We hope this material will help shed light on different types of connections and help you choose the right cable. First, we will deal with the general types of video connectors, their pros and cons. Then we will determine which cable is needed for a gaming monitor with a high refresh rate, high resolution and FreeSync support.

Connection Types

Usually, there are 4 different types of connection in monitors. At the top of the list are the oldest and not too advanced standards, which are perfect for an ordinary office or home computer with an inexpensive monitor. HDMI and Displayport are more sophisticated and modern pieces that allow you to transmit a high—quality signal with high latency and high resolution. These are rather options for gamers and pros working with graphics.

VGA is the only analogue type of data transmission. The maximum supported resolution is 1280x724 pixels. The transmission quality largely depends on third-party factors such as the length of the cable or its thickness. In fact, it simply has no advantages compared to other types — it is a morally and technically outdated standard that does not want to disappear from the market in any way.

DVI-D is an old digital alternative to VGA, which is built into literally every modern graphics card and monitor, which is its huge plus. Its disadvantage is the strong dependence of the signal quality on the length of the cable and the maximum resolution of 1000000 for two—channel models. Often this is the best connection option for those who just want to buy equipment, plug in wires and start working without thinking about anything superfluous. But if you need a bigger resolution and a higher refresh rate, then this is not the best option.

HDMI is a High Definition Multimedia Interface, which means "High Definition Multimedia Interface" in English. This is the most popular standard at the moment, which allows you to simultaneously transmit both audio and video streams to the device. Almost all major players of the video market — Philips, Sony, Toshiba, Samsung and others — took an active part in its development.

Displayport is the most sophisticated on paper, transmits both audio and video, has many advantages like a latch or the ability to simultaneously connect two monitors while maintaining high parameters of the original signal.

In essence, HDMI and DisplayPort are quite similar, but the former is used much more often. The reason is quite banal: for using the HDMI protocol in their devices, each manufacturer pays royalties of $0.04, while the royalties for using DisplayPort are 5 times higher — $0.2 per unit.

Why can't you just pick up and connect via HDMI, since it's the most popular?

You can simply connect it. But it's better to learn more about the HDMI versions and their nuances first.

The fact is that HDMI has been actively developed since 2002 and since then 13 versions of this protocol have entered the market. Numbering goes from 1.0 to 2.1, but often cables are sold without numbering, so as not to burden a potential buyer once again. Instead, terms like High Speed are used, which speak not only about the protocol version, but also the quality of the cable itself. For example, a Standart class cable is made of oxygen-free copper with a thickness of 24 AWG, while in High Speed the copper thickness is already 28 AWG. However, monitors with video cards usually do not write the standard, but the HDMI version, so we will focus on it.

HDMI 1.3

The most basic version of the protocol. It is able to transmit a picture in a resolution of 1920x1080 at 120 Hz, or 1080x1440 at 60 Hz. The main feature was the support of Deep Colour technology.

HDMI 1.4

Added support for 4K and 2K resolutions. However, in the first case, the ceiling of the refresh rate will be 24 Hz, in the second 30 Hz, which is unacceptable for games. Even the simplest three–kopeck monitor has a refresh rate of 60 Hz, and ideally 120 – 144 Hz is needed for games.

HDMI 2.0

The main news is that 4K now works at 60 Hz with 24—bit colour rendering. That is, 4K is now not just a buzzword, but it really can be used. Also in the specification there are new unusual resolutions of type 21:9 for monitors with non-standard aspect ratio. In version 2.0a, support for the HDR standard has been added.

HDMI 2.1 or Ultra High Speed

The new standard has learned how to pull videos in 8K and even 10K. But it's not great, but the fact that the refresh rate has tightened at popular resolutions of 2K and 4K. Both are now transmitted at 120 Hz.

120 Hz monitors

It is also worth remembering that HDMI has several variations such as mini-HDMI and micro-HDMI, which differ in the output port. Usually such reduced versions are used in laptops and portable equipment.

What about DisplayPort?

This type of connection was developed in 2006 and was planned as a replacement for DVI. The latest versions provide the highest data transfer speed, allow you to connect professional screens with 48-bit colour, and also provide a double level of protection of the transmitted content. The same DisplayPort 1.3 and 1.4 provide increased bandwidth up to 240 Hz at a resolution of 1440p, and 120 Hz for 4K monitors.

Monitors with Display Port input

The problem with DisplayPort is its complexity and high cost: there are not so many monitors available with this connector, and the cable itself can cost many times more expensive than the HDMI analogue. For some cables, you will have to pay $ 150 at all. Compare this with the prices of HDMI cables. Because of this, DisplayPort mostly remains the preserve of geeks, professionals and enthusiasts. In this case, the overpayment is worth it. For example, if you are a designer or fashion designer, then DP will not just give out the highest possible picture quality, but also allow you to connect several monitors into a single chain without loss of quality.

I bought a cool gaming monitor with a high facing. Which cable should I buy to make everything work?

If you plan to transmit data via cable from devices (DVD, satellite receiver), where the flow of information is small, then an inexpensive HDMI cable is quite enough for you. But for a top-end gaming monitor, you will have to arrange dances with a tambourine. The point is to get not only high resolution with a good ending, but also support for the most useful featuresFreeSync (it eliminates frame breaks in dynamic scenes), not every cable is suitable for us.

Monitors with AMD FreeSync support

It should be either HDMI version 2.1 or DisplayPort newer, preferably version 1.4. The fact is that frame synchronization technologies such as FreeSync and its Adaptive-Sync and G-Sync counterparts are quite demanding. Therefore, even the coolest cable will not be able to provide data transmission in 4K, and with a 120 Hz clock, and with FreeSync enabled. Usually, the resolution will have to be lowered in order for all this to work. Plus, the monitor itself should support not just the usual FreeSync, butFreeSync Premium, which supports this very frequency of 120 Hz. And there are few of them now and they are prohibitively expensive.

For a monitor with a frequency of 144 Hz, but a slightly lower resolution, you will need an HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort 1 cable.2. In some cases, you can do with a conventional DVI, which is capable of providing a resolution of 1920x1080 at a frequency of 144 Hz or 1080x1440 at a frequency of 75 Hz. But there will be no support for FreeSync, DVI simply does not have it.

The last parting words

It may not make much sense to buy a cable at the price of a low-cost graphics card. But it is also not worth saving on it. Cheap DisplayPort can distort the colour gamut, cheap HDMI can "eat up" pixels, and DVI-D is very demanding both on the length and quality of the cable itself. It is not surprising that there are so many topics on profile forums in the spirit of "I bought a monitor for $ 500, but the picture is not very good. In most cases, the problem turns out to be in the cable, less often in calibration when replacing HDMI with DisplayPort or DVI-D.

If you reduce the entire text to a simple conclusion, you will get the following option: DisplayPort is advisable to buy for an expensive gaming and workstation with an expensive monitor. In all other cases, HDMI will cope. There is no special benefit from DVI and VGA in 2020, so these are options rather for not the most modern video cards and monitors.

Also try to buy cables with connectors that will be used in the graphics card and monitor. It is not necessary to take a universal option and several adapters, since these are unnecessary links in the digital circuit and they can cause problems like flickering pictures, signal loss or HDCP errors. Even if everything works fine, you will still be limited by the slower port standards.