Sophie’s Great Cable Menagerie™️

Inspiration comes from unexpected directions. Newton got a pomaceous prompt leading him to some startling insights into gravity. Archimedes’ bath overflowed just prior to (and indeed leading to) his embarrassing “Eureka!” incident in Syracuse. Percy Spencer’s partially melted chocolate bar helped lead to the development of the domestic microwave¹. George de Mestral’s burr-covered dog led to Velcro². William Perkin, trying to synthesise quinine³, as a teenager instead produced a vivid purple residue. He commercialised it as mauveine, accidentally launching the synthetic-dye industry and, more importantly, industrialising purple, Sophie’s very own signature colour. I could go on.

The Great Cable Menagerie™️

“From VGA to USB-C: usability, physical robustness, technical longevity, confusion and cable-heap survival”

A comparative assessment of 96 connector families, with tangle resistance deliberately treated as the dominant engineering property. Because a technically magnificent cable is still a nuisance when its exposed latch has married three chargers and a pair of headphones.

96 connector families

5 scored dimensions

40% weight given to tangles

-25 maximum snag penalty

Executive Verdict

MagSafe 3 wins overall because the scoring system rewards one-handed reversible use, safe breakaway behaviour and total indifference to cable tangles. Speakon follows closely as the finest conventional locking connector in the catalogue. USB-C ranks sixth: its physical plug is excellent, but identical-looking cables can have dramatically different data, video and power capabilities.

At the other end, VGA ranks 96th and bare-latch 8P8C ranks 95th, separated by one miserable point. Adding a “snagless boot” moves the same basic Ethernet connector to rank 23. A small piece of rubber therefore improves its standing by 72 places, which is an unusually economical redemption arc.

	TOP EIGHT		||		BOTTOM EIGHT
#	Connector	%	||	#	Connector	%
1	Apple MagSafe 3	89.5	||	89	SCSI-1 Centronics 50	21.5
2	Speakon	89	||	90	High-density / VHDCI SCSI	20.5
3	Microsoft Surface Connect	86.5	||	91	VESA P&D / M1-DA / EVC	20.5
4	IEC C7 / C8 figure-eight	85.5	||	92	Game port / MIDI DA-15	20
5	4.4 mm Pentaconn	85	||	93	DMS-59 / LFH-60	19
6	USB Type-C	85	||	94	Apple DA-15 video	18.5
7	6.35 mm jack	84.5	||	95	8P8C modular plug, bare latch (“RJ45”)	16.5
8	3.5 mm TRS jack	83.5	||	96	VGA (DE-15)	15.5

Winners and special awards

OVERALL WINNER Apple MagSafe 3 Reversible, magnetic, breakaway and almost impossible to snag.	BEST LOCKING DESIGN Speakon Secure, touch-safe, robust and designed for real handling.	BEST UNIVERSAL DIGITAL PLUG USB Type-C The physical connector is superb; its capability labelling remains homework.
MOST IMPROVED 8P8C with snagless boot One rubber shroud lifts it from rank 95 to rank 23.	MOST COMMITTEE-SHAPED Micro-USB 3.0 B Backward compatibility expressed as a small architectural extension.	BEST EXTINCT STANDARD UDI Tangle-resistant chiefly because almost nobody ever owned the cable.

How the scoring works

Every criterion is scored from 0 to 10, where 10 is best. Higher confusion resistance means the connector is easy to identify and difficult to misuse. Technical longevity concerns the continuing standard, ecosystem and adapter path, not whether an individual cable survives being run over by a chair.

Code	Criterion	Weight	Question being scored
U	Usability	15%	Can a person identify, orient, insert, remove and use with it without ritual?
R	Physical robustness	15%	Do the plug, socket, pins, shell and latch survive normal abuse?
L	Technical longevity	15%	Does the standard remain useful, supported and likely to persist?
C	Confusion resistance	15%	Does shape reliably reveal function, capability and safe compatibility?
T	Tangle resistance	40%	Can it be pulled from a mixed cable heap without hooking, breaking or collecting dependants?

FORMULA Base score = 1.5 x (U + R + L + C) + 4 x T.

A further snag penalty from 0 to -25 is applied where rigid protrusions, exposed latches, jackscrews, breakout hydras or similar geometry cause more damage in a cable heap than a linear tangle score can express.

What “tangle resistance” means here

This is not a beauty contest for neatly coiled cables. It is a recovery test: reach into a mixed heap, select one lead and pull it free. Smooth, compact and reversible connectors score well. Exposed latch tabs, thumbscrews, spring clips, bayonets, breakout tails and broad ribbon cable score badly. VGA is the control specimen for failure.

