1600x1200x60Hz is close to the bandwidth limit of single-link DVI @165MHz. Monitors with higher resolutions (up to 1920x1200) implement reduced blanking to allow it to fit inside the DVI 165MHz clock on a single link. The reduced blanking approach could also be used to allow higher refresh rate at 1600x1200, but maybe the 2007FP simply did not implement it?

dr_st wrote on 2020-08-24, 06:16:

1600x1200x60Hz is close to the bandwidth limit of single-link DVI @165MHz. Monitors with higher resolutions (up to 1920x1200) implement reduced blanking to allow it to fit inside the DVI 165MHz clock on a single link. The reduced blanking approach could also be used to allow higher refresh rate at 1600x1200, but maybe the 2007FP simply did not implement it?

It certainly does not implement 1600x1200@70Hz officially (not in EDID or mentioned in manual), but when "forced" using custom timings with reduced blanking (152MHz), it does display a picture, but skips frames .

The fact that, even at 800x600, an officially suported resolution at 75Hz that is present in EDID and well below 165Mhz (when using VESA timings) skips frames leads me to believe that this not a DVI issue, but simply a monitor limitation .

Philips 252B9 just came in. I actually received it before the order was even marked as processed or shipped ! It took less than 3 business days from order to delivery from a Best Buy third-party vendor (they ship from their own warehouse). I am impressed !

I should be running some tests this evening and will be reporting back .

darry wrote on 2020-08-24, 18:31:

Philips 252B9 just came in. I actually received it before the order was even marked as processed or shipped ! It took less than 3 business days from order to delivery from a Best Buy third-party vendor (they ship from their own warehouse). I am impressed !

I should be running some tests this evening and will be reporting back .

Great ! Just noticed it has: Hdmi 1. 4, DisplayPort 1. 2, DVI-D, & VGA inputs. That is really good !.
You guys make me want to test my (now older, 2016) Asus VS-228H-P only because it has HDMI, DVI-D and VGA. Also the manual states it has some of the old IBM/Mac modes built-in: 640x350 @ 70hz, 720x400 @ 70Hz, 640x480 60Hz, 640x480 67Hz, 640x480 75Hz which should work thru all inputs, according to the manual.

Philips 252B9 preliminary tests (over HDMI) results are in :

The "good" :
a) the 4:3 mode works like it should (including with 640x400 , 720x400 and their line-doubled versions)
b) 75Hz and 70Hz at 1600x1200 (reduced blanking) work without skipping frames (tested using vsynctester.com on an RTX2070) and though 70Hz is not in the monitor's EDID it works well when forced
c) As mentioned in a), OSSC's line-doubled modes work without issue, this includes 1200x800 ,1440x800 and 1280x960 at either 60Hz or 70Hz
d) 1600x1200@70Hz with reduced blanking thanks to a modded EDID on an EDId emulator works fine with my Geforce FX 5900

The "bad" :
e) When running at >60Hz at 1600x1200 , uniform surfaces are slightly textured . This not apparent at 60Hz or when running lower color depth DOS modes at 70Hz . My guess is that this is an FRC limitation on the panel when running high refresh rates (several 6-bit +FRC LG IPs panels I have display the same effect ).

The "ugly" :
f) The screen has one hot red sub-pixel about 5cm (2 inches) from the left and about 1cm (3/8 inch) from the bottom . According to the manual, this is within the "acceptable" limits for such defects, so no warranty claims can be made .

Verdict : Except for f) , this monitor is practically perfect for 4:3 retro needs when used with an OSSC and VGA source as well as, optionally, an FX 5900 with an EDID emulator for 70Hz .

Food for thought : I now have 2 monitors with, reputedly, the same model LCD panel. One has a sub-pixel defect but has a 4:3 mode whereas the other has a flawless panel but no 4:3 mode. Need I say more about what I'm thinking about ? 😀

darry wrote on 2020-08-25, 07:34:

Verdict : Except for f) , this monitor is practically perfect for 4:3 retro needs when used with an OSSC and VGA source as well as, optionally, an FX 5900 with an EDID emulator for 70Hz .

