HDMI Cable vs. DVI Cable

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roweder

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I tried the search and couldn't find anything, and I'm wondering...

if you have a monitor and video card that are both capable of hooking up via a HDMI cable and a DVI cable, which one will provide a better user experience (gaming, blu-ray movies ect.)?

I'm assuming HDMI would because it's new and all that... but I want to hear what everyone thinks, and HDMI cables are expensive, and monitors usually come with free DVI cables, so would upgrading to a HDMI cable be worth it?
 
No big difference in quality between the two. Only that HDMI carries audio along with video, while DVI is only video.
 
I have some news to bring to the table, I just played the same game for 30 minutes over HDMI and over DVI, and my video card (GTX 480) got much hotter using DVI.

with HDMI, the card got up to 89°C

with DVI, the card got up to 106°C

that's a big difference!

anyone know why this could be?


also, when I watch Blu-Ray movies, PowerDVD occasionally tells me I need to use an analog connection, or a HDCP - Capable connection, which HDMI is. I usually just close and open the program again, but then I have to re-find my spot which is annoying.
 
HDMI and DVI are both digital connections so the picture quality should be identical between the two. In fact, they are pretty much the same thing as you can get HDMI to DVI cables to connect DVI monitors to HDMI ports and vice versa. The main difference is that HDMI carries audio as well as video but some DVI cards support audio via a DVI to HDMI cable as the signaling uses the same wires.

Also, I don't recommend Monster Cables, especially for digital systems as they are 100% unnecessary. A digital connection is unaffected by the very slight signal interference that Monster Cables claim to protect against. I bought a $6 cable on Newegg that works perfectly with my monitors and the quality is exactly the same as you would get with Monster Cables but at a small fraction of the price.

HDCP is a content protection system available on HDMI connections. You need it for most Blu Ray discs if you play them through a player that doesn't remove it. This is quite annoying and the one of the many reasons I avoid Blu Ray. You may or may not be able to use HDCP through DVI, it depends on your monitor and video card. I know my old monitor (hp w2007) was DVI/VGA only but still supported HDCP.

If you have a very large monitor (I think greater than 1920x1200) then DVI will be necessary to get native resolution because you'll need a Dual Link DVI cable which has additional lines for increased bandwidth.
 
I understand that the signals are exactly the same, I'm just amazed at how much of a difference was made in the temperature of the video card, and not sure why this is.
 
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