Add to this complexity the fact that AMD 6000+ supports USB4. And USB4 is sorta compatible with Thunderbolt 3 and 4, though it is mandatory compatible with DP but no longer compatible with HDMI.
> it is mandatory compatible with DP but no longer compatible with HDMI.
Just FYI, not sure if you’re intending to imply this but a lot of people get it wrong regardless and it’s worth saying: usb-c/thunderbolt was NEVER compatible with HDMI.
DP++ (the hdmi mode for DisplayPort connectors) is and has always been an optional extension, it’s just so widely supported on full-size DP ports that people don’t even realize it. And it’s NOT included in most embedded implementations of DP - like the usb-c alt mode. DP++ involves using a different voltage, and it would be super complex to do the voltage change in situations like that across a USB link... you'd probably have to have a voltage converter for the DP pairs to run at HDMI voltages.
Anyway, all usb-c to hdmi cables are active cables. The adapters for hdmi 1.4 are dirt cheap and they’re so small they fit inside the plug, but, they’re active converters and they can have all kinds of weird behavior. Same for docks, the hdmi coming off your thunderbolt dock is an active converter chip and I’ve personally experienced hdmi-specific glitches on a Dell thunderbolt dock that I think were attributable to this.
This lines up with my experience of DisplayPort over TB and USB being considerably less of a pain than HDMI over TB and USB, and compounds with my experience of HDMI generally being more of a pain than DisplayPort.
Sometimes I wish HDMI would just go away, or for HDMI-only devices (mainly TVs) to add a DisplayPort just so I wouldn’t have to deal with HDMI.
Also add USB4 v2 to the mix.
It gets really complex.