DVI splitter or HDMI to DVI

**alj** · March 17th, 2011, 07:39 AM

I have two monitors with DVI connectors. My mother board (Gigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H) has onboard graphics with HDMI and D-SUB sockets, but the output from the D-SUB is a little bit blurry. So I want to buy a ATI graphics card. The problem is that most modern cards come with D-sub, DVI and HDMI.

Can you buy a DVI splitter, or a HDMI to DVI converter?

**osprey4** · March 17th, 2011, 08:40 AM

Hi Alj,

Welcome to TechIMO.

You need to tell us what input options you have on your monitors. Personally, I would use VGA for one and DVI for the other. You can't beat that for simplicity.

**alj** · March 17th, 2011, 10:18 AM

The monitors are old (Viewsonic VX922) so they have dvi and d-sub. I have one on dvi and the other on d-sub, but like I say, the d-sub one is a little fuzzy which I find annoying.

**osprey4** · March 17th, 2011, 01:41 PM

D-sub, DE-15, VGA, RGB, etc. are all the same thing. When you say it's fuzzy, do you mean at the monitor's native resolution?

**JPMiller** · March 17th, 2011, 02:09 PM

Or you can go with a card like this...
Newegg.com - JATON 3DForce3450-DVI Radeon HD 3450 512MB 64-bit DDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card
If your not specifically gaming, (and I assume due to onboard graphics), then this will be better than what your using, and it has 2 DVI outputs...

**alj** · March 17th, 2011, 03:05 PM

@Osprey4 - Yes. The monitor is at it's native resolution, but it's not as sharp as the monitor sitting next to it, particularly on text. Yet, when I swap the cables over, then the other monitor becomes fuzzy. So it's not the actual monitor itself. It's either the cable or the output on the D-Sub.

@JPMiller - Yeah. Thanks for that. I'm not a big gamer (I use my PS3 when I do), but I might do some flight sims some time in the future. So I'm not looking for something too powerful. That Radeon 3450 seems ok, (although I'm looking for PCI-express I think). Maybe a XFX HD4650 for about €40 ($56) or a Sapphire Radeon HD5570 for €60 ($80). The latter seems a lot faster for not much more ... but has 1xDVI, 1xHDMI, 1xDsub. So that's why I was asking about if it's possible to split or convert one of the outputs. Or maybe I just go for the easy option, like you suggest.

**JPMiller** · March 17th, 2011, 03:19 PM

Wow, that got past me, its so rare to see AGP anymore...
Next best option,
Newegg.com - SPARKLE SXG210512S3L-NM GeForce 210 512MB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card
add
Newegg.com - KINAMAX 6 ft. HDMI to DVI-D, Male-Male Gold Plated Cable Model CB-HDDVI

**alj** · March 17th, 2011, 03:25 PM

Oooh! That HDMI to DVI cable looks like what I'm looking for. I didn't realise you could get them.

Thanks for that. I'll check it out.

Originally Posted by JPMiller

...
Newegg.com - KINAMAX 6 ft. HDMI to DVI-D, Male-Male Gold Plated Cable Model CB-HDDV ...

**kirjautuneena** · April 6th, 2011, 05:53 AM

An HDMI splitter is a device that lets you basically connect three cables to each other. The length of the cables vary but the average size of them is 12 inches long. Some of them are up to 100 feet in length though. You need to make definite you have a nice quality HDMI splitter in place so that you won’t affect the quality of your picture. If it ends up being fuzzy there is a nice chance that your HDMI splitter is either not attached correctly or that it isn’t nice quality to do the job.