New GPU to try and get Vive looking decent?

[stratman59]

Received my HTC vive yesterday, totally underwhelmed so far, really doesn't look any better that my old DK2. I'm running an asus GTX 970 strix at the mo. I have two options, sell the vive or fork out even more for a better GPU so I can supersample. I'm thinking of waiting for the release of the GTX 1060's or are there any other sensible £300 max options?

 

[Richdog]

Why were you expecting the Vive to look magically better than the DK2?

 

[Gregster]

A 1070 will be your best bet or even a 980Ti. Supersampling will help but it won't eliminate the screen door effect.

 

[stratman59]

I'm a sucker for hype I guess!

 

[Ash0787]

thats odd because rift looks considerably better than DK2 aside from god ray effect, but yeah the general visuals in games has not changed much somehow, still looks like being in a washed out playstation 2 game a lot of the time

Vive doesn't have async time warp so it makes it a little harder to get the nice graphics, so you probably need something
like a gtx 1080, which unfortunately costs as much as the vive itself

 

[MDPlatts]

Just don't expect displayport to work with the 10x0 range

 

[MarkeR]

It works with the new driver, fix is in change log and users over on Reddit have reported it working.

 

[Seanspeed]

Why were you expecting the Vive to look magically better than the DK2?

Well it definitely should. Single screen 1920x1080 and off-the-shelf optics vs dual screen 2160x1200 and custom optics should make for better image quality.

It's not going to be a *massive* difference, though. When you are spreading pixels over such a large field of view, it's natural that the perceived resolution is going to be quite low compared to a 2d display.

Being able to crank up the pre-buffer resolution certainly helps, though. VR already requires supersampling, but this basically ups the supersampling even more to improve edge quality, shimmering and clarity. And for this you definitely need a powerful GPU. Obviously the best you can get will give you the best result.

How much that is worth to you is going to up to the individual, though. For me, unless you want a better GPU for reasons outside of VR, I wouldn't go spending £350+ on a GPU upgrade just for marginally improved IQ. If it bothers you that bad, I'd suggest selling the VR headset and waiting til Gen 2.

 

[JanM]

Received my HTC vive yesterday, totally underwhelmed so far, really doesn't look any better that my old DK2. I'm running an asus GTX 970 strix at the mo. I have two options, sell the vive or fork out even more for a better GPU so I can supersample. I'm thinking of waiting for the release of the GTX 1060's or are there any other sensible £300 max options?

How do the pixels look?
Are they a similar size for the DK2 and vive?

 

[AllBodies]

The Vive CV1 definitely looks better than a DK2. Try fiddling with your strap positioning and IPD more, and/or try games that actually show off the extra pixels.

In terms of GPU upgrade. Only an overclocked 980Ti, Titan X, 1070, or 1080 are worth it. You'll want to do 1.5-2.0x supersampling to make a significant difference. And there's no way a 1060 will do that.

 

[Seanspeed]

How do the pixels look?
Are they a similar size for the DK2 and vive?

Vive should have more pixels due to higher resolution yet similar field of view, but the Vive also has higher fill pixels. Meaning that the viewable pixel size of each individual pixel is bigger, but the pixel grid is generally the same. This reduces the 'screen door effect', which is largely just the result of being able to see the black gaps in between each pixel. Larger pixel fill = smaller gaps = less screen door effect.

 

[JanM]

Vive should have more pixels due to higher resolution yet similar field of view, but the Vive also has higher fill pixels. Meaning that the viewable pixel size of each individual pixel is bigger, but the pixel grid is generally the same. This reduces the 'screen door effect', which is largely just the result of being able to see the black gaps in between each pixel. Larger pixel fill = smaller gaps = less screen door effect.

Thanks for the explanation mate.
I've just sold my DK2 last week in order to get a vive or CV1. However I think i'll try a Gear VR first to see if I can put up with the current resolution and screen door or wait for the next gen which will probably be 4k.