The 2026 technical horizon

USB-C	DisplayPort	HDMI	Thunderbolt
Release 2.5 is current; USB PD supports up to 240 W.5,6	DP 2.1b is current, with a maximum payload of 77.37 Gbit/s.7	HDMI 2.2 Ultra96 supports product bandwidths up to 96 Gbit/s.8	Thunderbolt 5 provides 80 Gbit/s bidirectional, with 120 Gbit/s Bandwidth Boost.9

TAXONOMIC HONESTY

The common network plug is described as 8P8C, with “RJ45” retained in quotation marks because ordinary language has won. Strictly, RJ45 names a particular registered-jack wiring arrangement rather than every Ethernet modular connector. Humanity has already labelled the drawers, so the document compromises.

Master Ranking: All 96 Connector Families

Scores run from best to worst. U, R, L, C and T are 0-10; Snag is the additional penalty; final score is out of 100. The table is editorial, but the physical evidence is probably in your cable drawer.

#	Cable / connector	Domain / era	U	R	L	C	T	Snag	Score	Judgement
1	Apple MagSafe 3	Power / internal 2021-	10	7	8	8	10	0	89.5	MAGNETIC | TOP TIER Reversible magnetic attachment, safe breakaway behaviour and USB-C at the charger end. A proprietary device connector redeemed by superb physical manners.
2	Speakon	Audio / control 1987-	9	10	9	10	8	0	89.0	BEST PHYSICAL | SAFE Touch-safe, keyed, twist-locking and designed for high-power loudspeakers. It is what happens when physical connector design is treated as engineering rather than decorative metalwork.
3	Microsoft Surface Connect	Data / peripheral 2012-	10	7	6	8	10	0	86.5	CURRENT | MAGNETIC Magnetic, reversible in orientation and easy to detach safely. Excellent daily ergonomics, tempered by proprietary dependence and the growing availability of USB-C charging.
4	IEC C7 / C8 figure-eight	Power / internal 1970s-	8	7	10	8	9	0	85.5	SURVIVOR Small, inexpensive, usually reversible and gloriously free of latches. Polarised and non-polarised variants modestly complicate an otherwise excellent design.
5	4.4 mm Pentaconn	Audio / control 2010s-	8	7	7	8	10	0	85.0	CURRENT | NICHE A sturdy five-conductor balanced-audio plug that is compact without becoming microscopic. Niche, but physically one of the more sensible modern jack formats.
6	USB Type-C	Data / peripheral 2014-	10	7	10	3	10	0	85.0	CURRENT | BEST PLUG The plug is excellent: reversible, bidirectional and smooth. The ecosystem is a labels-and-logos escape room spanning charging-only, USB 2, high-speed data, video and 60 W or 240 W power.
7	6.35 mm jack	Audio / control 1870s-	8	9	10	8	8	0	84.5	SURVIVOR A Victorian-scale survivor: obvious, durable and easy to handle. Thick instrument leads can tangle, but the connector itself contains no miniature ambush.
8	3.5 mm TRS jack	Audio / control 1960s-	9	6	8	6	10	0	83.5	SURVIVOR Compact, smooth, hot-pluggable and universally understood until devices started deleting it. Identical shells can carry headphones, line audio, control or other functions.
9	Apple Lightning	Data / peripheral 2012-	10	7	4	8	10	0	83.5	LEGACY | PROPRIETARY Reversible, tiny and pleasing to use. Proprietary control and the move to USB-C have curtailed its future, but the physical design remains excellent.
10	IEC C13 / C14	Power / internal 1970s-	8	9	10	10	7	0	83.5	SURVIVOR The universal computer and equipment mains connector: distinct, durable and replaceable everywhere. Thick mains leads reduce tangle elegance but not confidence.
11	Thunderbolt 3 / 4 / 5 (USB-C)	Data / peripheral 2015-	9	7	10	3	10	0	83.5	CURRENT A powerful one-cable transport with mature certification. The identical USB-C shell means capability must be read from logos, device support and cable construction rather than shape.
12	IEC C5 / C6 cloverleaf	Power / internal 1990s-	8	8	9	9	8	0	83.0	SURVIVOR Distinctive, grounded and secure. Bulkier than C7 but far less likely to be confused with anything that does not fit.
13	Apple MagSafe 1 / 2	Power / internal 2006-2017	10	7	4	7	10	0	82.0	MAGNETIC | LEGACY Breakaway charging with excellent everyday usability. Two generations were mutually incompatible in shape, and magnets collect conductive debris with devoted efficiency.
14	USB Type-B (1.x / 2.0)	Data / peripheral 1996-	8	9	7	9	8	0	81.5	SURVIVOR Large, keyed, robust and wonderfully difficult to confuse. It remains excellent on printers, instruments and other devices that do not need to pretend to be thin.
15	LC fibre	Network / telecom 1990s-	8	6	10	8	8	0	80.0	CURRENT Compact and dominant in modern fibre work. The small latch benefits from a duplex clip or boot, but it remains far less predatory than bare copper modular plugs.
16	IEC C19 / C20	Power / internal 1970s-	7	10	10	10	6	0	79.5	SURVIVOR The larger high-current relative used in servers and power distribution. Unambiguous and extremely robust, though nobody has ever described a C19 cable as dainty.
