Gaming Laptop + External Monitor?

[Namana1806]

Hey! I need some advice from you guys! Right now I have a gaming laptop MSi GS60 (GTX 970M) and I use it for gaming and I work on it as well. And now I really want an external monitor. My laptop has a HDMI port and also a Mini Display Port. I have been thinking about buying a monitor (1920 x 1080 / 60hz) as it matches my laptop internal monitor. Is it worth buying a monitor with higher refresh rate especially for gaming? And is there any difference between HDMI and mDP? Because I read somewhere that HDMI is capped at 30hz or something like that I am not sure.

 

[Eldy]

Only buy a monitor that has a higher refresh rate if your laptop can run games at a high FPS. That is the only way you will tell the difference between a 60hz monitor and a 144hz monitor. If your laptop runs games at 50-60 fps, then i suggest getting a 60hz monitor.

 

[Namana1806]

Thanks for the reply. And what about the cable? HDMI or mDP?

 

[Eldy]

Thanks for the reply. And what about the cable? HDMI or mDP?

I recommend HDMI

 

[Namana1806]

Will there be a cap to 30 hz?

 

[smarthelp]

HDMI 2.0 increases the maximum TMDS per channel throughput from 3.4 Gbit/s to 6 Gbit/s which allows for a maximum total TMDS throughput of 18 Gbit/s. This allows HDMI 2.0 to carry 4K resolution at 60 frames per second (fps)
https/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI

 

[Namana1806]

But I think my laptop only supports 1.4

 

[Namana1806]

If I were to buy an external monitor with 1920x1080/60hz and use HDMI 1.4 will it limit to 30?

 

[Namana1806]

Anyone knows?

 

[smarthelp]

So. Lets get it clear. Your laptop have HDMI version 1.4, but i didn't found any information about exact version (1.4, 1.4a or 1.4b). The worst way you have simply 1.4, so your maximum resolution would be 4096×2160p/24 Hz and 1920×1080p/24 Hz in 3D mode. At 1920×1080p maximum refresh rate would be 120Hz.
So if you buy monitor with HDMI 1.4 it will work just fine on 1920×1080p/60Hz

If you going mDP. You have version 1.2. Maximum what you can get is 3840×2160/60 Hz or 2560×1600/120 Hz (it is also support 8k, but don't mind). mDP support
3D too, but it's another story.

 

[Namana1806]

Thank you for the explanation.

 

[JWMeister]

Only buy a monitor that has a higher refresh rate if your laptop can run games at a high FPS. That is the only way you will tell the difference between a 60hz monitor and a 144hz monitor. If your laptop runs games at 50-60 fps, then i suggest getting a 60hz monitor.

Hello! So I'm playing counter-strike: go with my laptop. I have like 50-60 fps and I know this laptop sucks for gaming pretty badly. I want to buy a desk computer for gaming but as I don't have the money for it at the moment would it help me with the fps to start by buying the monitor first? I actually am already using an external monitor but this is 60hz tv monitor. So if I would get a 120Hz or higher monitor would it help my fps at all?