The computer monitor manufacturer Gigabyte has announced what is believed to be the world’s first such product to support DisplayPort 2.1 at maximum bandwidth.
The 32-inch Gigabyte AORUS F032U2P monitor was unveiled at CES 2024 last week, with the company saying it will feature Samsung Display’s most advanced QD-OLED panel, support 4K at 240Hz and also DisplayPort 2.1’s maximum bandwidth specification, known in the industry as UHBR20.
Gigabyte said the AORUS FO32U2P is the world’s “first DP 2.1 UHBR20 tactical gaming monitor” and explained that it offers up to 80 gigabytes-per-second bandwidth without Display Stream Compression or DSC. As such, it provides the most authentic gaming experience yet, the company claims, with 2.5 times more bandwidth than the previous DisplayPort 1.4 HBR3 standard.
While 4K at 240Hz is widely supported on many monitors with a conventional DisplayPort 1.4 connection, it requires the use of visually lossless DSC technology. By running 4K content at 240Hz at DisplayPort 2.1’s maximum bandwidth, users can enjoy a superior experience, Gigabyte promised.
DisplayPort 2.1 was first announced back in 2019, when it was known as DisplayPort 2.0, It was an ambitious standard that promised to support up to 80 Gbps bandwidth to enable 8K content and even higher refresh rates, though later revisions scaled back on those claims. In addition, DisplayPort 2.1 supports much longer cables. The DisplayPort 2.1a standard, also announced last week, is the most up to date version.
"VESA today announced that it has published the latest update to DisplayPort, version 2.1a,” said the organization responsible for developing the standard. “This update replaces the VESA certified DP40 ultra-high-bit-rate (UHBR) cable specification with a new VESA certified DP54 UHBR cable spec to enable up to four-lane UHBR13.5 link rate support (a maximum throughput of 54 Gbps) over a two-meter passive cable. As a result, the DisplayPort 2.1a update effectively doubles the passive cable length for UHBR13.5 GPU-to-display connections — which previously could only be supported through a DP80 UHBR cable.”
In addition to the AORUS F032U2P, Gigabyte announced a host of other QD-OLED monitors at CES, including the regular AORUS F032U2, which is basically the same except for the fact it has DisplayPort 1.4 instead of 2.1. Others include a 27-inch AORUS F027Q3 monitor, which has the same panel with 1440p resolution at 360Hz, plus the 34-inch AORUS M034WQC2 monitor, which is a curved, 21:9 ultrawide model with 4K resolution and a 240Hz refresh rate. Like the above models, it comes with HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4.
All of Gigabyte’s new monitors support HDR10 content and come with a suite of “AI-driven solutions addressing image retention concerns and automated panel-protecting features,” the company said.
Gigabyte’s new monitors will go on sale later in the year, with pricing and full specifications still to be announced.
