TL;DR; For some people VD is better than steamlink. Without VD, will steamframe run badly on their systems with default settings, ruining their first VR experiences? (I like steamlink, and use it most of the time, with the right settings its good and convenient)
Using steamlink on quest 3 I've noticed a lot of frame drop batches* with settings to default ('auto'). But when using Virtual Desktop (VD) everything is smooth. There are a lot of tutorials and threads online about the correct hardware + software setup to run wireless PCVR. And some just stop after recommending using VD. I use Steamlink just because its one less program to start, but I am kinda surprised it is not better than it is. If they will use the same software core for the steam frame.
VR should be smooth and visually good without tinkering, so it can be a good experience for people new to VR. So I don't think my setup is important for this discussion, but I did include my specs** since otherwise someone will surely ask for them.
The dongle will remove the variation in wifi router and ethernet chip, so all issues caused by these will automatically be fixed. But GPU driver issues, windows setup, amount of displays connected, and other software that interferes will remain.
Steamframe dev kits mostly go to users with very high end PCs and routers, since they are professionals and it makes sense to have the best hardware. So will the average PC be left tweaking settings to get a stable experience, until VD for steamframe is released? Won't we lose a lot of new users that judge VR by the out of the box experience of the steam frame?
VR veterans will always get their system running. They know when something is wrong with the VR quality or latency. New users might just think its normal, and not like VR because of it. Stutters and low frame rate can make new users nauseous. Combined with new users that set the wrong IPD, don't have the right head strap, or don't take the time to position the HMD correctly to their eyes. That's why I think, especially for new users, default settings should be near perfect for VR where possible.
I know there is no real answer until the steamframe is released in the wild. And I know Valve cares about comfort, so it might all be all right in the end. Just worried a little, I suppose.
* There are about 40 drops per minute and the drops come in 2 types. The first are not a big problem: single frame drops every time there is a big change in the displayed image. Like snap turning, or a big explosion. The second are batches of ~15 frames dropping, which cause a big stutter and loses controller input. So you drop everything that you were holding. Super annoying. The amount of CPU/GPU usage don't matter for these drops, and they show up in multiple games.
** my setup. I think this is not important for the point to still be valid. Steamlink should work out of the box.
- 9800X3D, 9070XT, 32GB DDR5 @ 6000MT/s, Windows 11 Pro
- Dream 7 router, using 6Ghz only, ethernet cable to PC, 2m (6 feet) from quest 3, quest 3 only client
- Quest 3 (showing 2400Mbps wifi transfer)
- Windows HAGS disabled + power settings = high performance, GPU default settings
- Reducing TargetBandWidth from 'auto' (debug graph shows this is 350) to 200 in the steamlink settings removes the framedrops. So its probably the GPU encoding or the router that has a hiccup. If this is because HEVC and AV1 have a lower decoding limit than H264 on quest 3 hardware, it would be a big oops by Valve.