Many thanks for your testing and quick report, darry! 😀

I have noticed while testing a cheap Acer fullHD monitor with vsynctester.com at 1024x768 @ 60, 70 and 75 Hz that even though all three pass the test (VSYNC stays gray), the scrolling beach image looks worse in 70 Hz. It's hard to explain but the movement is not smooth, there is some kind of wobbling. I'm sorry I can't be any more precise, but it's very apparent when paying attention. So be careful in testing to also judge the smoothness of the beach image scrolling from right to left.

EDIT: BTW since you have a dead subpixel, can't you simply return the monitor to bestbuy? Where I live there is a small window where you can ask for a refund for any internet purchase and get your money back, no questions asked.

EDIT: how bad would you qualify the slightly textured look? is it a deal breaker or something you would consider acceptable? Also, am I correct to assume this monitor does not suffer from the "doubling of pixels" that you see with monitors that incorrectly sample 640x400 at 720x400?

cde wrote on 2020-08-25, 16:34:

Many thanks for your testing and quick report, darry! :) […]
Show full quote

darry wrote on 2020-08-25, 07:34:

Verdict : Except for f) , this monitor is practically perfect for 4:3 retro needs when used with an OSSC and VGA source as well as, optionally, an FX 5900 with an EDID emulator for 70Hz .

Many thanks for your testing and quick report, darry! 😀

I have noticed while testing a cheap Acer fullHD monitor with vsynctester.com at 1024x768 @ 60, 70 and 75 Hz that even though all three pass the test (VSYNC stays gray), the scrolling beach image looks worse in 70 Hz. It's hard to explain but the movement is not smooth, there is some kind of wobbling. I'm sorry I can't be any more precise, but it's very apparent when paying attention. So be careful in testing to also judge the smoothness of the beach image scrolling from right to left.

EDIT: BTW since you have a dead subpixel, can't you simply return the monitor to bestbuy? Where I live there is a small window where you can ask for a refund for any internet purchase and get your money back, no questions asked.

EDIT: how bad would you qualify the slightly textured look? is it a deal breaker or something you would consider acceptable? Also, am I correct to assume this monitor does not suffer from the "doubling of pixels" that you see with monitors that incorrectly sample 640x400 at 720x400?

Happy to brag about and describe my new toys . 😉

TBH, I did not really pay attention to the scrolling beach scene, but will do so in the future . My favourite way of testing smoothness visually is spinning in circles in Doom in a place where columns are visible . My visual test results have always correlated with PixPerAn and vsynctester.com results . I will re-test the 252B9 in vsynctester.com and post back results .

That being said, my guess for the beach scene scrolling looking wrong would be motion blur due to pixel transition times being too long rather than any frame skipping .

I bought the monitor from a third party seller on Best Buy's market place .The monitor was definitely factory new (sealed with Philips tape). Returning it would mean the risk of getting another one that may have a worse "normal" issue . As it stands, the issue is minor, IMHO (one sub-pixel at the edge of the screen), so I will likely just live with it, unless it gets worse . There is also the fact that returning the monitor would generate an opened-box item for the seller, through no fault of their own, due to my "whims" (I was aware of the Philips bad pixel policy, so I knew what might happen), which is something I like to avoid .

As for the textured look, I really do not care since I will only be running at 70Hz in DOS modes with low colour depth, where the effect is indiscernible .The effect is not present at all when running at 60Hz, at any colour depth). The best way to describe it would probably be something akin to dithering . I would post a photo, but it isn't something that is readily apparent in a photograph . It is not a deal-breaker for me .

Unfortunately, this monitor likely suffers from the 640x400 sampled as 720x400 over its VGA input (and resulting pixel doubling). I have never seen or heard of an LCD monitor that does not, so I have not bothered testing . I am using an OSSC with separate profiles for 640x400 and 720x400, which completely circumvents this issue .

EDIT: I put to rest my idea of swapping LCD panels . I had forgotten that modern LCD monitor shells use plastic clips instead of screws, so I won't be going that rabbit hole anytime soon and not unless I absolutely have to .

I just re-tested the Philips 252B9 at both 1600x1200@70Hz and 1920x1200@75Hz and also my Acer EB321HQ at 1920x1080@70Hz with vsynctester.com . In all cases, the beach scene scrolled very smoothly .

