Display Cables & Adapters

HDMI Cables

The High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cable has been the industry standard for many years now. Developed in 2002 by multiple collaborators - including big names like Hitachi, Sony, and Phillips - HDMI has been mass adopted across modern technology. From consoles to gaming monitors, HDMI cables come in a variety of sizes and lengths, with support for resolutions up to 7680 x 4320.

Nearly twenty years from its inception, the HDMI cable has been developed to meet the ever-increasing demands of high definition viewing. Currently, we are on HDMI 2.1 which was announced in 2017 and made available towards the latter end of 2020. The following table is a quick breakdown of the specs and how they have advanced each generation as well as useful resolution vs refresh rate abilities of each standard.

*Higher resolutions are achievable with Display Stream Compression.

The HDMI cables available at PCCG range in style and length. Choose from braided cables, standard plastic sleeves, and cables between 1m and 5m.

DisplayPort

Secondly, we have DisplayPort, which was designed by a collective of PC component manufacturers in 2008 with the goal to replace VGA and DVI. This cable offers backwards compatibility with these ports and other digital formats. In terms of specs, it is on par with HDMI and even supports up to the same resolution rate.

How it differs is, DisplayPort utilises a packet data transmission system that requires much fewer pins than other technologies. Similar to the transmission systems found in PCIe, this technology embeds micro packets of information into the data stream. This allows for higher resolution and has great potential for future upgrades. Plus, in addition to carrying audio and video, DisplayPort is capable of bi-directional USB signals, where HDMI is not.

As with any technology that has been in use for over ten years, there have been a number of generations. The following table details the specifications from the first-gen to the latest, DisplayPort 1.4.

The DisplayPort cables available at PCCG come in a range of lengths. Choose cables between 1m and 5m.

Adapters

As technologies change and develop, you may find that the port on your PC does not match the port on your shiny new gaming monitor - or vice versa. With adapters, this problem is easily remedied. Cable ends are denoted as “male” or “female”, with male connectors extending out, and female connectors recessed within. When sourcing the adapter, you need to be careful of which connection types you need, as well as the “gender”.

VGA and DVI

Whilst VGA and DVI used to be the industry standards, these are largely outdated connectors at this point. Very few components still come equipped for these cables, mostly low-end hardware. Video Graphics Array (VGA) was the first multimedia cable and could support resolutions up to 2048 x 1525 at 85Hz. Digital Visual Interface (DVI) cables came with multiple input modes with resolutions up to 2560 x 1600 at 60Hz.