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How to get 4k on WinXP ?

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First post, by RJ8

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Hello there,

I got me an LG 55 inch 4k tv and i am in need to use it on Win XP/32,
I have tested many drivers beetween about 3.10 and 368xx with different Cards wich are GTX650/750/970 HDMI or Display Port->HDMI
For the 970 i manually added it to the driver installer.

All cards work fine on any driver with any resolution except 4k.
The nvidia control panel always shows 1080p as native resultion.
I can manually can add 3840x2160 or even crazy resolutions like 8000x4000, the 970 accepts this without problems, i then can swith
to that resolution, but it creates a huge desktop, 4 times larger then my TV, which i can pan around with the mouse but only 1080p.
Manual timing settings failed.
On WIn7/10 using HDMI this is not aproblem at all, the driver settings offer 4k resolutions to pick from and everything is fine, no further adjustments required.

Note: When testing an active Display Port to HDMI cable, XP suddenly sees a "3840x2160 native" TV, but not without.
(sadly that cable didnt work (on Win7/10 neither) black screen or PC crashing when selecting the entry.

Now here is my question, has anyone an idea how to force the driver to "recognize" the TV properly or how i can manipulate the registry in order to
get 4k out of this. All cards should at least provide 4k/30Hz, the 970 4k/60hz. The driver panel says "LG" but just doesnt see it as 4k display.

PLEASE do not lets start a discussion about XP , yes or no . Thanks 😉

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Reply 1 of 22, by DosFreak

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It's not a xp or monitor issue it's an nvidia driver issue.

With hdmi you are limited to 1080p and a color range issue (its possible the color issue is fixed with different driver versions) so use either displayport, dvi or vga.

With the 355.98 drivers (supports scaling since the monitor is not detected as a tv.....not sure what an actual tv would do) drivers you should be able to hit 85hz at 2560 and 30hz at 3840x1600. The xp nvidia drivers are limited to hbr1.

Don't use any converters to try to fix the issues but if you insist then make sure they are active and not passive.

Also if you are using a high refresh rate monitor then you will need to limit your refresh rate with refreshlock or similar (Or choose a "TV HD" resolution in the nvidia control panel) since many games will use the max refresh of the monitor so you will end up with black screens. You are best off using a monitor that has a max refresh that is supported for the resolution supported by the nvidia driver on xp.

If you have the capability of modifying the edid via the monitor, drivers or converter there may be some possibilities to fix the black screen issues. Don't bother with monitor drivers or registry settings unless you want to waste your time.

Disabling the extension block in the edid might also allow scaling in newer nvidia drivers than 355.88 by not showing a monitor as a tv....in theory.

Also you'll end up using safe mode alot to troubleshoot.

Supposedly AMD/ATI cards may have more success if you don't need/want more performance.

I think that's everything.....

Last edited by DosFreak on 2023-11-05, 14:43. Edited 2 times in total.

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Reply 2 of 22, by ElectroSoldier

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Using the nVidia drivers for a 750Ti and 960 I can get XP to do 4k on a 4k TV but in every case I use the DisplayPort connector to the HDMI imput on the TV.
This also works with the edited drivers for a 980Ti and Titan Xp.

Reply 3 of 22, by RJ8

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Hi there and thanks so far for your statements.

@electrosoldier

Are you using a passive or active cable ? If active, which one (there are so many and the one i have tried didnt work)
Which driver version exactly are you using ?

I was already looking for a possible Radoen solution, so if anyone has a working AMD Radeon 4k XP (60Hz if possible) , please also let me know!

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Reply 4 of 22, by Wanderer

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RJ8 wrote on 2023-11-05, 15:46:

I was already looking for a possible Radoen solution, so if anyone has a working AMD Radeon 4k XP (60Hz if possible) , please also let me know!

Hello RJ8!
I'm using an AMD card in Windows XP to output 3840x2160 @60 Hz signal via DisplayPort. Currently the card is an R7 360 with the iCafe driver, previously I used an HD 7750 with 14.4 driver, it was also working great.

AMD cards support DP 1.2 since GCN architecture, and XP drivers exist for GCN 1.0 and some GCN 2.0 cards. I am not sure what the most powerful XP option is. A quick Google search shows that the last XP cards were HD 7990 / R9 280X / R9 370X (and there is some controversy about 280X). Also, professional models up to FirePro W9000 have official XP support, and later FirePro models may work using the iCafe driver if the chip is supported. See this article for example: https://chipnetics.com/tutorials/amd-firepro- … -in-windows-xp/

Hope this helps!

