VGA vs HDMI output

[PastaFeast]

I never bought a video card before or even had a PC that had one in it before, but I'm looking to buy one now and I just now learned you have to connect your monitor to the video card port instead of the motherboard one that I've always used before. The problem is I still use VGA cables and I guess no modern video cards even have a VGA port anymore, though I see many come with a DVI-to-VGA adaptor I can use. Obviously HDMI is an option but my question is how much worse will things look if I chose to use the VGA adaptor instead of HDMI?

My setup is kind of weird maybe because I have my computer plugged into a 32" 1080p LED TV by Sharp. I stuck with VGA because I could never get the text, among other things, to look right when I tried connecting it with an HDMI. So now that I've got everything looking to my satisfaction I'm wary about trying to use HDMI again and all that hassles that will bring in trying to re-adjust everything. I should say right now my picture is crystal clear with VGA and I'm happy with it. But if I get a card and want to play games will I not be getting the full benefit of the card if I don't use HDMI?

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

http://www.cnet.com/news/hdmi-vs-displayport-vs-dvi-vs-vga-which-connection-to-choose/
HDMI vs. DisplayPort vs. DVI vs. VGA: Which connection to choose?

 

[PastaFeast]

Thanks, but it's not really what I'm looking for. Anyway I got my new card now and have it connected via HDMI and honestly I hate how it looks. Everything is much more grainy looking. I think this is the reason why I chose VGA over it two years ago. Is there a fix for this, or a setting I can adjust? Both text and pictures look obnoxiously crisp and it's harder to read. From a distance it's almost like every letter has a white outline around it, though when I get super up close I see that it actually doesn't. It just messes with my eyes.

Alternatively can I just put my VGA back into my motherboard's slot and ignore connecting any input to the video card directly? I mean the card is installed now, so it shouldn't really matter where the video feed comes out of as long as everything's communicating with each other internally right?

 

[Sinistercr0c]

Wrong. In order to use your discreet GPU your TV/monitor needs to be connected to it, otherwise your just using your onboard GPU.

 

[runesmite14]

By today's standards, HDMI is significantly better than VGA.

If I had to guess, the reason everything looks bad with your HDMI is you had to increase the sharpness to have it look good with VGA. HDMI uses a digital signal, and you can definitely make your monitor too sharp. Try reducing the sharpness on the monitor itself. That may solve the issue.

 

[PastaFeast]

Oh 🙁

Okay, thanks for the head's up before I tried it. I'm going to mess around with my TV settings and see if I can find something that looks nicer, like lower the sharpness maybe. I mean it's not BAD, it's just... different. Because I have a 32" screen I set like 6 feet back so it's a delicate balance between getting the text the right size vs the clarity. I guess if all else fails I can use the VGA-DVI adapter it came with.