ULTIMATE Steam Deck Dock Showdown | Technical Review
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 มิ.ย. 2024
- Hey guys!
This video is a little different, as you know. I'm trying my hand at reviewing products, but with the CryoByte33 technical mindset.
Affiliate Links:
iVoler Dock: amzn.to/3HBITiY
NYXI Dock (Not on Amazon): shln.top/fYBIMfi
JSAUX Dock: amzn.to/3jx0W1D
This video took a little longer because I was waiting for nice weather to get some good B-Roll, but it never happened so you get gameplay sometimes instead 😅
As always, please let me know how you like it!
Places to Support Me:
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* Patreon - / cryobyte33
* Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/cryobyte33
* Super Thanks here on YT
* Humble Bundle with code "CryoByte33"
* Affiliate Links Below
AFFILIATE LINKS:
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Steam Deck Stuff:
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iVoler Dock - amzn.to/3HBITiY
JSAUX M.2 Dock - go.jsaux.com/3nVSxH3
JSAUX Hub (Attaches to ModCase) - go.jsaux.com/3Ukz2UL
ModCase - go.jsaux.com/3KdN59Q
Transparent Backplate - go.jsaux.com/42HKCvF
Setup:
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Monitor - Dell U3821DW - amzn.to/3X8pBr2
Speakers - Creative Pebble v3 - amzn.to/3Ynprgu
Chair - Herman Miller Aeron w/ PostureFit - amzn.to/3Yrm1cz
Keyboard - Keychron K8 Pro w/ Gateron Browns - amzn.to/3Yux7NY
Mice - Logitech MX Master 3s - amzn.to/3leTngH
Microphone - Rode PodMic - amzn.to/3KGyoxq
Audio Interface - Scarlett Solo (3rd gen) - amzn.to/3MpWPR3
Capture Card - Elgato HD60s (when it works) - amzn.to/3RDXLC7
PC Parts:
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Case - SSUPD Meshilicious - amzn.to/40wjSyf
CPU - AMD 5600x - amzn.to/3lcu8vw
CPU Cooler - Noctua NH-L9a-AM4 - amzn.to/3JKmNgX
RAM - CORSAIR Vengeance RGB DDR4 4600Mhz - amzn.to/3wXvn4j
Storage - SAMSUNG 980 PRO 1TB - amzn.to/3RJfUOU & Samsung 870 QVO 2TB - amzn.to/40vAAxI
PSU - Cooler Master V850 Gold V2 - amzn.to/3XodBSF
GPU - EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 12GB FTW3 ULTRA - amzn.to/3l7kDNT
Case Fans - 2x Noctua NF-A14 - amzn.to/3Yqfa3d
Socials:
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Join the Discord: / discord
Find me on Twitch: / cryobyte33
Find me on Mastodon: @cryobyte33@mastodon.cryobyte.net
00:00 - Introduction
00:27 - The Contenders
00:52 - Disclaimers
01:32 - Overview - Official Dock
02:26 - Overview - iVoler
03:19 - Overview - NYXI
04:51 - Overview - JSAUX
06:49 - Testing Preface
07:22 - Network Throughput - TCP
07:56 - Network Throughput - UDP
08:22 - The Problem
09:15 - Network Latency
09:40 - IO Throughput
10:38 - Input Latency Methodology
11:22 - Input Latency Results
11:46 - JSAUX M.2 Testing
13:40 - Recap
16:01 - Wrapping Up
16:21 - Shoutouts - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
dude. Of all the neat little small editing details, the progress lines on the sides of the screen for each section is just a touch above any one else. That is just an extremely nice little touch that I felt needed to be appreciated.
Thank you for noticing, I spent a lot of time nailing them so they were just right 😁
I don't think the progress lines were his idea, it reminds me of another reviewer's tech review videos.
@@MatthewCenance idea or not he took the time to create them. It's an attention to detail that is rare. Whether you intended or not, you comment comes across like you're attempting to undercut or devalue his effort.
@@RyanWAFFELYoung It wasn't intended to come off as an attack though.
@@MatthewCenance They definitely aren't an original idea, and I sorta co-opted it from Gamers' Nexus, but I still aim for accessibility!
Hey, Cryo!
Great video overall, but I have one nitpick:
Keep the chart colors consistent, please. I was confused seeing red being assigned to JSAUX and in some other test it changed to other some brand.
Thank you for watching!
That's a really good call and I didn't notice until I published the video, sorry about that! The quick-and-dirty python that I wrote up to graph the results did each test in isolation, so there wasn't any continuity. If I do more reviews like this, I'll definitely try to do better at making them more cohesive.
Thanks again for the suggestion, have a great day!
VGA can be used to an oldschool CRT monitor which sounds niche but then remember, the steam deck is a retro game POWERHOUSE, so for some people that prefer to play the classics on the type of tv they were designed for -- it's a killer feature. I have an identical one from a different provider and it's fantastic.
I'm learning that there are a lot more CRT gamers than I thought out there, which is awesome! I'm going to try to get one and do a video on it if I can for all you folks out there 😁
Thank you for watching!
anyone who’s still hoarding a crt these days are gonna have original equipments tho
@@user-yk1cw8im4h Apparently not, judging by the comments!
@CryoByte33 I would like to include I am one such person who uses the vga port on this dock just for my crt monitor which is actually my main display
Also an amazing way to play modern aaa games since crt can display any resolution
This is what I needed. Thank you! I trust your content and channel. You’ve helped me enjoy my Steam Deck with your wizardry. I’m new to Linux. It’s been an enjoyable learning experience so far. Thanks to channels like yours!