P.S. I thought none of the NVidia cards could output 4k 60 Hz in XP, based on "Unsupported Features Under Windows XP" on page 5(8) of 368.81 release notes: http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/368.81/ … tes-updated.pdf

"Unsupported Features
 DisplayPort 1.2 functionality is not supported, including increased bandwidth (HBR2
mode) and multi-display streaming.
 4k × 2k @ 60 Hz tiled displays are not supported.
 G-SYNC technology
 NVIDIA Surround"

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-11-05, 14:32:

Using the nVidia drivers for a 750Ti and 960 I can get XP to do 4k on a 4k TV but in every case I use the DisplayPort connector to the HDMI imput on the TV.
This also works with the edited drivers for a 980Ti and Titan Xp.

@ElectroSoldier, do you get 4k 60 Hz or just 30 Hz?

Reply 5 of 22, by RJ8

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Important Question @Wanderer

Have you used a converter DP to HDMI, which cable, active / passive, or does your Display have a Display Port ? My LG has HDMI only thats why i am asking.

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Reply 6 of 22, by agent_x007

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Have a screen with 4k on GCN (DP to DP) and 3DMark 01SE score :

4k R9 280X WinXP SP3 x86.jpg
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Here's what I was able to do on NV DP-DP :

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Reply 7 of 22, by RJ8

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Interesting.
DP-> DP on a regular monitor should of corse work, but the thing is, will DP -> HDMI work on a 4k TV ?
Those older cards dont have HDMI2.0, so DP->HDMI (with or without active cable?) would be the only possble way.

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Reply 10 of 22, by Wanderer

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RJ8 wrote on 2023-11-05, 19:40:

IHave you used a converter DP to HDMI, which cable, active / passive, or does your Display have a Display Port ? My LG has HDMI only thats why i am asking.

My monitor has a Display Port. It also has an HDMI 2.0 input, so I could test it, but unfortunately I wasn't able to find any HDMI-DP adapters or cables at home.

Reply 11 of 22, by RJ8

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Thank you wanderer for the info, i guess i would need a passive adapter since nothing needs to be converted, DP 1,2 - HDMI 2,0 not shure though.

Ordered a used HD77070 today. It has HDMI1,4 but DP 1,2 in hope to get this to work.

------ > @ELEKTOSOLDIER

Please, have you overseen my Question ? This is so important to me
posting.php?mode=quote&f=46&p=1208758

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Reply 12 of 22, by ElectroSoldier

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RJ8 wrote on 2023-11-06, 08:21:
Thank you wanderer for the info, i guess i would need a passive adapter since nothing needs to be converted, DP 1,2 - HDMI 2,0 n […]
Show full quote

Thank you wanderer for the info, i guess i would need a passive adapter since nothing needs to be converted, DP 1,2 - HDMI 2,0 not shure though.

Ordered a used HD77070 today. It has HDMI1,4 but DP 1,2 in hope to get this to work.

------ > @ELEKTOSOLDIER

Please, have you overseen my Question ? This is so important to me
posting.php?mode=quote&f=46&p=1208758

Only Dual mode DP doesnt need an adapter, otherwise the signal and the voltage over the wire are different.

Reply 13 of 22, by RJ8

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This is all weird.

I used an active DP->HDMI cable on my GTX960 .
The Nvidia Driver says 2160p,3840x2160 native , when selecting it, XP crashes.
With a passive cable a get 1080p, 1920x1080 Native only.
Whan deactivating my TVs "Super Deptch Color" , the driver says (passive cable)
1080p , 3840x2160 native (which is crap of corse). When selecting it i get the same as
when using a custom 3840x2160 resolution with a super large desktop which i
can pan around with the mouse.

I assume 4k is not possible with Nvidia Cards at all on XP because the drivers
simply cant see 4k Tvs properly.

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Reply 14 of 22, by darry

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RJ8 wrote on 2023-11-08, 12:29:
This is all weird. […]
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This is all weird.

I used an active DP->HDMI cable on my GTX960 .
The Nvidia Driver says 2160p,3840x2160 native , when selecting it, XP crashes.
With a passive cable a get 1080p, 1920x1080 Native only.
Whan deactivating my TVs "Super Deptch Color" , the driver says (passive cable)
1080p , 3840x2160 native (which is crap of corse). When selecting it i get the same as
when using a custom 3840x2160 resolution with a super large desktop which i
can pan around with the mouse.

I assume 4k is not possible with Nvidia Cards at all on XP because the drivers
simply cant see 4k Tvs properly.

I am working on setting up a GTX 970 for use in a Windows XP VM. I was not planning on running in 4K, but I do have a 4K TV and a 4K capable active DP to HDMI converter, so I might test that.

