Windows 7: Blue DVI Port

Hi, i have a blue DVI port and also a HDMI port, when i plug my monitor into the dvi port nothing happens same thing for the HDMI port. What is this port for? and would it be better than my Nvidia GEforce 9600 GT Graphics card?

i have looked in the BIOS but found nothing that points to these ports.....unless i dont know what i'm looking

See attachments for picture of the rear of my pc....bit blurred i'm afraid but you can see where they are.

there's also an attachment detailing my system hardware.

Any help would be muchly appreciated

Welcome!

When you say "nothing happens", do you mean that your monitor gets no signal?

From what I gather, you have a discreet graphics card, and also on-board graphics. If you want to use the on-board card, you need to enable it in your BIOS.

However, I suspect the nVidia is better than the onboard, so keep using it.

Hi Jonathan_King
what exactley do you mean by 'discreet graphics card? and yes i mean nothing happens when i hook up the blue dvi port to my monitor...what about the HDMI port? do i need to get a hdmi cable and connect my tv to it after enableing the onboard graphics card?
why would there be 2 graphics card in the pc?....questions questions lol
when i bought the pc it already had the Nvidia card installed

apologies for sounding a bit thick but i've never heard of a blue DVI port....especially a discreet one lol

The discreet card is the other card, connected via PICe most likely. In other words, it is added, and not built-in to the motherboard.

If you want to use the HDMI port, and if the discreet card does not have one, enable the onboard card.

There are 2 graphics cards because one is built-in to the motherboard, and the other is a better card added by the OEM.

Specs on TonyR's computer,

UKT Support - Advent QC8003 PC

And yes the 9600 GT is far better than the integrated Intel video. If you want to connect via HDMI, if you can take a good look at the 9600 GT and find out who it was made by. And no it wasn't Nvidia, it will be one of their AIB partners (EVGA, BFG, XFX, Zotca, etc). Once you find who made the card then try contacting them and asking for a DVI-HDMI adapter like this (it is not a standard DVI-HDMI adpater, as the one that comes with most cards is pinned differently so that it can carry audio),



Most that I have seen that have contacted the manufacturer have received the adapter for a low cost, and in most cases free. Unfortunately the 9600 cards were hit and miss as to whether that adapter was included with the card. If you didn't get one maybe even contact the place you bought the PC from and see if they have them.

While you're at it if you want audio over HDMI with the 9600 GT you will need one of these cables,



which connects the SPDIF header on the sound card or onboard audio to the corresponding SPDIF header on the video card.

One example of using 2 graphics cards is to output to 2 monitors (but there are other reasons)

Here's a pic of what Jonathan is trying to explain

Cutting to the bottom line, the picture that you show in your OP is of the I/O port of the motherboard, not the video card, which has it's own separate connectors in the PCI slots. You could use either, but the separate card would be superior. If using the onboard card, then it needs to be enabled in the BIOS, if using the Nvidia card, the onboard card needs to be disabled.

Hi all, thanks for all the info, i will stick to using the 'plugged in' card ( might even upgrade) and at least now i know what the other ports are

thanks for all your help and advice