell ones work properly.

 

[jdempsey]

There are lots of variations on the cards between manufacturers, but my GTX 980 (non Ti) predates yours, and supports 4K @60Hz. I would still suspect the cable, but you may want to double check the specs on that particular video card.. it would surprise me though if it didn't support HDMI 2.0 being a later release in that generation. Perhaps pick up an active DP to HDMI 2 adapter and see if you can run 60hz over DP? I know from first hand experience the Accell ones work properly.

Yeah on the cable front, I'm using a 20ft one from Amazon (their "Basics") cable, with no issues.


Oh another thing I should mention, for some reason with this TV, for me, if I set the resolution to 3840x2160, I couldn't get game mode to activate, and all kinds of other weirdness. Windows wants to default to this, and many games also. You need to use DCI 4k res of 4096x2160 @ 60hz to get everything to look right, enable game mode, and possibly hit 60hz.. You also will have to switch in and out of "Fit to Screen" mode with various titles to avoid overscan, but I've found that once set in any particular app or the desktop, it usually remembers, and is fine after I load again, or exit back to desktop.


Sorry, I forgot about all this until you got me thinking on it.

 

[jdempsey]

Also another thing, I have all kinds of issues trying to do duplicate-screen option with this TV and other monitors running at different res and refresh. Extended desktop worked fine however, but is useless, since my TV is in a different room. On the other hand, if I hit "windows-key + P" and tell it to display only on the TV whenever I get ready to play games, I have no issues.

 

[Luke M]

You left out the most important thing, what cable are you using? Is it certified? How long is it?

 

[deadman_uk]

I am using this cable (10m/32ft) but I have another cable (also long) which has the same issue. I think this cable can do 60p because when I enable UHD colour on my TV, it shows as 60p on my TV info bar. Why does enabling UHD colour cause the screen to flicker black on and off? it is unusable like this. I have an NVIDIA Shield and enabling UHD colour on this HDMI port is absolutely fine, no flickering. If I get a display port to HDMI adapter (one that supports 4k @ 60hz) I don't know if this would solve the problem for sure. I don't really want to spend money unless I know for sure it would work.

With UHD Colour off (to stop the flickering) If I select extend desktop on my PC instead of duplicate, it is then 60P on my TV but how do I send a fullscreen game onto my TV? it just plays on my monitor. I can put the game into windowed mode and drag it to the TV screen but when I alt+enter fullscreen, it just goes back to the monitor. Also for some reason I cannot select Game Mode, it is greyed out on my TV all the time.

EDIT: So in duplicate mode with UHD Colour on causes my TV to flicker on and off @60/59hz every second or so but if I set in the NVIDIA control panel the refresh rate to 30Hz, the flickering stops...

 

[jdempsey]

I am using this cable (10m/32ft) but I have another cable (also long) which has the same issue. I think this cable can do 60p because when I enable UHD colour on my TV, it shows as 60p on my TV info bar. Why does enabling UHD colour cause the screen to flicker black on and off? it is unusable like this. I have an NVIDIA Shield and enabling UHD colour on this HDMI port is absolutely fine, no flickering. If I get a display port to HDMI adapter (one that supports 4k @ 60hz) I don't know if this would solve the problem for sure. I don't really want to spend money unless I know for sure it would work.

With UHD Colour off (to stop the flickering) If I select extend desktop on my PC instead of duplicate, it is then 60P on my TV but how do I send a fullscreen game onto my TV? it just plays on my monitor. I can put the game into windowed mode and drag it to the TV screen but when I alt+enter fullscreen, it just goes back to the monitor. Also for some reason I cannot select Game Mode, it is greyed out on my TV all the time.

Hit the "Windows Key" + the "P" key, at the same time, it'll bring up a menu on the right side, tell it to only show the desktop on the TV, and see if that works.


Windows is problematic playing games on any monitor other than the "Primary" display, and don't expect it to work correctly with Display Mirroring on. You should however be able to play games with the TV set as the primary monitor, and another display set as a second or extended desktop.

