Graphics Cards, Displays, HDMI...Questions!

[Dispatcher]

Been out of the tech loop for a while. Have some connector questions.

I see most vid cards have 2 DVIs but only one HDMI... why?

My biggest question is does DVI do HD signal? In other words does DVI show an HD picture?

Does a DVI to HDMI connector show HD?

Lastly, what would be a good cheap card for a 3 monitor setup?

Also, is PCI-Express 2.1 x16 backwards compatible with 2.0?

[ShyguyXPC]

ANY of the connections on the video card will do a "HD".

Keep in mind HD is just a Marketing term to describe higher resolution/pixel count displays.

anything really over 1280x720 or 1366x768 is considered "HD" these days.

and VGA long before DVI was widely implemented was pushing 1280x1024 and 1600x1200.


There's also Aspect Ratio's commonly referred to as "HD" 16:9 and 16:10 are the 2 more common ratios associated with "HD".

What your referring to is most likely a Digital vs Analog signal. DVI is Digital as well as HDMI, and both on most modern cards are HDCP Compliant to connect to an HDCP Compliant output source.

Or your referring to the 16:9 & 16:10 aspect ratio's (a.k.a. "Wide Screen")

DVI and HDMI are the same thing for all intents and purposes, except HDMI can transmit audio over the same connection. There are some oddball variants of DVI that can do this as well, but as a general rule DVI doesn't.

add to that the 3 Versions of DVI.

DVI-A sends an Analog signal much like older VGA ore D-Sub

DVI-D is Digital.

And DVI-I is Both Analog and Digital.


then you go into the whole Single Link vs Dual link confusion on the DVI end as well.


HDMI is a more simpler streamlined interface for the most part. And thus more ideal for Home Theater setups and the common folk out there.

But they both send the same signal, displays, resolutions, aspect ratio's, etc.


As to PCI Express versions, all versions are backwards compatible. only limitations are bandwidth, if your using a top end 2.0 card on an older 1.0 slot, you might have reduced performance on the older slower slot, but it will still work.

Other limitations include Power Supply, and room in the case.

And technically there is no real 2.1 standard implemented. It was a bunch of Marketing BS ATI/AMD implemented to sell their cards to consumers.

There is a 2.1 spec, but every board out there is only 2.0, and thus doesn't even use the subtle enhancements these cards would bring.

only thing 2.1 does over 2.0 is some power saving and what not features of PCIe 3.0 spec, which are pretty pointless on higher end cards in the first place.

As I said, it was more of a marketing ploy for ATI/AMD to sell more products.

[ShyguyXPC]

on the recommendations for a 3 display video card.

Can't recommend anything unless you listed some system specs, and your planned uses.

Also would need to know your Power supply specs.

Add to that, "Cheap" is not something a Triple Display setup would be. Most cards capable of that are low low end performing cards with ridiculous pricing, or their higher performing video cards, needing a good power supply to run, and in the case of AMD Radeon's and their Eyefinity features, you need to use the DisplayPort connector and a Monitor with a DP connection, or an Active DisplayPort to HDMI or DVI Connector which will cost $30-40 more, to connect to a monitor, and then be able to use the existing DVI/HDMI ports on the card for 2 more monitors.

either way, it isn't cheap by any means.

[tmiller3]

I've not purchased a video card in a couple of years. As I shop for one, I specifically need HDMI in order to output to a large TV (well, the TV probably can take other ports, but I want audio to go also, and I've already had the HDMI cord run).

I'm surprised that what I believe I'm seeing is no HDMI port on many of the higher end cards. Quadro 2000 as a random example, and many others. DVI, or display port.

I found a line in a PNY spec for the card that states (DisplayPort to HDMI adapters available from 3rd parties... ). Is that THE solution in these cases. I'm just surprised that they don't have an HDMI port right on the card, and I want to make sure that I can get the audio and video out with the use of an adapter.

Any insight?
Thanks very much!

[ShyguyXPC]

Quadro Cards aren't meant for Home Entertainment which would account for those missing the HDMI outputs.

Those cards are High end 3D Workstation type cards, not your high end PC Gaming type cards.

DisplayPort is mainly a video display output connection, it does have the ability to output Audio and various other types of data like USB output.

But I would imagine those features would be based on whether the video card is actually designed to perform such tasks.

Many of the home consumer cards with DisplayPort on them (almost exclusively AMD Radeon cards, with exception for a few oddball brand/models of Nvidia cards), are capable of Audio Processing on the Video card, so it may be capable, but really have no experience personally with DP, so can't say for certain.

But the fact you mention finding almost no cards with HDMI on them, and you mention the Quadro cards, says to me your looking at the wrong cards period.


I can tell you right now, there are a LOT of cards ranging from $30 range on up into the hundreds of dollars range with HDMI or Mini HDMI ports on them.

Take your pick....

336 Different Cards with regular HDMI Port:

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware, Video Cards & Video Devices, Desktop Graphics / Video Cards, 1 x HDMI

133 More with Mini HDMI Port:

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware, Video Cards & Video Devices, Desktop Graphics / Video Cards, 1 x mini HDMI

You want TWO HDMI ports?: Newegg.com - ZOTAC ZT-50403-10L GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

How about 3 Mini HDMI and 1 DisplayPort?: Newegg.com - Galaxy 58NLH5DI5TXX MDT X4 GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Multi-Display Video Card




Now go to the Professional/Workstation Cards:

Newegg.com - Professional Graphics Cards, Workstation Video Cards

And you'll see there's no Category for HDMI ports to search from...