Question

Difficulty: MediumDisplay Cables and Connectors

A digital artist reports that after upgrading to a high-end monitor capable of 4K resolution at a 144 Hz refresh rate, the display caps out at 1080p resolution and occasionally flickers. Upon inspection, the technician discovers the monitor is connected using a standard single-link DVI cable through a passive DVI-to-HDMI adapter into an older legacy video port on the workstation. Which TWO of the following solutions should the technician implement to enable full 4K resolution at 144 Hz? (Select TWO.)

  1. Connect the display using a native DisplayPort 1.4 or higher cable directly from the dedicated graphics card to the monitor.Answer
  2. B
    Replace the single-link DVI cable with a passive DVI-D to HDMI adapter while keeping the original DVI port connection.
  3. Connect the display using an Ultra High Speed HDMI 2.1 cable attached to a supported HDMI 2.1 output on the graphics card.Answer
  4. D
    Swap the DVI cable with a standard USB Type-C device charging cable connected to an available USB 2.0 host port.

Answer

To achieve 4K resolution at 144 Hz, the technician must replace the bottlenecked single-link DVI connection with either a native DisplayPort 1.4 (or higher) cable or an Ultra High Speed HDMI 2.1 cable connected to a compatible graphics card port.
High-resolution and high-refresh-rate displays such as 4K at 144 Hz require modern video standards capable of high bandwidth. DisplayPort 1.4 (and newer) as well as HDMI 2.1 provide the required throughput to support 4K@144Hz. Therefore, using a native DisplayPort 1.4+ cable or an Ultra High Speed HDMI 2.1 cable directly connected to a compatible graphics card interface correctly resolves the issue.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze video bandwidth requirements
Determined that 4K at 144 Hz requires high data throughput exceeding legacy DVI standards.
Single-link DVI is capped at 1920x1200 at 60 Hz, causing resolution drops and instability.
2
Evaluate modern display interfaces
Identified DisplayPort 1.4+ and HDMI 2.1 as supported interfaces for 4K 144 Hz video output.
Both interfaces provide the required throughput (up to 32.4 Gbps for DP 1.4 with DSC and 48 Gbps for HDMI 2.1).
3
Select correct cabling solutions
Chosen direct connections using DisplayPort 1.4+ or Ultra High Speed HDMI 2.1 cables without passive legacy adapters.
Direct connections eliminate adapter bottlenecks and ensure full feature set support.

Key Concept

Display Cable Bandwidth and Compatibility Standards
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