 

[Orddie]

this could also be a limtation of the TV - not supportng 60 via HDMI port. our TV has a specific port you need to use

 

[deadman_uk]

jdempsey, ok I have tried using just the TV as the display and I can game at 60P (with UHD colour off) now instead of 30p. The problem is, my PC isn't powerful enough to game at 4k. When I change a games resolution to 2560x1440, it goes to 30P. Some games have an in-game refresh rate setting like Assassin's Creed Syndicate. At 4k I can select 60HZ in the games menu but if I set the resolution in game to 2560x1440, 30hz is the highest.

So I went into the NVIDIA control panel, at 2560x1440, 30hz is the highest I can go, but at 4k resolutions, I can go to 60hz... why? Setting a custom resolution profile to 2560x1440 @ 60hz results in the TV having a black screen/no signal. Both 4k and 1080p works at 60hz though so why not 1440p?

 

[jdempsey]

jdempsey, ok I have tried using just the TV as the display and I can game at 60P (with UHD colour off) now instead of 30p. The problem is, my PC isn't powerful enough to game at 4k. When I change a games resolution to 2560x1440, it goes to 30P. Some games have an in-game refresh rate setting like Assassin's Creed Syndicate. At 4k I can select 60HZ in the games menu but if I set the resolution in game to 2560x1440, 30hz is the highest.

So I went into the NVIDIA control panel, at 2560x1440, 30hz is the highest I can go, but at 4k resolutions, I can go to 60hz... why? Setting a custom resolution profile to 2560x1440 @ 60hz results in the TV having a black screen/no signal. Both 4k and 1080p works at 60hz though so why not 1440p?

Not sure, although maybe it's related to the scaling that the TV does for 1080p/720p?

I've never tried playing other than at 4k with this TV sorry.

 

[jdempsey]

this could also be a limtation of the TV - not supportng 60 via HDMI port. our TV has a specific port you need to use

Nah, we've got the same series of TV, it'll definitely do 60hz via HDMI. It's actually one of the best TV's out there for 4k gaming.

 

[deadman_uk]

Not sure, although maybe it's related to the scaling that the TV does for 1080p/720p?

I've never tried playing other than at 4k with this TV sorry.

Do you have UHD colour enabled or disabled? with UHD colour enabled on the PC HDMI connection, my TV goes on and off with a black screen every second, I can't get a stable picture. Please could do a test for me? could you set your 4k tv to run 1440p (2560x1440) in the NVIDIA control panel and tell me what the refresh rate is set to? I can't pass 30hz at this resolution.

 

[Ocellaris]

32 ft cable and having issues? Try a 6 foot cable, move your PC temporarily.

Also make sure the port you are trying to use is HDMI 2.

 

[Luke M]

I am using this cable (10m/32ft) but I have another cable (also long) which has the same issue. I think this cable can do 60p because when I enable UHD colour on my TV, it shows as 60p on my TV info bar. Why does enabling UHD colour cause the screen to flicker black on and off? it is unusable like this. I have an NVIDIA Shield and enabling UHD colour on this HDMI port is absolutely fine, no flickering. If I get a display port to HDMI adapter (one that supports 4k @ 60hz) I don't know if this would solve the problem for sure. I don't really want to spend money unless I know for sure it would work.

It's very simple, it flickers on and off because the signal quality is marginal, neither good enough to work reliably nor bad enough to fail completely. "UHD Color" is a higher speed mode (when sending 4K/60Hz) which is more demanding. If you use a shorter cable (preferably certified) it will work. If you really need the length, there are optical HDMI cables available.

 

[kasakka]

I could be incorrect here, but I think the problem you're having is that the 980 isn't fully HDMI 2.0 compatible.

FWIW I'm using a 1080Ti and a Samsung KS8000 also, with no problems at 60hz, with HDR. I'm using port 3 fwiw though, I think that's the one they had labeled PC, but I don't believe there's any physical difference.

I use a 980 Ti with a KS8000 no problems. OP's issue is most likely just a too low quality cable as that can cause strange problems like missing refresh rates. In my experience anything longer than 6m really needs to be a high quality cable. I use an 8m cable and went thru buying and returning maybe five different cables until having to put down the money for a ridiculously expensive AudioQuest cable to get everything working properly.

 

[Armenius]

I am using this cable (10m/32ft) but I have another cable (also long) which has the same issue. I think this cable can do 60p because when I enable UHD colour on my TV, it shows as 60p on my TV info bar. Why does enabling UHD colour cause the screen to flicker black on and off? it is unusable like this. I have an NVIDIA Shield and enabling UHD colour on this HDMI port is absolutely fine, no flickering. If I get a display port to HDMI adapter (one that supports 4k @ 60hz) I don't know if this would solve the problem for sure. I don't really want to spend money unless I know for sure it would work.

