DVI-I to VGA adapter?

[Edward Wokhands]

Are there any decent DVI-I to VGA adapters? I made the mistake of buying a DVI-D to VGA adapter earlier this year without doing any research (why do they exist by the way?) so am going to get some advice this time. I have a secondary monitor that only has a VGA cable on it but my video card only has a DVI-D and DVI-I port available. What type of converter should I buy?

 

[APassingMe]

The adapter that comes with the GPU won't make any real difference on latency, you would have to check with your GPU specifications to see it supports audio over the included displayport to HDMI adapter but I doubt it does. The video card should support a HDMI from DVI-D adapter if you want to duplicate your current setup, it should also support DVI-I to VGA however that is all something that you would have to check in the specification list. If you buy any adapters I would buy a usb to vga adapter made with a displaylink chip and use that for anything that doesn't need major graphics support or low latency. I can vouch for the display link devices as being as good as integrated video in most cases, if that helps you any.

 

[APassingMe]

Did you buy something like this?

http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-DVI-Cable-Adapter-DVIVGAMF/dp/B000067SOH

It should work fine, however the GPU has to support streaming VGA over the DVI-I, if it doesn't work try restarting your computer with everything connected and the latest drivers installed. It is possible that your GPU doesn't support it though... in which case the usb displaylink devices are your best bet.

 

[Edward Wokhands]

Yeah it was exactly that converter. What is a displaylink? A usb video card?

 

[Edward Wokhands]

Btw I changed my first post because I realized I can plug my main monitor into a DVI-D to HDMI adapter, the TV into the HDMI connector and now it's just the secondary monitor that needs sorting out. If a DVI-I to VGA adapter doesn't work would a Displayport to VGA adapter work? I know there's a conflict between the analogue VGA and Displayport, or at least I think there is.

 

[dominirican3351]

What graphics card do you have because certain graphic cards do not support analog signal (vga) such as the 290/290x you will be able to do display port to vga **only** if it is an active adapter. The cheap active adapters will not work a decent adapter is $40. If you save up 20 more you can get a used monitor that has dvi and is a higher resolution. Hope this helps

 

[APassingMe]

Yes it would work, however it is more expensive and wouldn't run off of your GPU (it's a usb powered external GPU). I would recommend the usb 2.0 version since last I checked (6 months ago) the drivers for the 3.0 version weren't as good as I would of liked.

In case you want to look at what I'm talking about....
http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-USB-VGA-165-1920x1080-1600x1200-DisplayLink/dp/B004D0QC0A/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1416610391&sr=1-1&keywords=displaylink+vga

Granted it wouldn't cost much more to get a new or used monitor....

 

[Edward Wokhands]

Thanks for the replies everyone, you've helped. I wish I could pick 2 separate answers as the solution.