Few questions

EnglishRed · 28 May 2017 at 16:49

Hey guys,

Hope everyone is well.

I've got a few questions if I may...

I'm looking to get into PC VR but have, as I say, a few questions before making a decision.

1. I've played PS VR (obviously not as powerful as Vive and Oculus) but how much better are the latter overall?

2. This will be contentious I'm sure - which would you recommend, Oculus or Vive?

3. I'm going to build a PC from scratch for this and have £2/2.5k as my budget. I really want to ensure that this build will be strong enough for the second generation hardware too in a few years. Would you recommend I concentrate more on CPU, GPU or a combination?

Quite a lot of questions but your help would be greatly appreciated!!

Thank guys

Devrij · 28 May 2017 at 21:05

1. I haven't tried the PSVR so can't comment. The general consensus is that it's one of the comfier headsets, but that the tracking is inferior for both the headset and controllers, so either rift or vive would improve those. Also, vive and rift have wider FOV. Good tracking is essential imo.

2. I prefer the rift, but only because it feels lighter on my face (the vive has a bit of inertia when moving my head that bugs me). I also prefer the touch controllers to the big wands. That said, they are both excellent. Have a look on steam to get a feel for which headset has exclusives you might want to play (yes, that's a thing unfortunately, but not massively).

3. GPU is most relevant, as there are a lot of pixels to push, but your budget will be more than enough to supply you with a great CPU to pair it with. Remember that most VR titles don't support multi gpu, so a powerful single card is the best choice for VR right now.

kration · 28 May 2017 at 23:07

EnglishRed said:
Hey guys,

Hope everyone is well.

I've got a few questions if I may...

I'm looking to get into PC VR but have, as I say, a few questions before making a decision.

1. I've played PS VR (obviously not as powerful as Vive and Oculus) but how much better are the latter overall?

2. This will be contentious I'm sure - which would you recommend, Oculus or Vive?

3. I'm going to build a PC from scratch for this and have £2/2.5k as my budget. I really want to ensure that this build will be strong enough for the second generation hardware too in a few years. Would you recommend I concentrate more on CPU, GPU or a combination?

Quite a lot of questions but your help would be greatly appreciated!!

Thank guys

1 - I don't know as I've not used PS VR. However, my Vive is great - not perfect, but once you get past the Screen Door Effect (SDE) (which you do get used to) it's great.

2 - I've only used a Vive. The consensus seems to be: Oculus = more comfortable, slightly better visual quality. Vive = better tracking, better room scale. My interpretation is that it's a close choice between them. You'll be OK with whichever one you get.

3 - GPU is key. But, I would not build a system now for the 2nd generation of VR. We don't know what the system demands/interfaces/connections will be. You don't say what your current system is. But, I've got an average system at the moment (see my sig). I'll be spending some cash on a GPU - probably a 1080ti or AMD Vega. I'll then build a new system once we know what (and if) the second generation of VR will consist of probably 1 or 2 of years down the line. Bide your time - you could end up wasting money if you are focussing on building an expensive system for VR right now.

EnglishRed · 29 May 2017 at 15:28

Thanks guys.

May I ask why you chose the Vive?

melmac · 29 May 2017 at 16:51

EnglishRed said:
Thanks guys.

May I ask why you chose the Vive?

Before Christmas the Vive was definitely the best option out there. It was the only head set that could do room scale. So the Vive was the popular choice and the most recommended headset.

But, then Oculus released the touch controllers and people can buy extra sensors to get room scale. Oculus improved the tracking so it's now as good as the Vive trackings in areas smaller than 3m x 3m, in larger areas the Vive's tracking is better.

In March Oculus reduced the price of the Rift + touch controllers to £598 and reduced the price of extra sensors too.

As a result the Rift is now getting recommended more often.

MY suggestion is to try both before you buy. If you aren't in a position to try both then get the Rift.

You won't go wrong with either option though.

kration · 29 May 2017 at 22:27

melmac said:
MY suggestion is to try both before you buy. If you aren't in a position to try both then get the Rift.

You won't go wrong with either option though.

I agree with that.

The key comment is that you won't go wrong with either option. It's new consumer technology and there are pro's and con's with either option.

Rasseru · 30 May 2017 at 08:56

yeah its a bit amd or nvidia - i.e. both do minor things better each generation, but you will be happy with either.

I went with vive, even though the touch controllers are better - reason? well I have a nice front room so I wanted room scale (this was last year) but the other thing was 3rd party support. Valve/htc have made it easier to develop 3rd party peripherals & I was really bothered about oculus/facebook trying to control everything/not letting people make things for their system. They really have shown to be greedy.

I dont know how much of this is still true, but it was true last year. Something to think about. If they have done a u-turn on that, its only because of the internet slating them, if they had their way we would have to buy everything made by facebook. Valve>Oculus

Also, foveated rendering will bring down the specs needed for good VR. Hopefully this can be implemented in current GPUs

EnglishRed · 30 May 2017 at 10:10

I've done quite a bit of research over the last few days and am swaying towards the vive.

This is all deduced from what I've read..

1. My room is 11ft by 9ft.
2. Although the image quality is slightly sharper on the Oculus, the Vive has a better FOV. As I will be most interested in games in which I am not in a cockpit, FOV is more important to me
3. VR IMO is the perfect platform for 3rd party peripherals and Vive is much more open to this.

Would you agree?

Devrij · 30 May 2017 at 12:28

1. The rift would still be a good choice provided you got the touch controllers and the extra sensor that came with them. The vive is still the better of the two here though
2. The difference in image quality is negligible to my eyes, but then again so is the difference in fov. So I wouldn't necessarily base my choice on this
3. Can't comment on this.

melmac · 30 May 2017 at 13:11

From reading our comments, you have deduced that your room is 11ft by 9ft? Well done

I am glad we were able to help you out

1. Your area is smaller than what I am in. So both Vive and Rift tracking will be perfect.

2. It's back to the same thing, you would need to try them both out to see. I think a lot depends on the shape of your head, your own eyes etc. For most people, both headsets will look about the same. Some people can notice the God rays more on the Rift, some people notice the SDE more on the Vive. For me, I don't notice any difference in visuals between the Rift and the Vive. Or to put it another way, the difference in visuals between both headsets is so slight that I wouldn't let it be a factor in my purchasing decision.

3. Vive is coming out with the Tracker that you plug into peripherals like guns, swords, cameras etc. Not sure when games will be coming out to support these. It will be expensive though. $100 for the tracker + add on the cost of the peripheral you want to plug it into.