Thank you so much for watching, I'm just really happy that I can help people make better choices and play the games they want! 😁
This is a very well made review. The information is on point and its obvious that you spend a good amount of time on some of the tests. Hope to see more of your content on my recommended page.
DATA you say?! My God, man, you continue to elevate your game, venturing into content that seems otherwise well-trod by presenting relevant deep dives I haven’t seen anywhere else. Excellent work outta you, I continue to enjoy your content and delighted to have found the channel!
Also, well done on the Highlander thumbnail.
And, fun quotation for your troubles-The plural of anecdote is not data. It’s delusion. Throw that one around when you’re dressed to impress with real data (like this video), and someone tries to dress you down with anecdotes.
Yes, I’ve replied to my own reply thrice now. You’re welcome, algorithm.
Holy crap, just came back to find this gem of a thread 😂
Thank you SO much for all the kind words, being subbed, and of course watching. I'm really happy that the work I did is helping people out in a very saturated format.
Also replying to the comments:
Thumbnail: Thanks, I set up a dock fight club at 2:30AM with real weapons and tape! It took a solid 3 hours to get it just right.
Quote: That's a great quote, I'm saving it to put somewhere, although not sure where yet 🤔
Comments: The algo probably loves you HALF as much as I do 😉
Thank you again for all the lovely comments, and I hope you have a great day!
@@cryobyte33 many thanks unto you, my good man! Keep up the great work!
Great content as always! I brought the Ivoler dock when everything else seemed out of stock with a view to upgrade but I've had nothing but a great experience with it and this confirms that it is a solid dock for the deck 😎 thanks again!
Thank you for watching an being subscribed! The iVoler is actually the dock I use to record footage now. It's super solid and is a great all-rounder 🙂
What a legend! Great video thank you for this info. Solid presentation and the editing was top notch
Great content! I just binge watched 3 of your videos in a row. Like like the TH-cam algorithm actually worked for once 🥳
Love the details keep em coming ❤
hey man, just wanted to personally thank you. not just for your content here on TH-cam but for your Cryo-utilities as well. I recently installed the tweaks on my Deck and it has helped immensely. You are awesome.
Thank you so much for watching the videos, and for using CU! I’m just here to help and it means a lot that you’d go out of your way to leave a comment ❤️
@@cryobyte33 of course. its people like you that make the Free/Open source software community awesome. :)
Great video, I respect your love and contribution for the steam deck and it’s community.
Thank you so much for watching, hopefully it helped you out!
Hi CryoByte, the algorithm has blessed me with your BotW video in my recommendations and I was just binging all of your video's when I noticed you uploaded this video. I absolutely love all of your deep dives into questions I had been having since I got my SteamDeck, like explaining what each setting does and how it can impact gaming and product reviews like these.
One piece of feedback I do want to give you is that I would really appreciate it if you could put a (bullet point) list of the ports with versions and whatever on screen when you show them at 2:05 for example. It's just nice to have an overview while you're naming them and to compare them with the others. Other than that it's a great video and literally can't wait for your future videos!
Thank you so much for checking the channel out and looking at my new video! 😄
That's a GREAT piece of feedback, I hadn't even considered doing that. I'll 100% be putting that in any future reviews I may do!
Hey CryoByte! Thank you so much for this video! The timing is crazy as i was just about to look at docks and this couldn’t be any more perfect! If you have the time, i know you’ve posted plenty regarding the game, but an updated video on The Witcher 3’s performance on the Steam Deck after the latest patch would be incredible as it has taken a pretty significant performance hit. If you’re busy and cant I completely get it. Thank you for all that you do! 🙌🏼
Thank you for watching, as usual! I'm glad that I could give you a definitive guide to the docks before you chose one!
As for the Witcher, I might try to get some time for it but we'll see if I can bring any value. To my knowledge, the problem is that SSAO was originally disabled (accidentally), and now they enabled it but don't allow you to turn it off in the in-game settings. You MIGHT be able to in the XML/ini file, but I haven't confirmed that.
Regardless, thank you again and have a great day!
Have been looking to get a dock but had no idea which one I should go for. You have blessed my feed. :)
Thank you for watching, I hope all the benchmarks help choose 😁
Well, I expected so much less from the video ^^
This kind of quality content is so refreshing in comparison to so many other videos that just show the ports and dont do any testing.
Thank you for watching, and for the kind words! I tried to keep the physical review short since I know that people want to see actual results more than just what the website says 🙂
Cool video, I bought the ivoler dock on say a while back for $35 and its worked flawlessly. Glad to see it do so well in your testing
Thank you for watching, it's rock solid and I'm actually using it to do some testing right now! 🙂
What a next level Technical review! Not owning a Dock yet as I like to play portable or on my desk PC. Anyway if I will pick some this video definitely clears it for me.
Thank you so much for watching, as always!
Thank you for making this video, as someone who purchased a Steam Deck just yesterday this helps a ton especially with all that data. And considering the data i might be leaning more towards the Ivolar and standard Valve dock later down the road (maybe on sale) to catch those firmware updates. Thanks for making me an educated buyer
Valve dock on sale for now through Sept 21st 20% or $18 off.
Great review, this channel is the best thing to happen for Steam Deck users in youtube, kudos!
Thank you for watching, and for the kind words ❤️
I just bought the the jsaux dock, and I’m gonna try and use it as my desktop! Super excited
How was it?
