Considering a Vive - is my setup ready?

VanGoghComplex

VanGoghComplex

2[H]4U
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I'm getting more and more interested in a VR headset. As most of my games come through Steam, the Vive is at the top of my list - I know it may not have the most impressive specifications of the bunch, but support is a big part of a product like this.

I use a 1080ti, a 7700k, and 16gb of 3000MHz RAM. What kind of performance can I expect with this setup? I'm very spoiled on high refresh rate monitors, and am worried that the power needed for VR may force me to make sacrifices in IQ - or does refresh rate matter as much in VR?

Also of note, I use a wireless Corsair Void headset when gaming. Is this gonna work over a VR headset? What kind of cables will I need to have plugged in to my head while gaming? I didn't see any advertised Black Friday sales on the Vive, and the whole package seems to be going for $500 these days. Is that a decent price? I wear glasses and am nearsighted. As the screens are right in front of my eyeballs, does this mean I won't need my glasses while playing? If I do need them, will it work okay with glasses?

Sorry for the barrage of questions. I just wanna make sure I understand everything before I make a decision. Thanks all!
 
I have about the same spec's and there's not a single VR game that I can't run smoothly on high. To answer your questions.
  • The refresh rate is locked in at 90hz per eye, it's sufficiently smooth otherwise you would get motion sick on lower rates. There is a slight blur and glow around the edges of things (mostly at the edges of your FOV) but most games compensate for that.
  • The Vive Pro has built in earphones, you would need to remove them if you want to use those headphones with the pro. The original standard Vive has no headphones so it would work. BUT if you get the Wireless Module it doesn't function with over the head headphones because the module sits right on the top of your head.
  • The Vive has 3 cables that merge into a breakout box which then connects to the headset. The 3 going into the box are Power, USB and Video(HDMI for base, DP for pro) then on the Vive it's a 3 in 1 cable bundle going to the headset, the Vive Pro uses a singular cable from the box to the headset.
  • $500 is about right for the base Vive bundle, the controllers and lighthouses are pretty expensive on their own. Sometimes you can find people selling their old headset for cheap if they upgraded to the Vive Pro because it didn't include the lighthouses or controllers at the time so people bought both.
  • Glasses work fine in my opinion, the Vive can be adjusted 2 ways, pupillary distance and lens distance to make space for glasses and to help you focus. Contacts are still preferred and hopefully you don't have really thick or large frame glasses. As someone who is nearsighted I can actually use the Vive just fine without glasses though but I prefer to use my contacts.
Now just some advice, depending on your budget I went and splurged for the Vive Pro because I honestly just love having that reduced screen door effect and better IQ and it's great for a first time experience. If you're on a budget the base Vive is just as good but if you're someone who really cares about image quality then go for the Pro. Also the wireless module does create a SLIGHT delay, it's almost unnoticeable but as someone who games in front of a 144hz display all day I can notice it but it doesn't bother me as I don't get motion sick. I recommend if possible going to a Windows store and see if they have a Vive kiosk setup for you to try, that's what suckered me into buying one. Don't forget you need a decent amount of space to really make use of the room scale features of the Vive. If you're planning on using it primarily as a sit down experience then I would probably look towards something cheaper or better in resolution.
 
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i used a 780 and a 1500x and a 1700 and it was great.

didn't get sick feeling or anything.

currently i use sli 1080's (sli doesn't work in vr i'm told" and a 1700x with 16gb's of 3200 mhz memory.
 
Master_shake_ said:
i used a 780 and a 1500x and a 1700 and it was great.

didn't get sick feeling or anything.

currently i use sli 1080's (sli doesn't work in vr i'm told" and a 1700x with 16gb's of 3200 mhz memory.
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I think a few games use it? Serious Sam and possibly 1 or 2 more.
 
Your setup is good. I do like the wireless sensors, but don't let that stop you from looking at the Rift.

The new Vive from what I have read is 25-35% or so better than the Rift. But the cost difference is big.
From pictures the Rift looks better than the regular Vive, but not sure by how much. Only seen pics.
 
My advice owning both a Rift and a Vive is to get the Rift if you want to jump into VR right now. ($350-400) A vive pro is going to run you 2-2.5x that cost and just isn't worth it for the rather minimal gains involved. Yes, a bit less SDE and a slightly sharper image, but the FOV and overall experience is pretty much the same. True next gen VR is just around the corner in a year or so, and jumping in now and spending big for the best possible gen 1 gear just doesn't make much sense if you get hooked and then want to jump to gen 2 VR gear when it arrives. If money isn't an issue however, then anything goes! :D
 
It's worth pointing out that all the HMDs can currently play games via Steam. Rift support in games is ubiquitous. The WMR headset controllers might not be supported by many games due to being the newest/least popular, but Steam itself does support them.
 
Thanks everyone for the clarifications! Looking at an Oculus now, as well. The Vive Pro is tempting, but it's more than I can justifiably spend right now.

I've got a medium/small room that I was planning on using for Room Scale, though honestly if I go whole hog with VR my next purchase will be an omnidirectional treadmill of some kind. I wanna actually walk from Winterhold to Falkreath.
 
VanGoghComplex said:
Thanks everyone for the clarifications! Looking at an Oculus now, as well. The Vive Pro is tempting, but it's more than I can justifiably spend right now.

I've got a medium/small room that I was planning on using for Room Scale, though honestly if I go whole hog with VR my next purchase will be an omnidirectional treadmill of some kind. I wanna actually walk from Winterhold to Falkreath.
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I want to run from Winterhold to Falkreath lol.

If I was single I’d build a good one... I really want to get the wireless and new Vive sensors that can do 60ft. Set the thing up in my backyard.

Just remember with Occulus you have to buy an extra sensor for room scale IIRC.
 
Dayaks said:
I want to run from Winterhold to Falkreath lol.

If I was single I’d build a good one... I really want to get the wireless and new Vive sensors that can do 60ft. Set the thing up in my backyard.

Just remember with Occulus you have to buy an extra sensor for room scale IIRC.
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Maybe. Honestly now I'm researching omnidirectional treadmills. If I can't find one that a person can actually buy, I might just not get into VR yet. The inclusion of a treadmill, for me, is the point where VR goes from "neat gimmick" to "game changer."
 
VanGoghComplex said:
Maybe. Honestly now I'm researching omnidirectional treadmills. If I can't find one that a person can actually buy, I might just not get into VR yet. The inclusion of a treadmill, for me, is the point where VR goes from "neat gimmick" to "game changer."
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Most I saw were basically slippery surfaces. I can’t remember any off hand.

Yeah one I could run on would be amazing... but something I’d probably have to build myself.
 
Dayaks said:
Most I saw were basically slippery surfaces. I can’t remember any off hand.

Yeah one I could run on would be amazing... but something I’d probably have to build myself.
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Yeah, I saw that one, where you wear like a sock over your shoes? That would be pretty sweet.
 
VanGoghComplex said:
Maybe. Honestly now I'm researching omnidirectional treadmills. If I can't find one that a person can actually buy, I might just not get into VR yet. The inclusion of a treadmill, for me, is the point where VR goes from "neat gimmick" to "game changer."
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They cost as much as a car and very few games support them - 2 or 3 the last I've heard. If you truly require one in order to enjoy VR, you won't enjoy VR.
 
TheSmJ said:
They cost as much as a car and very few games support them - 2 or 3 the last I've heard. If you truly require one in order to enjoy VR, you won't enjoy VR.
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That's the impression that I'm getting from my research, unfortunately.
 
VanGoghComplex said:
That's the impression that I'm getting from my research, unfortunately.
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Well, not getting into VR because you want an omni-directional treadmill to go with it is sort of like not buying a car because you want one that can also fly. :) Even with a treadmill, you aren't getting a true physical motion experience - motion inertia doesn't come into play, nor do variable surfaces, or slopes, stairs, ladders, etc. The problem with VR and true body motion as to walking/running is that you are in a small/confined area (and this is a good thing as you are pretty much blind to the outside world, save for a boundaries guardian feature) and truly running around would have you smacking into things.

There are ways of simulating motion as to running/walking though. For example:



Don't let the lack of an omni-directional treadmill keep you from enjoying VR is my take-away here. :D
 
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VanGoghComplex said:
I'm getting more and more interested in a VR headset. As most of my games come through Steam, the Vive is at the top of my list - I know it may not have the most impressive specifications of the bunch, but support is a big part of a product like this.

