More than the roughly 18Gbps an HDMI 2.0 link provides, which is why it needs the 48Gbps tier. Pixel count times refresh rate times bits per channel is the whole sum, and colour depth moves it as much as frame rate does. A R299 rated lead covers the top of it.
Working out how much bandwidth 4K at 120Hz needs is a straightforward sum once you know which three numbers to multiply, and the result explains exactly why HDMI 2.0 could never carry this mode no matter how good the cable was.
More than the roughly 18Gbps an HDMI 2.0 link provides, which is why it needs the 48Gbps tier instead. The total comes from multiplying resolution, refresh rate and bits per channel together, and colour depth swings that result as much as frame rate does. A R299 rated lead covers the top of that figure with room to spare.
Start with pixel count: a 3840x2160 panel has just over 8.3 million pixels. Multiply that by the refresh rate, 120 times a second at 4K120, and then by the bits carried per pixel, which depends on colour depth and chroma sampling. At typical 8-bit, full 4:4:4 settings, that sum lands close to the 40Gbps mark, then climbs a little further once you factor in what HDMI itself sets aside for timing signals and embedded audio, pushing the practical requirement toward the upper end of what 48Gbps allows.
Compare that with 4K at 60Hz, where the same pixel count multiplied by half the refresh rate lands closer to 18Gbps, which is exactly HDMI 2.0's ceiling. That is not a coincidence: HDMI 2.0 was built specifically around 4K60 as its target mode.
An 8K panel carries four times the pixels of 4K, so 8K at 60Hz lands in roughly the same territory as 4K at 120Hz once the maths is run, even though one path spends the budget on resolution and the other on refresh rate. This is why HDMI 2.1's 48Gbps figure was set where it was: high enough to cover either scenario with a single specification, rather than needing separate tiers for a fast monitor and an 8K television.
None of this arithmetic matters if you cannot buy to it, which is why the useful shortcut is simply checking the comprehensive cable range for the 48Gbps figure printed on the cable itself rather than doing the sum yourself every time. Browsing our gaming monitor range tells you the refresh rate a given panel is actually built for, which settles whether 4K120 is even on the table before you spend on the cable to feed it. Where the cable will be visible on a desk, a sleeved option carries the same 48Gbps rating with a tidier finish.
Because bandwidth is partly a function of bits carried per pixel, and higher colour depth or fuller chroma sampling means more bits per pixel, which raises the total even at a fixed resolution and refresh rate.
Slightly, once HDMI's overhead for blanking and audio is included, the practical requirement sits close to but under the 48Gbps ceiling, leaving a small margin rather than using every bit of it.
No, considerably less. 1080p carries roughly a quarter of 4K's pixel count, so the same refresh rate at that resolution needs proportionally less bandwidth and runs comfortably over HDMI 2.0.
Yes, using pixel count multiplied by refresh rate multiplied by bits per pixel as a rough guide, though checking the cable's stated Gbps figure against the mode you want is simpler for most buyers.
Ready to buy bandwidth that actually covers 4K 120Hz? Check the cable states 48Gbps directly rather than doing the sum yourself every time.
Because bandwidth is partly a function of bits carried per pixel, and higher colour depth or fuller chroma sampling means more bits per pixel, which raises the total even at a fixed resolution and refresh rate.
Slightly, once HDMI's overhead for blanking and audio is included, the practical requirement sits close to but under the 48Gbps ceiling, leaving a small margin rather than using every bit of it.
No, considerably less. 1080p carries roughly a quarter of 4K's pixel count, so the same refresh rate at that resolution needs proportionally less bandwidth and runs comfortably over HDMI 2.0.
Yes, using pixel count multiplied by refresh rate multiplied by bits per pixel as a rough guide, though checking the cable's stated Gbps figure against the mode you want is simpler for most buyers.
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