3rd Party Dock or wait for official? Do I need Display Port?

[PackersBayGreen]

Hi, I have a USB-C dongle with HDMI that I use for my laptop and Nintendo Switch when traveling. I tried it with the Steam Deck on my 4k TV at 30Hz. Even if the game is being played at 720P the Deck is scaling it to 4k and I'm only getting 30fps.

I just went on vacation and hooked the same dongle up to the hotel's 1080P TV and everything was working great at 60fps.
It seems Valve is working on being able to select the output resolution. I found out via this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiSHpylp4GE though it seems it's currently only on "preview" not "beta" or "stable".

In hopes that the feature will eventually reach stable, I want to get a proper dock for this thing as my dongle is missing ethernet.
I found a couple on Amazon which actually seem to support the Nintendo Switch as well which would be a welcome feature. Benazcap and Gorrzai both had a bunch of reviews and now they seem to have disappeared. Perhaps they used bots to boost their reviews?

It looks like the official dock from Valve will have both HDMI as well as Display Port.
Is there a reason that I'd need Display Port? Can't this HDMI do 4k at 60Hz already?
Please inform me about this Display Port... because that's the only thing I see the official one having that the 3rd parties don't have. I like the idea of these 3rd party ones that can also use the Nintendo Switch.

[ReBoot]

I'm rather happy with my JSAUX dock, it brings a neat Deck cradle.
HDMI can do 4k@60Hz, my dock outputs exactly that over HDMI.

[Balderick]

Unless you have a high refresh rate display and really want Deck to work to its highest end of capabilities when in Dock mode may make the spec of your dock more relevant and harder to find so Deck can run at 4K @ 120 hz

Literally any dock that supports usb-c video in will work with Deck.

Valve have not announced price for Deck Dock yet and if you search for something that has similiar specs to what Valve originally showed for Deck Dock you are talking about £150-£200 for anything similar, though the price of Deck is much less than other similar devices the price for Deck Dock will be best Valve can provide. Valve removed specs for Deck Dock so they may have to be making compromises or find alternative components due to the supply chain issues.


Valve should eventually offer a Deck Dock, Deck, charger and case as well providing suitable cables and even a Steam Controller as a bundle package, which probably mean nearer £700 range for base model Deck. That would make Deck much more comparable to what ships with consoles and provides everything needed for every user case scenario (or at least all supported Deck modes) ootb.

Brian at NerdNest raises a few interesting points regarding the current situation with Deck not supporting Dock Mode well just now. The software not being ready on Deck could be as big a reason than supply chain issues causing Valve to hold back with shipping Deck Dock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly3cuahZnPA

[maxRunner]

The external resolution problem is a known issue that is currently being worked on by valve. I personally would go ahead and update to preview if you are playing on a tv a lot so you can benefit from that work. You can always switch back to stable when it's released.

DP is probably be necessary to hit 4k@120hz, but I mean, who in their right mind would try that with a steam deck? I think the DP is only for compatibility with certain monitors.

Experiment: you could get a dock with DP out and then connect an hdmi 2.1 converter to it to get 4k@120hz on a 4k tv. Now ask yourself why you did this.

Unrelated, but I switched all my QHD monitor connections to HDMI because it has better support for KVMs. So I guess what I'm saying is DP isn't better in every way.

[Balderick]

i agree to

Originally posted by maxRunner:

The external resolution problem is a known issue that is currently being worked on by valve. I personally would go ahead and update to preview if you are playing on a tv a lot so you can benefit from that work. You can always switch back to stable when it's released.

DP is probably be necessary to hit 4k@120hz, but I mean, who in their right mind would try that with a steam deck? I think the DP is only for compatibility with certain monitors.

Experiment: you could get a dock with DP out and then connect an hdmi 2.1 converter to it to get 4k@120hz on a 4k tv. Now ask yourself why you did this.

Unrelated, but I switched all my QHD monitor connections to HDMI because it has better support for KVMs. So I guess what I'm saying is DP isn't better in every way.

Yes i completely agree if folks are seeing issues with Dock Mode on stable they should try preview. Some displays just work better than others with current fixes in preview.

The video out on Deck is specified as usb-c alt mode DP 1.4 i dont understand why that has been specified. Like if my gaming or professional display that has built in KVM and has usb-c in, DP 1.4 in and HDMI 2.1 in as well as usb hub built in, a suitable cable which there is a choice of several is all that is needed to put Deck into Dock mode. What display you are using is biggest factor in specifying what cables or what dock is needed for 4K @ 120 hz.
Though adds "what charger power specs do i need for Deck in Docked Mode?"


Is a usb-c to usb-c cable that supports power video and data to such a display like Gigabyte Aorus 43" all that is needed to power Deck in Dock Mode? EDIT: The usb c port on that display does not appear to support alt mode.

Hopefully the Deck Dock is available when i eventually buy Deck. Though am thinking of just getting an AMD dGPU for my desktop and run Deck OS on desktop pc instead.

[maxRunner]

Originally posted by Balderick:

The video out on Deck is specified as usb-c alt mode DP 1.4 i dont understand why that has been specified. Like if my gaming or professional display that has built in KVM and has usb-c in, DP 1.4 in and HDMI 2.1 in as well as usb hub, a suitable cable which there is a choice of several is all that is needed to put Deck into Dock mode. What display you are using is biggest factor in specifying what cables or what dock is needed.
Though adds "what charger power specs do i need for Deck in Docked Mode?"


Is a usb-c to usb-c cable that supports power video and data to such a display like Gigabyte Aorus 43" all that is needed to power Deck in Dock Mode?

I'm not familiar with that monitor, but if I understand your question correctly, alt-mode is *required* for the input to support, either monitor or the dock. Like I got my steam deck working at 2 x QHD@120hz using Cable Matters USB C Dock with Dual 4Kthrough. That dock states "USB Type C hub requires DP Alternate Mode support to view video over USB-C".

EDIT: I see you came to the same conclusion.

[Balderick]

Yep, after checking the tech specs for the usb-c port on that display it does not appear to support alt mode.
Though for me, that dock you use is a good example of what i need, if i want Deck running at 4K @ 120 hz in dock mode.

[PackersBayGreen]

So I got that Benazcap dock yesterday and it was able to do 4k 120hz
Also was able to work with my Nintendo Switch.
I tested the Ethernet and was able to get gigabit speeds... Speed test through browser showed like 940Mbps and was able to copy a movie from my NAS at over 100 MB/s which is over 800Mbps.

Pretty pleased so far for $50.

What is the official one supposed to have that this doesn't besides the Display Port?