Display Port vs. HDMI or DVI

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
rundotcmd

rundotcmd

Honorable
Nov 4, 2013
30
0
10,540
What is the difference? The G-Sync monitors are only compatible with display ports and evga has a new display port hub which sounds extremely useful for those who love multimonitor workplaces and game environments. Are display ports "better" than hdmi or dvi connections?
 
Solution
giantbucket
if your monitor has a DP input, you're all set and don't need to worry about active vs passive or any adapters at all - you just plug the cable directly like the rest of us do with our DVI stuff. if you need to convert from a card's DP output to your monitor's DVI / HDMI / VGA input, only THEN do you need to worry about the active/passive adapter BS.
Sort by date Sort by votes
ldewitt

ldewitt

Distinguished
Sep 27, 2013
1,034
0
19,660
I believe the only difference between display port and hdmi + dvi, is you can have a higher resolution. Not sure if it supports audio through it which HDMI is the only connection that supports that between the 3. Basically there all the same as in quality. HDMI is just DVI with audio.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
rundotcmd

rundotcmd

Honorable
Nov 4, 2013
30
0
10,540
DP does not have audio. I know that for sure. I just didn't know if they were necessarily better in any way. But so far I actually think they might be. Despite the lack of sound, they do what my dual link dvi's do but without some of the hassle.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
giantbucket

giantbucket

Dignified
BANNED
Nov 17, 2013
3,881
1
15,960
DisplayPort is ONLY better if your monitor has it as an input - otherwise it's an absolute incredible pain in the ass since converters are made in both passive and active types, and it's never easy to know which is which and sometimes only active ones work properly.

DVI and HDMI are very widespread and converting between them is trivial. HDMI is also made in a mini version, as is DisplayPort, so from a density perspective DVI is bulky cuz there's no mini-DVI variant (DMS59 is as close as you'll get)

DisplayPort is nice in that the connectors are locking without needing screws (it's a push-tab), whereas HDMI can be pulled and DVI uses annoying screws.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
rundotcmd

rundotcmd

Honorable
Nov 4, 2013
30
0
10,540
The BenQ XL series have display ports so I'm good there. I'm mostly interested because the EVGA Display Port Hub would make 3 monitor systems so much less of a hassle.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
giantbucket

giantbucket

Dignified
BANNED
Nov 17, 2013
3,881
1
15,960
Three monitor systems? Hahaha! I've been using a 6-monitor setup for two years, and I'm in the process of going to 8 with the occasional fantasy of 10+ if I find a good deal on more monitors. I haven't touched DP thus far.

But full disclosure this is a non-game setup. Purely work / productivity.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
rundotcmd

rundotcmd

Honorable
Nov 4, 2013
30
0
10,540
I have well over ten monitors but that is highly unnecessary for anything I need. Even in my design I haven't used more than the three together. When I had six it was only useful really when running multiple programs that I need to do a lot of reading and writing to, like for music. It would just be far easier hooking it all up to a hub from a single card. What kind of gpu's are you using?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
giantbucket

giantbucket

Dignified
BANNED
Nov 17, 2013
3,881
1
15,960
Yeah, true that a hub would be nicer especially with the mini-DP connectors, but it haven't seen many and the few I did were quite $$$$$. Which sucks cuz evidently DP is royalty-free so you'd think it would help keep prices reasonable.

( when I was running 6 screens, I used a special GT610 + 9400GT. Now I'm en route with a different GT610 + 2 GT640 + onboard by the looks of it )

In all honesty, if it wasn't for the active vs passive adapter thing, I'd totally run with one or two of those 6-out miniDP cards made by VisionTek.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
rundotcmd

rundotcmd

Honorable
Nov 4, 2013
30
0
10,540
Yea, they are a little pricey. That might be because it seems to be fairly new tech. So, will different monitors have different dp adapters? How would I tell if my BenQ is passive or active?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
giantbucket

giantbucket

Dignified
BANNED
Nov 17, 2013
3,881
1
15,960
if your monitor has a DP input, you're all set and don't need to worry about active vs passive or any adapters at all - you just plug the cable directly like the rest of us do with our DVI stuff. if you need to convert from a card's DP output to your monitor's DVI / HDMI / VGA input, only THEN do you need to worry about the active/passive adapter BS.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
rundotcmd

rundotcmd

Honorable
Nov 4, 2013
30
0
10,540


I currently am using dvi. That's nice I don't have to worry about any of that then, but I will keep it in mind just in case. Thanks for helping to answer my questions.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

megazone23

Honorable
Feb 4, 2014
2
0
10,510


Display Port has audio. I know that for sure. I have my Lenovo X220 DP to Dell U2711 and from Dell U2711's audio out to my speakers. I would be surprised where does the speaker sound come from if DP doesn't have the audio.
However, some DP cable might have cheap the audio wires out, one cheap DP cable I got does not have sound using the same set up above, so probably why you said that.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom