Will Soldering A vga port on my Mobo for seconday Display Works Fine?

akash172946

Commendable
Mar 13, 2016
2
0
1,510
I am looking forward to attach my second display to pc but it has only a vga out.
So i came up with idea to pull out vga port of old mobo and attach to my working unit in paralled with onboard vga port.

But In case i need help to know will it work or i will burn out my main board in this process.
 
Solution
I'm hoping this is a joke, but if not, then no - you can't turn a VGA Port (emphasis on PORT - meaning connecting ONE OUTPUT [the video card or on-board video on a motherboard] to ONE INPUT [a monitor]) into a BUS (buses connect multiple devices together, possibly multiple sources and multiple destinations, though every bus is different, and the only video "bus" is DisplayPort version 1.2 and above, and it can't connect to a VGA port without an adapter).

If you solder on a 2nd connection, at best both monitors will display the exact same image, but at worst (and more likely and has already been said), you'll burn out your motherboard due to poor soldering or an issue with grounding, signal timing or current requirements of each monitor...

Razor68

Honorable
Nov 4, 2014
3
0
10,520
I'm hoping this is a joke, but if not, then no - you can't turn a VGA Port (emphasis on PORT - meaning connecting ONE OUTPUT [the video card or on-board video on a motherboard] to ONE INPUT [a monitor]) into a BUS (buses connect multiple devices together, possibly multiple sources and multiple destinations, though every bus is different, and the only video "bus" is DisplayPort version 1.2 and above, and it can't connect to a VGA port without an adapter).

If you solder on a 2nd connection, at best both monitors will display the exact same image, but at worst (and more likely and has already been said), you'll burn out your motherboard due to poor soldering or an issue with grounding, signal timing or current requirements of each monitor exceeding what the VGA port can output (not likely). You could also wreck one or both monitors in the attempt.

Your REALISTIC options are:

1. Your motherboard may have only one VGA connector, but may have a different type as well, perhaps DisplayPort, HDMI or DVI. It's possible to buy adapters to use these with VGA monitors, but better still is to check if either of your monitors supports these ports without an adapter. If so, avoid the adapter and just buy the cable you need. If you go with an adapter, make sure it supports the correct input (note DVI-D and DVI-A are extremely different, while DVI-I is "Universal" and the output resolution and refresh rate of your VGA monitor.

2. Buy a video card, and use it to drive BOTH monitors. If it's a PCI Express 3.0 x16 card (or even 2.0) with a GeForce series above the 650 or a Radeon above the 7770, it will likely far exceed what the on-board video provides in performance. The cost will likely be around $60 US or higher -- possibly MUCH higher (you can spend $1200 US if you really want to). This will also require checking the available slots on your motherboard, the space available to accommodate a card, and the power supply's ability to power an add-in card. Cheaper and lower-performing cards usually don't tax your power supply enough to worry about.

3. If your PC has USB 3.0 or 3.1 ports, buy a USB-attached video card to drive the 2nd display. These will provide VERY POOR performance compared to a video card, but should handle even 1080P (1920x1080 @ 60 Hz refresh) video from streaming sites fairly easily, and handle any Website or productivity application (Microsoft Office, etc.). I've no experience with these, so can't comment on their performance for playing 3D accelerated games, but I'd be surprised if they worked very well.

4. A video splitter. As mentioned earlier, it's an option, but only if you want both monitors to display the same information.

If you have a PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot (or 2.0 x16), and have a few dollars to spend on this, you're far better off going with a card. The card can likely drive 2 or more monitors and at far better performance than the VGA output of your motherboard. If you get a card, use ALL of its ports (some have 3 or 4) before you use the motherboard's VGA connector. With very few exceptions, even a cheap video card far exceeds the capabilities of an on-board video adapter. Unfortunately most video cards only offer only one VGA port if they offer any at all as it's an outmoded port. If your monitors support newer standards (DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI) then use those. If they only support VGA, you'll have to make sure the card you buy has multiple VGA ports (HD15 connector). If you can't afford a new card or don't want to spend the money, the next best is the adapter to connect the motherboard's other video output to the VGA monitor. The cost will be lower than a video card, but it may be problematic - I've had okay luck with a DisplayPort to VGA adapter myself, but only use it rarely. The USB 3 video adapter should only be used as a last resort, as the performance will be mediocre and the cost fairly high (relative to its performance).

Good luck!
 
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