Does a computer monitor need a computer tower to use in gaming?

[bellarista]

Hey, I’m a novice at setting up gaming consoles and I’m afraid my parent’s aren’t much help either.

I’ll be getting a Wii U soon and wanted to know if I could use an old computer monitor instead of a tv as it would be more convieint. However, am I going to have to need a computer tower for the monitor? Because I don’t have a working computer tower for this monitor and those are pretty expensive.

I know this seems like a dumb question but I can’t find an obvious answer anywhere.

So am I going to need a computer tower as a power source for the monitor when hooking up gaming consoles to it?

 

[hang-the-9]

You don't need a computer, the Wii will just connect to the monitor, as long as you have the right connections. The computer is not a power source for the monitor, the monitor has it's own power supply. Does the monitor you are using have speakers and the right connections to connect to the Wii?

 

[bellarista]

You don't need a computer, the Wii will just connect to the monitor, as long as you have the right connections. The computer is not a power source for the monitor, the monitor has it's own power supply. Does the monitor you are using have speakers and the right connections to connect to the Wii?

I checked and I don’t think so, at least not naturally. It has VGA and DVI-D Dual Link connections while the Wii U needs HDMI. To do this, I’d need a converter but I don’t really know what type I’d need without breaking the bank.

As for the speakers, I don’t really know. It’s a pretty old Dell monitor that whenever I used with the computer tower it always had a set of speakers hooked up to the tower.

Thanks so much for the help already!

 

[hang-the-9]

You don't need a computer, the Wii will just connect to the monitor, as long as you have the right connections. The computer is not a power source for the monitor, the monitor has it's own power supply. Does the monitor you are using have speakers and the right connections to connect to the Wii?

I checked and I don’t think so, at least not naturally. It has VGA and DVI-D Dual Link connections while the Wii U needs HDMI. To do this, I’d need a converter but I don’t really know what type I’d need without breaking the bank.

As for the speakers, I don’t really know. It’s a pretty old Dell monitor that whenever I used with the computer tower it always had a set of speakers hooked up to the tower.

Thanks so much for the help already!

Sounds you are better off just getting a small TV to use with the Wii, or buy a monitor with HDMI and speakers.

My daughter uses a 24" TV as her computer monitor and has cable box on it as well, works great and was about $60 used.

I'd get a full 1080 HD set, works better with computers than the 720 ones.