17	SATA data	Power / internal 2003-	8	4	8	9	9	0	79.5	CURRENT Narrow, keyed and transformatively better than ribbon cable. Unlatched plugs can work loose; latched ones improve retention while adding only a modest extraction button.
18	TOSLINK optical	Audio / control 1980s-	8	5	7	9	9	0	79.5	SURVIVOR Galvanically isolated, clearly keyed and tangle-friendly. Plastic optical cable dislikes tight bends and the little dust caps migrate immediately to another dimension.
19	XLR	Audio / control 1950s-	8	10	10	9	6	0	79.5	SURVIVOR | ROBUST Keyed, locking, balanced and road-proof. Bulky connectors and thick cables are not tangle champions, but they emerge intact and ready for the next gig.
20	SC fibre	Network / telecom 1990s-	8	7	7	9	8	0	78.5	CURRENT Push-pull, square, well keyed and easy to label. Larger than LC but blessedly civilised.
21	HDMI Type A	Display / AV 2002-	8	5	10	5	9	0	78.0	CURRENT Smooth, compact, ubiquitous and blessedly screw-free. The plug is easy; cable categories, optional features and version marketing are the administrative layer above it.
22	USB Type-A	Data / peripheral 1996-	4	8	9	7	9	0	78.0	SURVIVOR Robust, ubiquitous and smooth in a tangle. Orientation is quantum mechanical: wrong, wrong again, then correct after rotating it back to the original position.
23	8P8C with snagless boot	Network / telecom 1990s-	8	7	10	8	7	0	77.5	CURRENT | REDEEMED A small rubber shroud fixes most of the original sin. Still directional, but now it can leave a cable drawer without sacrificing its latch to the gods of structured cabling.
24	MIDI DIN-5	Audio / control 1983-	7	8	9	8	7	0	76.0	SURVIVOR Large enough to handle, keyed and still interoperable after four decades. Five pins carry a deliberately modest serial link with astonishing cultural persistence.
25	MIDI over TRS Type A / B	Audio / control 2010s-	8	6	8	2	10	0	76.0	CURRENT | CONFUSING A compact 3.5 mm transport for MIDI, split into Type A and Type B wiring. Standardisation eventually arrived after manufacturers had already practised disagreement.
26	Mini DisplayPort	Display / AV 2008-	8	6	6	6	9	0	75.0	LEGACY Compact, smooth and capable. Thunderbolt 1 and 2 reused the same shell, converting a clear connector into a capability guessing game.
27	SATA power	Power / internal 2003-	7	5	8	8	8	0	74.0	CURRENT Flat, keyed and supports staggered contacts. The thin L-shaped tongue is effective but less robust than its predecessor and dislikes lateral force.
28	DisplayPort (full-size)	Display / AV 2006-	7	8	10	8	6	0	73.5	CURRENT Technically excellent, clearly shaped and still advancing. The retention latch is secure in use but less charming when blindly extracting a cable from behind a monitor.
29	PCIe 6- and 8-pin power	Power / internal 2004-	7	8	8	7	7	0	73.0	CURRENT Keyed, latched and modular through 6+2 plugs. Good practical design, though split tails and daisy chains create enough nearby plastic to seed a small cable thicket.
30	Stereo RCA pair	Audio / control 1950s-	8	8	8	6	7	0	73.0	SURVIVOR Simple and durable, but a left/right pair doubles the free ends. Identical plugs also carry composite, component, digital and subwoofer signals.
31	Composite video RCA	Display / AV 1950s-	8	8	5	5	8	0	71.0	SURVIVOR Simple, smooth and almost indestructibly familiar. Colour coding helps until an identical RCA plug is carrying audio, component video or something improvised.
32	Mini HDMI Type C	Display / AV 2006-	6	4	6	7	9	0	70.5	NICHE A smaller HDMI for cameras and tablets. Smooth in tangles, less happy with leverage, and easily mistaken for the several other small ports humanity produced nearby.
33	3.5 mm TRRS (CTIA / OMTP)	Audio / control 2000s-	8	5	6	1	10	0	70.0	CONFUSING One extra ring added microphones and two incompatible wiring conventions. The plug remains delightful; the invisible pinout dispute does not.
34	VirtualLink over USB-C	Display / AV 2018-2020	9	7	0	4	10	0	70.0	DOOMED | VR A single USB-C lead for VR video, data and power. Sensible ambition, short ecosystem life, and a cautionary note that a familiar plug does not guarantee a lasting mode.
35	MPO / MTP multi-fibre	Network / telecom 1990s-	6	6	9	4	8	0	69.5	CURRENT | CONFUSING High density and vital at modern speeds. Polarity methods, key-up/key-down, male/female pins and fibre counts turn a small plug into a large planning document.
36	OCuLink / SlimSAS	Power / internal 2010s-	6	6	8	5	8	0	69.5	CURRENT | NICHE Compact PCIe and storage interconnects with impressive density. Similar-looking internal variants and lane counts keep procurement staff spiritually alert.
