Converting DVI-I Cable to to DVI-D
Neil Thu May 16, 2013I just installed a new video card (GTX 650). The card has 2 DVI and 1 HDMI ports. Meanwhile, my 2-year old Samsung (I believe a S19B310B) monitor has VGA & DVI ports. The uninformed me decided to go DVI-to-DVI. I didn't know there are different types of DVI ports.
Only when I was about to finish the cabling did I notice that the DVI cable doesn't fit the DVI port on the monitor. After thorough checking, I noticed that the DVI port (video card) and connector (cable) has 4 more pins than those on the monitor.
Well, there could be some type of adapter I can buy to make the two work. Then I remember how hard it is to look for DVI cable here in Cebu. Buy a new monitor? Certainly, not.
The Research
So I had to ask the Big G for some advice. The 4+1 pins, in turns out, are for the analog signal. My monitor supports both analog & digital signal. If I switch to digital, those pins are useless.
A couple more digging on forums and I found some people removing the pins on the cable and getting the two ports to work together. Why not? Some were against the hack as the 5th pin is wider in the DVI-I and wouldn't fit on the DVI-D. Luckily, my monitor has a slightly wider DVI-D connector.
The Hack
I grabbed a stencil knife and started sawing the 4 small pins to create small tears on their bases. With a quick left-to-right twist, the pins snapped. I did this on both ends of the cable.
When I plugged it in, it fit perfectly.
Turned on the pc, switch the monitor to digital and it worked!
Image Source: www.playtool.com
