Complete VR newbie - Which one for PC gaming ?

[Medic-one]

I would like VR set to play games on my new PC but I've got no idea on which one to go for.

My only experience with VR is some simulator in a museum in Bruges. I've never played any actual VR games, but I'd love to play Half-life and similar games as well as racing sims.

My current PC is 8 years old but I started another thread on here on what upgrades to get that can handle VR, and forum user Sparx was very helpful and advised to go for this, of which I've bought a few bits already:

- AMD RYZEN 7 3700X
- Gigabyte GEFORCE RTX 2070 SUPER WINDFORCE OC
- Patriot Viper Steel 16GB (2x 8GB) 3600MHz DDR4
- WD BLUE SN550 1TB NVME M.2

And obviously new PSU etc as well.

Would I be better off with a Vive or Oculus, and is there much difference in the various models ?

Anything else I need to think about ?

 

[Ravenger]

It really depends on thee factors:

1. How much do you want to spend?
2. How soon do you want it?
3. What sorts of games do you want to use it for?

VR headsets have been in high demand since the release of HL Alyx, and often sold out, so you might be in for a wait.

The Valve index is the best all-rounder currently (apart from lens glare, which is pretty bad), but the most expensive (£925), but it's also on a 3 month waiting list. It has very high resolution, high FOV and can run at up to 144hz. It's an enthusiast's headset which requires decent hardware and fiddling with settings and refresh rates to get the best out of it. The controllers are the most advanced, with full finger tracking, but also have stick reliability issues, and not many games support them natively using all the features. The tracking is the best out of all the current headsets, but requires mounting two lighthouse boxes. Though heavy, the Index is very comfortable.

The Rift S, which is now coming back into stock, is less than half the price (£400), but has some shortcomings (poor built in audio, no IPD adjust (the lenses are fixed so you can't adjust for eye-spacing), Facebook required for social features), but has the best platform - the software generally just works without fiddling. The controllers are the best in class (except for the now retired Rift CV1), being very ergonomic and having partial finger tracking. The inside out tracking works very well indeed, with five cameras, though there are blind spots. The screen is very sharp with virtually no lens glare, but is limited to 80hz. It is a very comfortable headset due to the halo headstrap design.

The Oculus Quest has been constantly sold-out but is now coming back into stock, selling at £400 for the 64gb version. It's the most versatile, being able to run as a standalone headset, with lower quality graphics, or as a PC headset via a USB cable or software. Wireless is a huge game changer for VR and it has to be experienced to be believed. The Quest has an OLED display unlike the Index and Rift S, which makes it less sharp, but with much better colours and contrast, and it has IPD adjust. It is only 72hz, which is very noticable in fast paced games. It uses the same controllers as the Rift S, and the tracking (using 4 cameras) is very good. It also has built in controller-less hand-tracking, which is a bit janky but cool, and some games are now supporting it. The worst aspect of the Quest is the comfort as it's front-heavy. Be prepared to spend money on mods to make it comfortable. It's not as good a PC headset as the Index or Rift S, but works well for the most part.

The HP Reverb G2 will release soon, for £600 and will have the highest resolution of any of the headsets, making it ideal for sims if you have monster hardware. However it is using Windows MR technology and the tracking and controllers are not as good as the Index or Oculus devices.

As for games, all headsets support Steam VR games, but Oculus also have some excellent exclusives. These exclusives can be played on other headsets using add-on software, but there's often a performance hit.

 

[swillsy]

Quest + wireless desktop. Your GFX card might struggle to justify the index and wireless VR is an absolute game changer. Plus you can always sell it afterwards without any issues

 

[kevman]

I run my index on a 1080ti which is about the same as a 2070s and it's fine. Default i run on is 150% supersampling

 

[Medic-one]

The ones I've looked at are around the £ 400, - 600, market so probably looking at spending around that, and will want to play games like Half life and racing sims. Probably looking at buying within in the next 3 - 4 weeks, depending on holidays that we are hopefully able to book again from tomorrow (fingers crossed!).

