Upgrade from Rift S

[ossie]

I'm a long time VR player but primarily flights sims (IL 2 , Xplane 11 and MSFS 2020) I don't mind the odd other game ie Half Life Alyx

I had a CV1 from new, then a Rift S. I'm running an I5 9600k (oc to 4.8ghz), 32gb of 3600 DDR4. I'm aware of all the nuances in fine tuning headsets so no issue there.

A few months back I upgraded to a 6900XT extreme formula from a 1070 and obviously saw a massive difference. I think I'm probably getting the most out of the Rift S now so its wetted my appetite for an upgrade.

My next move is a CPU upgrade so am thinking of a 5800X 3D, I think that would compliment the 6900XT or not worth it ?

Headset wise I was looking at a G2, which appears to be the headset of choice for flight sims but I'm tempted by the Pico 4 for the larger sweet spot. Likewise would a Quest 2 be a decent upgrade over the Rift S . As a complete outlier would the Quest Pro be wasted on my system or is it a future proof headset I can upgrade into. I've heard the Pico 4 likes 4000 series cards but there's plenty our there apparently using lesser cards.

I guess in short I'd like a significant upgrade on the Rift S based on my system specs. If anyone's upgraded from a Rift S I'd appreciate your thoughts cheers.

 

[Ravenger]

G2, Quest 2, Pico 4, or Quest Pro, or wait for Quest 3 are the best choices depending on your budget.

The thing to remember is the Quest series use USB encoding instead of display port and this generally works better on modern Nvidia cards than on AMD but AMD do work. Quest headsets can also be used wirelessly for PCVR if you have a decent router.

G2 - Very high resoluton, great audio, small sweet spot, awful controllers. Discontinued, so parts may be hard to get hold of.
Quest 2 - Good resolution, good enough audio (though you can use any headphones), similar lenses to Rift S, narrow FOV, can be used wirelessly, great controllers, great selection of standalone games too. Needs an add-on headstrap to be comfy.
Pico 4 - High resolution, good pancake lenses, good controllers. Good FOV. Built in link software isn't that good, you need to buy Virtual Desktop.
Quest Pro - Best in class clarity due to the QLED screens and pancake lenses, good FOV, good audio, best in class self-tracking controllers, comes with a charging dock, can play all Quest games, expensive. Needs an add-on top strap to be comfy for most people.

For now it might just be worth getting a second hand Quest 2 if you want a decent upgrade, then look at the Quest 3 when that comes out.

 

[ossie]

G2, Quest 2, Pico 4, or Quest Pro, or wait for Quest 3 are the best choices depending on your budget.

The thing to remember is the Quest series use USB encoding instead of display port and this generally works better on modern Nvidia cards than on AMD but AMD do work. Quest headsets can also be used wirelessly for PCVR if you have a decent router.

G2 - Very high resoluton, great audio, small sweet spot, awful controllers. Discontinued, so parts may be hard to get hold of.
Quest 2 - Good resolution, good enough audio (though you can use any headphones), similar lenses to Rift S, narrow FOV, can be used wirelessly, great controllers, great selection of standalone games too. Needs an add-on headstrap to be comfy.
Pico 4 - High resolution, good pancake lenses, good controllers. Good FOV. Built in link software isn't that good, you need to buy Virtual Desktop.
Quest Pro - Best in class clarity due to the QLED screens and pancake lenses, good FOV, good audio, best in class self-tracking controllers, comes with a charging dock, can play all Quest games, expensive. Needs an add-on top strap to be comfy for most people.

For now it might just be worth getting a second hand Quest 2 if you want a decent upgrade, then look at the Quest 3 when that comes out.

Thanks for that excellent summary. Would the Quest 2 be a decent upgrade over the Rift S or should I lean towards the Pico 4 in relation to clarity. I appreciate I'd have to buy Virtual desktop, my router is also next to the PC etc.

 

[Ravenger]

Thanks for that excellent summary. Would the Quest 2 be a decent upgrade over the Rift S or should I lean towards the Pico 4 in relation to clarity. I appreciate I'd have to buy Virtual desktop, my router is also next to the PC etc.

Quest 2 is probably the best cheap upgrade from a Rift S if you have an Oculus PC library as the PC games just work over Airlink or Link, and perform really well, of course you can also use it with SteamVR.

If you don't have an Oculus PC library then a Pico 4 might make sense as it's higher resolution with better lenses, but you are really limited to using Virtual Desktop for PC connectivity.

If you were thinking of getting a Quest 3 at some point then it'd be better to stick with Quest 2 as any standalone games you buy (and there are a lot of good ones on the Meta store) would transfer over.

Really the Pico works best as a dedicated PCVR headset while the Quest 2 is a better all-rounder and standalone as Meta's software is more mature.

If you're only interested in PCVR then the Pico might be better for you.

It really depends on your use case.