Wear and tear?
- Thread starter Jpac
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N3051M
Posts: 2,094 +3
well if you're shoving it in and tearing them out i would say so.. 
otherwise a good quality card and good care to it can last you years (and millions of plugin plugouts) without any/not much damage..
but eventualy, like everything else they will die.. common deaths include frying the bugger (or if it had a good life) components refusing to operate properly..
try swap monitors or the vga plug with another pc see if its still workign first (if that was the problem you're asking) before you decide to bin it..
otherwise a good quality card and good care to it can last you years (and millions of plugin plugouts) without any/not much damage..
but eventualy, like everything else they will die.. common deaths include frying the bugger (or if it had a good life) components refusing to operate properly..
try swap monitors or the vga plug with another pc see if its still workign first (if that was the problem you're asking) before you decide to bin it..
Its really not a hot swap design. the VGA pins will bend pretty easy. assuming you dont mess up the pins you shouldnt have any problems as long as your are careful every time you do it. That said, VGA cables are pretty cheap to replace and the vgaports themselves shouldnt wear out unless you are just flat out abusive. You should cut the power to both PC and monitor each time you do it.
N3051M
Posts: 2,094 +3
because when they are both on there is a connection happening, and a connection means tehre is electrical current traveling both ways through the cable, and like the widely known fact that static or rouge discharges can cause problems with electronics it is advised that they should be switched off before swaping/unplugging.. or at least the pc side
The most common ill-effect to plugging/unplugging a vga cable ALOT is getting a bent or broken pin in the connector.
Also, the more you do this, the more loose the connection may become from the metal lip/retainer spreading. This can cause artifacting or signal noise if the cable is wiggled or motioned even small amounts during use.
It's best to not be plugging/unplugging the VGA cables often as there are almost always solutions to get around this. Why specifically is this an issue?
Also, the more you do this, the more loose the connection may become from the metal lip/retainer spreading. This can cause artifacting or signal noise if the cable is wiggled or motioned even small amounts during use.
It's best to not be plugging/unplugging the VGA cables often as there are almost always solutions to get around this. Why specifically is this an issue?
N3051M
Posts: 2,094 +3
not that much.. it's possibly just a small % of signal degridation. its just the same as runing something through a cable.. thats also causes signal degridation... you wouldnt see much difference on the screen.. unless you get cheapo crap ones.. otherwise why dont you get a lcd that has dual connections or a tv card and then hook it up to that?
Jpac said:
If you get a good quality VGA switch it will not reduce the quality. If you buy a cheap out you will get a large amount of smearing and ghosting at higher resolutions I have run into this problem personally. Both the cables you use and the vga switch must be rated for high resolution. Belkin makes some good ones but there are other good brands that may be cheaper. you will have to shop around if you are looking for the best deal.
Another solution might be to get a cheap capture board and use the Svideo or HD output of the 360. Then you can just leave it full-time connected to the capture board, play in a window, maximize full-screen, take screenshots or record videos of your XBox sessions.
Keep in mind some have latency/lag when capturing, especially USB models... so gaming with 1/2 second lag isn't a very good option. A VIVO or PCI/hardware solution or similar should not. Also, by going VGA to SVideo or HD input may cause some signal degradation... but that depends on the resolution and output of the particular title/game.
There are many other solutions as well. Sometimes a new monitor is the fix- as some of the newer LCD's offer multiple inputs (like DVI + VGA) with a switch on the front panel for selecting inputs.
There are many, many alternatives. Higher end KVM switches also work nicely and as already mentioned, wont degrade signal much if they are good quality.
Keep in mind some have latency/lag when capturing, especially USB models... so gaming with 1/2 second lag isn't a very good option. A VIVO or PCI/hardware solution or similar should not. Also, by going VGA to SVideo or HD input may cause some signal degradation... but that depends on the resolution and output of the particular title/game.
There are many other solutions as well. Sometimes a new monitor is the fix- as some of the newer LCD's offer multiple inputs (like DVI + VGA) with a switch on the front panel for selecting inputs.
There are many, many alternatives. Higher end KVM switches also work nicely and as already mentioned, wont degrade signal much if they are good quality.
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