Wow glad I found this channel. I crave these deep dives with real data like a digital foundry or gamers nexus channel. One thing I wish you had included was wattage overhead of the docks, so if for example the 45w stock power adapter would be able to fully power the deck.
Ended up buying the ivoler as on amazon Canada right now it was only $38 which is absolutely a steal, I can't even get a generic usb hub for that.
Oh, that's a great idea for future videos, I hadn't even considered measuring the overhead!
Thank you for the idea, for watching, and for the overly kind comparisons to some of my heroes ❤️
Thanks my friend. Great work as usual.
Thank you for watching, I hope it helps you pick a dock!
Best thumbnail I've seen in a while.
I spent SO long getting it right, and actually set up a Dock Fighting ring using weapons and duct tape 😂
Thank you for watching!
Bought the ivoler dock after watching your video. Not disappointed. Thanks !
Thank you for watching, and I'm really glad that it's working out well! 😁
Banger video, probably the best deck content creator out there
Thank you for watching , I'm happy you enjoy the content 🙂
Great video as usual! I love your engineering approach where you're clearly explaining what you're doing and why. A few nitpicks:
1. When working with comparisons please try to keep charts' layout consistent throughout the video, so that brands are always in the same order and use the same colour (iVoler for example is green on network test but is red on other tests)
2. You probably should have replaced your official dock and get the video out with fair results. Now we're all wondering whether that was you unlucky with the particular unit or whether there is a general fault taking place.
3. How do you identify exactly the moment when the input was registered? Since the deck doesn't give you any actual indication, do you have to analyse the video later and pick a frame where the button seems fully pressed? And if so, isn't this method subjective, so that speed and strength of your button press may influence results?
Also when covering m2 drive in one of docks you briefly touched SD card performance - I would be happy actually to see a full video on that subject. How to test sd card, what to look for (my understanding is that fast random reads are the most important, while a lot of manufacturers care primarily about sequential writes), how do you know what letters in the sd card specification to look for and whether it makes sense to go for the expensive ones. Practical gaming test - how much fps would you lose from running a game from sd card rather than your drive and whether you'd be able to notice a difference between expensive fast sd card and a cheap one.
Thank you for your content!
Let me address these one at a time:
1. This is a great piece of feedback that I hadn't considered before another comment pointed it out. I made a very quick series of python scripts to parse each graph, but it does each in isolation so it unfortunately didn't maintain a semblance of continuity. I'll be updating the scripts if I make any future reviews, sorry about that.
2. Based on comments, mine seems to be a fluke. That said, I unfortunately had a due date for this video and couldn't get another official dock in time. I live in Sweden and my first dock took almost 3 weeks to arrive, which was basically the entire period I had to finish this video 😓
3. I analyze the video frame-by-frame. Between the video and the audio feed (I click very hard to make sure it's registered clearly on audio), I was able to pinpoint the exact time I pressed the button. I hope to get "real" equipment in the future to avoid needing to do this manual error-prone work, but I verified my results by repeating the test over several days and on another monitor in order to make sure that results were as accurate as possible.
SD card: That's a great idea, and something I've been meaning to do for a while. I may spend my Patreon money on getting more cards this month, so I can test this specifically.
Thank you so much for watching, and for all the feedback! I strive to do the best I can with what I have, and the goal is to make each video better than the last, so I hope my next review is able to address at least some of these points 😁
You have not many videos but it seems you know Exactly what u do. Like the quality of your content. Plz more 💪
Thank you for watching, I'm happy you enjoy the content ❤️
Being a pilot I am very happy I went with the official dock, your review was exactly what I was looking for. It should be arriving in the mail soon. Thank you!
btw..I'm a pilot lol
Thank you for the helpful info! I might go with the iVoler dock, it has everything I need and costs less money.
Thanks for watching! I use the iVoler dock for recording now, it's rock solid!
Thank you so much for making this video! The information will be absolutely pivotal in helping me decide which of these docks to get. I was really hoping for a better showing from jsaux. The extra m.2 would be fantastic! The extra latency bothers me though. If I were to make a choice at this second I would pick the ivoler but I will be putting that decision off for another 6 months atleast. Hopefully in that time someone will make a dock with expandable storage and lower latency. It would also be great if Valve added support for external graphics cards.
Thank you for watching, I'm glad it helped!
The good news regarding the JSAUX dock is that the firmware can be updated, albeit only with Windows. I do hope that they either patch the issues I saw, or release another dock as you mentioned 🙂
Regarding external graphics cards, unfortunately that's not possible with the USB-C port in the Deck, it doesn't have nearly enough bandwidth. I hope that the Deck 2 has USB 4, so we can rely on standard Thunderbolt 3 throughput levels, and then actually use an eGPU.
@@cryobyte33 Thank you for the reply and the explanation!
A great overview as always. Love the quality content and attention to detail and also transparency around your testing methods. Did you happen to test which one of those docks support 1080p 120 FPS or 1440p 120fps? I believe you can get that on HDMI 2.0.
All of them support 1080p120 through HDMI, which I did test. I don't have a 1440p monitor faster than 60hz, though, so I wasn't able to test that. I hope to get one with a fast refresh and VRR in the coming months so that I can adequately review that functionality 🙂
Thank you for watching!
@@cryobyte33 Thanks! I recommend a 4k 120hz tv if you can. I use an LG C9 OLED
@@leeson865 Thank you for the recommendation, that's a good idea, but I'll need something with DisplayPort too 🤔
I loved the Highlander reference in the thumbnail!
