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Someone explain Displayport to me
Cobra951:
So I'm looking at computers, and my display, being 10 years old, can only do VGA for PC input. (HDMI input is restricted to standard HDTV resolutions.) The Nvidia card in what I'm considering does HDMI, DVI and something called "Displayport", which is apparently universal. I found this, which looks like a simple passive adapter. But someone told me that Displayport is digital, which would seem to imply the need for an active converter to VGA analog (R,G,B, HSync, VSync). Any words of wisdom? This is all new to me. I have way too much stuff connected to this screen through all manner of modern and legacy inputs. Replacing it would be a serious endeavor, even if money were no object (which it definitely is). So the lack of a solution here is probably a deal breaker on the PC.
Cobra951:
I guess I can. That would imply that either the Displayport carries the analog signals, or the "adapter" is really a DA converter. I'm not a fan of the latter. If there's a return policy on the PC, I think I may try my luck with it.
scottws:
DisplayPort is indeed pretty universal. It's generally the port (in Mini DisplayPort form) you've seen for external display output on ultrabooks for the last several years, though larger laptops (especially consumer versions) sometimes have both it and HDMI. That said, the connector is starting to be replaced by USB-C because the USB type C spec has support for Alternate Modes, including DisplayPort.
DisplayPort is a digital specification, so any DisplayPort to VGA adapter must have a DAC. Or at least that's the only way I imagine that they'd be able to work.
Cobra951:
Yeah, I've since read some disheartening news about Nvidia and others pretty much abandoning VGA since last year. I need to think more about this. A DAC would introduce lag, and almost surely degrade the signal, perhaps even prevent me setting the native panel resolution. I may go with a more basic system with legacy support and give up on gaming capabilities. I'm doing all gaming on console now anyway. It was just a thought.
I do have this cheap ACER monitor with a DVI-D connection, though. I'd need to rearrange my desktop to use it, since it's off to the side as a 2nd PC screen for when I'm using something else on the main screen.
Cobra951:
It worked! 1080p (max) DisplayPort-to-VGA converter discovered the make (Samsung) and panel resolution (1366x768) of my all-purpose screen, and it painlessly came up at the right resolution right off the bat. So we're all good here.
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