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I'm a bit confused. The ports on the computers themselves can have different protocols- that makes sense. But the cables themselves can also support different p
by icinnamon 10y ago
I'm a bit confused. The ports on the computers themselves can have different protocols- that makes sense.
But the cables themselves can also support different protocols? Maybe I'm just naive, but can someone explain how a "dumb" cable supports different specs?
- pantalaimon 10y agoDifferent grade of shielding/what kind of bandwidth you can achieve over those cables.
- lee_s 10y agoThey aren't dumb cables anymore is why. I'll use Thunderbolt 3 as the example because it's the most stringent. At the 40G signalling it uses the connector loss is extremely high. The maximum passive cable you can have is << 1 m before the rx will start to encounter bit-errors. This forces manufactures to put re-drivers in the ends of the cable to boost the signal, which is obviously expensive. Even just USB-C charging cables that need high-voltage have chips in each end to negotiate the correct protocol for both the devices and the cable.
- cheiVia0 10y agoSpecifically, different cables support different bitrates and Wattages. This is due to the number and thickness of the wires in the cable. I think Monoprices's labeling of a 5Gbps or 10Gbps USB-C to USB-C is false, however. There is nothing about the USB 3.1 Gen2 (10Gbps) spec that requires anything more than a regular USB3 cable. I think the "5Gbps" version is just an older product description from when 5Gbps was the fastest USB available.
- sfoskett 10y agoPlus, as noted by lee_s2, the higher-cost/higher-protocol cables are "active" with chips in them.