Thank you for watching! Highlander is an absolute classic, so I was glad to pay it a small tribute with the deck fight club theme 😁
Excited for this one! Got the JSAUX dock myself but contemplating getting the official dock
I hope the benchmarks help shed some light on the situation, thank you for watching as usual! 🫶
@@cryobyte33 Are you planning on doing a video on the Dead Space remake by any chance? Would be awesome
@@mrbrookeyoung I plan to in a few weeks-month after the post-release patches calm down 🙂
i haven't had any issues with my official dock and so far im loving it going in 4 months strong while i have been using my steam deck as a desktop the entire time.
Thank you for the, as always, very accurate and professional work! I bought the official Dock mostly for firmware support in future update, form factor and the second charger is a plus. After this video, i'd say i made the right choice for me, as a single player gamer for me support and input lag are the priority. If i were an online gamer, i'd go for the iVoler after seeing your data, in my opinion the other two don't offer enough to compensate the flaws...
Thank you for watching, as always!
I think that the JSAUX dock is really good for emulation, but I also favor the iVoler and Official docks. The official dock is in my backpack all the time now, and the iVoler dock is how I capture footage 🙂
The NYXI dock seems to be very love/hate. The VGA port seems to be a bigger deal than I realized, so some users are very excited for it.
Fantastic video! Very well put together and presented. Only advice I could give would have been to try out compatibility with some cases. I really did love all the attention to detail with the benchmarks though. That's really appreciated.
I would have to go with either the iVoler or the NYXI one. JSAUX and Valve's are just too expensive and really dropped the ball in a few areas. Honestly, I would probably lean towards the iVoler the most as it was the most consistent throughout, with the added benefit of being the cheapest.
Thank you for watching! Yeah, I was hoping to source some cases in some way, but I had a due date on this video so I couldn't get anything in time 😅
The iVoler was the sleeper in this video for sure, I'm actually using it for my screen capture now and it's been rock solid.
Totally understand having a deadline. That's just life. Still a great piece of content among your other helpful videos. Glad to hear the dock is treating you well! :)
I love your videos! The attention to details of your analysis' is awesome.
PS: VGA in 2023? That's... impressive. Now I'm half surprised they didn't slap a DVI port on that Dock too, just for good measure.
Thanks for watching and being subscribed! There have been a few comments commenting on how cool it is, so there seem to be more CRT gamers out there than I thought 😅
if my laptop came with one I wouldn't have to deal with weird resolutions and having to buy an external converter to use it with your average 2010 flat screen monitor, hdmi monitors aren't exactly cheap for most people you know?
@@cryobyte33 A CRT vs LCD comparison would be nice, especially with 2D games. I can't really find any videos on YT doing this? Just one, showing some 3D games? Surprised this isn't a big thing.
@@wertyxq3468 Honestly, I didn't even know that CRT monitors were still being produced on a commercial level.
@@anatomyG59 No promises, but I'll try if I can find one!
Everytime you post a video you remember us why you're the best Steam Deck content creator on the internet!
Thank you (as always) for the overly kind words, I hope that the video helped ❤️
Hey CryoByte! I am thinking about using your performance boosting technique but I am not sure. Are there any cons? Like for example more fan noise? Thanks for the response!
Thanks for watching the videos!
None of the performance boosts will cause higher temps, faster fans, or more battery drain on their own, BUT they could lift a bottleneck which would allow the CPU and/or GPU to work harder. If that's the case, you can lock the FPS to whatever value you want to counteract it, and still get the benefits of all the fixes themselves 🙂
Great video as always. Would love to see your opinion on TDP tweaking/undervolting/overclocking a deck
Thank you for watching! TDP/UV/OC is at the very top of my list, as soon as I can get a backup Deck to make sure the channel doesn't suffer if there's an issue 🤞
Hey, awesome work!
I think it would be beneficial to have button->screen reaction also shown for internal display, to have better point of reference
This is a good idea, I'll try to get those results for future videos. Thank you for watching!
Hi CryoByte, nice video! What was the solution in the end for your official dock? I have an official dock and I currently have a case open with Valve because whenever I undock my Deck after downloading larger amounts of data it seems to flood my entire home network causing DoS to all devices on my network until I unplug the ethernet. Its pretty nasty, the only way I can prevent it is to either not use ethernet or connect the dock directly to a port on my router, bypassing any switches etc I have. Its killing me, I hope that I have either a bad device or they will fix it in a firmware update. Thanks for your reply. Keep up the excellent work!
Awesome reviews! Would like to see more in-depth reviews on other third party docks as well - maybe an additional five to cover most base?
I’m currently using HODO docking station with VGA option to support three external monitors. Oddly the other HODO adapter with DP doesn’t seem to work well as compared to its VGA counterpart. In my experience, there seems to be problem between HDMI and DP working together in tandem and this is observed for both the official docking station, the HODO adapter, and one third party dock (forgot name) as well.
To clarify, VGA exists on old LED display (including TV) too and not only CRT.
Great idea! I don't know when I'll have the products in-hand, but I definitely plan to do more in the future.
As for VGA, yeah I'm aware they were in some old LED displays, but I figured those were even more rare than CRTs, they were where I lived prior at least.
Thank you for watching, and the detailed comment!
Nice showdown! The input latency differences sounded significant, but did they actually feel that way? IMO that's the top consideration after port selection.