37	ATX 20- / 24-pin motherboard power	Power / internal 1995-	5	9	10	8	5	0	68.0	SURVIVOR Large, keyed and secure, with a latch that is excellent until access is blocked by a cooler. The 20+4 transition was handled with unusual competence.
38	FireWire 800 (9-pin)	Data / peripheral 2002-2010s	8	7	1	8	8	0	68.0	LEGACY A better keyed connector and strong performance, particularly for storage and media. Technically elegant, commercially outlived by USB and Thunderbolt.
39	External Mini-SAS / Mini-SAS HD	Power / internal 2000s-	7	8	8	6	6	0	67.5	CURRENT High-density storage cabling with strong latches and several connector generations. Excellent in racks, thick in tangles and dependent on knowing exactly which SFF number was ordered.
40	SFP / QSFP direct-attach twinax	Network / telecom 2000s-	7	8	9	5	6	0	67.5	CURRENT Fast, low-latency and sturdy, with pull tabs or bails. Thick twinax and vendor coding reduce universal cheerfulness, while the extraction tab can join the tangle discussion.
41	Micro-USB B	Data / peripheral 2007-2020s	5	3	3	7	10	0	67.0	LEGACY | FRAGILE Small and smooth, but directional, mechanically delicate and prone to loose sockets after repeated use. Still haunting drawers in numbers sufficient to form a union.
42	Modular PSU-side cables	Power / internal 2000s-	6	8	9	0	8	0	66.5	DANGER | NON-STANDARD PSU-end plugs can look compatible while pinouts are not. Mixing cable sets can put 12 V where a drive expected ground. This is not a puzzle to solve by optimism.
43	Mini-USB B	Data / peripheral 2000s	6	6	1	7	9	0	66.0	LEGACY Compact, reasonably sturdy and far easier to handle than its successor. It lost mainly on size, not dignity.
44	Thunderbolt 1 / 2 (Mini DP)	Data / peripheral 2011-2020	8	6	2	4	9	0	66.0	LEGACY High performance in a neat Mini DisplayPort shell. Reusing the display connector saved space and spent clarity.
45	12VHPWR / 12V-2×6	Power / internal 2022-	6	6	9	4	7	0	65.5	DANGER | CURRENT Up to 600 W through a compact 16-pin connector. Early 12VHPWR incidents showed that nearly inserted is not a useful electrical state; 12V-2×6 improved the contact sequencing.
46	2.5 mm jack	Audio / control 1990s-2010s	6	4	2	5	10	0	65.5	LEGACY Smooth and compact but easier to bend, less common and visually close enough to 3.5 mm to provoke hopeful pushing.
47	Mini-TOSLINK	Audio / control 1990s-	7	4	4	2	10	0	65.5	NICHE | CONFUSING Optical audio in a 3.5 mm-shaped plug, often through a combination socket. Elegant once identified, invisible until then.
48	eSATA	Data / peripheral 2004-2010s	6	7	1	8	8	0	65.0	LEGACY Fast external storage before USB caught up. Distinct, fairly robust and pleasantly unhooked, but it usually needed a separate power lead.
49	DC barrel connector	Power / internal 1980s-	5	6	8	0	9	0	64.5	DANGER | CONFUSING Smooth and convenient, with dimensions, voltage and polarity largely invisible. A plug that fits can still be electrically wrong, sometimes decisively so.
50	EPS12V 4+4 versus PCIe 6+2	Power / internal 2000s-	5	8	9	2	7	0	64.0	DANGER | CONFUSING Both are black, latched and near the CPU/GPU power ecosystem, but their pinouts and keying differ. Labels matter; determination is not a compatibility standard.
51	Micro HDMI Type D	Display / AV 2009-	4	2	4	6	10	0	64.0	FRAGILE Tiny and admirably snag-free. Also tiny enough that a stiff cable can use the socket as a mechanical fuse.
52	Molex 4-pin peripheral power	Power / internal 1980s-	4	8	4	8	7	0	64.0	LEGACY Tough, simple and often so tight that unplugging becomes strength training. Rounded pins can be pushed out of the housing by a determinedly misaligned mating attempt.
53	ST fibre	Network / telecom 1980s-	6	9	5	9	5	0	63.5	SURVIVOR Bayonet locking, robust and unmistakable. It needs two connectors for duplex and carries enough protruding metal to become sociable with adjacent cables.
54	HDBaseT over 8P8C	Display / AV 2010-	7	6	8	5	6	0	63.0	CURRENT Long-reach AV, control and power over structured cabling. Effective and repairable, but an Ethernet-shaped plug carrying a non-Ethernet application invites labelling discipline.
55	F-type coax	Network / telecom 1950s-	5	9	9	9	4	-2	62.0	SURVIVOR Cheap, robust and excellent for RF. The threaded coupling is secure, slow, and quite capable of winding itself around thinner leads while being unscrewed.
56	FireWire 400 (4- and 6-pin)	Data / peripheral 1995-2010s	7	7	1	5	8	0	62.0	LEGACY Fast, peer-to-peer and pleasant to handle. Four-pin omitted power while six-pin supplied it, an important distinction conveyed mostly by owning the right cable.
57	S-Video (4-pin mini-DIN)	Display / AV 1987-2000s	5	5	1	8	8	0	60.5	LEGACY Compact and distinct, but the tiny pins reward careful alignment and punish dimly lit fumbling. At least it normally leaves a tangle without taking prisoners.
