Good VR Graphics Card

Maddness

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 24, 2014
Messages
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Hi i was looking at buying an HTC Vive with all the sales going on atm. It's pretty much the only VR headset for sale in my Country. I'm currently running an RX 480, but have heard it's not up to the task. I certainly can't afford an RTX 2080 Ti. I could easily get an Vega 64 or at a stretch a RTX 2070 or maybe an 2080. Any thoughts on what you guys use world be appreciated.
 
A 1070Ti or a 1080 is what I would recommend as a really great match for a Vive if you want to run VR really well across the board in all titles. Yes, you could go a bit lower, but performance trade-offs start to occur - frames begin to get dropped as well as not being able to maintain a consistent 90hz refresh, especially if graphics quality is turned up. It really depends on the game/title you want to play and the level of graphics quality you are happy with though. Also, AMD cards don't fair as well as Nvidia cards in general when it comes to VR performance.
 
Thanks for that. Both 1080 and 1080 Ti haven't been in stock for about 2 months now and can't be ordered here. I will check out the 1070 Ti and see if it's available. Thanks for your help.
 
No problem. Just so you know, a RTX 2070 is roughly equivalent to a 1080 when it comes to VR. Just a tad faster (~8%) Would also drive VR well, but starting to get spendy.

Nivida is about to release a 2060 soon as well... which will probably match the 1070Ti as to performance levels and also cost a good bit less than the RTX 2070.
 
1080 would be solid. Ran that with the rift and didnt really notice a difference with a 1080ti.
 
Run the 480 and see how it does, then go from there. A gtx 1070 will get you high settings, gtx 1080 will get max or near max settings. Higher than that and you can run even higher levels of AA, but you hit diminishing returns around the 1070ti.
 
I run a 1080ti and according to gpu-z it sometimes runs at max in some of the games.(But I also have my setting at 1.5)

Just get what you can afford. Like Bobzdar said, 1070ti to 1080 would be optimum and 1080ti for more AA.
 
Maddness, I just noticed that B&H ships internationally and doesn't seem to charge an arm and leg to do so. Not all that bad a price for a 1070Ti either if you can't find one there locally:

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What games are you going to run? My 1080ti works great in pretty much everything except iRacing - had to turn some stuff down. If you're not running 90 fps you'll notice real fast. :hungover:
 
What games are you going to run? My 1080ti works great in pretty much everything except iRacing - had to turn some stuff down. If you're not running 90 fps you'll notice real fast. :hungover:

I tend to like all sorts of games. My son has a PlayStation VR and i have enjoyed some of the games on that. So the HTC Vive should be a nice upgrade from that.
 
Unfortunately no 1080Ti's left in stock in my country. Second hand people want as much as a brand new RTX 2080. Just crazy prices
 
Current best are only good VR is very demanding I mean look at star VR at CES 2019 they're going to bring an 8K headset I don't know if it's per eye or not but that's very demanding
 
I played a year on a 970 and it was not that bad...some of the more punishing graphics intense games I had to turn down the higher quality features...but didn't really take away from the experience in my opinion.
 
Yeah. I'm still a little undecided. I thought i would hold off until after CES to see if anything new was coming out. Seeing as how Vega isn't the best for VR, i doubt Radeon 7 is going to be much better.
 
Bang for the buck, go either used 980ti or better. If used isn’t an option, the 1070Ti from B&H I recommended earlier or simply wait for the RTX 2060 which will be available very soon.
 
Hi i was looking at buying an HTC Vive with all the sales going on atm. It's pretty much the only VR headset for sale in my Country. I'm currently running an RX 480, but have heard it's not up to the task. I certainly can't afford an RTX 2080 Ti. I could easily get an Vega 64 or at a stretch a RTX 2070 or maybe an 2080. Any thoughts on what you guys use world be appreciated.
How badly you need it really depends on what you want to play, but ultimately, you really need the absolute fastest graphics card you can get your hands on for VR.

I have a 1080 Ti, and it's easily possible to overwhelm it in some VR games, such as Elite Dangerous. If you can afford a 2080, that's your best option.

Edit: I should clarify that I consider reprojection to be 100% unacceptable (because I notice it in the games I play). If you're not as sensitive to it as me, you could probably get by with less. I'm freely willing to admit this may make me a weenie, but I like to think of it more in terms of just being really [H]ard to please. :D
 
Well the good news is, i have been patient. I now have more than enough funds for a 2080 or the upcoming Radeon 7. I thought i might wait until the 7th and read Kyle's review and make my decision then.
 
How badly you need it really depends on what you want to play, but ultimately, you really need the absolute fastest graphics card you can get your hands on for VR.

I have a 1080 Ti, and it's easily possible to overwhelm it in some VR games, such as Elite Dangerous. If you can afford a 2080, that's your best option.

Edit: I should clarify that I consider reprojection to be 100% unacceptable (because I notice it in the games I play). If you're not as sensitive to it as me, you could probably get by with less. I'm freely willing to admit this may make me a weenie, but I like to think of it more in terms of just being really [H]ard to please. :D


You can apply that logic to computer gaming in general. My GTX 970 isnt terrible in VR - only SkyrimVR + mods and ED push it too hard. Most games run fine but need settings turned down.
 
Having run most of the higher end AMD through VR, I can say from experience, a 580 will get you in the door, but the higher end titles will be unplayable without serious compromises.

A Vega56 will get you running well in almost anything, unless it's a specifically designed NV title. Hours of Skyrim and FO4 in VR are not a problem for a Vega56.

Still testing Radeon 7. So far it's a bit of a monster. Haven't beem able to make it flinch yet, but does have an intermittent audio bug in some titles.
 