Off-topic: I will add that, IMHO, the Acer EB321HQ is a great and incredibly cheap (I got it at 230 CAN$ on special about a year and a half ago) 32-inch 2K IPS monitor. BOE makes some really nice but inexpensive panels . I can't find a datasheet for it, but it seems to handle 70Hz better than panels officially rated for it . Too bad it does not have a 4:3 mode .

darry wrote on 2020-08-25, 19:12:

I just re-tested the Philips 252B9 at both 1600x1200@70Hz and 1920x1200@75Hz and also my Acer EB321HQ at 1920x1080@70Hz with vsynctester.com . In all cases, the beach scene scrolled very smoothly .

Thank you darry. About the OSSC, is it able to handle gracefully the switch between 720x400@70 / 640x400@70 / 640x480@60 without user intervention? Such as switching from a game than runs at 60 Hz such as Jazz Jackrabbit to another game that runs at 70 Hz.

cde wrote on 2020-08-25, 19:22:

darry wrote on 2020-08-25, 19:12:

I just re-tested the Philips 252B9 at both 1600x1200@70Hz and 1920x1200@75Hz and also my Acer EB321HQ at 1920x1080@70Hz with vsynctester.com . In all cases, the beach scene scrolled very smoothly .

Thank you darry. About the OSSC, is it able to handle gracefully the switch between 720x400@70 / 640x400@70 / 640x480@60 without user intervention? Such as switching from a game than runs at 60 Hz such as Jazz Jackrabbit to another game that runs at 70 Hz.

OSSC switches gracefully and automatically between modes and refresh rates , except 640x400@70Hz and 720x400@70Hz which it does not distinguish, so manual intervention is required (2 button presses on remote to load a profile) in order to get proper sampling . AFAIK, no digitizer/scaler exists that can do this automatically, but I would love to be proven wrong .

Just wondering, how good is this Philips monitor if you do not have any of those 'extras' ?
(no OSSC nor Extron etc)

Will it work out of the box at 70hz and 720x400 ?
Without frameskipping ?

And same goes for say 800x600 or 1024x780, at 75hz ?

Do you NEED an EDID-adapter to get any of these settings... ?
(I know my 6800Gt AGP won't work properly at all at 720x400, shows only! as native 1920x1080 on my current monitor via VGA)
Not sure when/what GPU model these graphics card started to lose the ability to force regular DOS modes... (?)

bestemor wrote on 2020-08-25, 22:48:

Just wondering, how good is this Philips monitor if you do not have any of those 'extras' ? (no OSSC nor Extron etc) […]
Show full quote

Just wondering, how good is this Philips monitor if you do not have any of those 'extras' ?
(no OSSC nor Extron etc)

Will it work out of the box at 70hz and 720x400 ?
Without frameskipping ?

And same goes for say 800x600 or 1024x780, at 75hz ?

Do you NEED an EDID-adapter to get any of these settings... ?
(I know my 6800Gt AGP won't work properly at all at 720x400, shows only! as native 1920x1080 on my current monitor via VGA)
Not sure when/what GPU model these graphics card started to lose the ability to force regular DOS modes... (?)

The two main advantages of the Philips 252B9 are the presence of a proper 4:3 mode and support for non frame-skipping 70Hz over HDMI (and probably VGA as well) .
A third advantage that I just realized, is that it actually gives a picture (at 60Hz) over DVI/HDMI without and EDID emulator using a Geforce Fx 5900 . The Acer VW257's EDID makes the FX 5900 output a black screen, so an EDID emulator is required for the VW257 to work at all, in my setup at least .

As for your 6800GT , I am no sure I understand the issue . You get no picture over even VGA in DOS/BIOS ? With what monitor is that ? Support for 720x400@70Hz over VGA (frame-skip or not) was pretty much a given because, until UEFI came along, most PC BIOSes started in that mode . My guess is the monitor is the issue, not the video card, because the 6800GT is definitely from a time when 720x400@70Hz was still very relevant. I may dig up my Geforce 6600 at some point to run some more DOS tests .

