DisplayPort 2.0 has hardly made it into the wild, but right here comes DisplayPort 2.1 (opens in new tab). Curiously, VESA, the trade group behind the event of DisplayPort says that each one DisplayPort 2.0 licensed merchandise already meet the two.1 spec.
DP 2.1 basically replaces DP 2.0. The revised spec goals to enhance alignment and integration with USB 4 and the type-c connector. It means DisplayPort alerts are higher capable of co-exist with USB knowledge whereas delivering elevated effectivity.
In line with Alan Kobayashi, VESA board chair and DisplayPort activity group chair, “Show transport by DisplayPort, with its greater bit charges and confirmed visible high quality of DSC compression even for HDR content material, presents ample bandwidth for the wants of nearly each sensible software.” That sounds good. Excessive decision gaming at excessive refresh charges is one thing all avid gamers can recognize.
DisplayPort 2.1 additionally brings up to date cable specs. A DP40 cable can assist 10Gbps UHBR10 (40Gbps with as much as 4 hyperlinks). Cable lengths past two meters ought to now be potential too. The DP80 cable helps the UHBR20 hyperlink price, with 4 lanes offering as much as 80Gbps of bandwidth. UHBR stands for Extremely-Excessive Bit Price. DP 1.4a can ship as much as 32.4 Gbps, so the best 80Gbps of a excessive spec gadget is an enormous enchancment.
By way of decision, DP 2.1 stays unchanged from DP 2.0. A UHBR20 connection can ship 75Hz at 8K uncompressed, or over 240Hz at 4K. That’s with 10-bit shade depth. Although refresh charges can be a bit decrease for HDR10 content material, 8K at 60Hz remains to be potential. With 8-bit depth, most refresh charges are greater and even greater once more with Show Stream Compression. A 16K show at 60Hz is feasible in that case.
AMD has confirmed that it’s upcoming RDNA 3 graphics playing cards will assist DisplayPort 2.0, (opens in new tab) so AMD’s playing cards can have not less than one benefit over Nvidia’s RTX 4090 (opens in new tab) which is restricted to DP 1.4a. Intel’s Arc playing cards (opens in new tab) assist DP 2.0 as nicely, although solely UHBR10 mode. That is nonetheless sufficient for over 180Hz at 4K.
Now that the ecosystem is slowly maturing, we await DP 2.1 displays to reap the benefits of all that bandwidth. CES 2023 can be a logical discussion board for displaying off the most recent and biggest displays. A 7680 x 2160 curved ultrawide can be a sight to behold, although I am undecided I wish to take a look at the value of such a panel!
