Introduction
I recently bought a HP Pavilion Gaming Monitor 32″ QHD (2560 x 1440) and plugged it into my old 2011 Sony Vaio laptop with an Nvidia GeForce GT 330M, only to find that the max resolution reported by Windows 10 was 1920 x 1080 😪. The specs for the GeForce GT 330 clearly state the max resolution supported is 2560 x 1600, so what was the problem?
1. Graphics Card and Monitor Spec
Firstly, go to the NVIDA website, search for your graphics card and make sure that the custom resolution you require is listed in the specifications.
Also check your monitor manufacturer’s website for your monitor specs and ensure it also supports the custom resolution you require.
2. HDMI Cable
In my experience, not all HDMI cables are equal! I’ve had problems before with cheap HDMI cables not meeting certain audio and video specifications. If you are using a HDMI cable, make sure that it supports resolutions higher than 1080p. Ideally, you should test it on another machine to see if it supports a higher res.
3. Update Drivers
Make sure you have installed the latest driver for both your monitor and Nvidia GeForce GPU as sometimes this can make higher resolutions available to you in the Windows Display settings. Restart the machine, and if the resolution you require is still not shown, continue to the next step to create a custom resolution.
4. Create Custom Resolution
Right-click the Windows Desktop and select NVIDIA Control Panel from the context menu.
Expand the Display menu, click Change Resolution, and then click Customize.
Note: The Display tab may not be available if you have Nvida Optimus hardware. See comments below for possible solutions.
Check Enable resolutions not exposed by the display and click Create Custom Resolution.
Type in the Horizontal pixels and Vertical lines, in this example 2560 x 1440. Ensure that your monitor spec supports this.
Set your refresh rate, in this example 60 Hz. Make sure to consult your monitor spec for the highest refresh rate supported.
Set the Timing to CVT reduced blank.
Now for the moment of truth. Click Test. If your monitor resolution looks correct (it should be sharp, not blurry), accept the changes. If it doesn’t look right, try selecting a different Timing Standard from the dropdown or try a different scan type.
If you still cannot get it to work, there may be a hardware limitation with your GPU or monitor 😪. If you can, test the monitor on a different GPU, or test your GPU on a different monitor to try and isolate the problem.
You should now see your custom resolution. Click OK.
Below you can see the custom resolution. Close NVIDIA Control Panel.
Right-click on the Desktop and click Display settings.
Make sure to select the correct monitor and you should now see your new custom resolution listed.
Let me know if this helped. Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, or 🍊 buy me a smoothie.
It helped thank you
I get all the way to the NVIDIA control panel screen that has the “Create Custom Resolution” button. Said button is blanked out. Do you know a possible reason for this? I have an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB graphics card. Monitor is 2560×1080 LG ultrawide. Plugged to DisplayPort port on the graphics card. NVIDIA specs say maxium digital resolution is 7680×4320@60Hz. When the monitor is plugged to the one HDMI port on the graphics card, it works perfectly, so I know I don’t have trouble with the cable or the card. But the HDMI port is the only port capable of carrying sound (according to NVIDIA control panel). I need the HDMI port for another display which bluetooths the sound to my home stereo system. All I need is to get the 2560×1080 ultrawide to display the proper resolution by plugging to a DisplayPort, but it won’t, when connected to the DisplayPort ports. Highest resolution it gives me as an option is 1920×1080. Incidentally, I am forced to use an HDMI to DisplayPort adapter to plug the monitor HDMI cable to the NVIDIA DisplayPort. Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated!
What I found, Dan, is that you have to have the “lower” resolution that Windows offers selected in the Display settings in Windows. Then you can select the offered option in Nvidia Control Panel (the lower settings one that you want to customize), and it should let you select it. If you have DSR Factors turned on, Nvidia Control Panel won’t let you customize any sizes. If all else fails in the app, you can reset the settings to their default, and it will let you do customizations. I also found that on the Change resolution screen/tab in the program, if it shows greyed out, and there’s a cancel option, click Cancel, and it will often let the Customize option appear for clicking.
This works fine when I apply this settings while PC is on. If I restart or shutdown, the PC won’t boot to windows, I think if freezes because no light change while I press caps lock or num lock. The only way that I can fix this is to force shutdown, and disconnect the hdmi cable.
I am using a laptop (asus G75vw) connected to (samsung odyssey g5 1440p).
Anyone got an idea why this is happening?
Thank you in advance.
same here.
Thank you very much. It works 🙂
Mine does it, but only for a second after I hit apply. Then it reverts back to 1080p any advice?
Nvidia Control Panel – Manage 3d Settings – Global – Make sure Image scaling is on
Great information, it helped me get my new ultra-wide monitor set up. Thank you.
custom resolution is not showing up with other resolutions so any fix???
“customize” is greyed out, any fix for this ?
When I click custom it opens up and the “create custom resolution” option is grayed out.
Thank you. Very helpful.
Thank you SO much, this tiny piece of info was the missing link, in my case: Set the Timing to CVT reduced blank.
This one solved my problem too
This solved my problem as well, thanks!
Thanks, thanks, thanks a lot, worked for me.
GPU: ASUS GT440 CuSilent
Monitor: ASUS VX24AH.
I was just little bit terrifide to press “test” button, because clicking “creating custom resolution” in the previous page, a window has appeared with described all the risks involved.
It is very important to check the specifications. In the end everything went fine
Thank you very much again.
Sir I don’t have the display tab on Nvidia Control Panel.
If you don’t have the display tab, then you likely have “Intel Display Settings” or something similar in the list of options when you right click on your desktop. Open that, and you should fairly easily be able to find the custom resolutions menu.
I, too, don’t have a display option in the Nvidia control panel and when I right-click on my desktop it looks the exact same as in the picture above.. no Intel Display Settings either but just “Display Settings” in which I don’t see anywhere for customized resolutions. Any help appreciated!
After doing some searching on this issue, It sounds like you might have Nvidia Optimus graphics hardware.
New laptops that come with NVIDIA Optimus graphics hardware generally include Intel’s onboard graphics solution, too. The laptop switches between each on-the-fly.
For most PC use, the onboard Intel graphics hardware is just fine. You will not notice a difference between onboard and discrete graphics when using desktop applications. There is a difference, however – integrated Intel graphics use much less power than NVIDIA graphics. By using the low-power onboard graphics when a high-power dedicated graphics card isn’t necessary, laptops can save power and increase battery life.
To determine which graphics card the output is connected to go into the NVIDIA Control Panel > PhysX tab. There should be a clear illustration which graphics card each display output is connected to. If all the display outputs are connected to the Intel graphics card then you will not see the Display options in the NVIDIA Control Panel. But if any output is connected to the NVIDIA graphics card, then connecting a display to that port should enable the Display options. For example, if the HDMI output is connected to the NVIDIA graphics, then connecting/enabling a display to the HDMI port should immediately enable all the Display options in the NVIDIA Control Panel.
If you cannot get the Display tab to show, you might be able to force higher resolutions using the Custom Resolution Utility (CRU). I have tried this tool myself and it works great, but I have not tested it on Nvidia Optimus graphics.
Thank you , worked for me!
Laptop: Fujitsu NH570 ,
GPU: GT 330m
Monitor:DELL U2719D
the ‘Timing to CVT reduced blank’ was crucial to this fix.
😎
This was an excellent article! It was functionally organized (e.g, simplest things first) and spot-on for me.
I don’t know what “CVT reduced blank” is, but setting it was the key to getting my display to fill the screen. It’s a pity that timing “automatic” remains the default in NVIDIA control panel even when you’re defining non-standard resolutions.