It would be great if you also could review the new Jsaux "11-in-1 Multi-Function USB-C Docking Station" (HB110). I already have a kickstand thanks to the Deckmate so this looks like everything I would need, and could be useful for extending ports to other USB-C devices.
Thank you for watching!
I definitely noticed the latency, but I'm pretty sensitive to it. When disabling "allow tearing", it became even more noticeable.
I'll definitely do a review of the new JSAUX dock if I get one, but they'll have to reach out to me since they never responded to my request 😅
Happy to see you do more steam deck content (:
Thank you for watching! I don't plan on stopping any time soon 😉
@@cryobyte33 this steam deck device has inspired me to get more involved with computers and such. Do you know how to code? If I may ask, do you work in the field? How did you learn to code, and do you have any recommendations for a beginner who will probably be going to college for computer science in the next semester?
@@surveillant Yup! I'm a DevOps Engineer by day and I code as part of my job.
As for how I learned to code, I dabbled in scripting before college, but started coding in class. I'm not the best in formal classrooms, so after that I started to self-study and just do a ton of little coding projects.
If you want to get a head start on it, about 70% of my more "formal" learning has been done on Udemy, where you can usually get a discount of about 90% once a month.
I've been in the field for a while now, so I haven't taken this course, but my wife has and was able to get an internship with no other formal training:
www.udemy.com/course/the-python-mega-course/
It doesn't cover more advanced topics like data structures and algorithms, but it should be enough to get you a decent head start on many of your classmates 🙂
@@cryobyte33 wow thank you so much
I personally bought the official dock (before this review), it was on the pricier side but I kinda generally speaking like to stick to first party stuff so if I have any problems it’s only 1 company I need to go to, all the other companies seem to have done a pretty good job, this is why we love the steam deck, companies like JSAUX for example (who I believe sell the most accessories for the steam deck) give all of us more options to what we want
Agreed! I use the official dock for travel, JSAUX for TV, and iVoler for recording 😁
Great to see you around, thanks for watching!
great video cryo....thanks....
Thanks for watching, I'm happy you enjoyed 😁
Hey man. I've been watching all your performance tweaks videos and applied them myself. Wanna thank you for all your hard work and help in making our experience much better.
Can you do a video on Dark Souls 3 performance? The game is already running very well but i just cant seem to get those locked 60.
Thank you so much for watching!
DS3 is already on the list, but I've bumped it up a few places for you, hopefully the new CryoUtilities update will help a bit in the meantime. It should be out today or tomorrow 😁
@@cryobyte33 wow. Thanks a lot man. Deff earned the sub and I've stopped subbing to channels like 3 years ago
have you seen the park sung dock? i basically bought it because of the detachable cable for the SD. i could use the short cable that came in the box when actually docking or i could use a much longer cable if i want to move around a little bit
I haven't seen it, no. This was originally just a review of the 3 non-JSAUX docks, but the JSAUX dock was a surprise at the last second and I had to redo my testing. I hope to do more reviews in the future, though, so we'll see what happens.
Thank you for watching!
Excellent video. Just FYI the ivoler is priced down to $39 today. Think I'm gonna go for that one. Now I just need another mouse and keyboard.
Oh, good catch and thank you for watching! 😁
Great video! Can you please do a deep dive on the Dead Space remake? Would love to know your recommended settings for that game.
I plan to, although I don't have an exact timeframe quite yet. Thank you for watching!
Great review, I hoped one of the docks would have an m.2 slot with at least 3 usb ports and 2 display outs. I guess I need to keep searching.
I like the detailed testing though
You should add that the official dock is unusable if you have a case on the deck. I have a spiegen armor and cant use the official one, but it does fit on the jsaux (the non ssd model)
I tried to keep this review a bit technical, but that's definitely good feedback. I know that DBrand ships an adapter with the Killswitch and I couldn't review that, so I didn't want to give a "docks don't work" blanket statement, but if I do more of these I'll try to improve on it.
I dunno why but u r awesome my friend
Killer video! Much more informative than the typical 'out of the box' reviews. I've been wanting to buy a dock or dedicated hub for my steamdeck with the intention of being able to take it over to friends places to play indie couch co-op/multiplayer games. With that said, I find it really odd that no docks or hubs seem to have 4 usb ports. Most co-op games we play on a TV allow four players, and being able to plug in four controllers would be the best scenario, as I would think it would be better than hooking up multiple bluetooth controllers. Is there perhaps a limitation that I'm not aware of as to why all of these docks top out at 3 usb ports?
I would guess it's a wattage limitation. Since each port needs to push 5w to be compliant, they'd need to ship a 90+w power brick to add any more ports 🤔
Thank you for watching!
What a good idea! thnx for making. Love it 🤍
Thank you for watching, I'm glad that you enjoyed it!
Great vid
Did you ever do a follow-up with a different steam docking station? I would love to see if the poor performance is more widespread or just limited to this particular unit
Thank you for your this video, I really needed that before making my choice. Not sure why tho, but with the price drop and the new Steam Deck Oled, I have a feeling that Valve will come out soon with a new « updated » model of the dock. 🧐 Hopefully I’m wrong haha
Just left a video dock review that was on its fourth minute of repeating itself to hear you say you’re doing it with real data. My man
Not gonna lie, I hate those reviews for that reason. Reviews are worthless without real data to back it up!
The thumbnail goes hard
Thank you for appreciating it, I actually set up a Dock fight ring and taped weapons to them for it at about 2:30AM 😂
Thanks for watching!
Wow thank you for the effort put in this video!
