Graphics a little sluggish on 4K display

[delingren]

So I have this two year old build with an i7 6700K 4.0GHz CPU, Gigabyte Z170 motherboard, 16GB RAM. Not lightening fast, but should be pretty OK. Since I don't play games or run any graphics software, I opted in for a low-ish end fanless video card: GeForce 730 with 4G memory. I thought it'd be sufficient for day to day job. I mostly just run Xcode and Safari. However, it seems that it's a little sluggish whenever I try to move windows around, not even as smooth as my 4 year old MacBook Air. I wondered if the card was powerful enough to drive a 4K display but it seemed OK when I ran Windows. I checked System Information and it looks like it's running at 30Hz. I wonder if that was the reason. According to the specs of the video card and the monitor, they both support 60Hz at 4K. Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[pastrychef]

So I have this two year old build with an i7 6700K 4.0GHz CPU, Gigabyte Z170 motherboard, 16GB RAM. Not lightening fast, but should be pretty OK. Since I don't play games or run any graphics software, I opted in for a low-ish end fanless video card: GeForce 730 with 4G memory. I thought it'd be sufficient for day to day job. I mostly just run Xcode and Safari. However, it seems that it's a little sluggish whenever I try to move windows around, not even as smooth as my 4 year old MacBook Air. I wondered if the card was powerful enough to drive a 4K display but it seemed OK when I ran Windows. I checked System Information and it looks like it's running at 30Hz. I wonder if that was the reason. According to the specs of the video card and the monitor, they both support 60Hz at 4K. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Maybe you can try using the Intel HD 530 graphics? The only problem with that is that you may lose the ability to sleep. But, your system will probably consume a bit less power...

I recently read an article about the Intel UHD 630 and it outperformed the GT 730, at least in PassMark.

Source: https://www.techcenturion.com/intel-uhd-graphics-630

 

[delingren]

Hmm, interesting to know intel 530 ain’t that bad. Looks like my motherboard supports 4K @ 60Hz only through DP but not HDMI. Let me try to find a DP cable and give it a try.
Sleeping isn’t that big of a deal. At least it’s something I can live without.
Thanks!

 

[delingren]

Ha, I found an nVidia Quadro K2200 card from my company's PC recycle bin. Googled it, and it turned out it to be a pretty decent workstation video card. Plugged it in my hack, downloaded nVidia web driver, and it worked perfectly at 4K @ 60Hz via DisplayPort. Yay!