Datasheet

778
Upgrading the Basic Stuff
Times have changed. It doesn’t make any sense for the video card to trans-
late bits into an analog signal, only to have an LCD monitor translate the
analog signal back into bits. That’s the crux of the Digital Visual Interface
(DVI) plugs: Eliminate the video-card middleman.
More and more LCD monitors come equipped with DVI plugs. More and
more video cards come equipped with DVI ports (see Figure 1-2). Unlike the
old D-shaped VGA plugs, which have 15 round pins arranged in 3 rows of 5
each, the much larger and more rectangular DVI plugs have a single flat pin
and (usually) 24 round ones, in an asymmetrical pattern.
Figure 1-2:
The ATI
Radeon HD
4890 offers
two DVI
ports and
occupies
a PCIe x16
slot.
Photo courtesy AMD Corporation.
If you have a choice, go with DVI. It’s faster and more reliable than the old
VGA interface — and the pins are less likely to get crunched when your ham-
fisted cousin starts switching around monitors.
Choosing a screen resolution
A flat-screen monitor’s native resolution is the number of image-forming dots,
or pixels, that the monitor can display horizontally and vertically. Although
you can adjust the resolution on CRT displays to infinitesimal sizes and squint
with the consequences, for the most part, adjusting an LCD screen to any
resolution other than its native resolution leaves your eyes begging for mercy.
The grid of dots in a flat-panel display is fixed — the modified screen
resolution is a sleight of hand, performed by interpolating among dots on
the grid. So it’s important to choose a monitor with a native resolution
you can live with.