58	UDI (Unified Display Interface)	Display / AV 2006-2007	5	5	0	6	9	0	60.0	DOOMED A proposed HDMI-compatible computer display interface that vanished into DisplayPort. Superb tangle behaviour, principally because scarcely anyone owned a cable.
59	PS/2 mini-DIN	Data / peripheral 1987-2000s	5	5	1	7	8	0	59.0	LEGACY Small, keyed and usually colour-coded. The pins are delicate, hot-plug behaviour was historically unwise, and keyboard versus mouse still needed explanation.
60	USB 3.x Type-B	Data / peripheral 2008-	5	7	5	6	6	0	58.5	ODDITY A standard Type-B with an upstairs extension. It preserves backward compatibility by looking as though a second connector has moved into the loft.
61	Apple 30-pin Dock	Data / peripheral 2003-2014	6	6	0	8	7	0	58.0	DOOMED | PROPRIETARY Wide but feature-rich, with charging, data, analogue audio and accessories. It created an ecosystem large enough for its replacement to become a household event.
62	5 V ARGB versus 12 V RGB header	Power / internal 2010s-	4	4	8	0	8	0	56.0	DANGER | CONFUSING Three-pin 5 V addressable and four-pin 12 V analogue lighting headers live nearby and look related. They are not cousins who should share a socket.
63	USB Mini-/Micro-AB OTG	Data / peripheral 2001-2010s	4	4	1	3	9	0	54.0	LEGACY | CONFUSING Allowed a device to act as host or peripheral before USB-C. AB receptacles, A/B plugs and ID-pin behaviour made directionality a small standards seminar.
64	Berg 4-pin floppy power	Power / internal 1980s-2000s	3	5	0	6	8	0	53.0	LEGACY | FIDDLY Small, directional and unpleasant to reach inside a case. It combined limited grip with enough power to make careless offset insertion undesirable.
65	DFP (Digital Flat Panel)	Display / AV late 1990s	4	5	0	5	8	0	53.0	DOOMED A compact precursor to mainstream DVI. Neat enough, technically sensible, and swept away before most people could acquire the wrong adaptor.
66	USB 3.x 19-pin internal header	Power / internal 2010s-	2	4	8	7	5	0	51.5	FIDDLY A large friction-fit block attached to a stiff case cable. Bent motherboard pins and socket shells pulled off during removal are not rare enough to be folklore.
67	Category 7 GG45 / TERA	Network / telecom 2000s-	5	8	2	3	6	0	51.0	NICHE Two rival high-performance copper connector ideas arrived while ordinary 8P8C kept advancing. Technically earnest, physically competent and commercially peripheral.
68	SlimPort / MyDP over Micro-USB	Data / peripheral 2012-late 2010s	4	3	0	2	9	0	49.5	DOOMED DisplayPort-derived video through a Micro-USB receptacle and an active adaptor. Clever, compact and overtaken by USB-C alternate modes.
69	eSATAp / Power eSATA	Data / peripheral 2008-2010s	6	6	0	2	7	0	49.0	DOOMED | CONFUSING Combined eSATA and USB, sometimes with 5 V, sometimes 12 V, through ports whose capabilities varied. Useful in theory; specification roulette in practice.
70	Micro-USB 3.0 B	Data / peripheral 2008-2010s	2	3	1	8	7	0	49.0	ABSURD | LEGACY Micro-B with a second annex bolted to its side. Technically ingenious, visually apologetic, physically fragile and unmistakably the work of a committee.
71	Nokia Pop-Port / Sony Ericsson FastPort	Data / peripheral 2000s	4	3	0	7	7	0	49.0	DOOMED | PROPRIETARY Two emblematic phone-era bottom connectors: exposed contacts, proprietary accessories and rapid obsolescence. Entire charger drawers became historical exhibits at once.
72	MHL over Micro-USB	Data / peripheral 2010s	3	3	0	1	9	0	46.5	DOOMED | ABSURD Video through a Micro-USB-shaped port, except some Samsung devices used an 11-pin variant rather than 5-pin. Same visual cue, extra adaptor, perfect drawer archaeology.
73	ATX case front-panel leads	Power / internal 1990s-	1	4	9	1	3	0	34.5	ABSURD | CONFUSING Tiny separate plugs for power switch, reset, LEDs and sometimes speaker, fitted to a microscopic header diagram. Decades of standard cases; still no civilised universal block.
74	SCART / Peritel	Display / AV 1977-2010s	3	3	1	5	4	0	34.0	ABSURD | LEGACY Twenty-one contacts, one asymmetric slab, no latch and a talent for half-seating under its own weight. It combines several signal types and several opportunities for disappointment.
75	DVI-D dual-link	Display / AV 1999-2010s	4	7	3	4	2	-2	33.0	LEGACY | SNAG More bandwidth than single-link, with the same broad body and thumbscrews. Cable tangles recognise it as a load-bearing structural member.
76	DVI-D single-link	Display / AV 1999-2010s	4	7	3	4	2	-2	33.0	LEGACY | SNAG Digital, dependable and adapter-friendly, but huge. Single-link versus dual-link is encoded in pin population, apparently because labels were considered decadent.
