How To Choose The Right USB-C to USB-C Cable?

USB-C is great. You can quickly charge smartphones, tablets, and laptops, or transfer data at high speeds, all using the same USB-C to USB-C cable. Only you have the right one. Contrary to the unified USB-C standard, its cable situation is extremely confusing for the average consumer and even the prosumer.

 

The main reason behind this complexity is that while USB-C opens up tremendous possibilities, it would be too costly for the average consumer if manufacturers decided to pack all of these specifications and features into a single cable. That's why we have so many USB-C to USB-C cables that come in different sizes covering all price points.

 

So we need to know what we want, in two ways: charging and data transfer.

USB C to USB C Charger Cable 60W

USB C to USB C Charger Cable 60W

Charging

The charger powers your device at the speed the cable allows. All USB-C cables must be able to carry at least 3A of current (20V, 60W). However, for high power 20V/5A (100W) charging, you will need a USB-C to USB-C cable rated at 5A that contains an E-Marker chip to identify the cable and its current capability. Or a Thunderbolt 3 cable that supports 5A/20V (100W) charging. So be sure to check the current rating of the cable (3A or 5A) when you want to quickly charge high-power devices like your MacBook Pro.

 

Data Transfer

1) Speed

Data transfer is when things get confusing. There are five different USB-C to USB-C cables with speeds ranging from low to high, as follows.

 

USB 2.0 (480Mbps) USB-C to USB-C cable (the most common cable)

USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) USB-C to USB-C cable (formerly USB 3.1 Gen 1, supports 10Gbps with the upcoming USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 devices)

USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) USB-C to USB-C cable (formerly USB 3.1 Gen 2, supports 20Gbps with upcoming USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 devices)

Thunderbolt 3 (20Gbps) USB-C to USB-C cable (passive cable length over 0.5m/1.6ft)

Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps) USB-C to USB-C cable (passive cable shorter than 0.5m/1.6ft, or active cable longer than 0.5m/1.6ft, active cable lacks backwards compatibility with USB 3.x)

In most cases, USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) USB-C to USB-C cables (formerly known as USB 3.1 Gen 2) provide decent data transfer speeds and don't cost a lot of money. However, if you want to hook up your laptop to an external GPU, you can use a Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps) cable.

USB C to USB C Charger Cable 60W

USB C to USB C Charger Cable 60W

2) How do I test the speed?

For the actual test, you'll need a PC or Mac and a fast external NVME SSD drive that both have USB-C USB 3.2 Gen 2 (formerly known as USB 3.1 Gen 2) ports (Thunderbolt 3 is better). The reason for this is that we have to make sure that the speed rating of the port is at least comparable to the cable we are testing to avoid the port becoming a bottleneck.

 

We can then simply copy a large file (say a 2GB video) from the PC to an external NVME SSD drive and we can have the maximum data transfer speed of the cable. You can also perform a comprehensive test using software such as CrystalDiskMark with a 1,000MB sequential test.

 

As for the results, the USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) cable (formerly known as USB 3.1 Gen 2) has a theoretical bandwidth of 10Gbps, which is equivalent to 1250MB/sec. But real-life speeds are always slower than theoretical speeds.

 

3) USB-C Alternate Mode

With the increased data transfer speed, it is possible to push video over the same connection. USB-C alternate mode for video supports using adapters to output video directly from USB-C to USB-C, or from USB-C to HDMI, DisplayPort, VGA, and other types of video connectors. However, again, not all USB-C ports and cables are capable of transmitting video signals. So be sure to check the manufacturer's specifications.

The source is from here.

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