Convince me....

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I’ve been following the development of VR from pretty much the start and have always lusted after it. However, when the Rift was first released the prices really put me off.
Using my phone via riftcat was not a pleasant experience.

Due to Black Friday, I can now get one for €399 (usually €449).
This is extremely tempting now but still a hell of a lot of money (I’m not a rich man after all).

Currency spec:
I7-5820k @4.5ghz
16gb 2133mhz RAM
Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 (factory overclocked)
MSI X99-SLI Plus
3x27” Benq 1080p + 1x22” Belinea screens

Games:
Assetto Corsa (I usually play this on triples without issues)
Elite Dangerous (sat on my HDD for ages, maybe I’ll even start playing it)
Other stuff I’m not sure of yet :)

My GFX card might be the weakest link but it’ll need to last me another 6months at least.

So, learned people of OcUK, should I pull the trigger?
 
I've just recently bought the Vive for my laptop (specs in sig) and it's amazing.

So many great games and vr on the Vive (and rift) is brilliant.
I think your specs will be fine for now

If you think you will get it look on steam vr games atm as some great discounts on games
 
I have roughly the same pc spec with a Titan XP and VR is great, I also had a 1080 and it was excellent on that also.
 
Assetto won't do too great with a 970. It'll work, but you won't have much room to get it looking as good as you'd want with decent fps.

Performance with general VR titles should be decent enough.

I'd say yes for general VR fun, but perhaps not if you want it mainly for sim racing. Of course, it depends on what kind of visual quality and framerate you're happy to settle with, as there are people playing AC in VR with a 970 and they're happy enough.
 
@Uncle Petey I was wondering what the performance in AC would be like. Currently with 3x1080p the performance is excellent (safely over 90fps with high settings). Is this not comparable with the Rift given the amount of pixels it needs to shift or is there more to it?
 
I think there's a bit more to it.
It also depends on whether you feel the need for supersampling (most do), and that's one of the major hogs.

I don't wanna put you off. It's just that you're used to crisp images and good fps on your triples and might be quite disappointed at not being able use settings that help to make the best of the relatively low res you get with AC in VR.
Then again, you could be wowed by the immersion and all the other good stuff that racing in VR brings, and therefore happy to compromise like most of us :)

Tbh, I'd say to go for it and see how you get on. You say you might be looking to upgrade your GPU in maybe 6 months and there's a lot of fun you could be having during that time in AC and other VR titles.
 
Have you tried a Vive or Rift before?

Alas, not :(

My only real test with VR was with my old Samsung Galaxy Note 4 in a headset that was too small for it so had to be hacked a bit to make fit. Also, the usb cable kept falling out.
So, not a great start.

However, I tried out War Thunder with it, briefly, and the feeling of 3d really knocked my socks off. Loved it :)
 
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Alas, not :(

If you buy the Rift you also get €150 worth of software, some free games and apps. And they are quality, the highlight been Robo Recall. There are also free games and experiences out there as well, like Rec Room and VR chat.

Some people have a real problem with the low resolution, if you had a chance to try one out before buying you might know if this was going to be an issue for you. Some say there are no games out there. Some say the headset is bulky, it's hard to set up, there are cables etc. etc.

Despite all that, I am going to suggest you buy one. The Rift has been the single best purchase ever for my PC. I bought at full price and I don't regret spending one penny. At €399 it's a steal. From the first moment I put on the headset I was hooked. It was wow moment after wow moment. It brings a whole new gaming experience. Watching Videos, Reading reviews, reading my post here, nothing can convey the sense of immersion when you put on the headset. From my first moment of ripping a Robot's leg off and hitting him with it to gazing up in awe at my ship in Elite Dangerous, from seeing a whale swim by me to climbing a mountain, from fixing a solar panel with Saturn in the background to fleeing from the Borg in the Starship Enterprise!!

Also, you might find that the games you think you will enjoy most won't be the games you play the most in VR. I bought it based on reviews of VR in Elite Dangerous and apart from about an hour, I haven't played it at all. Most of gaming has been stand up games, like Eleven Table Tennis and Rec Room.

Your setup is fine to get started. 6 months down the line you can upgrade your GPU and know that your VR experience will improve also. It's a win-win situation.

Buy one.
 
just ordered a rift after 18months of waiting for a graphics card ...got a vega 64,the rift comes tomorrow but will be setting it up in midweek .....im looking forward to it :)
 
Ordered! :D
Will be delivered on Wednesday which is fine as I'm away for a long weekend now.

Thanks for the advice guys. Will let you know how I get on with it.
 
when the Rift was first released the prices really put me off.

3x27” Benq 1080p + 1x22” Belinea screens
You say that the price of VR has put you off but the price of a triple screen setup hasn't put you off?

I've also noticed a lot of people with expensive 1440p screens or even Nvidia g sync screens etc saying they won't buy VR because it's expensive.

I'm curious, is the mindset here that a VR headset is merely a peripheral like a joystick or steering wheel that isn't worth the expense?

VR seems to me like such an amazing experience. To actually step inside a video game and be that person. As opposed to viewing the experience on a flat monitor.
 
^ My wheel was £1500 and it was worth the expense. :D
Vr was made for sim racing you are literally sitting in the car with vr, I don't race any other way now.
 
^ My wheel was £1500 and it was worth the expense. :D
Vr was made for sim racing you are literally sitting in the car with vr, I don't race any other way now.

I have a folding Playseat Challenge and a G920 wheel and pedals, and even that has me leaning around corners - you can almost feel the g-forces. :D

Wish I could afford both the money and the space to buy top-of-the-range racing gear.
 

My system is 3 years old. Bought with some of the profit I made when I sold my house in England. The screens were €150 each.

That’s the last time I had that much money to spare :)

When you’re used to saving hard for normal stuff (like getting the car serviced for example) it’s very hard to spend that amount of money on a luxury item.

Just the way life is really. Life is a bit better now so I can afford the occasional luxury but the habit not to spend is still there.
 
You can get your vr legs by just sticking at it, but don’t try and push through if you’re feeling queasy...

I’m another who couldn’t go back to pancake gaming now, the rift was the best bit of kit/upgrade I’ve had in the last 10-15 years of pc gaming. In my opinion it was literally a game changer. I mainly play racing games and it’s almost perfect for that, lowers and sde limitations being the ongoing issues. As Others have said, you soon forget that when you have your first WOW! moment.

Enjoy!
 
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