There may be a difference in color range as HDMI is typically used for TV, but you can change that in your graphic card settings.
Newer HDMI versions support higher bitrates which in turn allow higher colour depths (10 bit per colour) and HDR, so again can look better.
But for the same resolution, bit depth and so on, they will be identical. They are both digital signalling methods so the cable should not matter, but lower quality cables can cause noise and interference.
Answer from Mokubai on Stack ExchangeOn my PC setup I am currently using only one monitor, but I would like to set up my second monitor. The reason I haven't set it up yet is due to the lack of correct cables to plug the 2nd monitor into my graphics card. Here are the ports that each of these components have:
Graphics card has 1 hdmi port as well as 1 DVI-D port
Monitor I currently use has 1 DVI-D port as well as 1 VGA port
The monitor I want as my 2nd monitor has 1 VGA port as well as 2 HDMI ports
On my current setup I have a DVI-D to HDMI cord connecting my monitor to the graphics card (DVI-D side is on the monitor, HDMI is on the card). To set up my 2nd monitor, I will either have to change this so my current monitor is connected DVI-D to DVI-D and have my 2nd monitor run HDMI to HDMI, or I will have to keep my monitor the way it is and get a converter to run the VGA from my secondary monitor into the DVI-D port on the graphics card.
So, down to the reason for the post. I am wondering what the advantages and disadvantages to using HDMI or DVI-D in terms of quality. I think the easiest thing for me to do would be to get a DVI-D cable to connect my current monitor to the graphics card, and then connect my 2nd monitor via HDMI. Will there be any consequences to doing this? I still intend for my current monitor to be my primary monitor (I use this rig for gaming) and I would probably prefer to just keep a 1 monitor setup if I have to sacrifice quality to get to the 2 monitor setup. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!
Is there a performance difference between VGA, DVI, and HDMI?
Which is better: DVI to DVI or HDMI to DVI?
Is DVI any good? Or should i try and find a monitor that takes HDMI?
Is there any reason why a DVI to HDMI cable wouldn’t work?
Videos
There may be a difference in color range as HDMI is typically used for TV, but you can change that in your graphic card settings.
Newer HDMI versions support higher bitrates which in turn allow higher colour depths (10 bit per colour) and HDR, so again can look better.
But for the same resolution, bit depth and so on, they will be identical. They are both digital signalling methods so the cable should not matter, but lower quality cables can cause noise and interference.
The cable has nothing to do with the picture quality, it's the interface and protocol over it.
DVI only supports 8-bit RGB colors, but it comes with single and dual link varieties.
HDMI supports faster speeds larger resolutions, up to 12-bit colors, and other colorspaces than RGB, but if your monitor or video card only supports say 1920x1200 at 60 Hz and 8-bit over HDMI, then that is the best you can get anyway and it does not matter if you use DVI or HDMI interface.
And, it depends on your monitor, if it allows for same resolutions to be used over HDMI and DVI. Some will, some won't, as DVI is primarily meant for computer monitor connection, and HDMI is primarily meant as a television connection.