displayport DP80LL Cables

[splurf]

## Intro

Modern GPUs (e.g., RTX 5090) support high-bandwidth display outputs. To take full advantage of these capabilities (e.g., high refresh rates at higher resolutions) a certified DisplayPort cable meeting the DP80 spec is recommended.

 

## Technical Problem

The signalling for current DP80 (passive) tends to degrade past ~1 meter in length. The new DP80LL (active, low loss) cables work up to around ~3 meters.

 

## Marketing Problem

Not only are there not many DP80LL cables out there, but there's a lot of confusion between DP versioning and specification. These are different (e.g, a listed cable or monitor stating DP 2.1, DP80 and UHBR20, but it may not support the new Low-Loss spec (DP80LL)). UHBR20 with Low-Loss is required if you need a cable longer than 1 meter. Because of this, listed items (e.g, Amazon, Newegg, ...) tend to specify the version with DP80 and UHBR20 but never mention Low-Loss (the LL in DP80LL).

 

LTT Team, please address this.

Edited February 15 by splurf
Intro originally stated GPUs require these cables. Now it states the cables are needed for high-bandwidth use cases.

[Eigenvektor]

29 minutes ago, splurf said:

Modern GPUs (e.g., RTX 5090) require high-bandwidth cables.

How much bandwidth a cable needs to support is not tied to the GPU generation. It's a result of the resolution and refresh rate you're running at. Unless your monitor uses 2160p at 320 Hz (or more), and you can't use DSC for some reason, there's no need for cables that support that kind of bandwidth.

 

If you need such a high quality cable, I'd say it's worth doing a bit of research and buying one that's officially VESA certified instead of relying in marketing claims made by retailers. If you can afford a 5090 and a monitor with 4K @ 320 Hz (or higher), you can afford a proper cable.

[splurf]

3 hours ago, Eigenvektor said:

How much bandwidth a cable needs to support is not tied to the GPU generation. It's a result of the resolution and refresh rate you're running at. Unless your monitor uses 2160p at 320 Hz (or more), and you can't use DSC for some reason, there's no need for cables that support that kind of bandwidth.

 

If you need such a high quality cable, I'd say it's worth doing a bit of research and buying one that's officially VESA certified instead of relying in marketing claims made by retailers. If you can afford a 5090 and a monitor with 4K @ 320 Hz (or higher), you can afford a proper cable.

Totally fair, the DP80 cables are excessive, but you seem to have missed the rest of my post. It's about the fact that when you do need/want UHBR20 with Low-Loss, finding a properly certified DP80LL cable is harder than it should be since retailers rarely distinguish them from passive DP80.

[Eigenvektor]

12 minutes ago, splurf said:

Totally fair, the DP80 cables are excessive, but you seem to have missed the rest of my post. It's about the fact that when you do need/want UHBR20 with Low-Loss, finding a properly certified DP80LL cable is harder than it should be since retailers rarely distinguish them from passive DP80.

Retailers with missing or plain incorrect specs has been a thing since forever. It would be great if it wasn't, but I'm not sure what you want LTT to do about this in particular, other than maybe raise awareness. Still doesn't solve the issue that you need to verify info elsewhere before buying and even then you can't always be sure whether the part you're ordering is the part you actually want.

[splurf]

7 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

Retailers with missing or plain incorrect specs has been a thing since forever. It would be great if it wasn't, but I'm not sure what you want LTT to do about this in particular, other than maybe raise awareness. Still doesn't solve the issue that you need to verify info elsewhere before buying and even then you can't always be sure whether the part you're ordering is the part you actually want.

Yes, if they address this it would help raise awareness.

[Doobeedoo]

I wonder how fast next DP will be. Tgough we really should start moving optical.