Old PC gamer lured back in by Half Life Alyx…

[Rapt0rUK]

The last PC game I probably played was Half Life 2, since then I’ve been in the dark world of Xbox but news of a new Half Life title (in VR!) means I want back in…

It’s been a long time since I’ve looked at PC components so have done days of reading but need some help!!

Here’s where I’m at… I have a Dell XPS 15 9560, I7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.8ghz, 16GB DDR4 RAM which is pretty punchy but let down by the GPU (GTX 1050) which falls under the recommended spec for VR on the steam VR test.

So, my plan, is to run a eGPU (which I didn’t even know existed until 2 days ago!) and have already pulled the trigger on a Razer Core X box (arrived today)…

Side note: I know there is an issue with the TB3 ports on the XPS (not all 4 lanes so only 20gbps) but don’t need to use the internal (laptop) display so have read it should be OK.

My dilemma is all the potential options for GPU… I want to get something with some headroom that allows me to play with decent quality settings (med/high) and give me some future proofing for the next gen of VR titles that follow and think I’ve narrowed it down to 2 options…

1. A new RTX 2070 (have found for £378)

2. Pre-owned GTX 1080ti (found for £390-£400)

I’m ruling out the base GTX 1080 as they’re seemingly outperformed by the RTX 2070 for similar money so reluctant to buy used with similar price/performance.

The question is, is it better to have a new RTX2070 (with 3 year warranty) or an old (potentially abused) but more powerful GTX 1080ti.

What’s the lifespan on a graphics card… is it sensible buying what could be a 4 year old card with no warranty, will the RTX 2070 give me enough power to rule out the need?

If it helps, I’ll likely run VR on a 1080p projector (as second display) but I do also own a 4k screen and do video editing (often 4k) so having something that can help with that would be a bonus.

In terms of VR unit, right now I’m planning on going all out and getting the Valve Index, so something that can run the higher refresh rates (120Hz) on offer would also be preferable… not sure if the RTX 2070 can handle that??

Any help would be much appreciated, then I’ll take my place at the back of the long queue for an Index setup!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Freddie1980]

Firstly, welcome to the forum. Secondly please remember who is hosting the forum overclockers.co.uk so please don't mention competitors (I suggest you edit your post before the mods do it for you).

I would much rather go with a brand new RTX2070 then a 2nd hand 1080Ti if only for the fact your running it as an external GPU via thunderbolt. If the bandwidth is too restrictive and you don't get the performance you want at least you have the option of sending it back.

 

[Dr Delphi]

The 2070 and 1080Ti are pretty similar, I think most people would say that the 1080Ti will edge the 2070 non super at the moment. Personally I would go for the warranty on the RTX card as it is likely to last you longer, not to mention it will unlock the whole RTX and DLSS on games which could help with driving the 4K monitor at some level of quality.

I would recommend that you edit out the competitor though!

 

[Rapt0rUK]

**Edited out**

Sorry folks!

Thanks for the replies, it does seem on paper that the 1080ti is quite a bit more powerful, on benchmarks for Half-Life it is happily running in Ultra settings vs High for the RTX 2070 but I'm inclined to agree... A 3 year warranty is appealing and the reported visual difference between and High and Ultra is pretty minimal...

Good point about the ray tracing side of things as well...will check out the OC store for RTX 2070's!

 

[Dr Delphi]

**Edited out**

Sorry folks!

Thanks for the replies, it does seem on paper that the 1080ti is quite a bit more powerful, on benchmarks for Half-Life it is happily running in Ultra settings vs High for the RTX 2070 but I'm inclined to agree... A 3 year warranty is appealing and the reported visual difference between and High and Ultra is pretty minimal...

Good point about the ray tracing side of things as well...will check out the OC store for RTX 2070's!

No worries, glad you sorted that out! Have a look at 2070 Super as they are somewhat more powerful than vanilla 2070, but be aware that due to COVID-19 there is a lack of products in the channel, plus it looks like Nvidia was looking to wind up production of the 20 series cards before this point as the 30 series cards were rumoured to be announced at the end of March. Obviously the current situation has changed that somewhat, so be aware that the prices might be pushed up.

 

[Rapt0rUK]

Prices pushed up? That's the opposite of what i'd have expected so interesting to know! I assumed if a new line was coming out, they drop the price of the old one to clear stock in the channel and make way for the new stuff...how it works in my industry anyway so good to know... based on that it might be an idea to not hang around too long deliberating...

I have looked at the Super but the prices jump up fairly significantly (for new)... you're looking upwards of £500 vs £380 for the standard... When you say vanilla, i guess it's all relative...the RTX 2070 is still appears pretty capable... It's mentioned here as a good option for Half Life so assuming it will do a decent job...? https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/half-life-alyx-best-gpu-best-headset/ but having read the article again, it is a bit mis-leading, it mentions RTX 2070 throughout but then looks like the card on test was actually a Super...

