Do I need a DVI-I or DVI-D cable for my 4870? [Archive]

View Full Version : Do I need a DVI-I or DVI-D cable for my 4870?

AshG

01-16-09, 02:45 PM

Please pardon such a pedantic question, but I am finding either incomplete or conflicting information about this question elsewhere.

I have a Visiontek Radeon 4870 (512mb version) that I bought shortly after launch. For Christmas, my wife bought me a Samsung 2433BW LCD monitor to replace my old CRT. The monitor came with a basic flimsy DVI cable, but is capable of dual-link DVI-D.

I cannot seem to find which output my video card is capable of. Should I purchase a DVI-I cable or DVI-D cable? Will I really notice anything different other than the refresh rate (60hz vs 120hz)? Is a new cable even going to be worth the money? Thanks for your advice.

grey_1

01-17-09, 06:38 PM

Hi Ash,

Dual link, it's my understanding, really won't show any benefit at resolutions lower than 1920x1280. I'm currently using an HD 4870 512 also @ 1680x1050 with the cable that shipped with the monitor (Samsung 2253bw) and it looks fine.

That said, I was told it wouldn't make any difference on the 24" Dell I had, but I bought a dual link anyway, and there was an improvement in over all quality. Nothing huge though. That was on SLI'd 7800GTs.

I may grab one for what I have now, but I'm not really expecting a difference. Just hoping for a pleasant surprise.

Bman212121

01-19-09, 10:58 AM

From Wiki:

The DVI connector on a device is therefore given one of three names, depending on which signals it implements:

DVI-D (digital only)
DVI-A (analog only)
DVI-I (integrated, digital & analog)

Your best bet would be the DVI-D cable in either a Single link or Dual Link form. A DVI-I cable would probably work but the connector on your monitor would need to have room for the 4 analog pins and the slightly wider blade pin. If you look on the right side of this link about halfway down they show what the ends look like.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface

On a 24" you won't need a dual link cable as the resolution shouldn't be high enough to warrant it. I can run 1920 x 1200 @ 60hz to my 24" monitor on a single link cable.