I will attempt to answer your other questions :

a) If you want 70Hz output without frame-skipping on any monitor, the Extron DVI/HDMI 300 series are useless as they only output 60Hz, even with 70Hz input .
b) I did not (yet) test the Philips 252B9 VGA inputs. I might at some point in the future .
c) Without an OSSC, proper sampling of 640x400@70Hz as 640x400@70Hz instead of as 720x400270Hz will not be possible from a VGA source on any LCD monitor that I have heard . Not everybody notices this issue .
d) Without an EDID emulator, output at 70Hz from a DVI equipped video card will not be possible under DOS on practically any monitor .
e) I tested for frame-skipping at 70Hz and 75Hz at 1600x1200 and 1920x1200 using vsynctester.com and 1280x800 using my eyeballs (see my previously described Doom spinning test) and could see no issues . I am pretty convinced that no frame-skipping occurs at any 70Hz or 75Hz resolution up to and including native resolution .
f) To get 70Hz and 75Hz over DVI/HDMI under Windows 9x, something like PowerStrip will likely suffice . Doing 70Hz over DVI/HDMI under DOS will require a properly programmed EDID emulator .

Let me know if something is still unclear, unanswered or seems contradictory . Sorry about not having tested the VGA input yet , I hopefully will get to that at some point .

I dug up the XP machine and hooked it up to my Acer EB321HQ over HDMI to run some baseline tests first in the hope of doing so VGA testing on the Philips 252B9 .

Unfortunately vsynctester.com does not seem to work well with the last XP compatible versions of Firefox or Chrome (had to load it through archive.org to bypass the SSL issue Chrome was having with the site). Using either of those browsers, the graph indicates frame drops even before getting to the monitor, and that's at 1920x1080@60Hz . The machine is third or fourth generation Core i3 (2 cores) with a Geforce GTX750TI, so I doubt it's the CPU or GPU's fault, though for some reason I did not think of checking CPU load .

If it's not a CPU load issue, I might do a Windows 10 test install on a spare drive to have a usable testbed . Anyway, it's getting late here, so I will likely test more tomorrow .

I stumbled on a BenQ 27" BL2711u today at thrift store for cheap. The manual is very lacking details of it's modes, even the website does not help much. One reviewer said it will do 75Hz at 1920x1080 but I cannot get it above 60Hz no matter which input I choose (DVI-D, Hdmi1 1.2 and Hdmi2 2.0.). Can anyone find any good info on it ?

Horun wrote on 2020-08-27, 20:50:

I stumbled on a BenQ 27" BL2711u today at thrift store for cheap. The manual is very lacking details of it's modes, even the website does not help much. One reviewer said it will do 75Hz at 1920x1080 but I cannot get it above 60Hz no matter which input I choose (DVI-D, Hdmi1 1.2 and Hdmi2 2.0.). Can anyone find any good info on it ?

Wow ! You got a 4K 27-inch 10-bit IPS monitor at a thrift store ! Kudos!

Even if it is 60Hz only at native resolution, that thing is probably fantastic .

Supported resolutions and refresh rates are here :

EDIT : I can't make heads or tails of the tables in that document .

EDIT2 : I think you have to consider only the column that has the native resolution of the monitor (3840x2160 in this case, AFAIK) . IMHO, whoever wrote or approved this document needs re-training .

darry wrote on 2020-08-26, 00:42:

bestemor wrote on 2020-08-25, 22:48:

Just wondering, how good is this Philips monitor if you do not have any of those 'extras' ? (no OSSC nor Extron etc) […]
Show full quote

Just wondering, how good is this Philips monitor if you do not have any of those 'extras' ?
(no OSSC nor Extron etc)

Will it work out of the box at 70hz and 720x400 ?
Without frameskipping ?

And same goes for say 800x600 or 1024x780, at 75hz ?

Do you NEED an EDID-adapter to get any of these settings... ?
(I know my 6800Gt AGP won't work properly at all at 720x400, shows only! as native 1920x1080 on my current monitor via VGA)
Not sure when/what GPU model these graphics card started to lose the ability to force regular DOS modes... (?)

As for your 6800GT , I am no sure I understand the issue . You get no picture over even VGA in DOS/BIOS ? With what monitor is that ? Support for 720x400@70Hz over VGA (frame-skip or not) was pretty much a given because, until UEFI came along, most PC BIOSes started in that mode . My guess is the monitor is the issue, not the video card, because the 6800GT is definitely from a time when 720x400@70Hz was still very relevant. I may dig up my Geforce 6600 at some point to run some more DOS tests .

I mean, I play Doom (on DOS 6.22) on an older card, and I get 720x400 on that monitor.
But doing the same with a 6800GT, it suddenly shows as 1920x1080 instead. Although my memory might be a little bit fuzzy on the actual details, I DO remember it not showing the correct resolution anymore...

