Output Connectors

An important physical characteristic of a video card is its output connectors. Most modern video cards support DVI or Dual-Link DVI connectors, but let’s start from the beginning.

VGA (D-Sub, DB-15F)

Video Graphics Adapter (VGA) is the most common connector for analog monitors. It consists of 15 pins and designed to output analog signals. Image quality depends on the video card. Most modern cards usually use high quality parts and provide sharp images in low and high resolutions, but you could see a noticeable degradation in quality with high resolutions on many old video cards. The analog VGA connector was designed for CRT-based monitors. For today’s LCD monitors the standard connector is DVI.

DVI (DVI-I, DVI-D, DVI-A)



The Digital Visual Interface (DVI) is a video interface standard designed to maximize the visual quality of digital display devices such as flat panel LCD computer displays and digital projectors. DVI connectors will not let the user to connect the cable in incorrect orientation. The most common DVI connectors are DVI-D – for digital only and DVI-I for both digital and analog signals (stands for DVI-Integrated). Less common type of DVI connector is DVI-A – for analog signals only. DVI-I and DVI-D connectors also include provision for a second data link for high resolution displays. These connectors are sometimes referred to as DVI-DL (dual link). For a large high-resolution LCD monitor you will need a Dual-Link DVI video card.


This Radeon HD 3870 has a pair of dual-link DVI outputs
with HDCP (HDMI + Audio with the adapter) and HDTV out

 

S-Video

S-Video is analog video signal which carries the video data in two separate signals (color and brightness). Unlike composite video which carries the video signals mixed in one line. S-Video has been widely used to connect a PC video card to a TV set. At 480i or 576i resolution it is actually quite comfortable for the eyes to view the image and video on a CRT or LCD TV screen.

EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS with S-Video and 2 DVI connectors

HDMI

The High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a compact audio/video connector interface for transmitting uncompressed digital streams. It represents a digital alternative to consumer analog standards such as RF (coaxial cable), composite video, S-Video, SCART, component video and VGA. Originally designed for TVs, later adapted by computer industry, this standard becomes more popular for audio/video connections from PCs to HD TVs.

Sapphire Radeon X1600 Pro video card with HDMI connector
Next: Other Considerations