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I have a monitor (not an HDTV) that has two different types of input ports: VGA, and HDMI. No DVI. My GPU has two DVI ports and one HDMI port.

I use the computer primarily for gaming, although only on one monitor. If I were to convert the HDMI to DVI, would there be any real difference than if it were regular DVI? Alternatively, would I get better performance converting VGA to DVI instead?

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There is no penalty to convert from DVI on your video card to HDMI on your monitor; The DVI ports on your graphics card simultaneously output a DVI-D, DVI-A, HDMI, and VGA signal over each DVI port. The DVI -> HDMI and DVI -> VGA "adapters" you find are really just selecting which signal to use.

Note, this is true only for the DVI ports you find on today's graphics cards as a video source. Judging from the fact that you mentioned a) A graphics card, and b) a monitor, I'm assuming this is your situation (and ignoring the fact that you said "convert the HDMI to DVI"). If you're talking about using things the other way around (where VGA or HDMI is the video source/output, and you have a DVI monitor/input), then the reverse does not hold true.

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  • Yes, this is the case. I was a bit backwards in my wording, sorry about that!
    – tic
    Jun 30, 2014 at 20:08
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HDMI and DVI are actually exactly the same digital signal output, just names for the different type of connector. You're not really converting the signal but rather the adapter. VGA is an analog output. As long as you use the HDMI/DVI ports from your PC to your monitor you'll have the best signal possible. Avoid VGA since that's analog and not ideal for your situation.

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  • That’s not entirely true. HDMI has evolved since and is no longer equivalent to Single-Link DVI. Still, HDMI devices will generally accept basic DVI input. And from the start, HDMI had audio and CEC channels, which DVI does not have.
    – Daniel B
    Jul 18, 2014 at 18:09
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While the other answers are correct that HDMI ports are happy to send a DVI signal and the adapters are totally passive, the exact signal sent is different. And some TVs behave differently when they think a computer is plugged in. For instance, this TV (https://alantechreview.blogspot.com/2021/01/vizio-e470vl-review-input-lag.html) is hugely faster when driven over VGA than over HDMI, even though VGA requires some amount of active signal conversion and logically should be slower.

So the real answer is it depends, and you have to measure to be sure.

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