77	RGBHV over 5 x BNC	Display / AV 1980s-2000s	2	10	2	8	1	-4	33.0	HYDRA | LEGACY Electrically clean and physically formidable. Five individually locking heads turn one video lead into a hydra that can annex neighbouring cables.
78	10BASE2 BNC / T-piece	Network / telecom 1980s-1990s	3	10	0	6	2	-4	32.5	DOOMED | ABSURD The BNC itself is magnificent. The mandatory T-piece, terminators and shared coax bus ensured that one disturbed desk could become an organisation-wide networking lesson.
79	RS-232 DE-9 (“DB9”)	Data / peripheral 1980s-	4	8	6	4	1	-5	32.0	SURVIVOR | SNAG Still valuable in industrial and console work. Gender, DTE/DCE wiring and null-modem requirements are less intuitive; jackscrews remain steadfast enemies of cable heaps.
80	PATA / IDE ribbon cable	Power / internal 1980s-2000s	4	7	0	4	2	0	30.5	LEGACY | TANGLE Forty pins and a broad ribbon, later with 80 conductors and colour-coded positions. It did not so much tangle as establish an internal curtain wall.
81	6P modular telephone plug (“RJ11”)	Network / telecom 1970s-	7	4	5	4	2	-8	30.0	SNAG Smaller than 8P8C and capable of fitting where it should not. The exposed latch is equally enthusiastic about wool, cable braids and sudden retirement.
82	Apple Display Connector (ADC)	Display / AV 2000-2004	4	6	0	7	2	-5	28.5	DOOMED | PROPRIETARY Digital video, USB and display power in one Apple plug. Elegant on the desk, proprietary at the wallet, bulky in the heap and abandoned within four years.
83	DVI-I	Display / AV 1999-2010s	3	7	2	1	2	-2	25.5	CONFUSING | SNAG Carries digital and analogue, which was clever until DVI-D sockets, pin variants and passive adapters created an identification practical exam.
84	13W3 (Sun / SGI)	Display / AV 1990s-2000s	2	9	0	7	1	-6	25.0	DOOMED | SNAG Three coaxial contacts plus ten pins in an armoured D-sub. Excellent signal engineering, enormous connector, jackscrews, and the portability of masonry.
85	Parallel DB-25 to Centronics 36	Data / peripheral 1980s-2000s	3	8	0	7	1	-6	25.0	DOOMED | SNAG A chunky two-connector ecosystem with screws at one end and wire bails at the other. It connected printers while physically asserting jurisdiction over the desk.
86	AUI DA-15 slide latch	Network / telecom 1980s-1990s	2	9	0	7	1	-8	23.0	DOOMED | SNAG Ethernet via a substantial D-sub and a sliding retention clip. Secure enough for industrial machinery; graceful enough for none of it.
87	Floppy ribbon cable	Power / internal 1980s-2000s	2	5	0	3	2	0	23.0	LEGACY | ABSURD A ribbon with a deliberate twist to distinguish drive positions. Keying was not always dependable, so a reversed cable could illuminate the drive LED as a permanent accusation.
88	DVI-A	Display / AV 1999-2000s	3	7	1	2	1	-2	21.5	DOOMED | SNAG An analogue-only member of a family whose plugs look nearly alike but are not. Large shell, jackscrews and very little reason to seek one now.
89	SCSI-1 Centronics 50	Data / peripheral 1980s-1990s	2	8	0	3	1	-2	21.5	DOOMED | ABSURD Fifty contacts, large shell and spring clips, followed by terminators and device IDs. A complete lifestyle rather than merely a cable.
90	High-density / VHDCI SCSI	Data / peripheral 1990s-2000s	3	6	0	2	2	-4	20.5	DOOMED | CONFUSING Smaller than Centronics SCSI but multiplied into HD50, HD68 and VHDCI variants. Dense pins, screws or latches, and an adapter ecology of almost biological complexity.
91	VESA P&D / M1-DA / EVC	Display / AV late 1990s	2	6	0	1	3	-5	20.5	DOOMED | ABSURD Video, USB, FireWire and sometimes power in one heroic connector family. Too large, too many names and too many subtly different implementations.
92	Game port / MIDI DA-15	Data / peripheral 1980s-2000s	3	7	0	4	1	-5	20.0	DOOMED | SNAG Joystick and MIDI duties on a screw-fastened D-sub. It looks related to Apple video, catches everything nearby and is now mostly an archaeological layer in sound cards.
93	DMS-59 / LFH-60	Display / AV 2000s	2	5	0	1	2	-1	19.0	DOOMED | HYDRA One dense card connector becomes a two-headed VGA or DVI breakout. Space is saved at the graphics card and immediately reintroduced as cable-management folklore.
94	Apple DA-15 video	Display / AV 1990s	3	7	0	3	1	-5	18.5	DOOMED | SNAG A solid two-row D-sub with thumbscrews, visually related to the PC game port but wired for Macintosh video. Robust history; hostile cable drawer.
95	8P8C modular plug, bare latch (“RJ45”)	Network / telecom 1980s-	5	3	10	5	1	-22	16.5	SNAG | SURVIVOR An excellent network interface and a dreadful loose cable. The exposed latch catches neighbouring leads, snaps off, then lets the plug escape at the least dignified moment.
96	VGA (DE-15)	Display / AV 1987-	2	7	2	6	0	-10	15.5	SNAG | LEGACY The cable-heap grappling hook: two exposed jackscrews, a broad shell and usually a thick lead. It survives abuse while making every extraction a negotiation.