And NOTHING else has been changed in hardware or software, than that card. (on a Slot1 mobo)
Hence the monitor is fine, and I blame the card, which for some strange reason is suddenly chosing to force native(monitor) resolution only.
So perhaps a VGA EDID emulator would fix that (?).

d) Without an EDID emulator, output at 70Hz from a DVI equipped video card will not be possible under DOS on practically any monitor .
f) To get 70Hz and 75Hz over DVI/HDMI under Windows 9x, something like PowerStrip will likely suffice . Doing 70Hz over DVI/HDMI under DOS will require a properly programmed EDID emulator .

To clarify, I am mostly talking about over VGA. Because of said problems with that 6800GT.
But if an EDID emulator fixes this(AND the proper resolution!), both on VGA and HDMI, then great... 😁
(any suggestions of an idiot proof, easy to use, reasonably priced, and actually obtainable model? VGA or HDMI or DVI)

- Sadly I really know very little about any of these things, programming EDID or anything else 'fancy' - still want my monitor(s) to show 720x400@70hz though, somehow...
Basically trying to 'future proof' for the time when my VGA monitors die... as well as fixing some current issues.

What could a combo of Extron 300 DVI + EDID VGA emulator do I wonder ?
(VGA card->emulator->Extron->monitor, or do we need an DVI/HMDI EDID emulator after the Extron instead ?)

bestemor wrote on 2020-08-28, 01:13:

I mean, I play Doom (on DOS 6.22) on an older card, and I get 720x400 on that monitor. But doing the same with a 6800GT, it sud […]
Show full quote

darry wrote on 2020-08-26, 00:42:

bestemor wrote on 2020-08-25, 22:48:

Just wondering, how good is this Philips monitor if you do not have any of those 'extras' ? (no OSSC nor Extron etc) […]
Show full quote

Just wondering, how good is this Philips monitor if you do not have any of those 'extras' ?
(no OSSC nor Extron etc)

Will it work out of the box at 70hz and 720x400 ?
Without frameskipping ?

And same goes for say 800x600 or 1024x780, at 75hz ?

Do you NEED an EDID-adapter to get any of these settings... ?
(I know my 6800Gt AGP won't work properly at all at 720x400, shows only! as native 1920x1080 on my current monitor via VGA)
Not sure when/what GPU model these graphics card started to lose the ability to force regular DOS modes... (?)

As for your 6800GT , I am no sure I understand the issue . You get no picture over even VGA in DOS/BIOS ? With what monitor is that ? Support for 720x400@70Hz over VGA (frame-skip or not) was pretty much a given because, until UEFI came along, most PC BIOSes started in that mode . My guess is the monitor is the issue, not the video card, because the 6800GT is definitely from a time when 720x400@70Hz was still very relevant. I may dig up my Geforce 6600 at some point to run some more DOS tests .

I mean, I play Doom (on DOS 6.22) on an older card, and I get 720x400 on that monitor.
But doing the same with a 6800GT, it suddenly shows as 1920x1080 instead. Although my memory might be a little bit fuzzy on the actual details, I DO remember it not showing the correct resolution anymore...

And NOTHING else has been changed in hardware or software, than that card. (on a Slot1 mobo)
Hence the monitor is fine, and I blame the card, which for some strange reason is suddenly chosing to force native(monitor) resolution only.
So perhaps a VGA EDID emulator would fix that (?).

d) Without an EDID emulator, output at 70Hz from a DVI equipped video card will not be possible under DOS on practically any monitor .
f) To get 70Hz and 75Hz over DVI/HDMI under Windows 9x, something like PowerStrip will likely suffice . Doing 70Hz over DVI/HDMI under DOS will require a properly programmed EDID emulator .

To clarify, I am mostly talking about over VGA. Because of said problems with that 6800GT.
But if an EDID emulator fixes this(AND the proper resolution!), both on VGA and HDMI, then great... 😁
(any suggestions of an idiot proof, easy to use, reasonably priced, and actually obtainable model? VGA or HDMI or DVI)

- Sadly I really know very little about any of these things, programming EDID or anything else 'fancy' - still want my monitor(s) to show 720x400@70hz though, somehow...
Basically trying to 'future proof' for the time when my VGA monitors die... as well as fixing some current issues.

