VGA to DVI...loss?

[MHat]

I wasn't really thinking when I bought my graphics card 8 months ago now, but it has 1 DVI port and 1 VGA port.

What I am thinking about is going dual screen. Is using a converter, VGA to DVI, totally pointless? Analog can't be up-converted to digital, can it? Will the (if there is) decrease in quality be noticeable on say a large 30" screen?

 

[Steve]

The analog line does not also carry a copy of the digital signal, so no conversion possible. As for how it looks, trial and error.

 

[jasonja]

Those are not converters, they are adapters. The DVI port on your video card also has analog pins on it. The adapter simply re-routes those pins to a VGA pinout. Those adapters only work for DVI to VGA, they don't work fo VGA to DVI.

 

[tehtank]

Where I work there are quite a few machines with dual monitors coming from their computer's VGA and DVI port. Usually the VGA monitor is a bit darker and doesn't look quite as good as the DVI. Normally I would probably never notice it, but when they are placed side by side, you can really tell.

 

[Noema]

I currently use a dual-monitor set up, with 2 ViewSonics: a 22" and a 17", both in native resolution, of course. My 7800GS only has one DVI-I output, which goes to my 22", leaving the VGA output for the 17".

I used the 17" as my main monitor for about a year via DVI before I got my 22".

The quality difference is very noticeable when they are side by side, like tehtank said. Not only does the 17" look a wee bit darker; text in particular suffers the most, as it is moderately blurry in comparison to the DVI monitor. Dragging a Window from the 17" to the 22", and back to the 17" really highlights the difference, most remarkably in the menus.

Nothing too bad; the 17" is completely usable and all text is highly readable; it's just that the direct comparison really unveils the limitations of VGA.