Accessory Portable LCD monitors for work and gaming, recommendations?

[AcquaCow]

I promise you, there's a HUGE difference between USB 2.0 and 3.0 bandwidth and that will translate into FPS performance.

You also have to have a fast enough GPU in your laptop/PC in order to be able to render those frames that fast... USB 3.0 with a slow integrated GPU will be terrible.

I suppose I could benchmark it at usb 3.0 native, and then attach it through a usb 2.0 hub and compare.

 

[Reldey]

I promise you, there's a HUGE difference between USB 2.0 and 3.0 bandwidth and that will translate into FPS performance.

You also have to have a fast enough GPU in your laptop/PC in order to be able to render those frames that fast... USB 3.0 with a slow integrated GPU will be terrible.

I suppose I could benchmark it at usb 3.0 native, and then attach it through a usb 2.0 hub and compare.

That would be great if you feel like it. Some idea of where the bottleneck lies might help people a lot.

 

[AcquaCow]

I even have a USB to DVI displaylink adapter, so I could test that with a normal monitor attached. Not sure if it's usb2 or usb3 though.

 

[AcquaCow]

Alright, so here we go....

I tried furmark, but it has no vsync option, so it was just running at the max my GPU would put out.

Definitely using my GPU:

Then I switched to Heaven and noticed similar with no vsync:

Enabling vsync brought me down to 60fps:

And photo proof of the 60fps so you can see it's still the displaylink monitor:

Using a USB 2.0 port brought me down to 30FPS with vsync:

I also tried going through the usb hub in my keyboard and monitor.
Keyboard hub got me 30fps (I think it's usb 3 to usb 2), and turning the monitor to max brightness ran it out of power causing the port to be reset on my mobo.
Monitor usb 3 hub didn't have enough power to even turn the display on.

-- Dave

 

[AcquaCow]

Oh, also... Once you have the driver installed, you can boot and use the display link monitor as your only monitor.

I have a server setup like that at home.

 

[shreebles]

Thanks for the in-depth report, AcquaCow. I recently ordered a gaming notebook because I didn't think gaming on a USB monitor would be possible. Maybe I'll have to re-phrase this however. It seems it's not possible with my monitor.
For what it's worth, I have the successor to your monitor, the MB16AC.
It makes no sense but it seems that its USB3 performance is degraded compared to its predecessor. While it offers USB-C connectivity, it can still be connected to a USB3 Type A port with the included adapter.

Performance over USB-C with DisplayPort is fine, but only uses integrated graphics as no dedicated GPU with a Type-C Displayport exists (yet).
I can connect it to a motherboard with USB3 (Windows 10 and DisplayLink drivers installed). FPS are high, but mouse movement is extremely choppy and the Nvidia control panel tells me that no Display is connected to the GPU.

I even bought a new Mobo with Thunderbolt thinking that it would solve my problem. Nope, no image at all as that machine had a dGPU and the Thunderbolt port isn't connected to it. I didn't test without dGPU but would assume that that would've worked as that would connect the monitor to the dGPU, but not what my goal was.

So, apparently the MB169B+ is the better option when using USB3, as the MB16AC will either not get dGPU acceleration or will be extremely choppy.

Oh, also... Once you have the driver installed, you can boot and use the display link monitor as your only monitor.

I have a server setup like that at home.

Using only USB3 with the MB16AC and no other monitor connected results in having no image until Windows has booted and the DisplayDriver is loaded.

 

[Reldey]

Thanks for the in-depth report, AcquaCow. I recently ordered a gaming notebook because I didn't think gaming on a USB monitor would be possible. Maybe I'll have to re-phrase this however. It seems it's not possible with my monitor.
For what it's worth, I have the successor to your monitor, the MB16AC.
It makes no sense but it seems that its USB3 performance is degraded compared to its predecessor. While it offers USB-C connectivity, it can still be connected to a USB3 Type A port with the included adapter.

Performance over USB-C with DisplayPort is fine, but only uses integrated graphics as no dedicated GPU with a Type-C Displayport exists (yet).
I can connect it to a motherboard with USB3 (Windows 10 and DisplayLink drivers installed). FPS are high, but mouse movement is extremely choppy and the Nvidia control panel tells me that no Display is connected to the GPU.

I even bought a new Mobo with Thunderbolt thinking that it would solve my problem. Nope, no image at all as that machine had a dGPU and the Thunderbolt port isn't connected to it. I didn't test without dGPU but would assume that that would've worked as that would connect the monitor to the dGPU, but not what my goal was.

So, apparently the MB169B+ is the better option when using USB3, as the MB16AC will either not get dGPU acceleration or will be extremely choppy.

There could be some driver weirdness going on here...

 

[shreebles]

There could be some driver weirdness going on here...

I don't doubt it!
But what's a man going to do other than using the latest drivers that are supplied by the manufacturers of the products he is using?
Is there secretly a better DisplayLink driver out there?

 

[Reldey]

I don't doubt it!
But what's a man going to do other than using the latest drivers that are supplied by the manufacturers of the products he is using?
Is there secretly a better DisplayLink driver out there?

Have you double checked your laptop drivers, maybe there is a USB controller update? Long shot, but worth a check.

 

[shreebles]

Have you double checked your laptop drivers, maybe there is a USB controller update? Long shot, but worth a check.

