“I can’t get my old monitor to hook up to my new computer!” This complaint often comes up when someone is trying to connect old tech to new tech. Display connections have evolved over the years, and your new PC may not offer the port needed for your 10-year-old monitor. But don’t huck your old screen in a dumpster just yet. Instead, find the correct monitor adapter cable ($10-25) and use your old screen until it drops!
Monitor Ports
There are a lot of different display interfaces over the years:
But with typical computers, there’s only 4 to think about:
- VGA: its cable has 3 rows of pins in a trapezoid, and has blue ends with thumb-screws.
- DVI: its cable has 3 rows of pins in a rectangle, and has white ends with thumb-screws.
- HDMI: its cable has no thumb-screws and usually has black ends with a metallic insert.
- DisplayPort: its cable is similar to HDMI, but the connector is not symmetrical — one corner is cut off.
Focusing on those 4 port-types, you should look over the back of your monitor, as well as your new PC tower, and take stock of the possibilities. Each may offer you one or two different ports for your video cable.
Note: your old monitor just might have an (unused) HDMI port to match your new computer’s HDMI port. If that’s the case, then you don’t need an adapter. You just buy any HDMI cable and discard the old VGA or DVI cable you’ve been using.
Selecting the Right Monitor Adapter Cable
Knowing the possible video ports of your tech, you can now hunt down an adapter.
If your new PC offers multiple video ports, focus on using the HDMI connector. After that, prioritize a DisplayPort, if present.
If your old monitor offers a variety of ports, the priority should start with HDMI, then DisplayPort, then DVI, then VGA.
An example: your monitor is so very old, that it only shows a VGA port. The Windows 11 tower you’ve just received has an HDMI port and a DisplayPort. For this setup, you would want an HDMI-to-VGA adapter cable, such as this or that.
A different example: your older monitor has two possible ports, a VGA and a DVI. The new computer has HDMI ports. We’d choose the DVI over the VGA, and obtain an HDMI-to-DVI adapter cable, such as this or that.
Once you have your new adapter cable, you’ll unscrew and put aside your old VGA or DVI cable. It won’t be necessary if the adapter cable works.
Old PC to New Monitor?
Yes, you might need to tackle this problem in reverse. If you have a very old PC and you’ve bought a new monitor for it, you’ll have to look at the ports and prioritize, as described above. However, there’s a catch.
In many cases, you are looking for an HDMI-to-VGA adapter cable, but that type of cable is uni-directional. It either transmits from VGA to HDMI, or from HDMI to VGA, not both. You must pay close attention to the details on the cable description to get what you need.
Here’s an example of an adapter to connect a VGA monitor to the HDMI port of a newer PC. Note that you would continue to use the VGA cable coming from the old monitor, connect it to the adapter and then connect the adapter to the PC.
If this stuff makes your head swim, no worries. When you find yourself in this kind of pickle, call or email me and I’ll quickly steer you towards the correct cable to buy.