I'm not too fused about it being wireless as I'll probably play in my mancave where my PC is, or do i need a certain amount of free space around me ?
.

 

[melmac]

The ones I've looked at are around the £ 400, - 600, market so probably looking at spending around that, and will want to play games like Half life and racing sims. Probably looking at buying within in the next 3 - 4 weeks, depending on holidays that we are hopefully able to book again from tomorrow (fingers crossed!).

I'm not too fused about it being wireless as I'll probably play in my mancave where my PC is, or do i need a certain amount of free space around me ?
.

How much space in your mancave? Can you stand up and swing a dead cat?

 

[Uncle Petey]

Is there a specific technique to swinging cats around to determine the available space?
I mean, does one twirl it above the head like a lasso, or spin around with it at arms length like a hammer throw?

 

[melmac]

Is there a specific technique to swinging cats around to determine the available space?
I mean, does one twirl it above the head like a lasso, or spin around with it at arms length like a hammer throw?

Use whichever technique your space allows!!

 

[aoaaron]

If you can save for the Index, I'd do that.

There is no rush as there aren't many VR games being released so I'd want to play the ones available in the best possible quality.

I ruined a few games playing them on the Rift S, in hindsight I wished I'd waited until I got my Index.

 

[Richard_16v]

I have the Rift S, only VR headset I've used so can't compare.

But I'm really happy, mostly used for sim sacing and basic games (beatsaber and VR golf)

Audio isn't great, but fine for things like beatsaber, if I want decent audio I wear my gaming headphones so I don't see the issue.

 

[danlightbulb]

For roomscale games youll want a 2m x 2m floor area really. For sim games youre seated so its fine.

How are stock levels? There's new gpus coming out in a few months (hopefully) - if the vr headset you prefer is hard to get hold of right now then id wait to buy the gpu as well.

Id really be inclined to see what the new HP G2 is like, its so close to release now.

 

[magpie1966]

Hi I was hoping I could hijack this post a little, and thanks in advance to you all for such great advice especially Ravenger, very good informative post indeed.
So here is my question, I have a good stash saved up so money is no question really, how does the Vive pro (wireless) etc fit into the scheme of things, I'm looking to use it
on World of Tanks, Warships, War Thunder, possibly SKyrim, fallout, and the upcoming new flight sim , so what is the best out there, I am using a 2080Ti, at the moment.

cheers

 

[Ravenger]

Hi I was hoping I could hijack this post a little, and thanks in advance to you all for such great advice especially Ravenger, very good informative post indeed.
So here is my question, I have a good stash saved up so money is no question really, how does the Vive pro (wireless) etc fit into the scheme of things, I'm looking to use it
on World of Tanks, Warships, War Thunder, possibly SKyrim, fallout, and the upcoming new flight sim , so what is the best out there, I am using a 2080Ti, at the moment.

cheers

The Vive Pro is a very good headset, especially if you pair it with the Index controllers.
It uses OLED displays so it's not as sharp as the Index, and the original Vive lenses, so lens glare can be an issue.

The vive wands themselves aren't amazing for complex games which require a lot of different controls (e.g. Skyrim), but are great for games like Beat Saber or Pistol Whip. Index controllers are highly recommended.

Bear in mind that HTC support is apparently pretty bad compared to Oculus or Valve if you ever need to do an RMA.

 

[magpie1966]

The Vive Pro is a very good headset, especially if you pair it with the Index controllers.
It uses OLED displays so it's not as sharp as the Index, and the original Vive lenses, so lens glare can be an issue.

The vive wands themselves aren't amazing for complex games which require a lot of different controls (e.g. Skyrim), but are great for games like Beat Saber or Pistol Whip. Index controllers are highly recommended.

Bear in mind that HTC support is apparently pretty bad compared to Oculus or Valve if you ever need to do an RMA.

So The index is looking as the best with frame rate and controllers then ?

