diff --git a/src/backends/drm/drm_pipeline.cpp b/src/backends/drm/drm_pipeline.cpp
index 34704d1fae..8016069fd3 100644
--- a/src/backends/drm/drm_pipeline.cpp
+++ b/src/backends/drm/drm_pipeline.cpp
@@ -314,7 +314,13 @@ bool DrmPipeline::prepareAtomicModeset(DrmAtomicCommit *commit)
         // TODO migrate this env var to a proper setting
         static bool ok = false;
         static const int preferred = qEnvironmentVariableIntValue("KWIN_DRM_PREFER_COLOR_DEPTH", &ok);
-        commit->addProperty(m_connector->maxBpc, ok && preferred == 24 ? 8 : 10);
+        // docks very often have problems with higher than 8 bits per color
+        // see https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd/-/issues/2598 for example
+        uint32_t bpc = m_connector->mstPath().isEmpty() ? 10 : 8;
+        if (ok) {
+            bpc = preferred / 3;
+        }
+        commit->addProperty(m_connector->maxBpc, std::clamp<uint32_t>(bpc, m_connector->maxBpc.minValue(), m_connector->maxBpc.maxValue()));
     }
     if (m_connector->hdrMetadata.isValid()) {
         commit->addBlob(m_connector->hdrMetadata, createHdrMetadata(m_pending.colorDescription.transferFunction()));