2016 : A Pivotal Year For AMD, Nvidia, PC Gaming And VR

[Gregster]

2016 The Year Of Virtual Reality

2016 will see the release of the first wave of big name VR HMDs – Head Mounted Displays – in almost two decades. In the first quarter of 2016 Oculus will release its consumer version of the Rift VR headset to the world. Shortly afterwards in April, HTC will launch its own Vive headset that the company has developed in collaboration with the owner of the world’s largest PC games distribution platform, Valve. Sony also plans to introduce its own home-cooked VR headset later in the year for its living room game console the Playstation 4.

2016 The Year Of The Next Generation Gaming Experiences

Next year is not all about VR either, it’s also when traditional PC gaming is taking a huge step forward. The PC gaming industry is a quick one and generations of PC hardware are launched at a much brisker pace than what has traditionally been the case with game consoles. However, next year hardware companies are finally reaching several crucial milestones around PC hardware and display technology, which have always been the number one driver of complexity and visual fidelity in PC games.

Let’s first talk about the important milestones in display technology coming next year.
High Dynamic Range Displays And DisplayPort 1.3 To Bring Lifelike Imagery & Higher Refresh Rates

HDR is all about delivering richer, more vibrant and more lifelike colors to the screen. There are very real limitations to the maximum range of colors and the level of luminance – a measure of brightness – that the vast majority of today’s displays can deliver, save for a few professional grade monitors at the very top-end of the spectrum. In other words the vast majority of monitors out today will struggle to actually mimic real world imagery because their limited range of colors and maximum luminance which they can deliver will simply fail to match that of the world around us.

2016 The Year Of Next Generation Graphics Processors – Nvidia’s Pascal & AMD’s Arctic Islands

Next year will be the very first time that the market is going to see the launch of truly next generation GPUs since the introduction of AMD’s GCN and Nvidia’s Kepler GPUs back in 2012. This has been by far the longest period of time spent at the same process node that we’ve witnessed in the GPU space. Process nodes dictate the progression of what has become known as Moore’s law, which states that integrated circuits of the same size should double in complexity – number of transistors – every couple of years. Sadly, we haven’t seen that take place for four years now, however that’s finally changing next year.


Read more: http://wccftech.com/2016-pivotal-year-amd-nvidia-intel-pc-gaming/#ixzz3vifhOGov

Not often I say this but just read the whole article and wccftech have done a very good job on this and taken some time to read up on what is what, so kudos to them this time

A very in-depth article that talks about VR (amongst other things like resolutions and DP1.3) and what is what for next year and this is something that I am very excited for. It will be good for those who have an interest in VR and with the likes of Oculus and Vive being early choices and coupled with a decent high end GPU from AMD and Nvidia, things should be far far better than what we currently have (and I feel what we currently have is fantastic). Immersion is where it is at and when you dive into a VR game, you want to feel part of the story and from my experiences with the DK2, this is exactly what it does but without some issues and the only one I can put down is resolution.... The current resolution isn't high enough and although you can see what immersion there is, it does show pixels (put your eyes right next to your monitor and you will see what I mean) but with a higher res that is coming on the Rift (CV1) and the Vive, this should go along way to help but as anyone who knows a bit about high end gaming, the higher the res the more grunt and you would need to have some high frames to manage the fluidity or sickness will happen and this is where Greenland and Pascal will help (sooner rather than later please).

Anyways, for those interested, read the article and come back and comment.

 

[Gregster]

I don't think VR is going to go well for NVidia if they can not even get SLI right with G-Sync without people reporting microstutter.

VR will need shed loads of GPU grunt and that means SLI working properly.

Does Crossfire work better then?

 

[Gregster]

I don't know

I have avoided both G-Sync and Freesync until the tech works properly in MGPU setups and you can use both AMD and NVidia cards on the same monitor.

The point is if a vendor has a problem with MGPU setups VR will be dead in the water until they get it right.

Well GameWorksVR and LiquidVR change the way SLI and Crossfire work and GameWorks VR allows each eye to be rendered separately per GPU which will lower latency and keep frames high, so a real plus there. I also assume AMD will be doing the same thing as well but not looked int it.

In my experience with a single GPU, it has been exceptional and very impressed thus far. Of course with the resolution upping to 2160x1200. it will require some decent grunt still but latency is the biggest VR killer and from all accounts, it is pretty good on both sides from my reading.

For those who are interested, a guy here has done a review of his time with the CV1.

https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/3ynsim/i_got_to_try_the_consumer_beta_ecv7_and_here_is/

Well worth a read.

 

[Gregster]

GameWorks VR

LiquidVR

 

[Gregster]

but it doesn't have to be, its only been very demanding because they have to over-render to then hack out the bits they want, there are plenty of solutions that reduce the need to render too many pixels and concentrate on the bit you are really looking at

This.

 

[Gregster]

The claims of a much diminished screen door effect are pleasing.
Though not sure about the FOV. Yes the increase is great if you've been using the previous models but that's still quite a blinkered view (if his diagrams are accurate)

For me it is the pixel reduction that I am liking. That is my caveat and glad to hear it is very much reduced.

 

[Gregster]

I've only tried cardboard, which I felt was equally marred by low resolution, low FPS, poor FOV, and poor graphics.