What could a combo of Extron 300 DVI + EDID VGA emulator do I wonder ?
(VGA card->emulator->Extron->monitor, or do we need an DVI/HMDI EDID emulator after the Extron instead ?)

So the 6800GT does display a picture over VGA when running Doom, but the monitor says it's getting 1920x1080, correct ? If that is the case, I would think that the video card is upscaling 720x400 (actually 640x400, but the monitor interprets as 720x400) to 1920x1080 over VGA, which surprises me . Are you sure you weren't running over DVI, because that would be the expected behaviour in that case ? I have never seen an Nvidia card upscale over VGA, but then again, I have not used Nvidia VGA outputs in a very long time .

As mentioned before, the Extron 300 family will force everything to 60 Hz and there is no way around that . If that is not an issue for you, it is one of the best, cheapest and simplest scaling solutions available . When using an Extron 300 family scaler/digitizer, VGA and DVI/HDMI EDID emulators are useless . The Extron lets you override DVI/HDMI EDID on its output and I do not see why you would need an EDID emulator on its VGA input .

To make it easier to understand what you need/want, allow me to ask you some questions .

a) What video card(s) do you intend to use and what output(s) do(es) it/they have ?
b) Do you already have an LCD monitor lined up for use in a retro setup (which model ?) or are you planning on purchasing one (now or when your CRT(s) dies(s) ) ?
c) Is maintaining 70Hz in DOS games important for you or would conversion to 60Hz be acceptable ?
d) Does the uneven scaling/digitization of 640x400 (line doubled 320x200) as 720x400 by essentially all LCD monitors over VGA input bother you ?
e) Does having 4:3 resolutions stretched to 16:9 or 16:10 on a widescreen monitor bother you or not ?
f) When running over DVI/HDMI, Nvidia cards typically upscale to a monitor's native resolution but the result is rather soft looking. Does this bother you ?

I know this is a lot of questions, but it will help a lot if these points can be cleared up first . I went through a lot of rather expensive trial and error and after the fact realizations about what I wanted and would like to help you avoid that . If some of these points seem unclear or gibberish, do not hesitate to ask for clarification .

darry wrote on 2020-08-28, 00:54:

Wow ! You got a 4K 27-inch 10-bit IPS monitor at a thrift store ! Kudos! Even if it is 60Hz only at native resolution, that thi […]
Show full quote

Horun wrote on 2020-08-27, 20:50:

I stumbled on a BenQ 27" BL2711u today at thrift store for cheap. The manual is very lacking details of it's modes, even the website does not help much. One reviewer said it will do 75Hz at 1920x1080 but I cannot get it above 60Hz no matter which input I choose (DVI-D, Hdmi1 1.2 and Hdmi2 2.0.). Can anyone find any good info on it ?

Wow ! You got a 4K 27-inch 10-bit IPS monitor at a thrift store ! Kudos!
Even if it is 60Hz only at native resolution, that thing is probably fantastic .

Supported resolutions and refresh rates are here :
BL2711U_RF_EN.pdf

EDIT : I can't make heads or tails of the tables in that document .
EDIT2 : I think you have to consider only the column that has the native resolution of the monitor (3840x2160 in this case, AFAIK) . IMHO, whoever wrote or approved this document needs re-training .

Sorry to break cause it sounds like Bestmor needs more help than me.
Thank you ! I could not really make out what the simpler chart on the web I found was implying either, your Docu has a much better chart than what I saw. Agree with your Edit#2 ! One thing I think I figured out is that there appears to be two EDID tables built in to the monitor. One for UHD/HD modes and one for PC Modes (even though it has no PC DB15 input). I can see both using the HDMI 2.0 port to my GTX 960 ! Have never seen that on any of my 1080P monitors yet but maybe just did not notice. Here is what I slowly collected using the Nvidia Control Panel v8.1 testing many as I went thru them, they all seem to work but some seem ridiculous to include except for PAL and backward compatibilty.....Have not gone thru the DVI-D res and vert's yet. It does not appear to do 720x400 Text Mode but can see BIOS boot screen and read BIOS (but is a z370 based, and does Auto do HD for BIOS view)
Thru HDMI 2
UHD, HD,SD modes:
Res: Vert:
4kx2k, 3840x2160 60, 59, 30, 29, 25
4kx2k, 2560x1600 59, 30, 29, 25
4kx2k, 2048x1553 59, 30, 29, 25
1080p, 1920x1080 60, 59, 50, 24, 23
1080i, 1920x1080 30, 29, 25
1080i, 1768x992 30, 29, 25
720p, 1280x720 60, 59, 50
720p, 1176x664 60, 59, 50
576p, 720x576 50
480p, 720x480 60, 59

