Monitors LCD - Any noticable difference - DVI to VGA

S

Spectre

Skilled
I know DVI is better

but i want to know, if there is any visual or performance NOTICABLE difference between monitors with resident DVI and ones with VGA alone (used with DVI --> VGA converter from gfx card)
 
If I connect my vx2025 monitor having both ports (DVI ang VGA) one by one with DVI and VGA (through DVI-VGA connector on gfx card), text on desktop is visibly hazy in case of connection through VGA whereas it is crisp in case of DVI.
 
Very little to be honest. More of a placebo effect... most of the time you'll think its better because its DVI :p
 
In my personal experience with two different LCD monitors, there *IS* a noticeable difference between using VGA versus DVI. Here are my obervations on some influential factors...

  1. Resolution matters! You will struggle to see any difference at low resolutions (of the 1440x900 variety and below). At 1680x1050 and above, VGA's limitations will typically become noticeable
  2. Cable quality makes a lot of difference, especially for VGA. Replacing the bundled (thin) VGA cable with a substantially thicker one (from a professional-class 21" CRT) improved the image quality substantially
  3. It is easier to notice the lower quality of VGA with text than by looking at pictures/video. Also, using the pixel walking and clock phase related tests from sites such as posted by PoBoy will show the difference between DVI and VGA
  4. Some LCD monitors seem to be better than others at handling VGA input even at high (HD) resolutions. I could easily see the difference between DVI and VGA inputs on my Viewsonic VX2235-wm (driven with a HD4850). Surprisingly, there's hardly any difference between the two inputs on my Benq T2200HD (all using bundled cables only), even though the Viewsonic is a 1680x1050 res while the Benq's a 1920x1080 one
  5. There is *no* placebo effect
  6. YMMV
 
You will usually not see any kind of difference. Sometimes we feel that there is a difference between DVI and VGA, however enabling ClearType usually fixes this hazyness.
The only monitors where the above does not count would probably be the Dells. Here usually DVI gives a better pic compared to VGA.
 
WickedTA said:
In my personal experience with two different LCD monitors, there *IS* a noticeable difference between using VGA versus DVI. Here are my obervations on some influential factors...

  1. Resolution matters! You will struggle to see any difference at low resolutions (of the 1440x900 variety and below). At 1680x1050 and above, VGA's limitations will typically become noticeable
  2. Cable quality makes a lot of difference, especially for VGA. Replacing the bundled (thin) VGA cable with a substantially thicker one (from a professional-class 21" CRT) improved the image quality substantially
  3. It is easier to notice the lower quality of VGA with text than by looking at pictures/video. Also, using the pixel walking and clock phase related tests from sites such as posted by PoBoy will show the difference between DVI and VGA
  4. Some LCD monitors seem to be better than others at handling VGA input even at high (HD) resolutions. I could easily see the difference between DVI and VGA inputs on my Viewsonic VX2235-wm (driven with a HD4850). Surprisingly, there's hardly any difference between the two inputs on my Benq T2200HD (all using bundled cables only), even though the Viewsonic is a 1680x1050 res while the Benq's a 1920x1080 one
  5. There is *no* placebo effect
  6. YMMV
Click to expand...

Very well put. I agree with most of the points. But there is a placebo effect. I'm living in a flat with 9 of my friends and the adjacent flat has 8 more. Almost all of us have LCDs, some using DVI and some using VGA.

With text, there is a noticeable difference in some panels. Not all. Even though I helped assemble and set up most of the computers in both the flats, I sometimes forget which has VGA and which has DVI. And I cannot tell by the image quality alone. :)
 
Back
Top