With UHD Colour off (to stop the flickering) If I select extend desktop on my PC instead of duplicate, it is then 60P on my TV but how do I send a fullscreen game onto my TV? it just plays on my monitor. I can put the game into windowed mode and drag it to the TV screen but when I alt+enter fullscreen, it just goes back to the monitor. Also for some reason I cannot select Game Mode, it is greyed out on my TV all the time.

EDIT: So in duplicate mode with UHD Colour on causes my TV to flicker on and off @60/59hz every second or so but if I set in the NVIDIA control panel the refresh rate to 30Hz, the flickering stops...

You need to use a shorter cable. HDMI recommends a cable no longer than 3m/10ft for 4K @ 60 Hz. The problem with longer cable runs is signal degradation, and the problem is exacerbated the closer you get to the maximum bandwidth. 4K @ 60 Hz with UHD is at the limits of bandwidth for HDMI 2.0, so the shorter the cable the better.

I would also reference the list of HDMI adopters and buy a cable that is certified HDMI High Speed or HDMI Premium.
https://www.hdmi.org/learningcenter/adopters_founders.aspx

 

[jdempsey]

I can tell you that for me, the AmazonBasic's High Speed HMDI cables at 15 and 25ft have worked fine for 4k@60hz.

 

[deadman_uk]

Guys I can 4k@60hz fine (and also 1080p@60hz), but my PC isn't powerful enough to play newer games @ 4k, I get fps in the 20s for a lot of games. Whenever I enable UHD, the screen flickers on and off rapidly so it may be due to having such a long cable, I don't know. The optical HDMI cables look interesting but they are hundreds of pounds and I cannot justify paying that much for a cable. My PC is at the opposite end to where my TV is so using a shorter cable isn't possible, although I may pull things closer and use a shorter cable just to try it one day. I am not trying to 4k@60hz, I am trying to 1440p@60hz but it only lets me do 30hz, no higher rate is available, yet with 4k resolutions, i can select 60hz.

Armenius, what are these adapters you are speaking of? and my cable is suppose to be 18 Gbit/s, so does the longer length really matter?

jdempsey please can you answer my questions from my previous message? Regarding UHD and can you get 60hz on 1440p? I know you don't use 1440p but could you try it for me? I am asking because you have the same TV as I do and a similar card.

 

[Kdawg]

I've tried a few samsung 4k TVs, and I have never seen a 1440p in the resolution options. I only see some fucked up non-16:9 ratio settings like 2048x1536, 1920x1440, 1920x1200 in the nvidia control panel.

Does your PC weigh 1000kg?
If not, you should definitely move it next to the TV just to rule out a long cable as the problem.

I hate Samsungs because their hdmi ports seem to be picky. I plugged in a laptop with gtx1060 and hdmi 2.0 port, along with a short overpriced 4k Monstercable hdmi cable made from gold nuggets. I still got black screen flickers and black outs on various ports. HDMI port 1 would blink like crazy. Port #2 was better, but still occasional black screen.

Not every manufacturer's geforce card is going to work perfectly, as they use different IC chips besides the gpu.

I bought a cheap usb-c to hdmi 2.0 adapter off ebay, advertised as doing 4k 60hz, and WTF it works 99% flawlessly at 4k60, unlike my laptop's built-in hdmi 2.0 port.
The 1% failure comes from the TV rebooting itself very rarely. I'm not sure if it's caused by the usb-c adapter, or just the Samsung acting up.

 

[kasakka]

Guys I can 4k@60hz fine (and also 1080p@60hz), but my PC isn't powerful enough to play newer games @ 4k, I get fps in the 20s for a lot of games. Whenever I enable UHD, the screen flickers on and off rapidly so it may be due to having such a long cable, I don't know. The optical HDMI cables look interesting but they are hundreds of pounds and I cannot justify paying that much for a cable. My PC is at the opposite end to where my TV is so using a shorter cable isn't possible, although I may pull things closer and use a shorter cable just to try it one day. I am not trying to 4k@60hz, I am trying to 1440p@60hz but it only lets me do 30hz, no higher rate is available, yet with 4k resolutions, i can select 60hz.

