How is the Pimax 8k going to handle this? 
i propose the 8k be delayed for a year or two until this cable is widespread.
Jokes aside, i would say this is an ideal fit for the later 8kx.you would need an 11 series top end to run the 8kx to begin with, so it makes sense. makes no sense for 8k because people straight up wont accept being forced into buying an 11 series to run it.
4 Likes
Nothing that will impact the 8K; even for the 8K(x) it might be too far away (though I did not quite understand if they still need to further specify the standard or if what is specified today would be sufficient to produce the hardware (standard C-type USB 3.1?)
1 Like
Well they are a big company after all. Perhaps they could figure something out. I still think this would be nice to have on the regular 8k, instead of having to fiddle around with link box and stuff. Although a link box will still be necessary really, because not everyone will have one of Nvidia/AMD’s new gpus. If they could manage to put both ports on the headset, that’d be pretty great, and would future proof the headset.
1 Like
My theory is it makes it hard to external hardware record content off a hmd this way, whereas the software side content will in the future be copy protected if need be. Use case: virtual movie theaters featuring NEW releases. Ultimately this new standard sounds good to me but it will be some years until it standardizes to everything.
1 Like
I would prefer a link box so I can reach my full play area and not have to worry about damaging my gpu when I inevitably yank the cord out.
2 Likes
From what I got from the article at AT, they extend the USB-C signalling specification to accommodate 2 additional high-speed lanes (by reconfiguring the original USB 2.0 signals). So it would need:
- New transmitter/receiver hardware, compatible with this extension
- New cables which will handle the new speeds, as the current cables are not using shielded wires for those two USB 2.0 signals.
The new cables and TX/RX hw need also to support power delivery. The big question is how they are going to solve the natural attenuation for the long cables on those high-speed lanes.
The article (and its comment section) also explain that at the moment it is possible (in USB-C alternate mode) to run either 2 DisplayPort (DP) lanes together with 2 high-speed USB 3.1 lanes, or 4 DP lanes. The new proposition adds to the latter another pair of high-speed USB 3.1 lanes, totaling the number of high speed lanes to 6.
Current DP spec (and its cabling and connectors) support 4 DP lanes. So the new USB-C configuration will be equivalent to one DP cable with one high-speed USB-C as a bonus.
There are some challenges though, apart from the cable length, it is also the connector itself, (I do not believe USB-C connector is the right choice for HMD), and the last but not least, who will put the whole thing in the computer. It seems it would have to be graphics card manufacturers.
For Pimax 8K, this could work and basically save one USB cable, but the question is, if the current alternate mode is not already sufficient? Pimax 8K needs all 4 DP lanes, but probably does not need high-speed USB and the old USB 2.0 should be enough?
For Pimax 8K-X it would not be enough if we assume that 8K-X will need two fully fledged DP cables (i.e. 8 DP lanes at total.)
2 Likes
this is exactly what i was thinking
using 2 displayports is going to be a terrible user experience
adding the virtuallink as an extra port would future proof and solve the bandwidth issue
Except that VirtualLink will not add any additional bandwidth to the DP. It only adds Gen 3.1 USB speed to the cable. So if the 8K-X does not work over one DP now, it will not work over VirtualLink either.
1 Like