PC Modes:
Res: Vert
3840x2160 60
2560x1600 60
2560x1440 60
1920x1200 60
1680x1050 60
1600x1200 60
1600x1024 60
1600x900 60
1360x768 60
1360x768 60
1280x1024 75, 60
1280x960 75, 60
1280x800 60
1280x768 60
1152x864 60
1024x768 60
800x600 75, 60

One thing interesting is that it has a Display Mode in the Menu which I can set to 1:1, Full and a few other things. Also has a Overscan enable/disable . Here is the link I posted about getting this thing:
Re: Bought this (Modern) hardware today

added: I do not think it is 4:3 PC capable without a OSSC/adapter and setting the menu options properly but am not sure. Maybe you have run into a similar monitor and know how to set it up proper for old PC's. Yes I know it has only Digital Inputs so an OSSC or similar with Analog in's would be needed if hooked up to an old PC and expected to see anything of value 😀

Horun wrote on 2020-08-28, 02:22:

Sorry to break cause it sounds like Bestmor needs more help than me. Thank you ! I could not really make out what the simpler c […]
Show full quote

darry wrote on 2020-08-28, 00:54:

Wow ! You got a 4K 27-inch 10-bit IPS monitor at a thrift store ! Kudos! Even if it is 60Hz only at native resolution, that thi […]
Show full quote

Horun wrote on 2020-08-27, 20:50:

I stumbled on a BenQ 27" BL2711u today at thrift store for cheap. The manual is very lacking details of it's modes, even the website does not help much. One reviewer said it will do 75Hz at 1920x1080 but I cannot get it above 60Hz no matter which input I choose (DVI-D, Hdmi1 1.2 and Hdmi2 2.0.). Can anyone find any good info on it ?

Wow ! You got a 4K 27-inch 10-bit IPS monitor at a thrift store ! Kudos!
Even if it is 60Hz only at native resolution, that thing is probably fantastic .

Supported resolutions and refresh rates are here :
BL2711U_RF_EN.pdf

EDIT : I can't make heads or tails of the tables in that document .
EDIT2 : I think you have to consider only the column that has the native resolution of the monitor (3840x2160 in this case, AFAIK) . IMHO, whoever wrote or approved this document needs re-training .

Sorry to break cause it sounds like Bestmor needs more help than me.
Thank you ! I could not really make out what the simpler chart on the web I found was implying either, your Docu has a much better chart than what I saw. Agree with your Edit#2 ! One thing I think I figured out is that there appears to be two EDID tables built in to the monitor. One for UHD/HD modes and one for PC Modes (even though it has no PC DB15 input). I can see both using the HDMI 2.0 port to my GTX 960 ! Have never seen that on any of my 1080P monitors yet but maybe just did not notice. Here is what I slowly collected using the Nvidia Control Panel v8.1 testing many as I went thru them, they all seem to work but some seem ridiculous to include except for PAL and backward compatibilty.....Have not gone thru the DVI-D res and vert's yet. It does not appear to do 720x400 Text Mode but can see BIOS boot screen and read BIOS (but is a z370 based, and does Auto do HD for BIOS view)
Thru HDMI 2
UHD, HD,SD modes:
Res: Vert:
4kx2k, 3840x2160 60, 59, 30, 29, 25
4kx2k, 2560x1600 59, 30, 29, 25
4kx2k, 2048x1553 59, 30, 29, 25
1080p, 1920x1080 60, 59, 50, 24, 23
1080i, 1920x1080 30, 29, 25
1080i, 1768x992 30, 29, 25
720p, 1280x720 60, 59, 50
720p, 1176x664 60, 59, 50
576p, 720x576 50
480p, 720x480 60, 59

PC Modes:
Res: Vert
3840x2160 60
2560x1600 60
2560x1440 60
1920x1200 60
1680x1050 60
1600x1200 60
1600x1024 60
1600x900 60
1360x768 60
1360x768 60
1280x1024 75, 60
1280x960 75, 60
1280x800 60
1280x768 60
1152x864 60
1024x768 60
800x600 75, 60

