DisplayPort 2.1 DP80 Cables Have A Length Problem
DisplayPort 2.1 DP80 Cables Have A Length Problem
The adoption of the new DisplayPort 2.1 standard is still slow at this moment – as GIGABYTE has only just introduced the world’s first DP2.1 UHBR20 gaming monitor, the AORUS FO32U2P. However, as Monitors Unboxed (the sister channel of Hardware Unboxed) discovered, the cable that comes with it is extremely short, at just 1 meter long.
It’s not that GIGABYTE skimped on materials for such a short cable, however. Due to the extremely high bandwidth DP2.1 UHBR20 standard demands, the supported cables – marketed as DisplayPort DP80 cable – has its length limits due to signal integrity reasons. VESA, the organization responsible for display standards, has a list of certified cables that supports this speed, but none of them are longer than 1.2m.
Of course, this poses a potential problem for users of UHBR20-supported displays. A cable at 1.2m is no longer than your typical smartphone charging cable these days, and these cables usually need to run the length from the tower case to the monitor, which can be further than the current DP80 cables could reach. That being said, there is a type of cable called “active cables” which uses onboard circuitry to boost the signals, but these will cost more (especially when optical fiber gets involved).
VESA is currently working on the specs of the said active cables, which should hopefully solve the length issues of the blazing-fast DP80 cables. Note that slower cables such as DP54 and DP40 cables are still capable of delivering the bandwidth required for 4K 144Hz and beyond, while not having the length limitation like DP80 cables do.
While AMD is the first to support DisplayPort 2.1 standard for its GPUs, the Radeon RX 7000 series only supports UHBR13.5 mode, not the fastest UHBR20 mode that this AORUS monitor is capable of displaying. In fact, no gaming GPUs today support UHBR20 – so it’ll be a good while before you’ll have to worry about cable length being a serious issue.
Source: Videocardz
Pokdepinion: Looks like we’re hitting the physical limits for passive cables pretty soon.
