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Does the Display Port on Intel HD Graphics 4600 on my laptop/notebook support dual displays?

BBill12
Beginner
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Good day all - I have an Alienware 15 laptop/notebook that has an Intel HD Graphics 4600 adapter and is listed as having an nVidia 970M although the only thing I can seem to access that is tied to the nVidia card settings is the 3D, everything else seems to be based on the Intel adapter settings. The machine has two external display connections, an HDMI port and a mini display port. The general spec for DP 1.2 is 4 lanes of 10 gig throughput so in theory this connection should support up to 4 monitors at 4K@60Hz resolution. My question is does it have the ability to do at least two at 4K provided you put an active display port adapter/hub that will allow two monitors with DP inputs to connect to it?

Thanks in advance for your attention to this matter.

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idata
Employee
5,826 Views

Hello BillMills,

You might need to check with Dell if this configuration is possible for your computer model. From my end, I can start by saying that Intel recommends straight connections only; according to the specification for the 4th generation processors you will be able to achieve the following display configurations;

See line 6 in the table, based on this your graphics controller should be able to achieve 3840x2160 @ 60 Hz using the eDP and the DP.

For further reference; http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/core/4th-gen-core-family-mobile-m-h-processor-lines-vol-1-datasheet.html Intel® Core™ Processors (M/H-Processor Lines) Datasheet, Vol. 1.

Regards,

Amy.

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6 Replies
idata
Employee
5,827 Views

Hello BillMills,

You might need to check with Dell if this configuration is possible for your computer model. From my end, I can start by saying that Intel recommends straight connections only; according to the specification for the 4th generation processors you will be able to achieve the following display configurations;

See line 6 in the table, based on this your graphics controller should be able to achieve 3840x2160 @ 60 Hz using the eDP and the DP.

For further reference; http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/core/4th-gen-core-family-mobile-m-h-processor-lines-vol-1-datasheet.html Intel® Core™ Processors (M/H-Processor Lines) Datasheet, Vol. 1.

Regards,

Amy.

BBill12
Beginner
5,826 Views

Thank you for your reply Amy. I contacted Alienware/Dell tech support before posting this and their reply was no it can't because it's only on DP connector which to me meant there was a lack of understanding that the DP spec allows for more that one display to hang off of a DP output. I am not using the internal display on the laptop when the two external monitors are in use so I'm not sure if that means the bandwidth allocated to the eDP is then available for external DP connections. I found this on the VESA website which is what prompted the question:

http://www.vesa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/ICCE-Presentation-on-VESA-DisplayPort.pdf http://www.vesa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/ICCE-Presentation-on-VESA-DisplayPort.pdf

If you scroll to page 13 you can see an example of a DP 1.2 hub making use of the MST to support multiple monitors from one DP source but there is no mention of display resolution or refresh rate with that visual. The tables on pgs 18 & 19 would seem to indicate that you can only connect one 4K external display using DP but again, I'm not using the internal display so wasn't sure if that freed up any bandwidth for a second display. Sounds like the answer is it does not.

Best regards,

Bill Mills

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idata
Employee
5,826 Views

In general terms, the total amount of displays supported depends on the resolution, refresh rate and color depth set for each display along with the available bandwidth per each DisplayPort output. DisplayPort 1.2 max effective bandwidth for each DisplayPort 1.2 output is approximately 17.28 Gbps. Note: Standard is defined as 21.6 Gbps, but this is reduced due to necessary overhead.

One display at 4K@60hz takes approximately 15.93 Gbps in bandwidth, thus limiting the number of Displays at 4k@60hz on each physical ports to only 1. Onboard GPU also establishes a max # of supported displays. Haswell, Broadwell and Skylake familiies support a max 3 simultaneous displays.

Regards,

Amy.

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idata
Employee
5,826 Views

/thread/108209 BillMills,

I hope that my previous input helped you, and if you need further assistance let us know.

Regards,

Amy.

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spot8ball
New Contributor I
4,684 Views

I have an ASUS N550JK laptop computer.  HD Graphics via Intel HD 4600 and NVIDIA 850M.  Using only the Mini Display Port on the computer my system is able to have three separate displays on HP 27er monitors.  The key to this functionality is a MST device from an online supplier of this equipment.  The MST device has a single Mini Display Port input and three HDMI outputs.  I understand this is the system limit and I must disable the laptop's display to have this functionality. 

I need my computer to remain awake at night for after-market trading surprises and alarms.   With one exception, all is working well.  I have not been able to figure a way for the three external monitors to be put to sleep automatically using my Window's 10 functionality.  If I let the computer try to automatically put only the monitors to sleep, they will individually flash on and off every 10 seconds, saying there is no input signal.  If I let the system put the computer and the displays to sleep, it also interrupts the ethernet and drops the internet connection (even when Power Management of the REaltek PCle GbE controller is set to not allow the computer to turn off this device to save power).    After spending hours troubleshooting, messing with settings, and chatting with representatives from the MST manufacturer, Intel, and ASUS, my compromise workaround is to simply turn the monitors off using the buttons on the bezels.  It is amazing how effective are these three little button presses. 

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n_scott_pearson
Super User
4,672 Views

You're responding to an old conversation from 2016. I don't know why it is open for responses after all this time, but it shouldn't be.

Please open a new conversation using the Ask a Question button on the main Intel Communities scene. We will discuss your issue in that conversation.

...S

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