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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 9th, 2023

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  • DVI and HDMI are actually the same video signal. Which is why adapters are so cheap.
    DP can carry an HDMI encoded signal (and thus a DVI signal), which is why DP->HDMI and DP->DVI adapters are so cheap. It’s called DP Dual Mode or Multi Mode or something like that.
    I haven’t encountered a device that outputs DisplayPort that cannot output the Dual Mode HDMI encoded signal as well.

    HDMI/DVI->DP is an active conversion - ie it is re-encoding it. Which is why the converters are significantly more expensive.

    However, it’s all digital. If the signal quality degrades, it will be very obvious because it stops working (sparkles on a black screen, lines, flashes, all sorts).



  • I can tell you that big data centers likely have a 4 year hardware cycle, where it is all under warranty and service contract.
    After which, it gets sold to refurbishers who refurb it and resell it. Or the datacenter may repurpose it for labs, OOB hardware, or donate it to schools.

    A lot of smaller companies don’t need the latest and greatest, and are quite happy running old 2nd hand hardware.

    Even after they are done with it, there are plenty of hobbyists that will buy it. I have a couple 8 year old servers that run absolutely fine for what I need.

    Old servers are also kept around as parts for companies that refuse to update old hardware (and will just keep buying spares, or like-for-like replacements).
    The last step is ewaste, where the good stuff gets boiled in acid to extract the gold, or whatever they do.

    The only things that are generally destroyed during hardware cycles are the storage, and that’s normally for compliance reasons.