Upgrade Help for VR

twoodster

twoodster

twoodster

Associate
Joined
17 Apr 2006
Posts
987
Hey!

I'm a bit of a VR geek and want to upgrade my PC for the Oculus Rift/HTC Vive consumer releases. This is what I'm currently running:

CPU: Intel Core i5 4670K
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS5X Performa
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z87-HD3
RAM: 16GB Corsair 1600mhz Vengeance (2x8GB)
Hard Drive: 1TB S-ATAIII 6.0Gb/s
Optical Drive: 22x DVD±RW DL S-ATA
Graphics card: AMD Radeon R9 280X 3GB
Case: Corsair Carbide 200R
PSU: 650W Corsair VS

I've got a budget of around 800 quid. Ideally I'd like to be able to reuse as much as possible so I can focus on getting the best processor and gfx card etc for the money. Any help appreciated :)
 
Well, I think you just need a decent GPU. Maybe save the rest of the money for the Pascal cards at the end of the year, and get something like a 970 / 390 in the meanwhile.

In any case, I think you're pretty much covered. I'd wait for the release and reviews to commit to anything though. Maybe overclock the CPU (something mild, like 4.2 / 4.4 GHz).
 
For now hold your horses.. OC your CPU and get nice big SSD and leave as much money as possible in a sock:D for new GPU when Pascal is out.
 
Thanks for your help! If I bought something like a GTX 980 or a 390 for now, would they be CPU bound at all or should I be fine?
 
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No, you'll be fine. An i5, especially one such as yours, even at stock speeds will never be a bottleneck with a high-end (e.g. Titan) card in this generation - and probably not next generation, either.

Having said that, as others mentioned, you'd be much better off saving for Pascal/Polaris. A 970/390 counts as the minimum recommended spec for VR, and by the time the Rift/Vive are out, I think we'll have a better idea of what to expect of the next gen of GPUs. Assuming the Vive is £500 too, if you can save up another £100-200 between now and when the next gen cards are out, a £400-500 GPU like the 980 (Ti)/Fury (X) would be able to provide a very smooth VR experience - but if you really can't wait to upgrade, just buy the best card you can today, and swap it for something better if you feel the performance isn't adequate. The only card I wouldn't recommend with your power supply is an R9 390X. You have just enough for everything else AMD's made, and more than enough for everything from Nvidia. :)

...and don't forget an SSD. The 250GB 850 EVO is £60 at the moment, and you can double the price if you want double the storage all the way up to 2TB, although the 250GB drive combined with your current HDD should be fine.
 
Malamo999 said:
No, you'll be fine. An i5, especially one such as yours, even at stock speeds will never be a bottleneck with a high-end (e.g. Titan) card in this generation - and probably not next generation, either.

Having said that, as others mentioned, you'd be much better off saving for Pascal/Polaris. A 970/390 counts as the minimum recommended spec for VR, and by the time the Rift/Vive are out, I think we'll have a better idea of what to expect of the next gen of GPUs. Assuming the Vive is £500 too, if you can save up another £100-200 between now and when the next gen cards are out, a £400-500 GPU like the 980 (Ti)/Fury (X) would be able to provide a very smooth VR experience - but if you really can't wait to upgrade, just buy the best card you can today, and swap it for something better if you feel the performance isn't adequate. The only card I wouldn't recommend with your power supply is an R9 390X. You have just enough for everything else AMD's made, and more than enough for everything from Nvidia. :)

...and don't forget an SSD. The 250GB 850 EVO is £60 at the moment, and you can double the price if you want double the storage all the way up to 2TB, although the 250GB drive combined with your current HDD should be fine.
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Brilliant, thanks. I'm a little out of touch with hardware so assumed the 4670k was archaic these days! Nice to know that it should be ok for a little while longer. I'll do some research on graphics cards. Concerned a 970 might only just scrape by, so will look at the 980's I think.
 
twoodster said:
Brilliant, thanks. I'm a little out of touch with hardware so assumed the 4670k was archaic these days! Nice to know that it should be ok for a little while longer. I'll do some research on graphics cards. Concerned a 970 might only just scrape by, so will look at the 980's I think.
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Some games will cope with lower hardware requirements, some won't. It's not just 'buy a 970 and you'll be fine'.

Wait for reviews, really. Then you'll know what works and what doesn't. It's not gonna be consistent across all games.

Saying that, I did buy a 980ti with VR in mind, didn't I...
 
olivier renault said:
Some games will cope with lower hardware requirements, some won't. It's not just 'buy a 970 and you'll be fine'.

Wait for reviews, really. Then you'll know what works and what doesn't. It's not gonna be consistent across all games.

Saying that, I did buy a 980ti with VR in mind, didn't I...
Click to expand...

Yeah, well I've got a Oculus DK2 so know the requirements range pretty dramatically. Vast majority of stuff copes fine with my 280X but things like Elite Dangerous and Assetto Corsa etc can chug at times.
 
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