Why is everyone ignoring the Steam Deck USB port?

[shak59]

The steam deck has a USB 3.2 Gen 2 port. This thing is blazing FAST, yet everyone is just talking about getting a microSD card to expand storage.

That USB port can take a USB NVME drive or you can just use a USB 3.2 stick, or even a portable SSD drive.

But everyone is just talking about using the slower Micro SD for expansion.

What am I missing?

A USB 3.2 Gen 2 has a max speed around 1,200mb/s.

[Coffee]

Most are probably going to transfert a bunch of games on the SD card and switch them to the SSD when needed.

It will probably even have a function to do that automatically when you wanna start a game on the SD card anyway.

[Exotropic Mercurian]

That's for an egpu *fingers crossed*. My micro SD is actually faster than a hdd which isn't bad at all.

[Balderick]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Match Fix Gamer:

That's for an egpu *fingers crossed*.

Not many eGPU enclosures support usb-c though.

In the tech specs for Steam Deck Dock it is only the DP 1.4 port in Alternate Mode that suppports 8K@60hz /4K@120hz - which is what USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 is supposed to support.

So seems like Valve have deliberately chosen DP 1.4 to support high res high refresh rate monitors and have chosen not to support Thunderbolt (USB A) for adding eGPU support to Steam Deck.

There are M.2 docks that could possibly be used for adding eGPU support to Steam Deck.
https://youtu.be/55Ak3YfVQNs


It will be interesting to see what docking stations, hubs and other ways to get more from Steam Deck will be revealed by Steam users in next few months.

[Briggs]

I really wish it had thunderbolt. Then we could have hooked up an eGPU to the thing.

[Pyrocitor]

In a docked only mode this would be a decent idea - I don't like the idea of dangling dongles off a handheld, compared to a thumbnail memory card that sits fully inside a port.

[SockDog]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Pyrocitor:

In a docked only mode this would be a decent idea - I don't like the idea of dangling dongles off a handheld, compared to a thumbnail memory card that sits fully inside a port.

This hits the button for me. SD is really the only practical solution for a portable device.

The dock that Valve are working on though... I'd hope they'll be considering a lot of bells and whistles. SSD connection and bay, hell, if space allows, maybe a sata 2.5" bay too. I'd like the dock to be more than a stand with extra usb ports etc. We'll see what they come up with but I guess if it isn't that there are always third party docks.

[Nemesis]

Początkowo opublikowane przez SockDog:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Pyrocitor:

In a docked only mode this would be a decent idea - I don't like the idea of dangling dongles off a handheld, compared to a thumbnail memory card that sits fully inside a port.

This hits the button for me. SD is really the only practical solution for a portable device.

The dock that Valve are working on though... I'd hope they'll be considering a lot of bells and whistles. SSD connection and bay, hell, if space allows, maybe a sata 2.5" bay too. I'd like the dock to be more than a stand with extra usb ports etc. We'll see what they come up with but I guess if it isn't that there are always third party docks.

You can use an usb to sata adapter or usb harddrive on that i doubt they do a sata slot on the dock.

[SockDog]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Nemesis:

You can use an usb to sata adapter or usb harddrive on that i doubt they do a sata slot on the dock.

Yes, I know just think if the dock is intended* for desktop use, integration of direct storage docking would be a nice feature. Maybe SSD only would enable them it to be nice an compact but I think a base might be able to hold a 2.5 HDD without being too nuts.

* I acknowledge that their intention might just be to have a deck holder with extra ports to support basic connectivity to a monitor, network, KB+M, usb storage etc. I wouldn't criticise them for this, use cases for products have to be considered and will never make everyone happy.

[ReBoot]

Początkowo opublikowane przez SockDog:

* I acknowledge that their intention might just be to have a deck holder with extra ports to support basic connectivity to a monitor, network, KB+M, usb storage etc. I wouldn't criticise them for this, use cases for products have to be considered and will never make everyone happy.

You mean something like the official dock? This thing has a cool use case, namely turning the Deck into a full desktop computer, be it as the daily driver for those of us without a gaming battlestation or to provide a PC-home-away-from-home.

[egnat69]

It‘ll be interesting to see how smooth installation/deinstallation of games works. I don’t think I will need my entire library ready to play all the time, so it will be all about managing.

However: transfer between the SSD and microSD would be really nice. Think like: having most of your library on the microSD kind of archived and in case you wanna really play one of the old games again without reinstalling and downloading, you could maybe just move it from the microSD to the SSD…?

Also of course the other way round. If you have a game on the SSD that you think you will not be playing for some time but don’t want to re-download in case you actually want to play it next week on the bus - just archive it to the microSD.

