Need help picking the right DisplayPort -> DVI cable for my computer...

[slugg]

Hello, all. We have some computers here that we don't know much about. They have integrated graphics (device manager says "Intel Q45/Q43 express") and the motherboard has one VGA port and one DisplayPort port.

What we'd like to do is order some cables for our computers so that we can use that DisplayPort on a second monitor. The thing is, apparently there are two flavors of cable: active and passive. I'm not sure what we need.

We'll be connecting them to DVI monitors. Thanks!

 

[destrekor]

If it's only one monitor, I believe you only need a passive DP -> DVI adapter.
Active should only be necessary when trying to drive DVI monitors over DP ports when all the DVI ports on the back of the system are already being used (which would mean all the available DVI syncs/clocks are used and can't be utilized over DP).

However, since your system doesn't even have a DVI port, I don't know if the chipset actually has a DVI connection (in the hardware, not a port). If it can't make a DVI connection, you'd require an Active adapter because the system would create a DP signal and the adapter would convert it to a DVI signal.

Passive adapters allow the system to push out a native DVI signal through DP... but the system has to be able to establish a DVI signal in the first place.
I imagine the chipset has such a capability and simply decided to not include a DVI port... so a passive adapter should be fine.