 

[zero71]

I have a very similar PC setup to you and am waiting for the G2 as my first headset. If you are interested in Sim Racing (I am) then the Quest is too big a compromise, the Rift S is better but still a bit too low res. In my mind, the G2 is a nice sweet spot. I'm sure that I'll need the GFX settings on the lower end to meet the refresh and resolution demands of the G2, but by all accounts a higher Rez with lower settings will look nicer and clearer than a low res with slightly better settings. If it's really great then I will upgrade the GFX card (the 2070 Super sells pretty well on eBay used) for a next gen card next year.

The Index looks great, but I can't see it being easy to drive above the G2s 90hz with any consistency with our cards and it's a lower resolution otherwise. Great controllers though. It costs £400 more than the G2 which I can't justify. £920 vs £525.

 

[kevman]

I have a very similar PC setup to you and am waiting for the G2 as my first headset. If you are interested in Sim Racing (I am) then the Quest is too big a compromise, the Rift S is better but still a bit too low res. In my mind, the G2 is a nice sweet spot. I'm sure that I'll need the GFX settings on the lower end to meet the refresh and resolution demands of the G2, but by all accounts a higher Rez with lower settings will look nicer and clearer than a low res with slightly better settings. If it's really great then I will upgrade the GFX card (the 2070 Super sells pretty well on eBay used) for a next gen card next year.

The Index looks great, but I can't see it being easy to drive above the G2s 90hz with any consistency with our cards and it's a lower resolution otherwise. Great controllers though. It costs £400 more than the G2 which I can't justify. £920 vs £525.

In terms of pixels per second the G2 at 90 hz is still more demanding than the index at 144 hz
Per eye
G2 2160*2160 at 90 hz ~ 420m pixels/s
Index 1440*1600 at 120 Hz ~ 276mp/s
Index 1440*1600 at 144 hz ~ 331mp/s

G2 will be an absolute beast to run. When you consider both eyes you need to push 1m more pixels than a 4k monitor at 90hz. 2080ti currently just about does 4k 60

 

[Ravenger]

G2 will be an absolute beast to run. When you consider both eyes you need to push 1m more pixels than a 4k monitor at 90hz. 2080ti currently just about does 4k 60

There is a half-resolution mode which will give you the benefit of the almost non-existent SDE. Even at half-resolution it should be pretty sharp.

I am finding on my Index that my superclocked 1080ti is struggling in sims and in an ultra-modded Skyrim. Hurry up Nvidia and AMD, we need the next gen of video cards for VR.

 

[zero71]

In terms of pixels per second the G2 at 90 hz is still more demanding than the index at 144 hz
Per eye
G2 2160*2160 at 90 hz ~ 420m pixels/s
Index 1440*1600 at 120 Hz ~ 276mp/s
Index 1440*1600 at 144 hz ~ 331mp/s

G2 will be an absolute beast to run. When you consider both eyes you need to push 1m more pixels than a 4k monitor at 90hz. 2080ti currently just about does 4k 60

Yeah, I don't think it works quite like that in the real world though because games also have all sorts of detail and geometry settings that have an impact in addition to the resolution and refresh rate you are aiming for. It's possible to run native reverb G1 res at 90 fps on a 1080ti card with a lot of the detail sliders turned down. Even games like PC2, AMS2, RF2, and so on that are very demanding, you have it 90 fps. The 2070 Super should be fine for the same on the G2 therefore. And I think that's more achievable than the high refresh rates on the Index. Regardless, for the price on an Index I can have a G2 + likely a 3070 Super later in the year to boost those graphics settings back up a bit.

 

[kevman]

Of course it works like this in the real world these are simply the number of pixels required to drive the display at certain resolution and frequency- with equivalent quality settings it should be easier to maintain the index at 144hz than the G2 at 90hz.

The quality settings will make a massive difference and its each to their own on this - some peeps like resolution, some like high quality textures and lighting some like FPS

 

[zero71]

Yes quality will make a big difference. Games look nicer on our PC running ultra everything at 1440p 120 than our Xbox One X running at 4k 60.

Either way, a G2 + 3070s is going to be better bang for buck than an Index + 2070s.