When I had crappy cables I experienced issues just like you have where 1440p had only 30 Hz refresh rate available. UHD setting causing flickering is another tell-tale sign that the cable is a) too long and b) not high enough quality.

You don't need optical cables but might need repeaters or just a much better cable. This is a tough thing to solve because if you go with repeaters they need to be compatible to pass through 4k@60 Hz + HDR to work correctly. Figuring out a cable that works is another pain in the ass because all the cables I tried were HDMI High Speed, some were supposedly even active but still I had issues. You basically have to just read reviews to find a cable that works for sure.

 

[deadman_uk]

Moving my PC would be a pain because I have trunked in all my cables to the wall. I will see what I can do to test it. The cable I got from Amazon UK was reviewed by lots of customers as being great and high speed. Maybe it's just the length? Can someone show me what a "much better cable" is? or what repeater would be good?

 

[Armenius]

Guys I can 4k@60hz fine (and also 1080p@60hz), but my PC isn't powerful enough to play newer games @ 4k, I get fps in the 20s for a lot of games. Whenever I enable UHD, the screen flickers on and off rapidly so it may be due to having such a long cable, I don't know. The optical HDMI cables look interesting but they are hundreds of pounds and I cannot justify paying that much for a cable. My PC is at the opposite end to where my TV is so using a shorter cable isn't possible, although I may pull things closer and use a shorter cable just to try it one day. I am not trying to 4k@60hz, I am trying to 1440p@60hz but it only lets me do 30hz, no higher rate is available, yet with 4k resolutions, i can select 60hz.

Armenius, what are these adapters you are speaking of? and my cable is suppose to be 18 Gbit/s, so does the longer length really matter?

jdempsey please can you answer my questions from my previous message? Regarding UHD and can you get 60hz on 1440p? I know you don't use 1440p but could you try it for me? I am asking because you have the same TV as I do and a similar card.

The list of adopters are companies that pay the fees to be part of the HDMI foundation, and as part of their agreement are required to meet the specifications that HDMI puts forth for both the standard and cable construction. Companies are required to be adopters to license HDMI 2.0, but you'll still find the market flooded with cables that are not licensed and could very well not meet the spec and fall short of the expected quality.

As far as length goes, I lost my source, but the exact lengths for certification are not talked about openly. All that is said is so long as the cable constructed operates within tolerance it will meet certification. Here is what I remember, though:

Category 1 (signaling rate up to 165 MHz for HDMI 1.0 - 1.2a) = 15m/49ft for resolutions up to 1080p/60 8bpc 4:4:4
Category 2 "High Speed" (signaling rate up to 340 MHz for HDMI 1.3 - 1.4b) = 10m/33ft for resolutions up to 4K/30 8bpc 4:4:4
Category 3 "Premium High Speed" (signaling rate up to 600 MHz for HDMI 2.0 - 2.0b) = 5m/16ft for resolutions up to 4K/60 8bpc 4:4:4, 3m/10ft for resolutions up to 4K/60 HDR 10bpc 4:2:0
Category 4 "Ultra High Speed (48G)" (signaling rate up to 1.2 GHz for HDMI 2.1) = 3m/10ft for resolutions up to 4K/120 HDR 10bpc 4:4:4, 2m/6.5ft for resolutions up to 10K/120 8bpc 4:2:0 with DSC 1.2

Moving my PC would be a pain because I have trunked in all my cables to the wall. I will see what I can do to test it. The cable I got from Amazon UK was reviewed by lots of customers as being great and high speed. Maybe it's just the length? Can someone show me what a "much better cable" is? or what repeater would be good?

A lot of people recommend Monoprice for cables.

Whatever you do, you need to buy an active extender, i.e. powered. Something like this can work. Some people say that HDR works, others don't. They don't specify their setup, though. The description says up to 24m/80ft for 4K/60, so I'd say it would probably be good up to 15m/49ft for HDR. Any longer and you'll need to start looking at HDBaseT extenders.

 

[deadman_uk]

Since I am in the UK, I can't get the one you mentioned Armenius but I found this, looks good to me, what do you think?

 

[Armenius]

Since I am in the UK, I can't get the one you mentioned Armenius but I found this, looks good to me, what do you think?

