Which is best for gaming? DisplayPort or HDMI?

[darael]

Sorry for the thread bump, but the monitor is the Dell S2421HGF which has DisplayPort 1.2 and HDCP 1.4 - I won't link to it on Dell's site as they sell it, so therefore probably classed as a competitor.

Should I buy a DisplayPort or HDMI for this monitor? I've a suspicion people will just tell me to buy a cheap HDMI 1.4 cable due to the monitor's low resolution and refresh rate. But I just want to be sure first.

Edit: I should also mention that my graphic card is a GTX 1050Ti

 

[MissChief]

I’d have expected potentially both cables in the box with the monitor. Check the box.

 

[The_Arbiter]

Sorry for the thread bump, but the monitor is the Dell S2421HGF which has DisplayPort 1.2 and HDCP 1.4 - I won't link to it on Dell's site as they sell it, so therefore probably classed as a competitor.

Should I buy a DisplayPort or HDMI for this monitor? I've a suspicion people will just tell me to buy a cheap HDMI 1.4 cable due to the monitor's low resolution and refresh rate. But I just want to be sure first.

Edit: I should also mention that my graphic card is a GTX 1050Ti

It might come with cable/s. Worth checking the manual from the site. Quick google says it comes with "cables".

 

[darael]

I’d have expected potentially both cables in the box with the monitor. Check the box.

It might come with cable/s. Worth checking the manual from the site. Quick google says it comes with "cables".

You're both right, the manual does indeed state that it comes with a HDMI cable - probably not as good as the DisplayPort cable, but I think it should be fine for testing.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Both are digital connectors and so suffer no quality loss, either the digital signal displays correctly or it doesn't, there's no variability in quality. Both carry video and audio. There's no significant difference in max cable length. Both standards have multiple revisions which increase the amount of bandwidth the cable can sustain, this limits the screen resolution and refresh rate the cable is capable of.

In both cases you need support for a specific revision in three things.
1) The GPU output
2) The cable
3) The display device

For example if you want to use HDMI 2.1 revision then you'd need hardware that supports HDMI 2.1 specifically in all 3 devices. Otherwise the highest revision common to all 3 devices is used.

The TL;DR for this is: If your hardware supports the resolution and refresh rate you want then it literally doesn't matter.

 

[MissChief]

I’m limited to DisplayPort due to G-Sync but I’m fine with that, I have the HDMI connected to my laptop!

 

[Matthew Blake]

Reading on Google says that DisplayPort is best, but I don't really understand why. Could somebody explain please?

I am looking to buy a monitor but want to buy the right cable first time round

Also, is there a way of finding out the current HDMI speed/version a monitor is using to the Nvidia graphic card? I understand that there are various HDMI versions, so I am trying to find out if my friend could use a better HDMI cable or even a DisplayPort one.

Higher frame rates and higher resolutions need more data each second. Older standards can't support as much data being sent so limit your fps/resolution. It's not really going to be an issue unless you are one of the 3 people in the world with a 3080/6800 xt as both HDMI 2.0 and DP 1.4 support plenty for older graphics cards.

 

[heatonpkmassive]

I’m limited to DisplayPort due to G-Sync but I’m fine with that, I have the HDMI connected to my laptop!

Exactly the same set up here, along with a USB KVM.