WEBVTT 00:00:00.199 --> 00:00:07.680 what is oculink it sounds like the tech that Dr Octopus uses to control his 00:00:04.920 --> 00:00:12.799 robot arms legs but it's actually an open standard PCI Express connector with 00:00:10.120 --> 00:00:17.680 a compact form factor created to compete with Thunderbolt and USB despite being 00:00:15.160 --> 00:00:22.600 around for nearly a decade oculink has remained a relatively obscure standard 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:27.039 which is a shame because it's actually pretty awesome oculink stands for 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:31.519 optical copper link and was initially envisioned as a combination of copper 00:00:29.320 --> 00:00:35.879 and Optical fiber however the need to convert electrical signals into light 00:00:33.440 --> 00:00:40.480 signals and Back Again means that fiber optics are relatively inefficient over 00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:45.800 short distances so the whole Optical element was eventually scrapped though 00:00:42.760 --> 00:00:48.239 the name remains CU stands for Copper's 00:00:45.800 --> 00:00:53.199 chemical symbol which is itself based on Copper's Latin name otherwise it would 00:00:50.280 --> 00:00:59.480 be spelled aink and I think we can all agree that's just terrible AO AOL Link 00:00:56.320 --> 00:01:01.440 acul Link was developed by PCI Sig the 00:00:59.480 --> 00:01:06.720 body ch charged with creating standards for the PCI interface oculink 2.0 the 00:01:04.479 --> 00:01:10.479 most recent version launched in 2017 with a new connector similar to The 00:01:08.600 --> 00:01:16.159 Standard DisplayPort connector it boasts support for up to four PCIe 4.0 00:01:13.520 --> 00:01:21.400 lanes and up to 8 gbits per second per Lane for a total of 64 gbits per second 00:01:19.119 --> 00:01:26.320 of bandwidth though notably an eight Lane version also exists that places the 00:01:24.119 --> 00:01:30.799 four-lane version above both Thunderbolt 3 and four in terms of transmission 00:01:28.280 --> 00:01:35.399 speed and on par with Intel's upcoming Thunderbolt 5 which is supposed to 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:40.280 launch sometime in 2024 with 80 gbits per second of bidirectional bandwidth 00:01:37.399 --> 00:01:44.680 but only 64 gbits per second of PCIe bandwidth now Beyond bandwidth a primary 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:50.360 advantage of oculink is that it's far more costeffective that was particularly 00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:55.680 the case prior to 2018 when Thunderbolt became a royalty-free standard but it's 00:01:52.960 --> 00:01:59.119 still true Al be it to a lesser degree simply because it uses cheaper 00:01:57.159 --> 00:02:02.880 components and doesn't require quite the same amount of PR decision to 00:02:00.479 --> 00:02:07.320 manufacture it's that combination of high performance and a lower price point 00:02:05.240 --> 00:02:11.400 which has garnered oculink a devoted following especially on the server side 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:15.200 now that doesn't mean there's no consumer side applications oculink 00:02:13.440 --> 00:02:20.319 reduces the performance gap between internal and external gpus to a very low 00:02:18.239 --> 00:02:24.360 margin because it's significantly faster than Thunderbolt 3 or 4 but there's an 00:02:22.599 --> 00:02:28.280 important caveat which we're going to tell you about right after we thank jump 00:02:26.160 --> 00:02:32.680 story for sponsoring this video elevate your content with millions of authentic 00:02:30.480 --> 00:02:38.000 impactful and engaging stock photos videos and more with jump story their 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:42.040 jump stories fuse both photo and video for a more engaging experience compared 00:02:40.200 --> 00:02:46.000 to a static image and you can even customize their images with a built-in 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:50.920 photo editor and background removal tool check out jump story at the link below 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:53.239 and take the leap with your content okay 00:02:50.920 --> 00:02:58.080 what oculink doesn't do that Thunderbolt does is provide solid support for hot 00:02:55.959 --> 00:03:01.840 plugging with oculink you're typically going to want to shut down the system 00:02:59.720 --> 00:03:06.680 system before swapping components or it might crash oculink only uses PCIe 00:03:04.680 --> 00:03:11.080 signals making it great for connecting a graphics card network card or storage 00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:15.920 controller but Thunderbolt is basically a two-in-one DisplayPort SL PCIe 00:03:13.720 --> 00:03:21.040 connector which can provide video in addition to power and data transfer 00:03:18.360 --> 00:03:25.319 oculink only transfers data so an oculink setup is always going to need at 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:29.280 least two cables if you want to connect and power a device at the same time not 00:03:27.760 --> 00:03:34.640 to mention that Thunderbolt ports are compatible with USBC cables these 00:03:32.360 --> 00:03:38.599 factors plus having daddy Intel as a backer mean that Thunderbolt has much 00:03:36.959 --> 00:03:43.159 broader adoption in the consumer electronic space and that ubiquity gives 00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:48.080 Thunderbolt a definite advantage in terms of convenience especially For Less 00:03:45.319 --> 00:03:52.720 tech savvy users now you could hypothetically create a version of 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:57.239 oculink with some or all of the bells and whistles that Thunderbolt offers but 00:03:55.079 --> 00:04:02.720 that might be missing out on what makes oculink truly great Thunder bolt is 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:07.120 designed to be a generalist connector a jack of all Jacks if you will it's made 00:04:05.159 --> 00:04:11.920 to do several different things quite well wrapped up in a convenient 00:04:08.959 --> 00:04:16.280 userfriendly package but generalization comes at the expense of specialization 00:04:14.519 --> 00:04:20.479 and lower data transfer speeds and throttling are a result of that 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:25.040 compromise a similarly flexible and multi-purpose oculate connector would 00:04:22.680 --> 00:04:28.919 also probably be far more expensive because when you're combining a bunch of 00:04:26.919 --> 00:04:33.560 complex components exchanging a bunch of different signals in a very very small 00:04:30.960 --> 00:04:38.000 space that demands both creative engineering and extremely precise 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:41.320 manufacturing otherwise there's going to be interference between these different 00:04:39.479 --> 00:04:46.479 signals and it won't be reliable Thunderbolt 5 is supposed to give us the 00:04:44.080 --> 00:04:50.639 best of both worlds the convenience and versatility of earlier versions of 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:55.720 Thunderbolt but with far faster data transfer speeds it'll be a while before 00:04:52.840 --> 00:04:59.800 we can see real world benchmarks but I mean that sounds awesome it Bears 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:04.400 remembering however that so long as these connectors remain a bottleneck and 00:05:01.960 --> 00:05:08.400 performance loss is non-trivial there will always be space for an improved 00:05:06.400 --> 00:05:13.600 version of the oculink or another specialized connector to come along and 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:16.759 do it better here's open cheers and cheers to you for watching the whole 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:19.440 video like it if you liked it dislike it if you disliked it check out our other 00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:25.080 videos comment below with video suggestions and don't forget to subscribe and follow you're supposed to 00:05:22.600 --> 00:05:25.080 do that