Dangerous by design, resemblance or optimism

Most bad connectors waste time. A few can waste hardware, produce overheating or put the wrong voltage on the wrong pin. The following deserve labels, documentation and an institutional ban on “it seems to fit” as a test method.

Severity	Interface	Failure mode	Safe practice	Source
CRITICAL	Modular PSU-side cables	Same-looking PSU-end plugs can use different pinouts. Mixing cable sets may apply 12 V to a device pin that expects ground.	Use only the exact cable family approved for that PSU make and model. Never transplant a modular cable merely because the plastic fits.	10
SERIOUS	12VHPWR / 12V-2×6	Poor insertion or poor contact can overheat and melt. NVIDIA reported about 50 early RTX 4090 cases and identified incomplete insertion as a common issue.	Seat fully and evenly before fitting the card, use the correct cable, confirm the latch, and avoid sharp bends or force close to the connector.	11,12,10
SERIOUS	5V ARGB versus 12V RGB	The nearby 3-pin 5V addressable and 4-pin 12V analogue headers are not electrically interchangeable. Misconnection can damage lighting hardware.	Check pin count, voltage markings and arrow alignment before power is applied. Do not rely on visual family resemblance.	14
SERIOUS	DC barrel connectors	A mechanically compatible plug can have the wrong voltage, current capacity, polarity or inner diameter. Shape alone provides almost no assurance.	Match voltage, polarity, current rating and dimensions from the equipment documentation, not from the drawer.	General guidance
SERIOUS	EPS12V versus PCIe power	CPU and GPU power leads occupy the same black-plastic visual universe but have different keying and pinouts. Adapters and force defeat the safety cues.	Use the labelled EPS/CPU and PCIe/GPU leads for their intended sockets only. Stop when keying resists.	10
CAUTION	USB-C high-power cables	The same plug may support only USB 2 data, different high-speed rates, 60 W or 240 W power, and optional video. A working fit does not prove full capability.	Use certified, marked cables with the required data-rate and 60 W or 240 W power logo, especially for high-power charging.	5,6,18
CAUTION	MagSafe connectors	The magnetic port can attract metal debris, which can interfere with charging and create undesirable contact conditions.	Inspect and clean the port and connector; keep magnetic media and loose metal away.	19

Museum of beautifully doomed connectors

Not every extinct connector was foolish. Some lost to timing, licensing, cost or a stronger ecosystem. Others lost because being DMS-59 is a hard burden to overcome.

