34" Ultrawide (3440x1440) monitor - which chipset?

[JamesS]

Hi,

Can somebody please confirm which DisplayLink chipsets support a single ultrawide monitor running 3440x1440 @60Hz (it's a Samsung LS34J550WQUXEN if anyone has one)?

I think I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to need a dock with the DL-6950 chipset from reading the documentation here:

https://support.displaylink.com/knowledgebase/articles/525038-displaylink-display-resolution-support

However, the user manual for the Lenovo Hybrid dock (which has a DL-6950) seems to suggest that it only supports a refresh rate of 30Hz despite supporting 5k @60Hz! This can't be right can it?

I'm also wondering whether I can get away with a lower chipset (e.g. one of the DL-5xx0 chipsets)...

Also, is any of the above affected by the port used to connect to the dock with? I'm specifically wondering whether I'd have any problems with the above monitor over a USB 3.0 connection (as opposed to a USB 3.1 (USB-C) or Thunderbolt connection) as while two of the three machines I intend to use this setup with have Thunderbolt connections, one only has USB 3.0 (a Surface Laptop 2).

[AlbanRampon]

Hello James,

The DL-6950 supports that resolution. The limitation is about pixel clock (=throughput). A shortcut simplification is that 3440x1440x60 is lower than 3840x2160x60. I say shortcut because it's much more complex than that.
The DL-5000 series can do 4Kp30 on DisplayPort.
But the DL-6950 also has hardware accelerated cursor for very low latency mouse cursor, supports improved encoder.
Also, most products which designed the DL-5000 in wouldn't have USB-C charging, because of age.

USB 3.0, or USB 3.1 or USB 3.2 Gen1 or USB 3.2 Gen2 all work. Today we tests hardware and releases with USB 3.2 specifications, it's all backward compatible to lower versions. It also works on USB 2.0, but USB 2.0 doesn't have enough bandwidth to offer a good experience with video, audio, Ethernet and the rest you will plug to the box.

Whether you use USB-A or USB-C plug has no importance for our chip because both USB-A and USB-C must support standard USB traffic and that's what we use for transport.
Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports also work because they also carry real USB traffic.
5 Gbps, the USB 3 max bandwidth (Gen2 can go higher) is much more than you need for a single display or even more than one. I've seen companies using two Ultrawide like that one on top of each other connected to one docking station.

Kind regards,
Alban

[JamesS]

Thanks Alban!

That makes a lot of sense and good to know that the USB 3 connection has sufficient bandwidth to cope with my monitor at 60Hz.

I think I may have found a dock which meets my requirements from i-tec (https://i-tec.cz/en/produkt/cadual4kdockpd-2/) which has 85W PD as well which will be useful for my MacBookPro 15" and appears to have the DL-6950 chipset.

Is there a reason why the i-tec docks aren't listed on the DisplayLink website? Are they not official partners or is there another reason? (Just checking whether I should avoid this dock for any reason!)

Cheers,

James

[AlbanRampon]

Hello James,

There is no special reason it is not on our website. We probably haven't received the request from them. I've talked to my colleague who's i-tec main contact to ask for authorisation.

I've seen communication between us and them, and it looks like they go the extra mile in customer support.
Not all USB-C cables are equal. I strongly recommend you use the one in the box.

Kind regards,
Alban

[JamesS]

Thanks for your help Alban, it was very useful :-)

Order now placed and fingers crossed it'll work well!

[lime91]

Thanks for your help Alban, it was very useful :-)

Order now placed and fingers crossed it'll work well!


Hello James,

did it work? I'm facing the exact same problem :)

Best regards,
Konstantin

[JamesS]

Sorry, yes, should have confirmed back to the thread that it works very well on all the machines I've used it with. Very happy with it 😀