Thank you for watching, I'm just happy to help 🙂
jsaux, need really need to inprove firmware of thouse dock.. Valve is already doing it. but i have to say Jsaux did update 1 time for fixxing. Lets hope that Jsaux is watching this great channel
It'd be awesome if they watched, I loved the dock and it'd be the clear winner if they can sort out the networking and latency issues!
Thank you for watching and being subbed, as always 🙂
One thing that I didn't see mentioned that is a huge decision maker for some and something I discovered when shopping for docks. A lot of docks will not hold the deck with a case on it, even a thin case. That is the reason I went with the iVoler. It is a decent dock and holds my steam deck with my Jsaux case, but I really wish it was the size of the official dock to cut down on space needed in my case. However the official dock that was available at the time I was shopping would not hold my deck with the case on it. It's a case of "pick which shortcoming you can best live with."
This is definitely true, but 2 things had me not mention it much (outside of a mention in the physical review):
1. I don't own any cases to test with, and this video had a due date
2. Some cases, like the Killswitch, ship with adapters for the official dock.
Because of that, it's pretty hard to comment on that factor in particular.
Regardless, thank you for watching!
Really like how transparent you are with affiliate links and how you sourced the docks. Makes me more likely to actually believe what you're saying and use your affiliate links.
Thank you so much! I want everything to be as transparent as possible ❤️
Great channel and video! I love it! You mentioned the Valve Dock as possibly having latency issues since it's used. Can you post an update on your findings? I see in the comments you still use the dock and I was wondering if you were able to remove the latency issues.
I've unfortunately been too busy to open a ticket, but I really need to. The network issues persist, but since I just use it as a travel dock, I haven't had to deal with it much.
Thank you for watching!
All things considered I went with the official dock, and after your video I feel good with my choice. While none of the options seem bad, per se, the fact that the official dock can receive updates is the thing that pushes it over the top for me. But I'd be pretty mad if I got one that might have been used...
Thanks for watching! The JSAUX docks can also receive updates, but only when connected to a Windows PC 😞
I really like the Official Dock, and it's been my EDC Dock for about a month now, but yeah having one that was likely used and also had a critical issue is less than fun.
@@cryobyte33 Well thats better than no updates!!
Yeah thats crazy that you got that one! I sure hope they sent you a new one, thats a bad look.
Did you notice if any dock has better audio performance than the others? I get frequent audio cut out and I'm wondering if getting a new dock will mitigate.
I have a super expensive 1tb sandisk extreme pro a2 and my results should be much higher but they are pretty similar especially ln reads (my writes are higher) in kdiskmark. I think thats just the limit of the deck in action tho
Yup, the speeds on the Lexar in the dock are much higher as well, it's limited by the USB speed connecting to the Deck, not the drive itself 🙂
Thanks for watching, as always!
I got a samsung FIT USB thumb drive and it benchmarked the reads at 1500-2000MB/s, but writes weren’t very great. That was direct through just a USB-C to USB-A adapter, and it worked fine for installing windows. I might look around at docks, and not limit to just these because I also have an iPad and Macbook Pro. Its hard to find a good balance of quality components and port selection. I wish they wouldn’t hardwire the cable either.
Yeah, I also have a Macbook Pro, but I use a Thunderbolt cable to connect to my monitor directly for that 🙂 I do agree that the hardwired cables suck, though.
Thank you for watching!
Bend charger pins is normal. It helps to stay charger in wall.
Also USB 3.0 is same as 3.1 x1
Interesting, the one I got with my Deck didn't have the same issue and it stays in fine, despite being the same model. I wasn't too worried about it, but I did want to mention it in video.
Regardless, thank you for watching!
Did you get a fixed steam deck dock? Looking at getting one since the input latency is so low and using it as a streaming device for my pc/console. Do you think the performance would be reliable at 4k 60hz streamed over the network?
This video sold me the official dock
Hey Cryo, commenting on most recent video for visibility. If i am cloning my deck drive to upgrade the size, will the swap fix carry into it? I imagine so, but just want to make sure!
If you're doing a full-disk clone, then it'll persist and you don't need to re-do it 🙂
Just as a note, I've responded to every comment on every video, so feel free to choose whichever video is the most relevant instead of the newest one, I'll respond!
Thank you for watching and using the script!
@@cryobyte33 awesome thanks for the reply! appreciate your community engagement
Dude I was wondering where you were.
Have you tried the new Dead Space remake?
Also great video
Sorry about that, I was waiting for some good weather to get footage for this video but it never came 😅
Not yet, I plan to get a key with my paycheck this month since the patches are calming down now.
Thank you for watching!
@@cryobyte33 The packet loss from the official dock is something I have noticed. Particularly when using the ethernet port. Have you tested packet loss using ethernet vs Wi-Fi on the official dock? I believe there is a work around for this, and it is to turn off the Wi-Fi on the deck.
That seems to have worked for me, let me know if that changes anything because, it could be a placebo effect for me. If that also works for you, we might be able to patch this with a firmware update to the dock.
What do you think about the resolution of the game effecting the bottleneck of a single USB-C vs the packet loss?
@@kodeypatterson8973 Interesting, that's not something I noticed since I tested all network throughput with Wi-Fi off as to mitigate the effect on the network stack.
I'll have to run through some of my tests again, to try though!
As for the resolution of a game effecting packet loss, I didn't observe that. I tested with the dock unpopulated except for a CAT6 cable and the power to reduce variability. However, it's definitely possible. I'd say that resolutions higher than 1080p120 would be the most likely on account of the cable speed, but I'd need a suitable display to test with.
