DisplayPort 2.1 Has a Cable Problem

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00:00 - Welcome Back to Monitors Unboxed
01:18 - DisplayPort 2.1 Certified Cables are Really Short
06:21 - Lots of DisplayPort 2.1 Cables Have Misleading Advertising
10:05 - Assessing the Top Amazon DP2.1 Cables
11:55 - What Can Be Done

DisplayPort 2.1 Has a Cable Problem

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Outro music by David Vonk/DaJaVo

[monitorsunboxed]

Silkland, one of the cable manufacturers we talked about in this video, has reached out to us and updated their product pages to be much clearer about what their DisplayPort 2.1 cables are capable of.


Silkland tell us this was an internal communication issue between the product department (who make the cables) and the operations editors (who upload the product listing to retailers). Moving forward, Silkland will be addressing this issue by requiring the product department to give accurate information to the operations team and that these product listings will be clearly detailed with accurate specs.


Silkland tell us they weren't originally listed in the DP40 and DP80 sections because it's VESA's decision what categories products are placed under on their website, but they contacted VESA to have the website updated to reflect the results of certification.

3. Silkland's DisplayPort 2.1 cables over 2m in length have been updated to say they support 40 Gbps speeds, but remain without VESA Certification for DP40. Silkland are claiming these products are actually capable of 40 Gbps but the certification standard is more strict and even if the bandwidth can reach 40 Gbps, it may not pass certification due to other factors like attenuation. However internally they have tested these cables to work at 40 Gbps using both testing equipment and real world monitors like the Samsung Neo G9.

At this stage we'd still recommend sticking to certified cables at the lengths you're interested in where possible, anything beyond that you will have to take the manufacturer at their word.

4. Silkland are working on DP54 cables and some existing products (eg. 2m cables) will be upgraded to DP54 spec. DP80 cables certified up to 2 meters in length are also in the research and development phase, though shorter term goals are for 1.5 meters in length followed by 1.8 and 2.0 meters.

We're still going to keep an eye on the cable situation but I appreciate Silkland updating things to be more accurate and clear for consumers which was a major concern brought up in this video

[Cinetyk]

- Are you GPU bound or CPU bound?
- Nah, I'm cable bound...

[youtubevanced]

Length is always a problem when it comes to DP.

[AlexSchendel]

First it was USB, then it was HDMI, and now even Displayport has jumped on the asinine naming/optional features bandwagon. Awesome.

[garwynrosser]

The fact you can say "DP" and "length" so many times in one video without cracking is a testament to your steel resolve.

[dioscur]

You need to have PhD in cables to buy one. Hate that. Not the first time companies does that, this apply to everything today. What a mess. Thank you for sharing this with us, I think this type of content help a lot in many different ways at once

[Conradlovesjoy]

What’s the point of a “standard” if the “standard” has 4 different versions?

[luminance]

so what you're saying is that USB, HDMI and DP have all created a mess of naming schema where the advertised version is functionally meaningless to most end users, with the important things being stuck in the fine print, if there at all... fantastic.

[TheZoenGaming]

I remember similar problems when HDMI 2.0 came out. Lots of cables were advertised as supporting either 18 Gbps or 4K 60 Hz, but they weren't.

[KiltedCritic]

Would be good to see as future content, maybe a once a year thing of cable testing to see if their performance lives up to their names and "certification". Would be a great way to help buyers avoid getting burned the hard way.

[bofast]

If Cat8 cables for 40 Gbps Ethernet can be certified to 30 meters, surely one can certify something like 80 Gbps DP for 2 meters, unless the DP standard cable/connector design is somewhat questionable to begin with.

[hqfpsmf]

I have purchased a Club3D DP2.1 a month ago. Yes, I can confirm these cables are VERY short. I had to relocate and change the orientation of my PC and Display.

[hbjigcc]

I'm pleased by the fact i was your source for this video.
Many info you're providing clearly come from my 2 month old posts on TPU forum (1.2m max length of DP80 cables, copper vs fiber, DP40 cables sold as DP80, DP80 certification list).

Good video, bye.

[matsu]

Exactly same problem I have notice where looked for longer cable for Thunderbolt 4 (or USB C 40GbE)

[selohcin]

The lack of standardization in industry "standards" is maddening. How has this been allowed to continue on like this for so many years? I suspect it has everything to do with the fact that lawmakers do not play PC games, so this is not an issue that affects them personally.

[danield.]

Thanks for this clarification! I canceld a cable on Amazon which I ordered few minutes ago. 👍👌

[DrBreezeAir]

Cable Matters has never failed me. I'm sure they'll make one. I have two of their HDMI 2.1 cables, one short copper, one active optical 5m one, and an adapter from DP 1.4 to HDMI 2.1. They're flawless.

[LA]

Yes, I agree. I was also surprised by the length of the cable to this monitor. I had to put the computer on the table next to the monitor.

[TheXev]

DP 1.4a had this issue as well but not as terrible. When the RX 5700 XT was having black screen issues, one of the things AMD recommended was to use a Certified DP cable. For some people, this did work to solve the issue. However, Certified DP cables are much shorter then most cables you can purchase. For someone like me, who has a three monitor setup, this isn't going to work easily with a 1.5m cable, as typically your PC tower sits on one side or the other of the monitors. Only having the PC under the desk or in the middle of the desk is going to solve this issue, and not many people will want to return to the 90s.

Optical cables are going to be more expensive (likely because it will need transmit/receive hardware inside each of the connectors), and people who are not used to dealing with optical cables are going to likely be crushing them, twisting them, and breaking them in all kinds of ways because they won't be used to dealing with optical cables. It's going to take quiet the pubic service announcement to get people used to dealing with optical.

[BrianCairns]

2m DP80 active cables won't necessarily need to be fiber optic cables. It's possible to get slightly more length out of a copper cable with redriver chips.

There are already USB4 40Gbps copper cables with active redrivers, and 40Gbps USB4 signalling is very similar to DisplayPort UHBR20 (USB4 has two 20Gbps links in each direction, for 40Gbps bidirectional, whereas DP 2.1 UHBR20 can use all 4 links in one direction for a total of 80Gbps unidirectional).