If I'm trying to get as close to the £350 mark as possible, would you still back the standard 2070 new vs an old 1080ti?

 

[marcosscriven]

I was in a similar situation, as although I already have a beefy desktop for development, I only have an RX580.

I tried HL:Alyx with an Oculus Quest, using both wired and wireless streaming and found two major issues with the RX 580:

1. It could not deal with volumetric effects at all at that res (and turning it off in my opinion was a significant loss)
2. Turns out the Radeon h.265/h.265 encoding is about three times slower than nvidia!

Like you, I then went looking for a better card for HL:Alyx, and found this comprehensive analysis - https://babeltechreviews.com/half-life-alyx-performance-iq-review-across-13-amd-nvidia-cards/

It doesn't mention the 2070 (only the 2070 super). However, it does say the 1080 Ti is capable at ultra settings.

One thing I would consider though is encoding latency - in which case I think the RTXs have a faster/better NVENC.

 

[silvagti]

Prices pushed up? That's the opposite of what i'd have expected so interesting to know! I assumed if a new line was coming out, they drop the price of the old one to clear stock in the channel and make way for the new stuff...how it works in my industry anyway so good to know... based on that it might be an idea to not hang around too long deliberating...

That's what I was thinking. You'd think with things as they are just now between folk being fearful of their jobs/income and a new GPU line plus consoles out at the end of the year prices would be at their lowest. I guess with folk in lockdown maybe they're more inclined to want to spend money on home entertainment setups like PC's/TV's/consoles/etc given they can't venture out much.

Personally I feel with GPU prices seeming quite high just now and with the new Nvidia 3000 series out later in the year I think it would make more sense to wait.

I tried HL:Alyx with an Oculus Quest, using both wired and wireless streaming and found two major issues with the RX 580:

1. It could not deal with volumetric effects at all at that res (and turning it off in my opinion was a significant loss)
2. Turns out the Radeon h.265/h.265 encoding is about three times slower than nvidia!

Like you, I then went looking for a better card for HL:Alyx, and found this comprehensive analysis - https://babeltechreviews.com/half-life-alyx-performance-iq-review-across-13-amd-nvidia-cards/

Thanks for the link as it makes for interesting reading. You're not joking when you said it was comprehensive!

I also have an Oculus Quest I use to game on my PC connected via USB. Is there much difference between the USB link cable and VirtualDesktop?

 

[Rapt0rUK]

Thanks for the info

I was actually basing a lot of my assumptions on that article... in particular this table (below), i know it's frame rate so not the only thing to consider but i thought it was a sensible shortcut to help the decision making process!

Like you say it doesn't mention the base 2070 (only the Super) but you'd guess it must sit somewhere between the RTX 2060 Super and the GTX 1080ti. With the RTX 2060 Super rated OK for High settings, you'd assume the 2070 will be good to go too... From what I've read about the game, I don't think i need to be pushing to reach Ultra settings... for what you'd have to invest in better GPU to get there, it sounds like minimal gains.

So on that basis, i'm starting to lean more and more towards a new RX2070 vs a used 1080ti or anything else for that matter.

Would you agree?

 

[Dr Delphi]

Thanks for the info

I was actually basing a lot of my assumptions on that article... in particular this table (below), i know it's frame rate so not the only thing to consider but i thought it was a sensible shortcut to help the decision making process!

Like you say it doesn't mention the base 2070 (only the Super) but you'd guess it must sit somewhere between the RTX 2060 Super and the GTX 1080ti. With the RTX 2060 Super rated OK for High settings, you'd assume the 2070 will be good to go too... From what I've read about the game, I don't think i need to be pushing to reach Ultra settings... for what you'd have to invest in better GPU to get there, it sounds like minimal gains.

So on that basis, i'm starting to lean more and more towards a new RX2070 vs a used 1080ti or anything else for that matter.

Would you agree?

From my understanding the 2060 Super is pretty close to the expected power of the 2070, so you should be good for ultra at around 100 FPS in Alex.

 

[marcosscriven]

I also have an Oculus Quest I use to game on my PC connected via USB. Is there much difference between the USB link cable and VirtualDesktop?

You'll get wildly differing reports on https://www.reddit.com/r/OculusQuest/

My experience is that my wifi is good with only 1ms latency and low jitter.

This led me to look into why I was getting some higher latency than expected, and it was indeed down to the GPU https://www.reddit.com/r/OculusQues...tual_desktop_latency_despite_excellent_pings/

In that sense, the link was not the limiting factor.

 

[BigBANGtheory]

1080Ti for £400 is asking too much imho but down to you on that one