Hi, there are only a few brands making Thunderbolt 5 cables. Which one is as good as Apple's in terms of functionalities and durability but at a lower cost? Also, is it true that for Thunderbolt 5, even 3-5 meters do affect performance? Thanks
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Which brand of Thunderbolt 5 cable is as good as Apple's?
- Thread starter hajime
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OWC Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) Cables
The fastest and most compatible cable for connecting past, present, and future devices with a Thunderbolt 5, 4, 3, USB-C, or USB4 port.
www.owc.com
Any Thunderbolt 3/4/5 can only be passive (copper) up to 0.8m length.
Cables longer than this (1m or longer) have to have complex active retiming chips in both ends.
The maximum length of normal active cables is 2m.
But Apple has made a TB3 cable of 3 metres length.
I don't know of any 2+m TB3/4 cable that has the bandwidth to run 6K video and drive USB 3.x monitor ports at 5+GBPS, except the ones from Apple..
Thunderbolt 3 cables of longer lengths are available using fibre-optic interconnects. Made by Corning.
The maximum length of normally available TB4 cables are 2m.
But Apple has made a TB4 cable of 3 metres length.
No USB4 cable over 0.8m works, unless it is an active Thunderbolt 4 certified cable with Intel retiming chips.
No active TB5 cables are yet available over the maximum length of 1m.
You get what you pay for...
Cables longer than this (1m or longer) have to have complex active retiming chips in both ends.
The maximum length of normal active cables is 2m.
But Apple has made a TB3 cable of 3 metres length.
I don't know of any 2+m TB3/4 cable that has the bandwidth to run 6K video and drive USB 3.x monitor ports at 5+GBPS, except the ones from Apple..
Thunderbolt 3 cables of longer lengths are available using fibre-optic interconnects. Made by Corning.
The maximum length of normally available TB4 cables are 2m.
But Apple has made a TB4 cable of 3 metres length.
No USB4 cable over 0.8m works, unless it is an active Thunderbolt 4 certified cable with Intel retiming chips.
No active TB5 cables are yet available over the maximum length of 1m.
You get what you pay for...
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Agree with @Mr_Brightside_@
I'm chasing an OWC TB4 0,3m cable that come with my OWC 1M2 enclosure for a 4k ext drive for ripping. According to OWC the TB4 cable is currently out of stock (0,7m available), but the next option for a 0,3m length would be the TB5 until they restock.
I'm chasing an OWC TB4 0,3m cable that come with my OWC 1M2 enclosure for a 4k ext drive for ripping. According to OWC the TB4 cable is currently out of stock (0,7m available), but the next option for a 0,3m length would be the TB5 until they restock.
If you need a 0.3m TB cable, get the TB5 one. I don't think the TB4 version will be coming back (they are practically the same cable). The 5 one is backwards compatible with TB4 and TB3.
Thanks for the info. I've got a functioning cable, albeit with the supplied adaptor I'm trying to rid myself off.
Your reply was pretty much what OWC customer support said also, but I'm just trying to save some pennies where I can. The TB4 variant, already over-specced for my end device will be restocked by OWC (according to them). If it takes too long then I'll order the TB5 one.
Cheers
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Funny, but MacSales lists the OWC TB5 cables in 0.3, 0.8, and 1.0 meter lengths, without a huge price premium or any differences in bandwidth for the longest cable.Any Thunderbolt 3/4/5 can only be passive (copper) up to 0.8m length.
Cables longer than this (1m or longer) have to have complex active retiming chips in both ends.
The maximum length of normal active cables is 2m.
But Apple has made a TB3 cable of 3 metres length.
I don't know of any 2+m TB3/4 cable that has the bandwidth to run 6K video and drive USB 3.x monitor ports at 5+GBPS, except the ones from Apple..
Thunderbolt 3 cables of longer lengths are available using fibre-optic interconnects. Made by Corning.
The maximum length of normally available TB4 cables are 2m.
But Apple has made a TB4 cable of 3 metres length.
No USB4 cable over 0.8m works, unless it is an active Thunderbolt 4 certified cable with Intel retiming chips.
No active TB5 cables are yet available over the maximum length of 1m.
You get what you pay for...
There should be no bandwidth differences between any of the cable lengths. We try to keep them reasonably priced between lengths as well. People should get the length they need for their specific setup.
I don't believe they will be, but I could be wrong. Suppliers have transitioned to TB5 at this point. For a passive cable like this, the materials are the same between TB4 and TB5.
I've no idea, it was a reply I got from OWC customer service that the 0.3m TB4 will be restocked. I wondered about this at the time, thinking they might produce it specifically for the 1M2 (as an example). Your reasoning makes sense, yet I wonder technically, what exactly is the difference between the OWC TB4 vs TB5 cable then if not materials?