Monitor GPU question

[Mad5cout]

So as i have been looking at replacing my machine, i am looking at new LCD monitors and have been spending lots of time trying to find a nice one with a HDMI port.

As i understand it HDMI is required to reach full 1080p and that DVI only gets to 780p.

Come to find that most GPUs only have DVI ports on the back and that you have to get a GTX 295 to get an HDMI or an old 9500

Any perspective on this?

[sir_digalot]

dvi will happily do 1080p or 1200p or more the only real difference between them is hdmi carries audio too.

even standard analogue D-sub as been doing well over 1080p for years :)

with HDCP encrypted content the only real issue you have is the fact audio needs to go through the monitor speakers for now, which is nasty, but barely anything uses it so you should be fine.

you can even get coverters from DVI-D to hdmi (virtually all the graphics cards will give you a DVI-VGA adaptor too)

so no worries there, get whatever monitor you can afford :D

[EdrrakNolat]

I recently purchased an LG 23" monitor (W2361VG I believe) that has DVI, VGA, and HDMI inputs built in. BUT you have the audio problem Sir Dig was mentioning.

Only had it for a few days, but so far ZERO complaints (well, after adjusting brightness, contrast, etc).

[Killerfurby6]

my gtx 285 came with an dvi-hdmi adapter, so i guess you can just buy one!!
if you are going to buy a new card, it will come with one!!

[Shadowryche]

I know how much you guys hate AMD/ATi, but a lot of the high end Radeon HD4800's come with HDMI ports or the DVI converters. 1080p as was said earlier works fine through DVI, I use it myself on my Radeon HD 4870 and 1920x1080 moniter. For what its worth I've heard a number of people say that the 4870's and 4890's work better at higher resolutions compared to 1680x1050.

[Mad5cout]

So if you have GPU with a HDMI port how does the sound get routed through the card?

Edrrak, I was looking at the LG monitor you mentioned just today. I didn't know it had speakers on it. Is it possible to disable them while using HDMI if you are routing the HDMI cable through a receiver or perhaps using sound from a sound card? Also, where did you get it? The only retailer in my area that I have found that carries them is Bestbuy... uck...

I guess what it really comes down to is this: It is really worth it to go out and buy an HDMI GPU and cable for my monitor if I don't want to use the speakers on the monitor?

[Gruthar]

The cards that have built-in HDMI also have a sound chip on them. Or at least I think it's a chip, it might just be done via software. Either way, my 4850 is employing Microsoft's UAA architecture in some fashion.

[antigen]

My ATI 3400-something or 'nother has HDMI on it... there is indeed an onboard sound chip too.

[Mad5cout]

And what is the fidelity of something like that? Is it as nice as an independent GPU? I assume it is eating up your GPU's RAM while in use?

[Shadowryche]

And what is the fidelity of something like that? Is it as nice as an independent GPU? I assume it is eating up your GPU's RAM while in use?

The sound can be High Definition, and the performance impact is minimal from what I can tell. I'm pretty sure it doesn't use up your VRAM, but don't quote me to that. The thing is if you want real quality sound you'll likely use some surround speakers through your sound device. Most sound integrated into newer motherboards is just as good any way.

[sir_digalot]

those cards are full specification hdmi-hdcp compliant, cards that merely use dvi to output hdcp only conform to the video portion of it. again no matter the quality of the chip on the card, the fact the audio is stuck going through the monitor amp is more of a concern for quality, and remember all that glorious 7.1 ( or greater) hotness is lost unless the monitor knows what to do with it.

i love the simplicity of hdmi (one cable to rule them all) but the complexitites the protected content brings in is not worth it (probably why it has not been fully implemented yet across the board) the traditional method would be to output high quality digital video via DVI and use your discrete/onboard soundcard to do the sound processing (or pass through to your seperate decoder) you will not be able to tell the difference between DVI-D and HDMI video ( since they are almost the same spec anyway and the video bandwith) most people i know cannot tell between good quality analogue and digital...

[Mad5cout]

Thanks for the help everyone!