One thing interesting is that it has a Display Mode in the Menu which I can set to 1:1, Full and a few other things. Also has a Overscan enable/disable . Here is the link I posted about getting this thing:
Re: Bought this (Modern) hardware today

added: I do not think it is 4:3 PC capable without a OSSC/adapter and setting the menu options properly but am not sure. Maybe you have run into a similar monitor and know how to set it up proper for old PC's. Yes I know it has only Digital Inputs so an OSSC or similar with Analog in's would be needed if hooked up to an old PC and expected to see anything of value 😀

AFAIK, most recent HDMI capable monitors have a a 256-byte EDID divided into a base 128-byte block that contains traditional PC resolutions and an extended 128-byte block that contains more video-centric and higher resolutions and audio capabilities (if any ) .

The lack of of 720x400/640x400 and integer multiples at 70Hz in the EDID is not necessarily the end of the world either as the resolutions may still work nonetheless . Most (all?) recent Nvidia based cards upscale their output to the monitor's native (according to EDID) resolution anyway in DOS, so this will only be an issue if forcing a custom native resolution using an EDID emulator or using OSSC .

Since you don't have a 4:3 mode, even with an OSSC, you will not be able to have proper aspect ratio either unless the out-spec 640x400@70Hz-->1600x1200@70Hz happens to work on the OSSC unit you might get AND the monitor accepts 1600x1200@70Hz WITHOUT reduced blanking (189MHz). I would not take that chance, personally .

If I were you, I would run the following tests using the hardware you already have (modern PC).

a) Using Nvidia custom modes in Windows, do 1600x1200@60Hz and 1600x1200@70Hz (with reduced blanking AND without reduced blanking) actually display in 4:3 ratio using 1:1 aspect in the monitor menu
b) Assuming a) works at 70Hz , is there any frame-skipping using vsynctester.com ?
c) Using Nvidia custom modes in Windows, do 640x400@70Hz , 720x400@70Hz , 1280x800@70Hz and 1440x800@70Hz work (a horizontally stretched image is expected) ?
d) Assuming c) works , is there any frame-skipping using vsynctester.com ?

Proper 4:3 aspect ratio options :

1) Assuming a) works at 70Hz with reduced blanking, at proper aspect ratio, without frame-skip (b) AND you use an Nvidia FX series card with an discrete TMDS chip, your best bet, IMHO, for now, is an EDID emulator like in 70Hz in pure DOS at 1600x1200 (or other) over DVI on an old card (FX5900) with modern monitor is possible or cde's DIY solution [HOWTO] Running DOS games natively with perfect 4:3 aspect ratio @ 70 Hz over DVI The disadvantage to this method is the rather soft Nvidia scaling . Note : 1600x1200@70Hz is an example, a lower resolution might work better: you would need to test a) and b) accordingly.

2) Assuming a) works only at 60Hz or there is frame-skip at 70Hz (b) or you are not using a retro Nvidia FX series video card with a discrete TMDS, IMHO, your best bet for now is an Extron DVI or HDMI 300 unit connected to VGA output of your video card and with the output set to 1600x1200@60Hz . Note : 1600x1200@60Hz is an example, a lower resolution might work better: you would need to test a) and b) accordingly.

Stretched aspect ratio options :

3) Assuming at least one of the modes in c) works, ideally without frame-skipping (d) AND you don't mind a horizontally stretched image, an OSSC becomes an option . It will preserve 70Hz (if your monitor is capable) and offer a sharper image than Nvidia's scaling would .

POTENTIAL IDEAL SOLUTION :

An OSSC Pro will allow sharp integer scaling while also allowing decoupling of input and output timings, which OSSC cannot do . Scaling to an integer 4:3 multiple of 320x200 (1600x1200) should be a possibility and I imagine that frame rate conversion might also be possible . We will have to wait and see.

TLDR : IMHO, a monitor with 70Hz capability and a 4:3 mode is probably best for retro use .

Thanks ! Will do some deeper testing tomorrow nite or Saturday on the a thru d you suggest and see what happens. If it works out OK will proceed to 1 thru 3. Do you know of any good Utilities that can read the EDID thru Windows? This one is way more advanced than the other ones have played with and am somewhat lost, guess if I got a Phillips or Acer like yours would be even more lost 😀 Thanks again.