Half-Life: Alyx

Interesting. Thanks for the input.

Can anyone attest to exactly how jarring it is going from a 144hz+ monitor to a 60hz VR? Is it something you adjust to quickly? It's been so long since I've experienced 60hz.
 
Interesting. Thanks for the input.

Can anyone attest to exactly how jarring it is going from a 144hz+ monitor to a 60hz VR? Is it something you adjust to quickly? It's been so long since I've experienced 60hz.

VR is normally 90hz, though the Valve index can go higher to 120hz and an experimental 144hz, the Rift S is 80hz, and the Quest 72hz.

Generally you don't really notice the referesh rate, though the higher Hz headsets do feel smoother by comparison.
 
I’d say 90hz is the ideal refresh rate which neither the Rift S or Quest hurts. The 8hz is a big difference between the Quest and Rift S but realistically you can’t miss what you’ve never had.

therefore I think advising to get the Quest first and seeing if its palatable is advantageous to getting the other two headsets.

The Rift S is probably the headset everyone can get at a later date as a I envisage some price cuts for it.
 
I’d say 90hz is the ideal refresh rate which neither the Rift S or Quest hurts. The 8hz is a big difference between the Quest and Rift S but realistically you can’t miss what you’ve never had.

therefore I think advising to get the Quest first and seeing if its palatable is advantageous to getting the other two headsets.

The Rift S is probably the headset everyone can get at a later date as a I envisage some price cuts for it.

Not tried any of the VR headsets, but I'm swaying towards the Quest mainly because OLED has always had less motion problem for my eyes when using them as displays, but I've also read there are more problems with "screen door effect" with OLED.
 
Not tried any of the VR headsets, but I'm swaying towards the Quest mainly because OLED has always had less motion problem for my eyes when using them as displays, but I've also read there are more problems with "screen door effect" with OLED.

Screen door is more noticable on the Quest than on the Rift S due to the pentile subpixel arrangement. Of course the advantage is deep blacks and vibrant colours.
One issue I've not seen much reported is that the world scale in the Quest seems to be noticeably smaller than on the Rift. However though I've seen this myself as have a few other people it's not confirmed if it's a general issue or not.
 
Screen door is more noticable on the Quest than on the Rift S due to the pentile subpixel arrangement. Of course the advantage is deep blacks and vibrant colours.
One issue I've not seen much reported is that the world scale in the Quest seems to be noticeably smaller than on the Rift. However though I've seen this myself as have a few other people it's not confirmed if it's a general issue or not.


I disagree. I find them really quite similar tbh.
 
I disagree. I find them really quite similar tbh.

I've got a Go, a Rift CV1 and a Quest. I find watching movies in the Go (which has the same panel as the Rift S) to be better despite the worse colours and contrast because the LCD is sharper. (Also the headset is much lighter). I find on the quest there's obvious fringing around people's faces due to the subpixel layout. In games though I prefer the Quest due to the colours, especially the deep blacks.
 
Already happening, Valve have timed it right for BF and the holiday sales period. Not really a fan of those look at my box posts, but the Index sub alone is now flooded with them.
Good to see, i hope those new HMD owners buy some of the incredible VR indie dev games too, should give them a nice sales boost.

The Steam VR game sales page should make for some interesting reading
 
Already happening, Valve have timed it right for BF and the holiday sales period. Not really a fan of those look at my box posts, but the Index sub alone is now flooded with them.

Yes, index kit is currently top seller on steam. Can do nothing but good for the VR market as long as the game is good :)
 
The only true negative would be its comfort (which isn't an issue for myself but its a matter of personal opinion).
Great post, with a good round up of the pros and cons. I know it's a personal thing but I just couldn't get on with the Quest headset for long gaming sessions. The Quest is front heavy and for me the headstrap just doesn't provide enough support. I find the halo design on the Rift S to be infinitely more comfortable.

The built-in speakers on both the Quest and Rift S are pretty poor. Juggling headset, controllers and separate headphones takes some practice. There are however some great third-party headphone mods, I using one which features Sennheiser HD 25 drivers. Having great positional audio really helps to complete the immersion.

The official 5m Oculus Link optical cable for the Quest is not available yet and will cost $79. You can use third-party cables (need to choose carefully) but these top out at 3m, which may be too restrictive depending on your room setup. The Rift S comes with a 5m cable which can be easily extended by a further 2m using inexpensive passive cables. It is also worth being aware that Oculus Link doesn't officially support AMD GPUs yet, Oculus are working with AMD on this but compatibility isn't guaranteed.

Other than portability, the other advantage the Quest has over the Rift S is the physical IPD adjustment for the lenses.
 
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The rift s is definitely looking like a good deal for this game at the moment, but need to upgrade my gpu as well - still using a GTX 970.

To be honest, so many good deals for pc components and peripherals at the moment - 2019 has to be one of best years of recent years for that. But I think we have to make the most of it, given the number of uncertainties about the economy next year.
 
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The rift s is definitely looking like a good deal for this game at the moment, but need to upgrade my gpu as well - still using a GTX 970.

To be honest, so many good deals for pc components and peripherals at the moment - 2019 has to be one of best years of recent years for that. But I think we have to make the most of it, given the number of uncertainties about the economy next year.
if u can afford an index, i'd spring for it.

the rift s was really really average for me and i actually preferred my CV1.
 
Index is definitely the pinnacle of VR at the moment. Unfortunately the lighthouse requirement rules it out for me. Hopefully the next version will use inside-out tracking.

Great to see that Tested found that inside-out tracking and the Oculus controllers are working well in Half-Life: Alyx.
 
Index is definitely the pinnacle of VR at the moment. Unfortunately the lighthouse requirement rules it out for me. Hopefully the next version will use inside-out tracking.

Great to see that Tested found that inside-out tracking and the Oculus controllers are working well in Half-Life: Alyx.


Oh damn that sucks.

I went from a Rift S to an Index and the different is so huge, I couldn't go back and its made VR a joy for me.
 
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