A few basic setup questions

[Craig234]

I've got a new PC, with a 4870 card, VGA or DVI out /HDMI converter.

I'd like to hook it up to a 65" LCD" (Olevia) for now for gaming/surfing.

- I thought HDMI was an easy choice over VGA, but seeing VGA (haven't seen HDMI yet) the question came up, it looks nice, 1920x1080, is HDMI really going to be better?

- Unfortunately, there are only two HDMI's, now with Cable and PS3. So using VGA would help there. If I should use HDMI, what's the best way to use the 3 devices on 2 ports?

- I suspect this HDMI is older, not 1.3. Is that important?

Thanks for any help.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Try it and see if you can see a difference.

For me, I just got this 5870 card and am having problems with HDMI to my monitor... it won't let me get the 1920x1200 native resolution at 60Hz not matter what I try. But, over VGA it works fine. VGA I'd say looks 99% as good as HDMI did when I had my 4870... but there is one little nagging difference. The text is just a little bit less sharp. Like when you run and LCD at a non-native res. It's not that bad, but there is just a hint of it, just not as crisp.

But, for a 65" TV that you're not going to be sitting right in front of, I doubt it'll matter much. Also, you are running a lower res, so the VGA cable may not even show that since there is less data for it to transfer.

Given your lack of HDMI ports, I'd probably just stick with VGA if it looks fine to you, but I'd still at least look at it connected with HDMI to see if there is a difference to you.

 

[Craig234]

Thanks. So game lag isn't worse on VGA than HDMI? I plan to compare them, but the first try to hook up HDMI didn't get a signal, some something to fix, also I'd like to get WoW running.

 

[NoQuarter]

You could go component on PS3 and HDMI on your PC if there is a noticeable clarity difference between VGA and HDMI for you (depends a lot on interference and length of VGA cable but VGA *can* get you equal to HDMI/DVI signal if all goes well).

 

[Craig234]

You could go component on PS3 and HDMI on your PC if there is a noticeable clarity difference between VGA and HDMI for you (depends a lot on interference and length of VGA cable but VGA *can* get you equal to HDMI/DVI signal if all goes well).

Thanks for the suggestion, I heard PS3 is clearly better on HDMI though?

 

[SlowSpyder]

Thanks. So game lag isn't worse on VGA than HDMI? I plan to compare them, but the first try to hook up HDMI didn't get a signal, some something to fix, also I'd like to get WoW running.

No difference. The only difference would likely be the quality of the picture. I play AoC (also online, MMORPG) and there isn't any difference in actual gaming.

 

[NoQuarter]

The only problem with analog (VGA or Component) is it can appear a little fuzzy, which is a bigger problem on PC where you are trying to read small fonts than on PS3 or in games, so if you have to have one of them be less clear I'd go PS3.

I have only tried my PS3 on HDMI but Xbox 360 I can't see a pixel difference between component or HDMI.. analog can carry huge resolution it's just more prone to interference.