Honestly - thinking about it - I would actually prefer that kind of solution. If you have like 20-30 games installed, the poor thing will be busy installing updates anytime it is connected to a WiFi…

[Nemesis]

Początkowo opublikowane przez egnat69:

It‘ll be interesting to see how smooth installation/deinstallation of games works. I don’t think I will need my entire library ready to play all the time, so it will be all about managing.

However: transfer between the SSD and microSD would be really nice. Think like: having most of your library on the microSD kind of archived and in case you wanna really play one of the old games again without reinstalling and downloading, you could maybe just move it from the microSD to the SSD…?

Also of course the other way round. If you have a game on the SSD that you think you will not be playing for some time but don’t want to re-download in case you actually want to play it next week on the bus - just archive it to the microSD.

Honestly - thinking about it - I would actually prefer that kind of solution. If you have like 20-30 games installed, the poor thing will be busy installing updates anytime it is connected to a WiFi…

You can test that right now by creating a library folder on a usb drive, it should pretty much be the same as creating the library folder on the sd card. You probably have to just readd the library folder whenever you switch sd cards. And you can move games via steam if you didnt know when you rightclick a game and go to properties in the Local Storage tab there should be a move option and i think the steam deck just uses the normal steam client with a special gui mode for the handheld (Like big picture mode). You can most likely also share a library folder between your pc and deck using some sort of network attached storage.

[Coffee]

Początkowo opublikowane przez egnat69:

It‘ll be interesting to see how smooth installation/deinstallation of games works. I don’t think I will need my entire library ready to play all the time, so it will be all about managing.

However: transfer between the SSD and microSD would be really nice. Think like: having most of your library on the microSD kind of archived and in case you wanna really play one of the old games again without reinstalling and downloading, you could maybe just move it from the microSD to the SSD…?

Also of course the other way round. If you have a game on the SSD that you think you will not be playing for some time but don’t want to re-download in case you actually want to play it next week on the bus - just archive it to the microSD.

Honestly - thinking about it - I would actually prefer that kind of solution. If you have like 20-30 games installed, the poor thing will be busy installing updates anytime it is connected to a WiFi…

It's already been confirmed it will pop on and off when you change it, just like the switch and such.

They adapted it to the microSD so no longer needed to relocate each time your installation folder and verify game.cache.

[Darzai]

Nothing some duct tape wouldn't fix. Just strap your external SSD underneath the Deck. And a battery pack while you are at it. And rename the handheld to Steam Brick.

[Exotropic Mercurian]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Balderick:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Match Fix Gamer:

That's for an egpu *fingers crossed*.

Not many eGPU enclosures support usb-c though.

In the tech specs for Steam Deck Dock it is only the DP 1.4 port in Alternate Mode that suppports 8K@60hz /4K@120hz - which is what USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 is supposed to support.

So seems like Valve have deliberately chosen DP 1.4 to support high res high refresh rate monitors and have chosen not to support Thunderbolt (USB A) for adding eGPU support to Steam Deck.

There are M.2 docks that could possibly be used for adding eGPU support to Steam Deck.
https://youtu.be/55Ak3YfVQNs


It will be interesting to see what docking stations, hubs and other ways to get more from Steam Deck will be revealed by Steam users in next few months.

I used to use mini pci-e on my laptop for the gdc beast extrenal graphics card port which ran near perfect and that was only 2.5gb/s .. vs 20gb/s usb-c 3.2 gen 2 on the steam deck! it should easily run an external graphics card.

[Exotropic Mercurian]

Początkowo opublikowane przez The Unwritten Rule:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Balderick:

Not many eGPU enclosures support usb-c though.

In the tech specs for Steam Deck Dock it is only the DP 1.4 port in Alternate Mode that suppports 8K@60hz /4K@120hz - which is what USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 is supposed to support.

So seems like Valve have deliberately chosen DP 1.4 to support high res high refresh rate monitors and have chosen not to support Thunderbolt (USB A) for adding eGPU support to Steam Deck.

There are M.2 docks that could possibly be used for adding eGPU support to Steam Deck.
https://youtu.be/55Ak3YfVQNs


It will be interesting to see what docking stations, hubs and other ways to get more from Steam Deck will be revealed by Steam users in next few months.

I used to use mini pci-e on my laptop for the gdc beast extrenal graphics card port which ran near perfect and that was only 2.5gb/s .. vs 20gb/s usb-c 3.2 gen 2 on the steam deck! it should easily run an external graphics card.

I bet it's that fast for a good reason.