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China, Beijing
1 Level
668 Review
36 Karma

Review on IOGEAR 4 Port Triple DisplayPort GCS1964 by Randy Jagers

Revainrating 5 out of 5

4 port, 3 monitor KVM that works (update)

##UPDATE 3: I upgraded all three of my monitors to 27 inch 1440/2k/QHD @ 144Hz and this one can KVM all three process them, each running at 120 Hz. I'm not sure why the official support only works at 60Hz, but both Windows and macOS automatically set the refresh rate to 120Hz for each monitor, and I even increased it to 144Hz, but one of the monitors is blinking along 144Hz so I'm not sure if it's the KVM or the monitor itself. I suspect that IOGEAR has not been able to confirm adequate support for QHD @ 144Hz in various configurations and has settled on a safe 60Hz, but for my 3 x QHD @ 120Hz setup it works great apart from a slightly longer screen wake-up time . Your help center is blocking my replies due to email issues. Note that if you disable keyboard emulation, you might not be able to invoke HSM to bring it back or do anything else. I had to use a custom USB cable (windows 10, from COM-3) to RJ-45 cable to send RS-232 commands to KVM with putty to factory reset it. There is no contact or button on the device to reset this KVM. I even tried unplugging it for 30 minutes hoping it would go away, but it didn't. After a factory reset, the main issues I was having were resolved. Screens, and these are entirely new screens from the same brand, and they only appear when using the KVM. Not sure what it is, but it doesn't happen often, but I do notice a rapid crash (thin green lines) every few hours. UPDATE (downgraded to 3 stars): Everything was fine for the first week when problems suddenly arose. MOUSE EMULATION I need mouse emulation when I switch computers so I don't have to reconfigure my mouse software when it thinks the hardware has failed, but when I use mouse emulation it ruins speed /mouse tracking and makes it too fast., and the scroll wheel often skips scrolling, making the screen seem to get stuck scrolling from time to time and mouse clicks often miss a click. What's the meaning of this? SWITCHING OFF THE MONITORS Whenever one of my devices goes to sleep, KVM seems to "turn off" the monitors. So when I wake up my computers, my screens or windows aren't aligned and I have to reset them almost every time. time, very annoying. Problem on Mac and PC. BLOCKED BY HS I can't find in the docs or search how to factory reset the device. I accidentally disabled "keyboard emulation" and now I can't access any of the HSM options, making it virtually impossible for me to change the KVM options. The IOGEAR support documentation doesn't indicate how to solve this problem, if it can be solved.## ORIGINALREVIEW (5 stars): I've been looking for something like this for a while and never found the right product, but this is it. While I was looking for something in the lower price range, once I got this device and set it up I understood why it was so expensive ($800+ at the time of writing this article). Installation was really painless and easy and the markings on the back are very easy and helpful. In fact, my setup is now even cleaner than my old 2-port KVM because I'm using much thinner and more flexible DP and HDMI cables compared to the thicker DVI cables. Overall, the device is larger than my old 2-port KVM: it is shorter in height and twice as wide. It fits perfectly with the monitor stand I built for all three of my monitors. So far it doesn't generate heat like my old KVM, but I may need to use it longer. As it is written (and will be updated as I move to 2k monitors when they arrive) I am using three 1920 x 1080 FHD monitors each running at 144Hz. I thought like other KVMs including my old one it would work regardless of of resolution will only run at 60Hz but this one handles triple 144Hz at 1080 with no problems. Build quality is good and very solid, unlike my old KVM it doesn't wobble when all the ports on the back pull it in, and what I like about the ports on the back is that there's plenty of room to plug in cables without fumbling with them or trying to crush them. Very simple cleanup setup There is another review here that mentions an issue that could be "they" issue. The reviewer stated that switching between devices can take a long time, "20-30 seconds back and forth". That's NO problem for me. When I switch between my Mac and PC it happens within a few seconds (2.5 is more like that), no problem. This validator may have received a defective device or may not have been properly configured. I can safely say that switching between my Mac and PC is much faster and smoother than my old KVM. A nice bonus came with this unit: a total of 6 DP cables to connect two computers with 3 video outputs, two USB cables for keyboard and mouse, and two 3.5mm audio cables. The basic package is required to connect 2 machines with 3 monitors. It was good. My KVM setup includes: Port 1: Mac Mini (2020) with external GPU, XFX Radeon RX 580 GTS XXX Edition 1386MHz OC+, 8GB. Port 2: Custom Windows 10 with GTX 1080. Port 3: Intel NUC, Linux development server. Port 4: open to create new machines if needed. At the time of this writing, this device was worth the purchase and has exceeded all of my expectations.

Pros
  • KVM switches
Cons
  • Long time