Please note that this post is tagged as a rumor.
AMD Navi 31 with DisplayPort 2.1?
According to Kyle Bennett (HardOCP.com), next-gen AMD RDNA3 GPU could support DisplayPort 2.1.
AMD Radeon RX 7000 (RDNA3) GPU, Source: AMD
It came as a surprise to everyone that GeForce RTX 40 series did not support DisplayPort 2.0. This standard was formally released in 2019, but it was not incorporated into GeForce RTX 30 or Radeon RX 6000 series, probably because it was too late. But three years later, only Intel discrete Arc GPUs now support DisplayPort 2.0.
According to Kyle Bennett’s sources, AMD Navi 31 GPU could be the first to support DisplayPort 2.1. This standard has not been confirmed by VESA (the organization that standardizes the display interface), although you can find ‘certified’ cables for this standard already.
Verification from multiple sources that @Radeon Navi 31 will support upcoming DisplayPort 2.1 specification. I am tremendously surprised that @NVIDIAGeForce 4090 only supports DP 1.4a. Props to @LinusTech for calling out the DP1.4/4090 shortcomings! https://t.co/eW84VicAZr pic.twitter.com/4fmOtcnlth
— Kyle Bennett (@KyleBennett) October 12, 2022
The specifications for DP2.1 are unknown, but one might guess it would support UHBR 20 (20 Gbit per lane) by standard. Currently, the highest-spec’ed implementation of DP 2.0 allows up to 80 Gbit/s of bandwidth through 4 lanes. It supports configurations such as one 16K display @ 60Hz, two 4K @ 144Hz or three 4K @ 90 Hz.
The DP 1.4a supported by NVIDIA RTX 40 GPUs is the extension with DSC 1.2a (Display Stream Compression). The DP 1.4a standard support up to 8K @ 60 Hz or 4K @ 120 Hz (with 30bit/px color and HDR), but this requires DSC with HBR3 transmission rates.
In an official Q&A, NVIDIA has explained that DisplayPort 2.0 is still ‘a ways away in the future’.
Q: Why isn’t DisplayPort 2.0 listed on the spec sheet?
The current DisplayPort 1.4 standard already supports 8K at 60Hz. Support for DisplayPort 2.0 in consumer gaming displays are still a ways away in the future.
It would appear that AMD does not agree with this statement. In May this year, a leak featuring AMD RDNA3 GPU and Linux DCN32/321 patches confirmed that the architecture will support UHBR20, so at least the DP 2.0 implementation is more or less confirmed.
