The Oculus Quest 2 does not support a USB cable directly.
The Oculus Quest 2 does not support a USB cable directly.
So I recently got a Quest 2 and it surprising arrived in just 5 days (was only on backorder for a day with newegg) and it arrived today, before I realized I never ordered a cable for the headset. I do plan on ordering one from anker to arrive in a few days, but want to at least get something temporary which will suit me well until it arrives. I started checking around the specs of the official quest link cable when i saw something which I just wanted to confirm. The official cable is USB 3.2 Gen 2 (5 Gbps) (see figure 1) but a shorter (and cheaper) cable from microcenter is only 3.1 gen 1, while still having 5Gbps of capacity. (see figure 2). Would the cable from microcenter still work at the same speed as the quest link cable? Also do note this is a temporary solution so just a small bit of quality/frame loss is fine to me. Fig 1: Fig 2:
The USB forum introduced a lot of confusion within the tech communites with the introduction of USB 3.1 and 3.2 Here's the thing tho, 5Gb/s is the bare minimum of any USB 3 standard, so you shouldn't worry. The longer answer involves the USB specification changes in recent months and years. We went from USB 3.0, 3.1 to USB 3.1 Gen 1 and USB 3.1 Gen 2 and then got rid of all USB 3.1 specification and are officially now at USB 3.2 Gen 1, USB 3.2 Gen 2 and USB 3.2 Gen 2x2. This is so ridiculous, that I added all the necessary specs into my signature. Now depending on when the product information was last updated, USB 3.1 Gen 1 either means 5Gbps or 10Gbps. Either way, you'll be fine, as only 5Gbps are required, which even the most basic USB 3.0 cable from 5 years ago can carry. Important to note is the length tho. Longer lengths can lead to signal loss, so a high quality cable is always advantageous. Current USB specs: 05Gb/s - USB 3.2 Gen 1 (was known as USB 3.0 and USB 3.1 Gen 1 before) 10Gb/s - USB 3.2 Gen 2 (was known as USB 3.1 Gen 2 before) 20Gb/s - USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 40Gb/s - USB 4.0, Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4
I recall seeing a video about the shifting standards and felt overwhelmed, so I switched to the default setting. Thank you!
I'd just use the short cable for Virtual Desktop Streaming. You'll mainly need it for SideQuest to install Virtual Desktop. It's a bit complicated, but with a strong 5GHz Wi-Fi connection, you might skip the physical cable for Oculus Link: https://uploadvr.com/how-to-play-pc-vr-oculus-quest-2/
I was planning to try that until I noticed the 5GHz Wi-Fi signal weakening in my space and realized 2.4 wasn't enough. I'm weighing whether to install a dedicated 5GHz router for my room, which would benefit other devices too, or stick with a more affordable option from Anker or AliExpress.