Not using a Laptop for gaming at the moment! The issue is solely getting it to work with my gaming PC.

I just checked for my Mobo but there are no USB drivers in there. As far as I know USB3 drivers are supplied by the OS in the case of Windows 8 and newer.

 

[AcquaCow]

FPS are high, but mouse movement is extremely choppy and the Nvidia control panel tells me that no Display is connected to the GPU.

Oh, you won't see it in your nvidia control panel, because it is not in any way physically connected to the GPU.

It doesn't show up in my Nvidia control panel either:

It does show up in windows of course:

Using only USB3 with the MB16AC and no other monitor connected results in having no image until Windows has booted and the DisplayDriver is loaded.

I have the same behavior, but that's completely expected, given that the driver is the communications layer to the display.

These may be of interest to you:
https://support.displaylink.com/kno...-windows-applications-do-displaylink-displays

https://support.displaylink.com/for...x-some-applications-not-running-on-laptop-gpu

Could be an issue with your primary video hardware being the integrated GPU. You may have to disable it in order to get accel with your better GPU.

-- Dave

 

[Reldey]

Oh, you won't see it in your nvidia control panel, because it is not in any way physically connected to the GPU.

It doesn't show up in my Nvidia control panel either:

It does show up in windows of course:

I have the same behavior, but that's completely expected, given that the driver is the communications layer to the display.

These may be of interest to you:
https://support.displaylink.com/kno...-windows-applications-do-displaylink-displays

https://support.displaylink.com/for...x-some-applications-not-running-on-laptop-gpu

Could be an issue with your primary video hardware being the integrated GPU. You may have to disable it in order to get accel with your better GPU.

-- Dave

Interesting. So the DisplayLink software could be attempting to utilize the integrated vs dedicated GPU? Never thought about that. Thanks for all of your research.

 

[Biowarejak]

Yep, I believe you can fix that in Nvidia Control Panel by forcing certain programs to utilize the GPU, or if its an option you can disable the iGPU in the Bios.

 

[b0bby199]

I've got the magedok 156a 4k 15.6 inch. It isn't usb powered but has usb c. I've ordered a usb c power bank to power it. I've had it three days so i haven't properly tested as such. I haven't messed with the colors. Image quality looks good. Speakers are tinny but accetable for the size of it. Less than 1cm thickness. You could always use external speakers anyway.
Gaming on it seems good to me not sure what input lag it has. Response time in the manual says 10ms, so i don't know how that relates to input lag.
Biggest critism is the stand, i've managed to drop it twice already so i've ordered a vesa foldable stand from amazon.

 

[gunpalcyril]

I've got the magedok 156a 4k 15.6 inch. It isn't usb powered but has usb c. I've ordered a usb c power bank to power it. I've had it three days so i haven't properly tested as such. I haven't messed with the colors. Image quality looks good. Speakers are tinny but accetable for the size of it. Less than 1cm thickness. You could always use external speakers anyway.
Gaming on it seems good to me not sure what input lag it has. Response time in the manual says 10ms, so i don't know how that relates to input lag.
Biggest critism is the stand, i've managed to drop it twice already so i've ordered a vesa foldable stand from amazon.

Nice, I've had my eye on it, mostly just the 13.3" version. How long did shipping take to get to you? If this is a viable option, gechic can finally kiss my ass for over-inflated prices on their monitors.

 

[b0bby199]

Delivery took 8 days to uk. Took awhile to process the order because of chinese new year.
I recently quit smoking so had some extra cash and had a few beers in me. I ordered the 13.3 as well. Alcohol and shopping don't mix lol.
Thats the reason i never ordered the gechic. I've got two monitors the price of one of theirs.
I'll post my thoughts on the 1440p monitor when it arrives.

 

[Lunaray]

EDIT: Realized it was a rather superfluous question - removed.

 

[Nightblade]

@Lunaray All kinds of monitors that have been suggested that fit your "preferences" in this thread. It helps to look through what people have already suggested.

That being said, I got a 15" monitor that's 1080p That I ordered from Amazon. I ordered it last week, so it should be here by the end of this week, and I plan on writing a short review on it. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0798JHYGX/?tag=theminutiae-20

I found that looking on aliexpress seems to have the most available for the type of portable monitor you are looking for.

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesal...19&SearchText=15.6+inch+IPS+monitor+1920+1080

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesal...312161211&SearchText=17.3+inch+IPS+monitor+4k

Or you can try looking on Taobao, though there already is a thread on this....

 

[Lunaray]

@Lunaray All kinds of monitors that have been suggested that fit your "preferences" in this thread. It helps to look through what people have already suggested.

That being said, I got a 15" monitor that's 1080p That I ordered from Amazon. I ordered it last week, so it should be here by the end of this week, and I plan on writing a short review on it. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0798JHYGX/?tag=theminutiae-20

I found that looking on aliexpress seems to have the most available for the type of portable monitor you are looking for.

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesal...19&SearchText=15.6+inch+IPS+monitor+1920+1080

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesal...312161211&SearchText=17.3+inch+IPS+monitor+4k

Or you can try looking on Taobao, though there already is a thread on this....

Thanks for the response. I did read through this entire thread. I'll have a look at aliexpress and Taobao. Thanks.

 

[VegetableStu]

mmm i'll find a lazy day to collate whatever's mentioned thus far, including DIY options