VGA
Short for Video Graphics Array, VGA is a popular display standard developed byIBM and introduced in 1987, VGA provides 640 x 480 resolution color display screens with a refresh rate of 60Hz and 16 colors displayed at a time. If the resolution is lowered to 320 x 200, 256 colors are shown.
In the above picture is an example of what the VGA (SVGA) cable and connector will typically look like on the monitor and on the back of the computer. The VGA standard has been replaced by SVGA and although these cables and connectors are still referred to as VGA they are technically SVGA.
Although it is not uncommon to still find this type of cable and connector with today's computers and monitors. This standard is becoming obsolete and being replaced by the DVIconnector and cable.
VGA Pin functions
The illustration shows the 15-Pin VGA connector, its pin assignments, and size dimensions. As can be seen, the VGA connector has 15 holes and each hole (pin) has its own function as explained in the below chart, which describes each pin function
| Pin | Function |
|---|---|
| 1 | Red Video |
| 2 | Green Video |
| 3 | Blue Video |
| 4 | Monitor ID 2 |
| 5 | TTL Ground (monitor self-test) |
| 6 | Red Analog Ground |
| 7 | Green Analog Ground |
| 8 | Blue Analog Ground |
| 9 | Key (Plugged Hole) |
| 10 | Sync Ground |
| 11 | Monitor ID 0 |
| 12 | Monitor ID 1 |
| 13 | Horizontal Sync |
| 14 | Vertical Sync |
Monitor ID 3 DVI
Short for Digital Visual Interface, DVI is a video display interface developed to be an industry standard for transmitting digital video content to display devices at resolutions as high as 2560 x 1600. Common devices that utilize the DVI connection are computer monitors and projectors. DVI can even be used with some TVs, although HDMI is more common as only some DVI cables can transmit audio signals. The DVI connector (shown below) may have one of three names depending on the signals it supports: DVI-A (analog only), DVI-D (digital only), or DVI-I (both digital and analog).
 DVI or VGA?
If you have a monitor and GPU that support both DVI and VGA, we suggest going with a DVI cable as the picture quality will always be better with digital (and most analog) sources.
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