I really wish the Valve dock had a usc c data port as well. I'd be willing to give up a usb a port for it. So many peripherals are going to usb c. I also wish there was a purchase option that doesn't have the official charger. I'm excited to see what Sabrent's new docks are like since they have usb c for data.
Yeah, I was very surprised when it didn't have even 1 USB-C data port, a real missing feature from ALL the docks that I reviewed. Hopefully newer docks correct the issue, thank you for watching!
Time to use the deck with my CRT with this VGA out dock
Thanks for watching! I would love to buy a CRT to test how well it works, I might post a short if I manage to, and I hope you enjoy the gameplay!
As someone who bought the Steam Deck largely to play competitive fighting games, I'm very grateful for the input latency testing here.
How could I test my official dock's ethernet performance to check if I'm suffering the same kinds of symptoms as you did?
I'm glad to see you here too, man!
I did 2 types of ethernet tests, but for latency specifically I did the following:
1. Connected the dock directly to the NIC (ethernet port) of a PC with ICMP enabled (this is default).
2. Set each end to have a static IP outside of your "normal network's range" (to prevent DHCP flapping). A safe bet is 172.16.254.1 and 172.16.254.2, both with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.
3. Open Konsole on the Deck and use the command "ping -c 180" and then took the latency results from each "line" returned and averaged them. I did this with a Python program, but you could do something similar using excel or a calculator.
The number you get as a result is the average latency of the ethernet port!
Let me know if this makes sense, or if there's anything else I can help with 🙂
@@cryobyte33 Crystal clear. I think the last time I connected two PCs directly over ethernet was perhaps to play Warcraft 3 at a LAN party? So this should be fun.
Kyle we love you. God bless you and the family! ✊
Steam deck crew Forever 🏆
I’m looking at the outstanding value of various humble bundles at this moment, and I wanted to make sure that I use your referral as I’ve not been able to rightfully, donate to your channel yet. I get paid Tuesday I will save you a cut, cryo-utilities is a priceless asset for our wonderful community. I got VRAM at 4G like you taught us all, games are running very well, and the only thing wrong now is not having enough time for the steam deck 😂
I got my Mepatem case last night & played resident evil village right there and handheld mode for almost 45 minutes.
The price point was much more attractive than the kill switch case, which is really what I wanted and this one is a very worthy clone.
Thank you so much for all the kind words, and the interest in supporting the channel! I actually didn't have a link before you asked but I just went and signed up: www.humblebundle.com/?partner=cryobyte33
Comments like yours are an amazing indicator that I'm on track and I really appreciate it 😭
will you make a video about optimizing games for 1080p docked?
Thank you for watching! My latest Deck Dive, for Breath of the Wild, had a 1080p preset, and I plan to do them for every upcoming Deck Dive as well 🙂
Can you do a Jsaux review on the 1101 HB hub dock… it’s the new dock that Jsaux released for the mod case
I can try to get my hands on it! I don't have any press contacts yet, but hopefully soon 🤞
Thank you for watching!
just bought a steam deck, ended up saving over $200 thanks to you man. much appreciated
Thank you for watching, I'm glad I was able to help 😁
Thanks!
Thank you for watching, I hope it helps!
The fact that the Valve dock is getting VRR Support is reason enough to get that one if you can IMO.
Very true, at least if you have a display that supports it. My only VRR-capable display is my TV, so I definitely need to get one to test with in the coming months 🙂
Thank you for watching!
impressive video.
Would love to see how the Ugreen 60hz hub stacks up to these. Been using it since day 1 and it has been brilliant but it’s just not as good as having an actual dock. This video makes me want to get one but I don’t want to do so if it is a downgrade.
Ps. Amazing video as always.
Thank you for watching! I can't promise anything, since it's hard to get some items in Sweden, but I'll see what I can do 🙂
Due to my geographical location, the jsaux dock was the only way to go. However, I went with the one without an M.2 slot to cut down on cost.
Fair enough, any dock is better than no dock 🙂
Thank you for watching!
Did the steam dock have a rubber piece on the back side protecting the back plastic???
The terms USB 3.0, 3.1, & 3.2 can all be used interchangeably because the base versions of all those specs are the same. So a product labeling the port 3.1 but claiming 3.0 on the site is sloppy marketing but not deceitful. USB 3.0 (5gbps) was renamed to USB 3.1 gen 1 and then USB 3.2 gen 1.
I think that it's deceitful if the gen or x1/x2 is left out, since they're critical information. To me it's like selling an "NVIDIA 30 series" card without telling them the actual model number, fundamental architecture differences even though technically correct 🙂
Thank you for watching!
@@cryobyte33 IMO the naming scheme itself is deceitful, but the marketing teams are just playing the game. IIRC they're not even required to specify Gen 1 in the standard. My rule of thumb is to assume it is gen 1 unless stated otherwise. If someone is going to put a 10gbps or 20gbps port on there device, they'll brag about it.
The V255 8-in-1 can be found for 20-40 on amazon. It's probably from the same OEM.
Would have liked to see 4k 60hz test of HDMI connectors.
All of them support 4k60, and I verified that it worked, were you looking for more detail than that? Just want to figure out how to best do these in the future, thank you for watching!