Doesn't say anything about HDR. The repeater needs to support HDMI 2.0a for HDR. It isn't as simple as total bandwidth. It needs to be able to pass the metadata through the repeater to the display.

 

[deadman_uk]

@Armenlus doesn't the review from AdamEngland mention it does HDR? Could you find me a nice one from the UK? I will look after I have cooked. The Amazon USA one you linked to has some negative reviews. They do post to the UK though so if it's affordable postage, I could order it from their direct site.

EDIT: This one says it does HDR, what do you think guys?

EDIT 2: I may get HDMI 2.1 cables which supports much higher speeds. It's apparently released today? but would my TV and GFX card both need to have HDMI 2.1 ports to support the 48Gbps speeds? At worst, it would also support HDMI 2.0 so it could still help me, I am just thinking 2.1 cables would be future proofing a bit.

 

[jdempsey]

Guys I can 4k@60hz fine (and also 1080p@60hz), but my PC isn't powerful enough to play newer games @ 4k, I get fps in the 20s for a lot of games. Whenever I enable UHD, the screen flickers on and off rapidly so it may be due to having such a long cable, I don't know. The optical HDMI cables look interesting but they are hundreds of pounds and I cannot justify paying that much for a cable. My PC is at the opposite end to where my TV is so using a shorter cable isn't possible, although I may pull things closer and use a shorter cable just to try it one day. I am not trying to 4k@60hz, I am trying to 1440p@60hz but it only lets me do 30hz, no higher rate is available, yet with 4k resolutions, i can select 60hz.

Armenius, what are these adapters you are speaking of? and my cable is suppose to be 18 Gbit/s, so does the longer length really matter?

jdempsey please can you answer my questions from my previous message? Regarding UHD and can you get 60hz on 1440p? I know you don't use 1440p but could you try it for me? I am asking because you have the same TV as I do and a similar card.

I'll be happy to check once I have that machine back together. Got a new MB/Processor, and it's currently in pieces.

 

[jdempsey]

So I checked my settings and for what it's worth, I've had UHD color enabled the whole time on all my inputs. Ran 4k@60hz no prob, even with HDR.

 

[sinisterDei]

So I checked my settings and for what it's worth, I've had UHD color enabled the whole time on all my inputs. Ran 4k@60hz no prob, even with HDR.

So just because you have the option enabled in the TV, doesn't mean it's enabled on the video mode. You'll have to run a chroma 4:4:4 test to verify (links to do it are here - http://www.rtings.com/tv/learn/chroma-subsampling ) and if you're running at chroma 4:4:4 in 4K @ 60Hz, you are *not* running HDR because HDMI 2.0 doesn't have the bandwidth for that. That's my understanding at least.

 

[deadman_uk]

So I checked my settings and for what it's worth, I've had UHD color enabled the whole time on all my inputs. Ran 4k@60hz no prob, even with HDR.

Thanks but can you do 1440p @60hz?

 

[jdempsey]

Thanks but can you do 1440p @60hz?

Still can't test that, sorry. Will update you when I can.

 

[jdempsey]

So just because you have the option enabled in the TV, doesn't mean it's enabled on the video mode. You'll have to run a chroma 4:4:4 test to verify (links to do it are here - http://www.rtings.com/tv/learn/chroma-subsampling ) and if you're running at chroma 4:4:4 in 4K @ 60Hz, you are *not* running HDR because HDMI 2.0 doesn't have the bandwidth for that. That's my understanding at least.

All I'm replying about is having the setting enabled, the OP was having some flickering issues with it enabled at 60hz. AFAIK the TV only does 4:2:2 HDR @ 4k 60hz, as you say, because of bandwidth limitations.

 

[Luke M]

Thanks but can you do 1440p @60hz?

Does it even matter? Couldn't you use GPU scaling in the event the display doesn't support the desired resolution?

 

[deadman_uk]

Well I got a shorter cable (same brand, just 5 Meters instead of 10) and now I can enable UHD Colour on my Samsung 4k TV without it flashing on and off. I can also now use 2560x1440 resolution at 60hz instead of 30hz. All this appears to be because of a shorter cable. I've purchased an HDMI repeater which I will try in due time. Thanks guys

Luke M never tried experimenting with GPU scaling, have always left it on display in NVIDIA Control Panel