I can say right away though that, at least on XP at 1080p, HDMI audio through the active DP converter only works at 48KHz. Direct HDMI works at 44.1KHz too. Both support multichannel Dolby Digital passthrough at 48KHz. Not sure if it's a driver or DP converter issue.

Reply 16 of 22, by darry

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My tests so far:

On Windows 10 running baremetal, I get 3840x2160@60Hz over HDMI without issues in 8-bit RGB. 12-bit YCbCr @ up to 4:2:2 subsampling always works in 3840x2160@60Hz

Trying to set anything 4K over direct HDMI in an XP VM with PCI passthrough to the GTX 970 crashes the VM .

Trying to set anything 4K over direct HDMI in a Windows 7 VM with PCI passthrough to the GTX 970 only allows choosing 30Hz .
EDIT: Windows 7 baremetal with driver 430.86 works fine in 3840x2160@60Hz over HDMI . Time to retest in the VM .
EDIT2 : Getting 4K at more than 30Hz in a Windows 7 VM with PCI passthrough to the GTX 970 does not seem to work for me . I've tried the usual Nvidia driver in A VM workaround shenanigans and nothing seems to help .

EDIT 3 : I'm giving up on trying to coax 4K from a GPU accessed from a Windows 7 VM as, TBH, I don't need it (I might try it Windows 10 for kicks eventually). Additionally, as I don't currently have easy access to anything capable of running Windows XP baremetal, I'm going to give on testing that as well .

This is the card that I have [1].

[1]
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/evga-gt … 0-acx-2-0.b3065

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Last edited by darry on 2023-11-09, 18:03. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 17 of 22, by RJ8

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@Elektrosoldier , would of corse be interesting !

---------------------------------------

I finally made my Xp 4k with a Radeon HD7700 for 5 Euro , a mini DP to DP Adapter and this https://www.alternate.de/Sharkoon/Adapterkabe … product/1847830
active DP->HDMI cable and Driver from 23.9.2013 v. 9.0.100.1800 which is either 13.9 or 13.12 . Driver install was critical, requires .Net 2.0, may refuse driver to install, in case select driver manually.
The installer puts the driver into C:/AMD . Navigate into ... packages/drivers/display/xp-inf and select it manually.
Note: The Active cable crashes XP with an Nvidia card, only seems to work under Win7 (10?) with Nvidia drivers.

Proudly running 3840x2160 60Hz now on XP/32 with an LG55UH8509 3D Tv !
Thanks everyone for your comments .

Last edited by RJ8 on 2023-11-09, 18:10. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 18 of 22, by darry

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RJ8 wrote on 2023-11-09, 16:39:
@Elektrosoldier , would of corse be interesting ! […]
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@Elektrosoldier , would of corse be interesting !

---------------------------------------

I finally made my Xp 4k with a Radeon HD7700 for 5 Euro , a mini DP to DP Adapter and this https://www.alternate.de/Sharkoon/Adapterkabe … product/1847830
active DP->HDMI cable and Driver from 23.9.2013 v. 9.0.100.1800 which is either 13.9 or 13.12 . Driver install was critical, requires .Net 2.0, may refuse driver to install, in case select driver manually.
The installer puts the driver into C:/AMD . Navigate into ... packages/drivers/display/xp-inf and select it manually.
Note: The Active cable crashes XP with an Nvidia card, only seems to work under Win7 (10?)

Proudly running 3840x2160 60Hz now on XP/32 with an LG55UH8509 3D Tv !
Thanks everyone for your comments .

Glad that you got it to work.

While the Radeon 7700 is not in the same league as the GTX 970, it is probably overkill enough for XP. I had tried a Radeon 7770 with an XP VM, when I just wanted to get pasthrough working, but as my first few attempts were making the host kernel barf itself, I gave up and went back to Nvidia.

Reply 19 of 22, by RayeR

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I'm just trying WinXP, GTX970 , Dell 27" 4k monitor via DP and HDMI and I cannot set greater mode than 2560x1440@60Hz. The 3840x2160 is listed but failed to set - go blank screen an monitor says no signal coming from DP. It has only 60Hz option. So I tried to add custom mode 3840x2160@30Hz but when I click Test it failed that not supported by my monitor. But Dell's manual explicitly says that 3840x2160 is supported @60 and 30Hz. I also tried modified drivers via HDMI (Yas hack) and doesn't work too, neither 30 nor 60Hz... 🙁

Gigabyte GA-P67-DS3-B3, Core i7-2600K @4,5GHz, 8GB DDR3, 128GB SSD, GTX970(GF7900GT), SB Audigy + YMF724F + DreamBlaster combo + LPC2ISA