What’s the better adapter for DVI, HDMI or DP

Posted by Professional-Top8155@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 20 comments

I just bought a brand new RTX 3070. The card has no DVI ports, however my monitor is DVI only. Specifically DVI-D. I need an adapter what is better HDMI or DP? My monitor is 1440P at 60 Hz.

P.S. I love my monitor I do not want to get rid of it. Not just because I’m broke. But because it is very good. It’s one of no name IPS offbrands that were very popular like 15 years ago. I do not know the brand name because it wore off. I do know that it was an either a Samsung or Apple reject panel. The contrast is still great. The color is amazing. The glass on the monitor is unblemished. And best of all no dead pixels.

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Octaive@reddit

It's great that you love your old monitor, but it's not as good as you think it is, because you have no point of reference. But yeah, people have linked an active adapter.

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Professional-Top8155@reddit (OP)

I have a better monitor at work, same size, same resolution, better refresh rate. During the pandemic, I had a chance to bring my work computer home and I gamed on that monitor. It wasn’t that much better. I mean yeah the refresh rate was nice but it’s not worth shelling out $500 for a better monitor. I’d rather spend $25 for the adapter instead. Because my current monitor is just fine from my applications. If there’s a sale, and I can get a 144Hz 144P 27” or better monitor for a good price I’ll go for it. But no VA monitors they’re awful.

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VoraciousGorak@reddit

My monitor is 1440P at 60 Hz

You'll need a DVI dual link active adapter. HDMI can transmit signal parity to single-link DVI, but that maxes out at 1920x1200 60Hz.

And if your experience is anything like mine, you will have a terrible time finding an adapter that actually works.

My recommendation is: buy a GPU that has DVI-D DL out, install it alongside the 3070, and set the 3070 to the high-performance GPU in Windows. It'll cost less than a decent adapter and it'll actually work.

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aminy23@reddit

You were largely correct, except they can easily just use an active adapter with their DisplayPort: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A493CNY

Saves power and headache.

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Professional-Top8155@reddit (OP)

$25? Anything cheaper?

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heliosfa@reddit

That’s cheap. Those adapters usually go for £50 or more.

Anything cheaper is not an active adapter - this is a niche product and the only ones currently available that i know of are that StarTech one and the Club3D one

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Professional-Top8155@reddit (OP)

OK, I’ll order one

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aminy23@reddit

You can search

But this basically has a mini-computer inside to do the conversion. The USB is just to power it.

It's not something a simple cable can do, it requires special chips.

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Professional-Top8155@reddit (OP)

Ok I’ll take your word for it

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VoraciousGorak@reddit

they can easily just use an active adapter with their DisplayPort

Mileage may vary here. I tried several active adapters, as I alluded to in my comment, and none of them worked smoothly.

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heliosfa@reddit

For the past several years there have only really been two active DP to dual-link DVI adapters on the market (it used to just be one) - StarTech and Club3D. Don’t see how you have tried “several”, unless it was the cheap ones that aren’t actually active or dual-link.

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VoraciousGorak@reddit

Yup, StarTech, Club 3D, and at least one no-brand adapter off Aliexpress when those didn't work. At that point I just shrugged, chalked it down to "monitor issue", and gave up trying to get the ol' girl to work with a modern GPU. I had already replaced the monitor, too, just got sucked into trying to modernize it for a secondary display, alas.

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