Hardware recomendations for VR

[Thaine]

Hei,

I'm toying with the thought of stepping into the world of VR. But I guess for that I need to upgrade my PC a bit. So this is a question to all the hardware buffs and VR people about what they recommend.

My system currently:
Case: Cooler Master HAF 932
Motherboard: Gigabyte EX58-UD5
CPU: Intel i7-920@3.6 GHz
RAM: 12 GB
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX970 4GB
HD's: SAMSUNG HD103UJ / SAMSUNG HD753LJ
PSU: NorthQ NQ-4775-850-Flex 850W

I was thinking about buying a Vive, but am open for recommendations there as well. Would appreciate any feedback.

[Donkey]

My thougts are:

I have the Index (pushing £1000), but imho it's not worth the premium over the Rift S (£399) unless you already have an HTC Vive and the base stations / controllers like I did (which means you only need to buy the headset for £450 or so)

The Valve Cosmos, although looking good would still cost £699 - and the £300 cost difference ubetween that and the rift S could go towards a system overhaul.

Your CPU is very old, so ideally you would replace that and the mobo. Arguably that would bring more of a difference to VR than upgrading the GTX970 if you are on a budget (flight sims tax both CPU and GPU). The GTX970 will work for VR, I used to have one and it was ok (not amazing, just ok). You will need to reduce settings though.

[Thaine]

Thanks for the feedback Donkey. That's the Valve Index you have, don't you? That one is not available in Norway. I looked up the Vive cosmos and the Rift S.

As for the budget, I don't have money to throw around but I rather spend the extra bit instead of being unsatisfied and having/wanting to upgrade once more. I rather invest now a bigger sum and be at peace for a while.

Anyone has recommendations regarding what motherbord, CPU and stuff to look out for?

[Donkey]

Well, a good plce to start is Flight Sim 2020. Their "ideal" spec is a Ryzen 2700X or better in the AMD world, or an i7 9800X in the intel world. A bundle with the AMD chip, mobo, cooler and memory (16GB) would come to somewhere around the £500 mark, possibly cheaper if you get a budget mobo. An equivalent intel bundle would be closer to £650 (althought that's the faster 9900K, not the 9800X - they aren't as easy to finds at the moment).

I've not used an AMD chip in years, but I do hear good things about the new ones.

So assuming you went AMD but used some of your existing bits, you could get away with about £900 for mobo, CPU and VR - and then after that it's all about the GPU.

[Trystan]

Crane has done some very nice stuff with his VR rig and I'm happy with mine -- we both have original Rifts. I looked into the Rift S, but there wasn't enough improvement over what I had to justify spending money to replace a nicely working VR rig. If you're just buying, any of what you've been discussing are good options; I'm personally waiting for the new HP offering to decide if I want to upgrade.

As far as motherboards, CPUs, etc. I have an i7 4000 series running at 4.2GHz with a 1080Ti and have very good frame rates in everything I ploy. If you're going to future proof, that's another story, but the video card is more important than the CPU IMO. I do think you would want to upgrade your video card, but maybe pick up an older 10XX card and save some $$?

Trystan

[Thaine]

Thanks for the feedback Trystan.

I had some further discussions with Donkey about that and I settled for a system that I want to purchase.

[Ginger]

Is the Rift-S stand alone , or do you need those sensors around the room?

[Donkey]

Stand alone. It has 6(?) Cameras mounted on it to allow it to track head movement.

[Ginger]

Just went to order a Rift-s and no one as them is stock! Looks like i'll have to wait a little longer.

[Maltloaf]

I sold my Rift, just wasn't good enough. Very close but frustratingly not at the knee in the curve. The immersion was brilliant. I landed during a battle and with the dogfights still going on around me I felt it would be good to watch it but it was behind and above me. In RL I would have opened the canopy, stood on my seat and looked over the rear of the fuselage, so I did! Glad nobody walked in as I was standing up on my seat gazing into space over the back of the chair. Amazing. But, the res just wasn't up to it. In all sims I had to lean forwards to see dials clearly, using charts etc in X-plane I needed to bring them right up to my face to read them. There aren't many myopic pilots and it just drove me crazy, so it went.

Woza swapped he Oculus for a Reverb and loves it. It has much higher res and according to him, takes you over that knee in the curve that allows you to actually feel like you are not always out of focus.

I have not jumped back into VR yet but will, it was amazing. I would suggest not buying the Rift or Vibe but going up the next level. A can-opener is no use if it nearly opens cans and I feel the Oculus was a bit like that.

I know a lot will shout me down but at the end of the day I sold my Rift rather than use it.