USB4 is going to support 8K HDR and even 16K displays

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It's truly becoming one cable to rule them all.

USB Type-C
(Image credit: Pixabay)

USB4 is shaping up to be the best multi-purpose cable specification ever designed. While already on that path, the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) announced that the full benefits of DisplayPort 2.0 are now headed to USB4.

It's a bit of a confusing scenario, but the general takeaway is that USB4 will have the bandwidth needed to drive an 8K resolution (7680x4320) monitor at 60Hz including HDR without compression, or a 16K resolution (15360x8460) 60Hz display with HDR (but with compression).

"VESA's updated DisplayPort Alt Mode spec includes a number of under-the-hood developments—including updates to interface discovery and configuration as well as power management—to ensure seamless integration with the USB4 specification," said Craig Wiley, senior director of marketing at Parade Technologies, and VESA board member and DisplayPort Alt Mode sub-group leader.

Our friends at Anandtech have a technical breakdown of the specification, but to the point, VESA's under-the-hood changes double the bandwidth for video, in a sense. On its own, USB4 can transmit data upstream and downstream at around 40Gbps each way. Video only goes one way, and since DisplayPort supports data transmissions of around 80Gbps (77.37Gbps, to be exact), the full benefits wouldn't be possible on a USB4 cable. This changes with the DisplayPort Alt Mode 2.0 specification.

Of course, it's going to be a long while before PC gaming hardware will have the muscle to drive a 16K monitor, or even an 8K display. Nevertheless, this specification bump ensures we won't have to worry about cables and standards once that day arrives. It also paves the way for running a 4K monitor at 144Hz with no compression, over USB4. Once our PCs and devices catch up with USB's new capabilities, anyway.

We're still waiting on USB4 hardware to arrive. VESA expects the first products featuring DisplayPort Alt Mode 2.0 to appear in 2021.

Paul Lilly
Paul Lilly

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).