DFP A tidy digital flat-panel connector that arrived just before DVI consolidated the market. Competent, compact and historically unlucky.	VESA P&D / M1-DA A universal display dream carrying video, data and sometimes power. Its names and variants multiplied faster than confidence.	Apple ADC A genuinely neat single-cable desk solution for Apple displays, paid for with proprietary power delivery and a very short service life.
UDI An HDMI-compatible computer display proposal announced into a market already choosing DisplayPort. It became a footnote at high speed.	DMS-59 A compact card socket that required a breakout hydra for ordinary monitors. The desktop gained ports and lost the will to organise them.	VirtualLink A one-cable USB-C VR interface with video, data and power. The VR market moved on before the connector mode established a durable habitat.
eSATAp Fast storage plus USB and optional power, but capability varied between ports. Elegant diagrams met inconsistent implementations.	MHL and SlimPort Two ways to smuggle display output through Micro-USB-shaped ports and active adaptors. USB-C alternate modes later performed the same trick more cleanly.	Pop-Port and FastPort Proprietary phone connectors from the pre-smartphone transition. They made accessories distinctive and obsolescence immediate.

Out-of-scope jury award: the BS 1363 mains plug

THE CALTROP OF HONOUR It predates VGA and is not ranked. Electrically, it is formidable. Physically, a loose UK plug lying pins-up is a domestic anti-personnel device with a standards number. Suggested supplementary score: robustness 10/10, longevity 10/10, confusion resistance 10/10, barefoot compatibility -40/10.

Final judgement

The broad historical trend is encouraging: fewer screws, fewer exposed pins, smaller shells, reversible orientation, magnetic breakaway and shared physical standards. The price of that progress is that physical shape now reveals less about capability. VGA told you exactly what it was whilst physically annexing the cable drawer. USB-C glides free with perfect manners while asking you to inspect logos, specifications and sometimes the phase of the moon.

The ideal future connector therefore looks like USB-C, behaves like MagSafe, locks like Speakon when required, labels itself honestly, and has never heard of a thumbscrew.

Design brief for the ideal successor

Requirement	Model to copy	Non-negotiable outcome
Orientation	USB-C	Reversible plug and cable direction, with no first-attempt superstition.
Disconnection	MagSafe	Safe breakaway where a dragged device would otherwise become the weakest component.
Positive retention	Speakon	A deliberate lock only where the application genuinely needs one, with no exposed hook.
Capability	USB-IF cable marks	Data rate, power capacity and optional video identified at both cable ends.
Electrical safety	IEC families	A compatible shape must imply a compatible voltage, pinout and use case.
Cable-heap behaviour	None of VGA	No thumbscrews, naked latch tabs, breakout hydras or rigid projections seeking dependants.

THE LAST RULE A cable should come out of a drawer with no other cable attached to it.

Footnotes

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Spencer ↩︎
2. Sadly more believable, but a less good tale, than the Vulcan-based explanation from Star Trek: Enterprise ↩︎
3. Quinine useful as a mosquito repellent, thus helpfully avoiding malaria when included as a component of Tonic Water, but also basis of physics student party prank whereby the lightbulb in the bathroom is replaced with a UV “blacklight” bulb startling those who have been drinking the Tonic Water as it fluoresces hilariously. ↩︎
4. It’s not proper OCD unless it’s put into alphabetical order… ↩︎
5. USB-IF – USB Type-C Cable and Connector Specification, Release 2.5 ↩︎
6. USB-IF – USB Power Delivery; power delivery up to 240 W ↩︎
7. VESA – DisplayPort FAQ; current DisplayPort 2.1b and 77.37 Gbit/s maximum payload ↩︎
8. HDMI Licensing Administrator – HDMI 2.2 Ultra96 feature and cable capability ↩︎
9. Intel – Thunderbolt 5 connectivity standard ↩︎
10. Corsair – PSU cable compatibility, seating, overload and 12VHPWR guidance ↩︎
11. NVIDIA – GeForce RTX 4090 power connector update ↩︎
12. Intel – ATX Version 3 design guide; PCIe 12V-2×6 connector ↩︎
13. Corsair – PSU cable compatibility, seating, overload and 12VHPWR guidance ↩︎
14. ASUS – Connecting 5 V addressable RGB and 12 V RGB headers ↩︎
15. Corsair – PSU cable compatibility, seating, overload and 12VHPWR guidance ↩︎
16. USB-IF – USB Type-C Cable and Connector Specification, Release 2.5 ↩︎
17. USB-IF – USB Power Delivery; power delivery up to 240 W ↩︎
18. USB-IF – Cables and Connectors; mandatory data-rate and 60 W / 240 W cable markings ↩︎
19. [] Apple – MagSafe adapter and connector care; magnetic debris warning ↩︎