[Discuss] Large DVI monitor

[mark at buttery.org (Shirley Márquez Dúlcey)]

On 8/8/2011 10:02 AM, Bill Bogstad wrote:
>
> I've been following this discussion and been confused because I don't
> think I've ever even seen a card with a DP port.   I did a quick
> survey of graphics cards available on-line at Microcenter and I think
> I know why.   None of the cheapest ten graphics cards had DP (some had
> DVI as well as HDMI).   More then 50% of the most expensive cards had
> DP.  I'm not into heavy graphics/gaming so in my universe DP doesn't
> exist.  That's a bit surprising if DP is royalty free, but it is what
> it is.

Even if it's royalty-free it costs money to put the port on the card. 
You have to buy and place the connector, and there is probably an 
interface chip as well (level translator / line driver. And you have to 
find space on the back panel of the card for the connector.  If there is 
no market pull for DisplayPort the card manufacturers won't include it.

There is market pull for HDMI. People want to hook their computers up to 
their HDTV sets. Some conference room digital projectors now have HDMI 
inputs instead of DVI, partly because the cable and connector are less 
cumbersome and partly because a lot of non-Apple laptops (like my nearly 
two year old HP) have HDMI outputs. Modern thin laptops simply don't 
have room for DVI connectors, so they have to use HDMI or DisplayPort if 
they have digital outputs at all.

My new GTX560 card has two DVI ports and a full-size HDMI port on the 
back. It simply doesn't have room for DisplayPort as well; they'd have 
had to go to mini-HDMI instead and then people could complain that they 
had to go out and buy a new and hard to find cable. Or they could have 
gone to a setup like some ATI cards use where there is only one DVI 
port, and then people could complain about the extra hassle of 
connecting their dual monitors.

I don't have a big HDTV set yet. But when I get one I'll be happy that 
it's easy to connect my gaming computer and my laptop to it.