Why would you use any monitor connection that wasn't DisplayPort?

Cromulent

Cromulent

Cromulent

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I mean all modern GPUs have at least one DisplayPort connection (and normally more than one this might be normal sized DisplayPort connections or Mini DisplayPort but there really isn't much of a difference between them except that you might need an adaptor for Mini DisplayPort connections) and all modern monitors have a DisplayPort connection. So why would you choose to use HDMI when DisplayPort is the technically superior connection?

I can understand people who want to also plug a console (or consoles via an HDMI hub) into their monitor but that shouldn't stop them using DisplayPort for connecting to their actual PC.

DisplayPort has also supported full 4k at 60Hz for way longer than HDMI has and even modern AMD GPUs don't come with HDMI 2.0 so you are pretty much forced to use DisplayPort there anyway.

And for people with high end professional monitors like my main one with 10 bit colour (or even higher) DisplayPort is the only option that actually supports the higher colour quality.

So are there actually any reasons as to why someone would use HDMI (or even god forbid DVI-I / DVI-D or even worse VGA) over DisplayPort? Because from where I am standing if you have a choice of DisplayPort or something else the choice is obviously going to be DisplayPort.
 
Cromulent said:
So are there actually any reasons as to why someone would use HDMI (or even god forbid DVI-I / DVI-D or even worse VGA) over DisplayPort? Because from where I am standing if you have a choice of DisplayPort or something else the choice is obviously going to be DisplayPort.
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You serious??!!

Okaaaaaayyyy...... I use them because I currently have HDMI and DVI cables from all the previous incarnations of my PC, both of which work perfectly fine on my 1080p monitor and getting an unecessary brand new Display Port one would cost time, money and effort, none of which I can especially spare when considering my other, more pressing outgoings.

For some reason, I also feel I should be apologising *profusely* to you, for my crime of NOT owning a massive 4k monitor... I mean, the technology is currently available and (aside from severe lack of money) there's no good reason why I don't already own one, right... so on behalf of me, my wife, my bank manager, my employer and OCUK - Sorry I don't own kit fancy enough for your exacting standards of me.
I would suggest that, if I do not use what you think I should, then perhaps you should supply kit of a standard acceptable to you...

On a similar note, unless you drive/ride something that does 0-60 in under 3 seconds, I feel you should be offering a similar apology to all of us...
I mean, the ability to achieve such immense acceleration has been around and affordable since 1978 and my own example cost less than my PC... so what's your excuse?


TL:DR - You, sir, appear to have more money than sense and no appreciation for those of us more proportionately salaried... I politely suggest you refrain from exercising further judgement.


Disclaimer: Yes, I am making fun of the OP. Please don't ban me!
 
smilertoo said:
if your monitor is only HD res then HDMI makes more sense, it can handle sound to any monitor speakers you may have.
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So can DP. But HDMI is certainly adequate for such monitors, provided they aren't high refresh rate models (HDMI 2.0 is more flexible here) or those with G-SYNC.
 
ttaskmaster said:
You serious??!!

Okaaaaaayyyy...... I use them because I currently have HDMI and DVI cables from all the previous incarnations of my PC, both of which work perfectly fine on my 1080p monitor and getting an unecessary brand new Display Port one would cost time, money and effort, none of which I can especially spare when considering my other, more pressing outgoings.

For some reason, I also feel I should be apologising *profusely* to you, for my crime of NOT owning a massive 4k monitor... I mean, the technology is currently available and (aside from severe lack of money) there's no good reason why I don't already own one, right... so on behalf of me, my wife, my bank manager, my employer and OCUK - Sorry I don't own kit fancy enough for your exacting standards of me.
I would suggest that, if I do not use what you think I should, then perhaps you should supply kit of a standard acceptable to you...

On a similar note, unless you drive/ride something that does 0-60 in under 3 seconds, I feel you should be offering a similar apology to all of us...
I mean, the ability to achieve such immense acceleration has been around and affordable since 1978 and my own example cost less than my PC... so what's your excuse?


TL:DR - You, sir, appear to have more money than sense and no appreciation for those of us more proportionately salaried... I politely suggest you refrain from exercising further judgement.


Disclaimer: Yes, I am making fun of the OP. Please don't ban me!
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Wow. You accuse me of having more money than sense when a DisplayPort cable costs less than £10. I'm not rich but even I can afford £10.

This was simply a discussion as to why people use something that was superceeded technology when there are better options out there and that have been supported for years (just looked it up and the first DisplayPort specification was released in 2008).

As for apologising for not having a 4k monitor. What are you on about? I don't own a 4k monitor and can't afford one either. That doesn't mean DisplayPort doesn't have advantages over HDMI (or other display connection technologies) especially if you have a monitor with 10 bit or higher colour reproduction.

