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Quest 1 cable is not a Link Cable

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Pretty sure I confirmed this but wanted to share since I was loosing my mind a little bit.  While the cable that came with the Quest 1 headset will work for Oculus Link, this cable is NOT the Link cable with USB3 support.

I was testing today on another machine using the cable to connect other Type C devices and noticed it always shows up as a USB2 connection.  Digging around more I see the Quest 1 cable is only a USB2 enabled connection. I am testing with my Quest 2 headset.

Looks like I should splash the $80 on a Link cable to resolve the USB2 warning prompt in the Rift software when playing on desktop.  I did the speed test and that cable speed clocks in around 363 MB/s on my Asus Maximus Hero IX motherboard when connected to the Intel USB3 controller.  I used to have a Rift S and confirm that used to connect on USB3 speeds.

Hopefully this helps someone else asking similar questions.  I noticed the Quest 1 cable and Link cable, essentially look identical. :blush:

Edit to add: The actual Link cable is MUCH thicker than the Quest 1 USB2 Cable.  Also the Link does indeed connect at USB3.  Speed tests in the Oculus software for the link cable are about 360 MB/s where as the Link Cable clocks in around 2.4 GB/s.  Huge difference!

I also started playing with the OculusDebugTool to increase the Encode Bitrate and Resolution Width.  Using the Quest 1 cable.. you will not have a good time increasing these due to limited bandwidth.  Switch to a Link cable and you will have a nice time increasing these without stutter.  I wanted to follow up since I did not find a clear indication of this until I started digging around to confirm the difference between Quest 1 cable and the Link cable 🙂


2 REPLIES 2

kojack
MVP
MVP
Originally the Quest 1 charging cable wasn't Link compatible. They added USB 2 cable support later.

The Quest 2 does seem a bit more fussy about cables. I've got a USB 3 Type-A to Type-C cable that works fine on the Quest but is rejected by the Quest 2.
Author: Oculus Monitor,  Auto Oculus Touch,  Forum Dark Mode, Phantom Touch Remover,  X-Plane Fixer
Hardware: Threadripper 1950x, MSI Gaming Trio 2080TI, Asrock X399 Taich
Headsets: Wrap 1200VR, DK1, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, GearVR, Go, Quest, Quest 2, Reverb G2

Pic0o
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Thank you for the reply and info. I ordered an actual Link cable and should be able to match them off in a few days.

To be fair I've only seen minimal compression running the beta build of oculus software and generally had a good expereince playing Alyx VR.  Interested to see how my USB speed tests and performance go in a couple days.  Went with the official cable as I have seen the updates in the pipes threads for PCVR Link.