The movement from old CRT monitors to flat-screen monitors has gradually strained its way into PC industry as about 1999. Upgrading PCs video card means you must do some finagling to obtain it to work without creating other sizable investment purchasing a new monitor.

VGA Basics

1. VGA and has been de facto standard for PC video as its beginning in 1987. Its derivative, SVGA, was able of 800 x 600 resolutions. XGA was next, holding similar resolution as SVGA but with 256 colors rather than 16. All other standards that came after were derivatives of SVGA or XGA. The one thing they all have in common is they all work in analog.

DVI Basics

2. DVI is video standard PC industry is migrating to. Digital video can be send beyond and at a much higher quality than analog. It was one of causes why FCC needed television stations to switch to transmitting a digital signal by mid-2009. Flat-panelLCD displays work off of DVI output.


There are three types of basic DVI outputs: DVI-A, DVI-D, and DVI-I.

DVI-A is an analog only connector, DVI-D is digital only and DVI-I a combination analog/digital connector.

VGA to DVI Adapters

3. The major reason people want to utilize old CRT monitors generally comes down to affordability. Video-card makers know this and have integrated both VGA and DVI inputs on some of their new cards. But higher-end cards have only DVI.

One method to utilize an older monitor with a new video card that has only a DVI connection is to buy an adapter. This has a DVI connection on one end and a VGA on other. They come in adapter only or cables and run anyplace from some dollars to near 0.

VGA to DVI Converters

4. The other way, and significantly more costly, is to purchase a converter box, which has inputs on both end and permit VGA to be utilized with DVI-D. They can run into hundreds of dollars and in many cases it would be more commercial to purchase a new LCD monitor.

CRT vs. LCD

5. There are causes why investing in an LCD monitor might be something you want to plan into budget for an upgrade. One cause is space. CRTs are large; LCDs are much slimmer. Also, LCDs have a higher picture resolution and utilize significantly less power than CRTs.