Edit: Just checked out the OCUK store and the cheapest monitor that comes with a DisplayPort connection costs £105. Not exactly expensive.
 
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ttaskmaster said:
You serious??!!

Okaaaaaayyyy...... I use them because I currently have HDMI and DVI cables from all the previous incarnations of my PC, both of which work perfectly fine on my 1080p monitor and getting an unecessary brand new Display Port one would cost time, money and effort, none of which I can especially spare when considering my other, more pressing outgoings.

For some reason, I also feel I should be apologising *profusely* to you, for my crime of NOT owning a massive 4k monitor... I mean, the technology is currently available and (aside from severe lack of money) there's no good reason why I don't already own one, right... so on behalf of me, my wife, my bank manager, my employer and OCUK - Sorry I don't own kit fancy enough for your exacting standards of me.
I would suggest that, if I do not use what you think I should, then perhaps you should supply kit of a standard acceptable to you...

On a similar note, unless you drive/ride something that does 0-60 in under 3 seconds, I feel you should be offering a similar apology to all of us...
I mean, the ability to achieve such immense acceleration has been around and affordable since 1978 and my own example cost less than my PC... so what's your excuse?


TL:DR - You, sir, appear to have more money than sense and no appreciation for those of us more proportionately salaried... I politely suggest you refrain from exercising further judgement.


Disclaimer: Yes, I am making fun of the OP. Please don't ban me!
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Whats with this reply??? the OP asked a question thats all,he never mentioned anything about owning a 4K and whats with the "more proportionately salaried" comment?...unbelievable

Going with your question Cromulent im still on DVI..looking at a new 1440p Freesync DP monitor to purchase very soon..I use HDMI to "stream from my pc to the TV at home,thats about it really pal
 
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Cromulent said:
So why would you choose to use HDMI when DisplayPort is the technically superior connection?
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DP is still fairly raw and has some teething problems. It is sensitive to cable quality, for a start. And there are numerous reports of some monitors (certain Dell models, most notably) having issues with the screen intermittently going blank with a DP connection, particularly in multi-monitor setups. Some people have also found certain DP gfx card - monitor combos just don't work reliably for no obvious reason.

HDMI (and even moreso DVI) has the benefit of having gone through this phase of immaturity and in most circumstances basically just work with no issues now.
 
Cromulent said:
Wow. You accuse me of having more money than sense when a DisplayPort cable costs less than £10. I'm not rich but even I can afford £10.
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That's still a lot of money to some people. In some cases, we have things like children, pets, bills, loans, travel and a myriad unexpected costs, which all make that £10 better spent on something other than some cable we don't actually need.
Others had scrimped and saved every penny they had to get a decent gaming rig which is still good enough today, so again they don't need and cannot justify buying something newer if what they have works fine.
Others prefer to spend the money on peripherals, rather than a cable that is 'newer technology' yet doesn't give any discernible difference to the HDMI one they already had...
Others still simply don't want to spend money until they have to in order to keep playing the games they want. Until fairly recently I was gaming on a Q6600 with an LGA775 board...

Besides, you assume I need that exact one... what if I told you I already have three monitors, each requiring a 5m cable... Still only £10?

Cromulent said:
This was simply a discussion as to why people use something that was superceeded technology when there are better options out there and that have been supported for years
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If I trawl through your house, I bet I can find at least five examples of you using something equally outdated... You OK with me questioning why you're not using the newer version like me?

Cromulent said:
just looked it up and the first DisplayPort specification was released in 2008
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So?
Is there some kind of deadline date by which we are all required to have adopted this?

Cromulent said:
As for apologising for not having a 4k monitor. What are you on about? I don't own a 4k monitor and can't afford one either.
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But why would you NOT have a 4K monitor? Anything else is old, superseded technology... right? I hope you've ordered your Oculus Rift, because monitors will soon be superseded too...

Cromulent said:
That doesn't mean DisplayPort doesn't have advantages over HDMI
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It's something I don't currently *need* in order to make my PC work. Biggest lack of advantage right there. When monitors and GPUs no longer come with HDMI, then it's time to upgrade.

Cromulent said:
especially if you have a monitor with 10 bit or higher colour reproduction.
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"I have a rectangular box on my desk that shows me pretty pictures. I switch it on and off. It has colours".
For many people, that is as far as it goes.

Cromulent said:
Just checked out the OCUK store and the cheapest monitor that comes with a DisplayPort connection costs £105. Not exactly expensive.
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So now you think I should also buy a new monitor, having not long bought this one?

