Hardware recomendations for VR

[Ginger]

Cheer's Malt , was yours the "S"? the "S" it's said to have a slightly better resolution than the first Rift so for a first dip in the pond that's the way i'll go, Plus its cheap enough to convince Mrs Ginger that the gran kids can play with it when lockdowns over.

[Donkey]

Don't disagree at all Malt. The Vive (same res as Rift CV1) was frustratingly low res, and as you say required quite a bit of leaning-in to see dials etc... But the immersion was enough to keep me in it. The Index on the other hand, is phenomenal. Yes, it's still not so high res that you can't see pixels (although screen door is pretty hard to see), and unless you are running an absolute beast of a PC you will find occasional perfomance issues ... but it's completely viable for sims. It does still have some issues (i.e. image gets blurry if you move your eyes as opposed to your head and look to the corner of the lenses), but I can easily forgive it that.

[Maltloaf]

Yep, it was an S.

The 'image gets blurry if you move your eyes as opposed to your head and look to the corner of the lenses' thing is a problem I agree.

I could just about live with the Rift in BoX although I feel it put you at a disadvantage. In X-plane the whole 'maps/documents/approach plates' making you myopic was too much and continually scanning a panel full of gauges by rubbing your nose along the dash was laughable.

I will look at the Index but can't justify jumping back in just yet.

[Ginger]

Ok, after a bit more digging and talking with Mrs G ,and Malts advice the Reverb seems the better option, only thing now is should I wait for the Reverb G2?

[Maltloaf]

Talk to Wosa

[Crane]

I switched from the Rift CV1 to the Reverb. After two weeks I can say the following:

Pro:
- Image clarity at the center of the FOV. Dials are nearly as clear as on a monitor.
- No FPS drop despite much higher resolution display

Cons:
- I'm quite disapointed by the bluryness of the image at the corners of the FOV. The Rift CV1 seemd to be better in that regard (it had an overall worse resolution display, but it was constant. The Reverb seems to have issues with the lens clarity moving out of centre.
- Going from 90degr to 114degr FOV doesn't seem that much.
- Missing the mechanical IPD adjustment.
- Spotting is harder, ID'ing is easyer (but thats just how contacts are rendered in the sim, same as with low / high resolution monitor)
- Less comfortable than the Rift
- Can't peek out under the nose to type (actually quite an issue)

Verdict:
Was the upgrade from the Rift CV1 worth it? I'd say yes, but just barely. I was able to sell the Rift for 250.- so it wasn't as expensive as I thought at first. Would I upgrade if I had a Rift S? No.
I'll wait and see what the Reverb G2 brings in and maybe switch if it ticks the boxes. But who knows when this will launch, with the whole crisis going on...

[Ginger]

Cheers Crane.

[Django]

I have the Reverb and find it great for DCS and IL-2. Love the immersion. I also use the free version of voiceattack which allows you to "press" keyboard keys by saying a word or words (eg: the escape key can't be mapped to a joystick button in IL-2 so I just say "escape" and the menu pops up).

HP OMEN 17" Laptop

i7 -9750H, RTX2070, 16Gb RAM, HP REVERB PRO 2

[Ginger]

Do you have to have your games on the steam platform or is it just a steam app you need? both my DCS and Box are not linked to steam.

[Django]

My IL-2 is on Steam but DCS is not. You just need Steam VR and Windows Mixed Reality for Steam VR (both free).