DVI or VGA cable?

My monitor is BenQ XL2411Z, i am going to play using 60hz refresh rate, my question is, is there a noticeable difference if i would use the DVI cable instead of the VGA cable i'm currently using.

I am not interested in the 120hz refresh rate, 60hz is just fine, so other than using the 120 or 144 rates that DVI enables, is there a difference in the image quality when using DVI with monitor refresh being at 60hz?

Yes. VGA tends to be lower quality since it's analog and, therefore, heavily dependent on the quality of the cable. Go DVI, which is digital. You'll get a much more consistent image quality.

Take it from the expert if you don't believe me.

Absolutely. The difference between the two is staggering in terms of clarity. It's like going from SD to HD.

@dadjumper said:

It's like going from SD to HD.

Ok, thanks.

DVI is a digital signal and less prone to interference. If your monitor supports it aswell as your gfx card why use an old standard? If you got a cable with your monitor use it.

Pardon my language but why the fuck are you not going to take advantage of the maximum refresh rate? I have a 144hz screen and I will never go back. Use the damn refresh rate unless it makes you sick, and if it does try and adjust! It's just plain better, and you don't get the "soap opera" effect when it's a game. Plus you'll always get all of the frames your PC is capable of delivering. Even the windows environment is vastly improved by 144hz over 60 IMO. So even if you can't run GAMES at 144hz, you should still set it to that just to get smoother motion on your desktop.

You spent money on what would ultimately be a lower quality screen with the exception of the refresh rate. Quite a lot, isn't this monitor nearly $300 with taxes? USE what you paid for or return it and spend that on a better 60hz display.

As everyone else has said, DVI 100%. DVI will do bigger resolutions, higher refresh rates, and better image quality.

Always DVI.

DVI, HDMI or Displayport if your card and monitor support them. Anything else is just old at this point. I'm surprised anyone is still using VGA these days. That was old a decade ago.

I can't tell them apart.

If you're using VGA, you may have to go into your monitor's menu and use its auto-calibration option to enhance the picture.

I can't believe anyone is still using VGA in this day and age.

I do because my monitor only has a VGA and a DVI port and I want my PC and PS3 connected.

Well, i have GTX580, and what i've read had said you will need a beast of a machine to run at 120 or 144. Maybe i can run it smoothly even at 144, but some people have said you might need to lower some ingame settings to achieve 120/144:

"It will work but you'll probably have to adjust some game settings down to keep frames per second up in that range"

I bought my first desktop gaming PC in 2011, and have used BenQ monitor with VGA cable, and now that my monitor broke i decided to get a newer model, i have not previously thought about any of these things, DVI/VGA/120/144...

What i know is my PC runs everything well at 60hz, its been good enough for me, but i would like to now try the 120 and 144 settings. Its just that i do not want to lower my ingame settings just to get higher refresh rate.

As i understand it: 120/144hz with lower graphics, but higher fps, which may jump around, or 60hz with lower but more stable fps and better graphics.

And also, since some older games do not work with the GTX580, i have to switch between it and Intel HD 3000, which only works with the VGA cable.

I would get a DVI switch if I were you, there's one on monoprice for about $35. It's worth it for the visual upgrade since most monitor manufacturers cheap out on their A to D electronics.

That's weird, I've never heard of an older game being unable to run off a video card. I'm like you, 60 fps is plenty for me, I've never found myself regretting not being able to run games at a higher frame rate and I'd rather have better graphics with a reasonable frame rate then worse graphics with a frame rate that I probably won't appreciate. It's still worth it to go for the DVI though as it will take advantage of the potentially higher frame rates at the same graphical fidelity and the colour and overall picture quality will be much better.