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Difficulty: MediumNetwork and Peripheral Cables and Connectors

A technician is setting up a high-performance workstation for a graphic designer who needs to attach an external multi-display docking station and a high-speed external NVMe storage array over a single physical connection. The laptop features a USB Type-C port marked with a lightning bolt icon. Which cable type should the technician deploy to ensure support for high-bandwidth video output and peripheral data transfer speeds up to 40 Gbps?

  1. Thunderbolt 4 cableAnswer
  2. B
    Standard USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C cable
  3. C
    USB 2.0 Type-C charge cable
  4. D
    Single-link DVI to USB Type-C adapter cable

Answer

A Thunderbolt 4 cable provides the necessary 40 Gbps throughput and PCIe/DisplayPort protocol tunneling to support both multi-display docking stations and high-speed NVMe storage over a USB-C physical interface.
Thunderbolt 4 cables use the USB Type-C physical form factor while carrying up to 40 Gbps bandwidth and supporting DisplayPort and PCIe protocol tunneling. This allows a single cable to drive external high-resolution displays and transfer data to fast external storage drives at maximum speed.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify physical interface and host port capabilities
The USB Type-C port marked with a lightning bolt icon indicates Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4 capability.
The lightning bolt symbol distinguishes high-bandwidth Thunderbolt ports from standard USB-C ports.
2
Analyze bandwidth and protocol requirements
The requirement includes multi-display output and high-speed external NVMe data transfer simultaneously, requiring PCIe tunneling and up to 40 Gbps bandwidth.
Standard USB cables cannot carry native PCIe traffic for storage alongside high-resolution video without Thunderbolt standard support.
3
Select the compliant cable specification
Choosing a Thunderbolt 4 cable ensures full backward and forward protocol compatibility and maximum bandwidth capabilities.
Thunderbolt 4 cables guarantee 40 Gbps performance and full protocol support across compatible USB-C interfaces.

Key Concept

Physical USB Type-C Connector vs. Thunderbolt Protocol Capabilities
Estimated Time:1m 15s
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Topics

Network and Peripheral Cables and Connectors

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