That £105 would get me to work and back for three months... or up to The Highlands, as well as buying my breakfast and lunch...

adger1971 said:
Whats with this reply??? the OP asked a question thats all,he never mentioned anything about owning a 4K or "having more money than you"...unbelievable
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It's more the arrogant and assuming sentiment behind it, however unintentional, that looks down on anyone who (for reasons not even considered) has not met the OP's idea of what they seemingly should have.
 
I would share the general consensus here:

Why purchase a DP cable, unless you really NEED one? Most people already have DVI and HDMI cables. What does DP actually give over HDMI or DVI, apart from more bandwidth for higher resolution and refresh rate combos (which directly links to the previously mentioned NEED)?

It's all fine and dandy, if the DP cable is supplied with the monitor, and your rig already has the necessary connectors. But if this is not the case, then why SHOULD anyone purchase an optional DP cable? And bare in mind, most people are using 1080p@60Hz or less. This forum and its users (and especially this sub-forum) are quite far away from the average user. Also, that 10 bit colour reproduction? Hah! :D

Ps. Oh, and DVI also has a more robust locking mechanism.
 
ttaskmaster said:
It's more the arrogant and assuming sentiment behind it, however unintentional, that looks down on anyone who (for reasons not even considered) has not met the OP's idea of what they seemingly should have.
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I think you are reading too much into it.

My question was why would you use anything other than DisplayPort with the sole intention of finding out why people would use something that is inferior to it and as to whether they had good reason to do so. Basically I was trying to learn if there were any good reasons to the decision that I hadn't considered.

But unfortunately there is always one (you in this case) who is unable to answer a reasonable question and dives off the deep and starts getting insulting for no reason. So well done for that. I hope being that way makes you happy.
 
Actually, in ttaskmaster's defense, you did sound a little arrogant. I also read your opening post as confrontational, like "what kind of eejit still uses HDMI or DVI?". It was quite far away from a neutral "what are the benefits for using HDMI or DVI, as opposed to DP?".

If you feel like ttaskmaster's response was uncalled for, then maybe YOU need to practice on your presentation skills, instead.
 
Cromulent said:
I think you are reading too much into it.
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Just reading how it comes across...
I know what the question was, but the way you asked it and the assumptions you made were quite derogatory. It feels like you're demanding we justify ourselves, or something...

Cromulent said:
Basically I was trying to learn if there were any good reasons to the decision that I hadn't considered.
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You assume they *chose* to buy it over DP.
Generally when people are using old tech it's either because they can't afford the newer, or because they don't need it yet.

It's not something they choose to buy, but that what they already have still works fine.

You don't buy the top of the line Mercedes every time a better version comes out, especially if you already have a C-Class in fine fettle that suits your every need... do you?

Cromulent said:
But unfortunately there is always one (you in this case) who is unable to answer a reasonable question and dives off the deep and starts getting insulting for no reason. So well done for that. I hope being that way makes you happy.
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Well... your OP was essentially, "Why aren't you using DP? Why are you using crappy old HDMI? There's no reason for you to have such crap. You should be using DP. Why aren't you conforming to what I think?".
Pretty insulting, even if you didn't intend to be...

This was then followed with essentially, "I can afford something, so why can't you? I think something is better, so you must think the same. If you don't have what I say is the best, you should have bought this one instead".
Also pretty insulting...

So yeah, answering in kind
 
I think you have serious paranoia issues Ttaskmaster,I usually don't get involved in petty squabbles but I wanted to say that Me personally didn't find the Ops post either condescending or derogatory,where in his post did he say "crappy old HDMI"?...maybe the op comes across as a bit arrogantto some,I certainly didn't see it that way,maybe his wording could have possibly been a bit better,but he certainly didn't write the words that your putting in your posts "I can afford something.so why can't you"..where's he said that ??
 
adger1971 said:
I think you have serious paranoia issues Ttaskmaster,I usually don't get involved in petty squabbles but I wanted to say that Me personally didn't find the Ops post either condescending or derogatory,
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Hey, I'm still trying to provide a full and useable answer.
If I really felt it was a problem, I'd have just said, "None of your ****ing business".

adger1971 said:
maybe the op comes across as a bit arrogantto some,I certainly didn't see it that way,maybe his wording could have possibly been a bit better,
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That is the notion I was driving at...

adger1971 said:
but he certainly didn't write the words that your putting in your posts "I can afford something.so why can't you"..where's he said that ??
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That's my summation of how it reads, not a direct quote.
 
My monitor has 1 DisplayPort, 1 HDMI 2.0 and 2 regular HDMI. My work laptop only has DP and VGA. So I use HDMI 2.0 from my PC and leave the DP for when I'm working from home. I've tried DP from my PC and it makes no difference over the HDMI 2.0 at 4k60.

So what was the point of the question again? Or have I fallen for an obvious wind-up? :-)
 
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