Looking for Docking Station Suggestions

[Dustinn]

Hello all!

 

This summer, I'm looking to move my build into a separate room to get rid of the heat it produces. As it stands, my computer regularly gets my room up to around 90+ degrees, and since I live in the blistering hot state of Louisiana, it's extremely miserable in the summer. 

 

My main issue I think is going to be display output selection. Currently, I'm using all 4 inputs on my 3080 3 DP and 1 HDMI, one of which being a Valve Index, which is my other worry. I'm not sure if the DisplayPort connection on the Index does any kind of trickery that would cause issues with a dock. 

 

Does anyone have good suggestions on docking stations that would allow for a 20-30ft connection while also still being able to support VR connections through DisplayPort? I was liking the looks of what Linus was doing with his but I wasn't too sure if his setup would work for what I need. I would prefer to spend no more than $500 all in on something like this.  I would prefer something fiber optic because I'll be drilling a hole through the wall to run the cable into the next room over which is a utility closet that has AC run to it already.

 

Here's my PC Specs incase it's needed

Lian-Li O11 Vision

AMD Ryzen 9 9900x3D (wanted a 9950x3D but wasn't going to pay scalper prices)

NZXT Kraken Elite 360 RGB

NZXT N7 B650E

NZXT C1000 Gold

RTX 3080 (looking to upgrade to a 4090 when prices become reasonable again)

64GB DDR5 Corsair Vengeance (Going to be adding another 64GB soon) 

3x 32" LG Monitors (2 running DisplayPort, 1 running HDMI)

 

VR Setup

Valve Index

4x Vive 3.0 Trackers (I run the dongles on a separate USB Card to avoid interference and free up some USB ports on the MOBO)

Occasionally use a Quest 3 if my Index is broken or being RMA'd

[mr cheese]

I wouldn't rule out running a 25ft DP cable and a 25ft USB 3.0 extender to make this work. Might need to be powered for the latter to ensure signal integrity.

I don't know of any USB cables (off the top of my head) that would be able to support the bandwidth needed for all of the USB inputs + DP over that distance, or a dock to use that cable with, not to mention that you're still gonna have to make sure your GPU render gets forwarded through the dock's DP and that the latency doesn't get noticeably worse.

 

Hopefully someone stumbles across this thread and has a specific solution for you, but, in some circumstances, extension cords never really hurt anyone (if you get good ones)

[saintlouisbagels]

I mean, is a window / portable AC not an option?

Cool yourself and the PC at the same time.

[Dustinn]

2 hours ago, saintlouisbagels said:

I mean, is a window / portable AC not an option?

Cool yourself and the PC at the same time.

Did think of this. Window unit wouldn't work, currently a roommate, owner doesn't mind if I drill a hole and use a faceplate between the two rooms I get. Doesn't want an AC Unit because of the looks.

 

Portable units I've thought of trying, however when my PC isn't in use I'm usually pretty cool. Wanting to toss my computer in the next room over to reclaim some desk space which is why I liked the whole docking station idea. 

[Dustinn]

3 hours ago, mr cheese said:

I wouldn't rule out running a 25ft DP cable and a 25ft USB 3.0 extender to make this work. Might need to be powered for the latter to ensure signal integrity.

I don't know of any USB cables (off the top of my head) that would be able to support the bandwidth needed for all of the USB inputs + DP over that distance, or a dock to use that cable with, not to mention that you're still gonna have to make sure your GPU render gets forwarded through the dock's DP and that the latency doesn't get noticeably worse.

 

Hopefully someone stumbles across this thread and has a specific solution for you, but, in some circumstances, extension cords never really hurt anyone (if you get good ones)

I did consider this. My concern with this would be bandwidth. The index is super finicky (or rather super f*** annoying) when it comes to extension cables. I did a test run of this and kept getting blackouts. Could of been the extension, could be worth testing again. Just wanted to see if there was a good unified option out there

 

(Btw, love the sona :p)