I assumed desktop VR kits would overcome all of those, with only res and fov being potential issues. Very happy to hear that the final res could be of high enough quality. The FOV is still of concern, but 1 out of 2 aint bad

Have they shown async to be better in real terms, and not just on paper yet? (serious question, I'm out of the loop on async)

Meh, whilst cardboard does a semi decent job, it doesn't do a very good job but it does show what can be done, however in comparison to the DK2, it is **** lol. The FOV is much improved apparently on the CV1, although it isn't an issue for me on the DK2 (I understand it can be for some).

As for the ACE aspect, I can't see this being of importance, when Nvidia can cope just fine with it here and now. The biggest issue is grunt and this is what I have concerns for regarding AMD. They are not the best when it comes to MGPU support (neither are Nvidia) and the best case scenario is a single GPU and this is where Greenland and Pascal come in. Now all rumors suggest a Q1/possibly Q2 launch for Pascal but for Greenland, all rumors suggest Q3/possibly Q4, so AMD could be too late to the party.

 

[Gregster]

I would love to see something like Vulkan become a success but with over 200 million people installing Windows 10 as of yesterdays readings, I can't see it shaking the industry. DX12 will be the future but with only AoTS to run thus far, we can't gauge anything substantial from that. AMD do tend to kick their heels but hopefully their finger is on the pulse for DX12/VR.

I am sure there will be some super lovely slides out to show what they will be doing before long

 

[Gregster]

It's called joking and the first time I have joked about it but if it hits a nerve, apologies

 

[Gregster]

Excuse me while i visit half the threads in the 'life' forum to post that i am not interested...

You know it. I was hoping for people who had an interest to post but it is the way it is and can't make people interested. I am sure when they are released and the buzz is going, people will start to look up.

 

[Gregster]

Half life 3 VR confirmed! I knew it!


As for VR im going to be all over the Vive when it is realesed 4k and 8k screens be damned, so many people are being blown away by this already. As for GPU grunt, I would happily turn down the eye candy and stick with a single card solution.

Absolutely. With a better resolution and 90Hz, you won't need all the AA on etc, so I will also be looking at what I currently have plus a CV1 or the Vive in truth. I am interested to see what the big announcement is about the Vive before committing either way.

 

[Gregster]

I thought they were in business with Oculus? Since it's coming with an XBone pad and everything, I think I saw somewhere that MS were working on the rift support for XBone too. Can't see them developing their own headset as well as supporting another, seems like a waste of resources.

They are also working on that Hololens AR device as well (Actual Augmented Reality). Not sure how far away that is but looks very promising.

https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us

 

[Gregster]

what if u were glasses or have bad eyes

anything closer then 5" is blurry to me

You can wear glasses on the DK2 (my Mrs wears them) with no problem so I expect the same with the newer CV1 and Vive.

 

[Gregster]

I would have thought, given it already relies on optics to work, that adjustability for eyes might be better?

Saves the uncomfortableness of wearing glasses with it.

The DK2 has adjustable sides so the main google part can go further in or out and this works very well for glasses or not. My Mrs isn't a gamer but she said the vision was very good.

 

[Gregster]

It is about time we started seeing some DX12 games really and I was expecting to see Fable Legends by now as well. Not my cuppa but being a F2P, I would have given it a look. There is some great looking VR games coming as well and with Eve: Valkyrie being bundled with the Rift, I am super excited.

Bring on CES though so I can see what this special thing HTC has delayed the Vive for.

 

[Gregster]

screw ccp for what they did to WoD and White wolf

porting code between DX12 and Vulkan will be fairly easy as their bases are similar and lot of the context coding is the same. That in itself will open up a lot of things.

I am embarrassed to say that I have never played Eve but seeing how much I love ED, I am quite annoyed with myself for that but space is a great showcase for any HMD and the more they make, the happier I will be.

Epic games made a big statement as well regarding VR a month or so back:

EPIC GAMES: VR’S NEXT 5 YEARS TO BE ‘CHAOS’, HMD QUALITY TO ‘DOUBLE’ EACH YEAR

http://vrfocus.com/archives/23460/e...-to-be-chaos-hmd-quality-to-double-each-year/

Tim Sweeney is big on VR, so that is a major plus in my book.

 

[Gregster]

I bought it years ago, but have yet to play it.

Btw, check your trust.

I did reply Arc but sadly I don't have a scooby bud. Not a program I am familiar with but reading about, it is bugged to bits

 

[Gregster]

Scooby?

I thought you used Vegas, so some of the codecs would be similar / same, but not to worry.

I've gone back to Premiere Pro anyway, which is so much more stable and a heck of a lot quicker to render.

The codecs are not your issue and something else is up and I would look to the program personally. Your settings look good as well (and I am a fan of double pass as it seems to keep a crisper image).

Scooby Doo (Clue)

If you ever get Vegas I can help but only if it doesn't crash

 

[Gregster]

Thanks. I get the impression it doesn't crash for you, then?

I have had occasional lockups but the amount of encoding I have done, it has been so few, I haven't worried about it and most of mine take an hour or less to encode, so no biggie. I am gonna fire you an email right now.

 

[Gregster]

OOOHH!!

Valkyrie bundled with Rift and something special to be announced for The Vive.
Things are starting to warm up in tinseltown.....must start saving pennies....damn quick!!

You know that. AMD or Nvidia bias goes by the wayside for me on this and whoever gives me the best performance will get my money. The DK2 was a fantastic buy for me and love it.