asked on 7/28/2021

Is it my Video Card?

Hi Exports,

I have a Dell Vostro 3470 with the same ports laid out in the Amazon image, but I bought it directly from Dell, and still under warranty.

Connected to the Vostro, I have an Asus monitor. To connect, I am using a HDMI Cable and the colors are vibrant, text is sharp, bright - overall I'm happy. However, when I connect the same monitor with VGA, the colors are awful, text not as crisp, and not as bright.

To confirm, this one monitor, and I'm not changing any settings between switching connections. With this test, I was expecting to seen the same exact quality in colors, sharpness, etc. Below are images of what I'm seeing - (sorry, there is a light above the monitor)

HDMI:

VGA:

The background colors are even different (brown/green).

The reason for this test is because I am using a second monitor, which was bright and good, but I got a vertical line. I replaced it twice with the same model, but it is no longer bright and sharp. Is my video card getting defective ?

Is there a way to test the video card? I know that DELL used to have a self-diagnostics tool, but can't find it.

Thanks!!!

Dell Displays / Monitors Hardware

Last Comment

Jazz Marie Kaur

7/30/2021

rindi

7/28/2021

It is highly unlikely that the Video Card is the culprit. It is much more likely that your Monitor is different in Quality, or also in it's default settings. Most better displays have buttons which bring up an OSD display, & there you can change settings, like Color Temperature etc. Usually they also have some predefined settings for different user preferences.

Play around with those settings until you are better satisfied.

Dr. Klahn

7/28/2021

At resolutions higher than 1024x768, and using 24-bit color or better, either HDMI or DVI is required to produce a decent screen display.

VGA at resolutions higher than 800x600 always looks poor compared to DVI or HDMI no matter what video card, display or cabling is used. This is because VGA is an analog signal. Even when properly terminated it still smears and rings. It is not possible electrically to yank the signal around fast enough at high resolutions and for "feasible" resolutions it is not possible to hit the exact color due to the signal ringing.

And that's why DVI, and now HDMI, have replaced VGA.

Dave Baldwin

7/28/2021

HDMI is capable of much higher resolution than VGA. It would be odd if they both looked the same. They might on an older lower resolution monitor.

APD Toronto

7/28/2021

ASKER

Is it possible to connect 2 or 3 monitors on this computer without using the VGA?

The thing is that first monitor was good quality on VGA.

rindi

7/28/2021

VGA is not worse than other connections. At least not up to resolutions of 1920x1200. I'm using such displays in Dual Configs using VGA & DVI, & for one Notebook also Display-Port. The Output Quality is exactly the same for whatever port I use.

The differences are due to different settings of the Displays, which as I have explained you can select using the "O"n "S"creen "D"isplay of your Monitor via the buttons it has.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Jazz Marie Kaur

7/29/2021

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Jazz Marie Kaur

7/30/2021

Glad I could help! May we know which of my suggestions or resolution action you ultimately took to resolve the display issue? It may help further EE members, thanks!