Steam Hardware

Hello!

In the troubleshooting post I mentioned I've been messing around with the Frames wireless streaming in order to improve the consistency of the experience.

I've now done some testing, and here are the results and some advice that can be gleamed from them.

1. Do not plug the dongle directly into your motherboard USB ports. It REALLY does not like the noisy RF of the motherboard. If possibly, use a USB extension cable to let it sit a bit away from the PC.

2. You may not need multi-link. In good conditions even a single 5GHz connection can suffice. If one of the multi-link connections is bad, it may make things worse.

3. Lowering target bitrate and foveated streaming resolution can help A LOT. It can can make a just barely stuttery connection, completely stable.

4. Lowering bitrate helps with latency (duh). On a good connection, you can get as low as 2ms. This will affect picture quality, but in some games it is not noticable.

5. If you can't set the dongle up in a way that works well, you may get better results using your existing wifi instead (even without a router).

6. When not in multi-link mode, the Frame might be constantly trying to switch to multi-link. This can cause freezes. If you experience this, disable the adaptor in the Frame Remote Play settings.

Test 1

• Motherboard 6GHz connection
• Router 5GHz connection
• No problems. 5-8ms over router, 10-20ms over motherboard connection.

Test 2

• Host motherboard 5GHz connection
• Router 6GHz connection
• No problems. 4-8ms over router. 10-20ms over motherboard connection.

Test 3

• Dongle 5GHz connection (Motherboard USB)
• Router 6GHz connection
• Barely noticable stutter. 4-8ms over router. 10-300ms over dongle connection.

Test 4

• Dongle 6GHz connection (Motherboard USB)
• Router 5GHz connection
• Unplayable. 7-40ms over router. 10-300ms over dongle connection.

Test 5

• Router 6GHz only
• Perfect experience. 4-8ms.

Test 6

• Motherboard 5GHz only
• 10-15ms. Stuttery but playable. Becomes very nearly stutter free when target bitrate set to 50 and foveated streaming resolution slightly lowered.

Test 7

• Dongle 5GHz only (USB extension)

• 10-20ms. Very minor stutters but quite playable. Does not cope with higher bitrates or foveated streaming resolutions.

Test 8

• Dongle 6GHz only (USB extension)

• 5-10ms. Perfect at lower bitrates, but stutters when pushed higher.

How do I use something other than the dongle for the second connection?

Go to Remote Play settings on the frame, there, change connection management from "Steam" to "Custom". Set an SSID you like and note the password.

For the host PC, find and connect to this SSID. Steam Frame will now use this connection as if it is the "steam frame adapter".

If it fails to connect, disable and re-enable the adaptor in the Remote Play settings.

How do I tweak streaming bitrate?

VR settings, Video, "open remote settings" then "Steam Link". You can also access this setting on the host system directly.

Here you can set a target bitrate as well as set a foveated streaming resolution.