I use a 1080ti, a 7700k, and 16gb of 3000MHz RAM. What kind of performance can I expect with this setup? I'm very spoiled on high refresh rate monitors, and am worried that the power needed for VR may force me to make sacrifices in IQ - or does refresh rate matter as much in VR?

Also of note, I use a wireless Corsair Void headset when gaming. Is this gonna work over a VR headset? What kind of cables will I need to have plugged in to my head while gaming? I didn't see any advertised Black Friday sales on the Vive, and the whole package seems to be going for $500 these days. Is that a decent price? I wear glasses and am nearsighted. As the screens are right in front of my eyeballs, does this mean I won't need my glasses while playing? If I do need them, will it work okay with glasses?

Sorry for the barrage of questions. I just wanna make sure I understand everything before I make a decision. Thanks all!
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You'll be fine. Refresh rate matters WAY more in VR than it does with monitor games, but the manufacturers have already thought of this, and have made it where the framerate and refresh rate are fixed at 90 FPS, and it has some strategies for dealing with situations where it falls below that. You'll likely be surprised at how relatively blurry and crude the graphics are at first, but that will pass once you get into actually playing a game, since you'll be too busy to notice.

With all that out of the way, unless what you're really after is the Vive Pro, the Oculus Rift is a way better deal these days. The Viive Pro headset has higher resolution, but is much more expensive.

Also, while the room scale games are cool, IMHO, the best ones currently are the ones that don't require this. Sit down cockpit games like Elite Dangerous are my favorites, but Lone Echo deserves some praise as well for dealing with not using the player's legs in an unobtrusive way.
 
RazorWind said:
You'll be fine. Refresh rate matters WAY more in VR than it does with monitor games, but the manufacturers have already thought of this, and have made it where the framerate and refresh rate are fixed at 90 FPS, and it has some strategies for dealing with situations where it falls below that. You'll likely be surprised at how relatively blurry and crude the graphics are at first, but that will pass once you get into actually playing a game, since you'll be too busy to notice.

With all that out of the way, unless what you're really after is the Vive Pro, the Oculus Rift is a way better deal these days. The Viive Pro headset has higher resolution, but is much more expensive.

Also, while the room scale games are cool, IMHO, the best ones currently are the ones that don't require this. Sit down cockpit games like Elite Dangerous are my favorites, but Lone Echo deserves some praise as well for dealing with not using the player's legs in an unobtrusive way.
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Already got the Oculus, actually. Thanks! =)
 
TheSmJ said:
Well now you got me wondering - What do you think?
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So far I'm impressed. I first tried it with my laptop, which has an i5-8300H and 1050ti, because my main rig was apart for loop maintenance. I was surprised at how well it worked, Skyrim VR was playable. I got my desktop, play area and proper setup put together last night and it's pretty awesome. Now to start remodding Skyrim VR.

It feels good. The controls are responsive and the immersion factor is there. There's a bit of hinkiness needing to run both the Oculus app and SteamVR to play that particular title but it's not awful. There's still a fair amount for me to explore, tweak and configure, but out of the box it's made a very good first impression.
 
Just wait till you fire up something with great visuals like Elite Dangerous or Lone Echo on your main rig with that 1080Ti in the mix. Turning up the super sampling makes for a huge difference in visuals.
 
Supercharged_Z06 said:
Just wait till you fire up something with great visuals like Elite Dangerous or Lone Echo on your main rig with that 1080Ti in the mix. Turning up the super sampling makes for a huge difference in visuals.
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What do you have yours on? I put mine to 1.5, heard people say it's not much worse than 2.0 and not as taxing? But not sure if they had a 1080ti.
 
Hagrid said:
What do you have yours on? I put mine to 1.5, heard people say it's not much worse than 2.0 and not as taxing? But not sure if they had a 1080ti.
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I've found that SS from 1.5 up to 1.7 is generally good/safe on a 1080Ti or equivalent for most apps. It really is dependent on the particular game/application that is running - some you can crank up to 2.0, others turn into a stuttering mess cranked that high. For most apps, I'd say try 1.5 first, see how thing look/react and then experiment going a bit higher if you want. I've found that 1.7 is typically plenty high as to a nice graphical improvement without suffering from dropped frames... after that the gains become very insubstantial, but the load on the GPU and the risk of dropped frames increases significantly.
 
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