I own an older monitor that has only has VGA and DVI port and I want to connect it to my deck for daily use.
In theory this should be as simple as getting a DVI to HDMI converter cable and then connect to a dock that has a HDMI port, right? Or perhaps a DVI to display port adapter instead? I’ve read about people having trouble with DVI monitors so I checked multiple dock vendors and their statements boil down to “we don’t support it”, ie they don’t deny or rule out that it works but don’t want to give guarantee either.
Is anyone in a similar situation and can recommend a dock? I want to resolve the monitor situation first and then worry about additional stuff like USB ports, etc.
My monitor is a Samsung SMT 2333T (https://www.samsung.com/us/business/support/owners/product/2333t-series-2333t/)
Edit: I got it working and it was quite simple, here’s my steps:
- I checked the port at the back of my monitor (reference chart) which turned out to be DVI-I dual link.
- then I purchased a HDMI <–> DVI adapter cable which supports my monitor’s resolution (1080 p). This costs around 10 €.
- connected that cable to the official Steam Deck dock and my monitor and it works without any further setup
- while in the Deck’s Desktop mode you can go into the system settings --> display and make your external monitor the primary display. Primary means that your start bar is located there, new apps will launch on this screen by default, etc. In the same settings menu you can also turn off the Decks own display while the external one is connected. I do this because I can’t comfortably look at it anyway while it’s in the dock and also to save energy.
I’d try a DisplayPort to DVI cable. HDMI to DVI might work as well, but docks usually have their own circuitry for HDMI, and most probably don’t implement DVI compatibility. DisplayPort is more likely simple passthrough (not sure though), and the Deck’s APU most likely understands DVI.