USB C KVM vs. Display port?

Hardware Other Hardware
1

I’ve asked a bunch of questions on here over the last year (sorry) and I’m finally ready to purchase a 3 monitor 2 PC kvm as I finally verified that I’m getting a new work laptop.

My usecase is work and gaming. my setup is as follows:
desktop (display port)
2 display port monitors
1 old vga monitor
1 laptop -

1 laptop docking station -

My initial plan was to just buy the 1.4 display port kvm and connect the 2 display port monitors to the dock. For the vga monitor I’d just use a VGA to HDMI converter. From here I would connect the dock to the kvm.

The alternative is that I buy the usb c kvm and just connect everything directly to that.

Is there any advantage to buying the usb-c? Do you see any issues with either of these plans? If there’s no difference in performance/compatibility, perhaps I should just buy the display port model as that’s cheaper?

Any feedback is appreciated

2

AFAIK those dockingstations can only handle 2x Full HD, so the VGA will be limited or non-functional while using those.

3

Thanks, so the vga to hdmi converter will cause it to be limited? Perhaps I’ll get the usb C model then

4

From my experience, the USB-C docks are limited to outputting two FullHD images in any combination of the available connections.

You can connect a third monitor directly to your laptop to work around that limitation.

So you can use an adapter for HDMI-to-VGA, you may just have to plug one of your monitors into the laptop directly.

5

I would be very surprised if vga-anything works via the kvm. That seems like asking for trouble.

6

thanks I’ll just stick to the two monitor model and disregard swtiching the vga. I’ll just keep that plugged into my personal desktop and not worry about including it in the kvm

7

good to know, thanks. I’ll get the two monitor

8

My laptop and desktop has a usb c port. Do I still need to buy the combiner?

Mobo on desktop: https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X570%20Pro4/index.asp

ASRock USB 3.2 Gen2

  • ASRock USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A Port (10 Gb/s)
  • ASRock USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C Port (10 Gb/s)
9

The USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port is compatible with “DisplayPort Alternate” mode. Since this is the case, you should be good to use display and data in 1 USB-C cable, not needing a combiner. You will be limited to about 4k/60 though just so you know. For the USB-C → USB-C cable you buy, get a nice TB4 cable to make sure there are no bandwidth problems.

10

This is true but the desktop USBC ports on that board don’t carry video. Laptops probably ok but not desktop. Unless his GPU has USBC

11

ah, understood. Thanks. It sounds like it would be cheaper for me to just get the non usb-c version with my existing dock. Do you foresee any issues using the linked dock with the dp 1.4 kvm (2pc, 2 monitor)?

Thanks

12

Should be fine. There is a USBC PD version and a regular 10gb USBc version too. 10gb would work fine for your needs.

13

Thanks, you don’t think I could get away with the 5gb version?

14

5gb is probably fine too :slight_smile: