USB-C/Thunderbolt Dock Megathread

i have tested it now with the ESSAGER ES-CD37 Series GaN Charger 100W USB A USB C PD Charger and power pass trough works flawless i think it can be added to the list but i don’t know how and if i’m supposed to do it myself

Yes it depends on firmware. But I would expect most people complaining about issues to have tried the newest one. Its not like they come out every week.
But also, the classic problems are that there is a specific monitor, maybe with specific firwmare, maybe with a specific MST hub or adapter (with firmware) and the MST hub and TB controller in the dock on a specific firmware AND a specific GPU driver that causes such issues. Change one element and the problem is often gone. By and large the MST Hub inside the dock has improved and fixed many bugs with its firmware updates. But its so complex that you can probably always find some weird edge case. And GPU drivers play a big role. Because it is often also about the GPU driver understanding the connected topology of devices and then choosing the right settings, including DSC & MST to make all of them work. I had a bunch of issues where monitors would remain dark even though the OS thought they were working fine. All of those issues solved by newer Intel and Nvidia GPU drivers. My monitor has even gotten 3 firmware updates to fix MST+DSC issues. And Linux (I use Fedora when I use it) has just been way behind in fixing those issues for my Intel GPUs. Stuff that works perfectly under Windows still fails under current Fedora (its a complex setup with the MST hub in the WD19TB + MST Hub in one of my monitors again (also with some DSC support). So not a typical dock setup).

I am not sure about the firmware versions, but the MST hub in the HP TB Dock G4 is basically the same as in the Dell WD19/22 family of docks and the same as in multiple Lenovo Docks (USB-C / TB3 Gen 2, half of what is in the TB4 dock). Since the MST Hub is the main part that causes problems with monitors, if they are on same firmware, you can pretty much expect them to behave extremely similar (with respect to the outputs of the MST hub). The TB controllers by comparison had very few updates that I think HP, Lenovo and Dell all would have shipped quickly.

This is what I use. I’m on a 12th-gen Intel FW13 running NixOS 24.05 and didn’t need any drivers or firmware updates. The 2.5Gbit link works great, and I run two monitors by running one off of the thunderbolt passthrough. The lack of a 3.5mm audio port is frustrating, but I get around that with a USB-C adapter. Can highly recommend. The small footprint on the desk is also nice.

I’m currently having an issue with my AMD FW 13 where my Anker 778 will work with one monitor but if I connect both I get no external display at all. I’m also having an issue now where my peripherals aren’t detected at all where they were working just fine before.

for some reason i can’t edit the list so can someone plz add this to the list thanks a lot. |Blitzwolf BW-TH13 | TH13 | Banggood Easy Online Shopping | jochem_steenbrink | Windows 11 (no drivers needed):

  • M.2 SATA3.0 5Gbps (up to 2TB) x1
  • USB2.0 480Mbps x2
  • USB3.0 5Gbps x3
  • DP/VGA 4K@30Hz x1
  • HDMI 4K@60Hz x1
  • HDMI 4K@30Hz x2
  • RJ45 1000Mbps x1
  • USB-C PD3.0 100W in 87W out
  • USB-C 5Gbps x1
  • 3.5mm Audio port in/out x1
  • USB-C 1(Host 1) for mac or HDMI1 only
  • USB-C 2(Host 2)
  • TF Card Reader 104MB/s x1
  • SD Card Reader 104MB/s x1
  • curently framework 16 only works with 100W and lower chargers when charging trough PD3.0 hubs I use ESSAGER ES-CD37
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