Sometimes the smallest things can drive you insane. After rebuild of my gaming PC I started getting random screen flickers and digital tearing on my 1440p ultrawide OLED monitor. Not all the time, just enough to make me question my sanity. First thought: GPU’s dying? But how odd would that been just after a PC rebuild. I wiped Windows 11 and reinstalled everything, random flickers still there. Turns out, it was the stupid DisplayPort cable. A 3m DP1.4 one, which on paper should handle my setup no problem, bandwidth-wise. But nope, it was flaky, probably connector broken.

Time to buy a new Cable

ok, tbh. last time I bought a new cable I can barley remember. This got me digging into cables again. I’ve seen it before—guys at Events planning with beast rigs with 300Hz screens, then skimping on the cheapest HDMI or DP cable from the bargain bin. Surprise, nothing works. Sigh. As of October 2025, for desktop PC gamers, DisplayPort is still the way to go over HDMI. Why? Better bandwidth headroom, lower latency for high refresh rates, and GPUs like NVIDIA and AMD prioritize DP for their top specs and features like G-SYNC. HDMI is fine for TVs or consoles, but on PC, DP is still the way to go.

But shopping for a replacement? Prices explode after DP1.4. A 2m DP80 cable can hit 40€ easy, and if you need 3-4m like me (PC under the desk, monitor on top), good luck. Shops like Amazon are flooded with “DP80 5m” listings from no-name brands, screaming 80Gbps. But those are mostly scams—relabeled DP1.4 junk that won’t deliver.

DP1.4 DP40 or DP80 ?

But; Do you even need DP40 or DP80? For most of us, simple: nope. Let me break it down based on what I refreshed my brain with.

First of all the confusion of DP2.1 to DP40 and DP80. Last are just a newly interoduced VESA Standard DP40 for 40 Gbps capable and DP80 for certified 80 Gbps. Because they saw that DP naming and availability on the marked is a chaos. So if you want to be sure it is not only sales claims have a look to find the DP40 or DP80 Logo on the connector. Sure this is not a 100% protection against scam, but the logos of the certification are copyrighted and way harder to “just print it on it” than DP2.1.

Back to the Question - do you need it?

Look, DP1.4 has been around forever, and it’s still good for gaming. Max bandwidth is 32.4Gbps raw, but effective video data rate hits around 25Gbps.

Typical Setups:

  • 1440p at 144Hz (10-bit HDR)? ~18Gbps
  • 1440p at 240Hz? Around 29Gbps
  • 4K at 240Hz? 70Gbps uncompressed

Those are RAW Data rates, but most screens use Display Stream Compression (DSC) which is a VESA-developed, visually lossless, low-latency compression algorithm that significantly reduces the bandwidth required for video transmission, allowing PC gaming hardware to efficiently drive demanding configs like 4k 240Hz over existing DP1.4 cables.

bandwidth for different Displayport cables

So - only if we are talking about uncompressed raw signal delivery we need to take the high bandwith into account. For Gaming Monitors and current GPUs - they ALL use DSC; Only on a very few you can turn it off. Most do not give you the choice. Also there is a second answer to the Question - is you gaming Screen actually capable of doing more than DP1.4? Most are not. Even my 1440p Alienware Oled from last year is not doing anything more than DP1.4.

Lengh does matter

A further problem with DP2.1 is the max. cable lenght. The first introduced Standard caps most of the cables at 2m. While 2m sounds long, if you place your PC inder the Desk and have it ot centrally it might be already tight to reach your screen. If you go over 2m you need DP2.1b. So with DP1.4 you can go 4m without any difficulties if you choose a good cable brand.

Bottom Line

So, if you own a RTX5080/90 and plan to buy a new up to date screen and can spent the extra money - go find a cable with the VESA DP80 logo on it - do Not fall for the scam, if you find DP80 5m cables it is most likely some cheap rebranded stuff you want to avoid. In my case I went with a DP80 2m cable which support UHBR even my screen doesnt. But completely unecessary, buying a good DP1.4 cable can save you money and you can get better lenght options without actually seeing any difference.

Stay connected without the drama.