Controller for Steam link

DesiPower

Lifer
Nov 22, 2008
15,366
740
126
I just bough a steam link, it was on sale for $15, thought it would come with a controller but of course it didn't... Looked up on Amazon and Lalve Steam Controller is like $60... wow...

My question is, does it have to be Valve steam controller? or any USB controller will work? Does anyone have any experience with steam link?
 

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
58,055
12,245
136
Simplest search of "Steam Link" turns this up on the search results page...

What controllers work with steam Link?
The Steam Link supports the following input devices:
  • The Steam Controller.
  • The official Microsoft Xbox One Wired Controller.
  • The official Microsoft Xbox 360 Wired Controller.
  • The official Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Controller for Windows (with wireless receiver)
  • Logitech Wireless Gamepad F710.
  • Keyboard and mouse.
 

BxgJ

Golden Member
Jul 27, 2015
1,054
123
106
I just use the xbox controller, but I do have a valve one as I got it on sale with the link.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
Just so you know: i bought the thing at full price when it first came out. was not impressed.
video quality is horrible. 100 mbit is not fast enough to transfer good looking 1080p at 60 frames per second. It usually appeared pixelated and had frequent stuttering. Should have been a gigabit device.
 

[DHT]Osiris

Lifer
Dec 15, 2015
14,006
12,077
146
Just so you know: i bought the thing at full price when it first came out. was not impressed.
video quality is horrible. 100 mbit is not fast enough to transfer good looking 1080p at 60 frames per second. It usually appeared pixelated and had frequent stuttering. Should have been a gigabit device.
Were you running wired? I've been very happy with mine, it's my universal HTPC (linked back to a plex box) and remote-gaming jobber. It's garbage on wireless with latency but it's great on wired. Odds are good if they were sending an uncompressed stream that'd need >100Mb/s it'd have too high latency to be useful anyhow.
 

DesiPower

Lifer
Nov 22, 2008
15,366
740
126
Were you running wired? I've been very happy with mine, it's my universal HTPC (linked back to a plex box) and remote-gaming jobber. It's garbage on wireless with latency but it's great on wired. Odds are good if they were sending an uncompressed stream that'd need >100Mb/s it'd have too high latency to be useful anyhow.

What controller do you use?
 

DesiPower

Lifer
Nov 22, 2008
15,366
740
126
Just so you know: i bought the thing at full price when it first came out. was not impressed.
video quality is horrible. 100 mbit is not fast enough to transfer good looking 1080p at 60 frames per second. It usually appeared pixelated and had frequent stuttering. Should have been a gigabit device.

What controller do you use?
 

[DHT]Osiris

Lifer
Dec 15, 2015
14,006
12,077
146
What controller do you use?
Wireless keyboard/mouse, I'm playing big boy PC games, not Duplo blocks :p

I kid, the link is a pass-through so as far as I know, most controllers should work, if your computer can pick them up. Steam has an 'approved' list up there though, so just get some ebay'd xbox controller or something.
 

BlueWeasel

Lifer
Jun 2, 2000
15,940
474
126
Just got mine in as well.

It works natively with the Xbox S wireless controller (the one with bluetooth). Looking at the documentation, I think it will work with the Xbox 360 controllers and original Xbox One controllers, but those require the official wireless adapters. If you are using a wired Xbox controller, the link should recognize the controller immediately.
 

DesiPower

Lifer
Nov 22, 2008
15,366
740
126
Wireless keyboard/mouse, I'm playing big boy PC games, not Duplo blocks :p

I kid, the link is a pass-through so as far as I know, most controllers should work, if your computer can pick them up. Steam has an 'approved' list up there though, so just get some ebay'd xbox controller or something.

Oh wait, so the controller will have to be connected to the PC and not the steam link device? That weird... it will kinda defeat the purpose. My gaming PC is pretty far away on another from from my game room, where I intend to use it...

I saw a couple of USB ports at the back on that thing, and assumed I can connect two wireless controllers like this in the video on this page... I need to RTFM...
 
Last edited:

Fenixgoon

Lifer
Jun 30, 2003
31,493
9,824
136
Oh wait, so the controller will have to be connected to the PC and not the steam link device? That weird... it will kinda defeat the purpose. My gaming PC is pretty far away on another from from my game room, where I intend to use it...

I saw a couple of USB ports at the back on that thing, and assumed I can connect two wireless controllers like this in the video on this page... I need to RTFM...

no, the controller can be connected to a USB port on the steam link. here's my setup

steam link --> USB hub --> xbox controller (also wireless keyboard)
 
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[DHT]Osiris

Lifer
Dec 15, 2015
14,006
12,077
146
Oh wait, so the controller will have to be connected to the PC and not the steam link device? That weird... it will kinda defeat the purpose. My gaming PC is pretty far away on another from from my game room, where I intend to use it...

I saw a couple of USB ports at the back on that thing, and assumed I can connect two wireless controllers like this in the video on this page... I need to RTFM...
What Fenix said, it's connected to the Link, it just feeds info between your computer and it. I don't know that the Link actually does anything driver related, for instance. Just acts as a pass-through for the data.
 

renz20003

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2011
2,684
606
136
I just bough a steam link, it was on sale for $15, thought it would come with a controller but of course it didn't... Looked up on Amazon and Lalve Steam Controller is like $60... wow...

My question is, does it have to be Valve steam controller? or any USB controller will work? Does anyone have any experience with steam link?

You can Bluetooth a PS4 controller to it, a wired 360 controller works well too

Just so you know: i bought the thing at full price when it first came out. was not impressed.
video quality is horrible. 100 mbit is not fast enough to transfer good looking 1080p at 60 frames per second. It usually appeared pixelated and had frequent stuttering. Should have been a gigabit device.

I have mine plugged into my pc 2nd Ethernet port, stream quality is excellent, but the damn thing needs perfect connectivity to avoid what you refer

Is steam link only 100mbps?

Yep