@@cryobyte33 many people say those jsaux docks have terrible hdmi performance
Got the official one, the extra power cable is useful since I can keep the Dock plugged in and if I use the Deck elsewhere, I can bring my other charger instead so I don't need to dig around the back of my Desk to unplug the Dock :D
But I wish Valve added a way to manually check for a Dock update in the system settings like you can for Deck updates
I agree with the sentiment about updates. I also use the official dock as a travel dock, but tend to use the iVoler for recording and JSAUX for my TV 🙂
Thank you for watching, as always!
Hey quick question how does ext4 necesarrily reduce overhead? What about the other lInux file systems like btrfs and zfs?
EXT4 is slightly faster since it's not a CoW (copy-on-write) filesystem, and doesn't have the overhead of checksumming the files, compression, or even maintaining the robust journals of those filesystems.
As a result, EXT4 tends to win out by a small margin on speed tests, despite being a "less capable" filesystem.
Hopefully this helps explain my reasoning, please let me know if you have any more questions, and thank you for watching!
@cryobyte33 I have the official dock. I dual boot and what I have noticed is there is definitely more consistency with it on windows 11 compared to steamos. Might be worth looking into yourself. Mine does work good on steam os but it does seem to have rare moments where it drops connection. I almost think it has more to do with steam os then the dock itself.
Interesting, since none of the other docks have the issue, I don't think it's the actual software. I can confirm that the kernel can talk to it just fine, I'm fairly confident that it's a wiring issue but I might try it if I get some time.
Thank you for watching!
@CryoByte33 for your dock most definitely is probably a quality control issue, I agree. My specific situation seems to only show a difference with operating systems. But it would definitely be interesting if you tested windows on your official dock and saw any difference for any reason. I would love to know personally 😂
Do a public roast and a deep dive on some cheap aliexpress/amzn docks. Thanks as always have a blessed day.
I got a park sung dock recently, it has a removable type c cable but it can be finnicky with what cables work since most I have only support everything but display but either way replaceable is replaceable and I can't use docks with attached cables they just break for me eventually, haven't had any issues yet with the stock cable but its not angled if that matters
I wish more docks would have removable cables. If any of these had one it would have gotten major kudos from me 🙂
Thank you for watching!
just an update, its a real struggle to replace the cable I wish I knew a good reliable type-c cable with full features, wasted 20$ on a cable that randomly blanks out the screen for seconds every so often@@cryobyte33 I think this is why most cables are hard attached, to avoid the cable compatibility nightmare of support and refund requests
@cryobyte33 Hello Kyle, love your work! Honestly, you're one of the few that when i watched and listen to, can easily say that they really know what they are doing. 😊
By the way, i recently purchased a steam deck 512gb model and purchased a third party dock.. is It normal for the temperature to shoot to 83deg C? When in handheld mode, the temperatures are fine (60-70 deg C).. but when in docked mode, the temperature could reach up to 83degC. Is this normal? Thanks in advance. Godbless! 😊
Thank you for watching, and for the kind words ❤️
As for the Dock, that doesn't seem normal if you're running on identical settings. Are you running at the same resolution as handheld, and have you made sure the ventilation port on the back of the Deck isn't being covered by the dock?
@@cryobyte33 i did the identical settings. I'm really puzzled. 😅
The ventilation ducts (both in and out) are not blocked. My max temp when docked is 84degC while on handheld, its around 73 degC.. i will try on a different display and see what happens.
@@johndough1605 Let me know, it almost sounds like it's not using the same fan curve or the GPU is working way harder for some reason 🤔
Why that witout fan? Doc it for home and by loggic that can hep with cooling, low speed big fan blow on deck an fan inside more quiet and mayby faster. Or not?
A large fan outside of the Deck probably won't create the static pressure needed to cool the Deck down, but it might if the ambient temperature is really high!
Thanks for watching 🙂
can i ask how you tested the ethernet on the docks? i have the official dock but i have a terrible connection when trying to stream from my desktop being steam link or other software (like parsec or rainway)
would be fun to test myself to see if i have a issue with my dock or not
Sure!
Here's the layout for throughput testing:
- A gaming PC with a dedicated NIC, running iPerf3 server, static IP of 192.168.254.1.
- A brand new, tested, CAT6 cable connecting directly to the dock and the PC
- The Deck in whichever dock you're testing, static IP of 192.168.254.2, running the iPerf3 client.
I then just ran the TCP or UDP tests for 180 seconds and logged the results out in JSON, then parsed them using Python.
The layout for latency/connectivity testing is similar, but you just do a ping instead of iPerf3.
Thank you for watching, I hope you get to the bottom of your issues!
we need part 2 . cause we have more and more docks on sale since the rog ally is on sale .
and the lenovo was announced soon .
too much dock on market place for me xD
I picked up the official dock and it has worked well for me. I'm always a little wary of third party materials, though I'm glad to have seen this to be able to know that the official dock is sound.
I do have one question for the deck experts if anyone sees this: My deck often loses its connection to the Internet, or cannot connect to steam servers. I also tend to have only one bar of connection from a room away from my router while all other items (phone, laptop, switch) are pretty much capped. I've turned off WiFi power management as Google suggests, but sadly the issue persists. Any ideas?
Thank you for watching!
Regarding the issue with your internet, I'm wondering if the issue is that it's getting interference from another band, in this case 2.4Ghz vs the 5Ghz you'd want. I'm not sure how tech-savvy you are, but if you try disabling the older Wi-Fi standards on the router/access point, it MAY help.
Regardless, thank you again for watching!
@@cryobyte33 Many thanks for responding - I'll give it a try. (I'm not very tech savy, but I'll do my best).
Your videos are excellent. So much so that even someone like me can understand them. Cheers.