DVI vs Analog

jpetermann

Diamond Member
Feb 27, 2001
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I just got my first LCD. I have the Xtasy gforce3 ti 200 from the BB deal, obviously it doesn't have DVI. Will I see much difference in quality if I go to one that has a DVI? I really love this card and I hate to get rid of it if there is no difference. If there is a big difference, what is a good card to get with the DVI? (Same Geforce 3 ti 200 chip please)

Thanks!
 

Apex

Diamond Member
Oct 11, 1999
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www.gotapex.com
It really matters what LCD you have. Some do the analog/digital conversion better than others. On all of the LCD's I've seen, yes, there's definitely a difference in quality, especially with GF3 cards (which have very high DVI quality, but tend to have lower VGA quality than say an ATI or a Matrox card).
 

azkiwi

Senior member
Oct 1, 2000
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I'm running a Viewsonic on an analog. I read elsewhere that same monitor ran really bad with an Gigabyte GF3000D in either DVI or analog. Do some newer cards have driver errors with new LCDs?
And how is 2D in these high end cards? I know most folks here are lookng at gaming performance but what about general apps?
 

Menacer

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Feb 4, 2001
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While I can see a difference if I look close enough (small images like thumbnails look nicer, I can see more compression artifacts on .jpgs) I really don't think it would be worth buying a new video card over. If your card already had DVI I'd say go ahead and buy a cable, but if you have to buy a whole new video card, don't bother. Just having a good quality LCD is better than a CRT anyway. :)
 

jpetermann

Diamond Member
Feb 27, 2001
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Well, I got a free cable with my monitor. Those can be expensive. Still contemplating the video card thing thogh.
 

Doomer

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Dec 5, 1999
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I just got a Viewsonic VG191b and am using both Analog and Digital inputs (2 'puters). I can't see a difference. Both look great.
 

imgod2u

Senior member
Sep 16, 2000
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It really depends on which card. For cards from manufacturers with less than good analog output, DVI makes a huge difference. If you have a Leadtek Geforce 3 with high quality VGA, it shouldn't make that much more of a difference. There is always better color saturation and sometimes, clarity (at native resolutions). Really, a DVI makes sense because a lot of the time, it also cuts down on the conversion time which can (not always) improve frame refresh times as the image doesn't have to be converted before its displayed (less blur during motion in some cases). Really, it's not a big difference, but if you're running at really high (1600x1200 or above) resolutions, you could tell a difference if you paid enough attention to your images (like image editing).
 

imgod2u

Senior member
Sep 16, 2000
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You'll probably notice a difference just moving from a Voodoo 3 to a card (say a Radeon or Geforce 2) with DVI (don't even have to use the DVI), the DVI would just be icing on the cake.