Just wanted to thank everyone for the opinions. I did end up getting a new card. I decided to save for a while, I was initially looking at the Radeon 7. But I ended up with an EVGA 2080 Ti FTW3. It's a nice card, now to sort out the VR.
 
Be sure to use supersampling then!
It improves quality a lot and with 2080Ti there should be no game that wouldn.'t work well with at least 1.5 supersampling
 
Just wanted to thank everyone for the opinions. I did end up getting a new card. I decided to save for a while, I was initially looking at the Radeon 7. But I ended up with an EVGA 2080 Ti FTW3. It's a nice card, now to sort out the VR.

AMD has been traditionally extremely poor at VR. I am not sure why. From a quick google skim the Radeon VII continues this trend being under a 2070.

Even when AMD is appealing if there is a chance I or the person might run VR on the PC it makes it a tough choice.

Sooo good pick with the 2080ti. I got that card for the sole purpose of VR (and higher DSR in my other games doesn’t hurt.)
 
AMD has been traditionally extremely poor at VR. I am not sure why. From a quick google skim the Radeon VII continues this trend being under a 2070.

Even when AMD is appealing if there is a chance I or the person might run VR on the PC it makes it a tough choice.

Sooo good pick with the 2080ti. I got that card for the sole purpose of VR (and higher DSR in my other games doesn’t hurt.)

Yes after reading up quite a bit that was why i made the choice i did.
 
AMD has been traditionally extremely poor at VR. I am not sure why. From a quick google skim the Radeon VII continues this trend being under a 2070.

Even when AMD is appealing if there is a chance I or the person might run VR on the PC it makes it a tough choice.

Sooo good pick with the 2080ti. I got that card for the sole purpose of VR (and higher DSR in my other games doesn’t hurt.)
As an AMD fan it hurt for me to get the lower RAM 2080 and not the R7. AMD has consistently benched slower in VR then where they should. I don't know if this is driver related, software developer related, or hardware related. Maybe a combination of all three?
I imagine VR performance strengths are well thought out in new architectures that we will see in the future. Maybe have specific models of GPU's dedicated towards it.
 
As an AMD fan it hurt for me to get the lower RAM 2080 and not the R7. AMD has consistently benched slower in VR then where they should. I don't know if this is driver related, software developer related, or hardware related. Maybe a combination of all three?
I imagine VR performance strengths are well thought out in new architectures that we will see in the future. Maybe have specific models of GPU's dedicated towards it.
NV advertised their Pascal and also Turing cards as having some technologies dedicated specifically for VR
Maybe this is the reason?
 
Just wanted to thank everyone for the opinions. I did end up getting a new card. I decided to save for a while, I was initially looking at the Radeon 7. But I ended up with an EVGA 2080 Ti FTW3. It's a nice card, now to sort out the VR.
I'm reading this thread months late but smart man - I was going to suggest after your early posts not to compromise but to save up. VR needs the most amount of GPU power you can throw at it. Why? Because unlike traditional 3D videogames where a GPU can be "good enough" to hit your monitor's native res and refresh rate with graphics maxed at Ultra with performance left over, with VR there's never enough GPU power because you can always crank SuperSampling higher (to a point), not to mention never dipping below 90FPS is way more critical.

Example, an overclocked 2080 Ti driving an Odyssey+ at 200% SS, it hovers around 95% utilization. But holy hell is it a joy to look at.

Ever higher res HMDs emerging compound this issue, but there will be an inflection point where SS isn't as critical (4K per eye most likely). Just when we thought GPUs had become overkill for modern videogames, VR came along and kicked us back to the 90's.
 
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I'm reading this thread months late but smart man - I was going to suggest after your early posts not to compromise but to save up. VR needs the most amount of GPU power you can throw at it. Why? Because unlike traditional 3D videogames where a GPU can be "good enough" to hit your monitor's native res and refresh rate with graphics maxed at Ultra with performance left over, with VR there's never enough GPU power because you can always crank SuperSampling higher (to a point), not to mention never dipping below 90FPS is way more critical.

Example, an overclocked 2080 Ti driving an Odyssey+ at 200% SS, it hovers around 95% utilization. But holy hell is it a joy to look at.

Ever higher res HMDs emerging compound this issue, but there will be an inflection point where SS isn't as critical (4K per eye most likely). Just when we thought GPUs had become overkill for modern videogames, VR came along and kicked us back to the 90's.

This is no different than 2d - you can keep cranking AA to utilize more GPU power on a monitor - or run virtual super resolution (which is exactly the same thing as VR super sampling). However, just like in 2d, at a certain point it becomes difficult to see any difference - above 135% really becomes difficult to see in VR and sometimes results in more moire/shimmering, which actually makes image quality (at least in motion) slightly worse.
 
This is no different than 2d - you can keep cranking AA to utilize more GPU power on a monitor - or run virtual super resolution (which is exactly the same thing as VR super sampling). However, just like in 2d, at a certain point it becomes difficult to see any difference - above 135% really becomes difficult to see in VR and sometimes results in more moire/shimmering, which actually makes image quality (at least in motion) slightly worse.

Yep there's definitely a cutoff point where further SS won't just be diminishing returns but will begin to make the image worse and more blurry. That's why I spent a long time finding sweet spot with Odyssey+ and settled on 200%. Anything 140% and beyond will see improvement with that particular HMD.

The Vive Pro's baseline, out of box SS is actually 140%, while Odyssey+ is 100%, and that's why the latter has to be cranked for best image. These headsets were BUILT for SuperSampling .
 
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