Recommendations for VR Setups to Enhance Elite Dangerous Experience - Emmanuel Katto

[Groman]

I recently got a 4080S and it plays buttery smooth. VR Ultra @ 90FPS 125% no problems, may try to see if I can get 150% working. Now mind you I am virtually immune to motion sickness so don't really notice things like dropped frames. I also turn off all performance overlays as I want to play instead of tinkering with the settings all the bloody time to try and squeeze out one more frame.

That's great but without knowing what's your reference resolution, it's hard to guess what to compare it to.
If you give your headset model then at least we can extrapolate the resolution from the specs.

You can always give: https://github.com/fholger/vrperfkit or equivalent a try, to render only part of the screen at full resolution and reduce it outside, in order to save a few percent of rendering work; See whether it gives you enough, and looks tolerable enough, to be worth it.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'm actually just lowering the resolution in SteamVR and the result is acceptable.
I'm afraid of causing issues by adding more 3rd party tools.

 

[aXeL]

Just out of interest, does anyone have a setup where they can run SS x2.0 and HMD x2.0 together? On my 3090, it's a brief slideshow, ~3s per frame, before it CTDs. I mean the frames look amazing... both of them before it crashes.

 

[DeckerSolo]

Just out of interest, does anyone have a setup where they can run SS x2.0 and HMD x2.0 together? On my 3090, it's a brief slideshow, ~3s per frame, before it CTDs. I mean the frames look amazing... both of them before it crashes.

I can yes, and the game does not crash to desktop.
But I have to lower all the game settings to low and get about 7 fps (so the game is unplayable) and the image is worse than my standard settings of SS x1.0 & HMD x1.0 with all game settings at their maximum level.

 

[Dragsham]

I play SS 1.0 HMD 1.25. 100% in steamVR and i use pimaxs own software. Which plays alot better than steams.
All ultra/ultra + yup even shadows, although their borked atm. AA is borked too but that's for fdev to resolve.
Seamless truly. And l had a reverb G2 before so I'm well aware of artifacting & reprojection. And l get none of that anymore.
I'm still in the market for a new gpu but the scalping going on atm prohibits me spending anything just yet.
The local dimming on the pimax CL is essential. Deals with that awful glow you get.

 

[styleruk]

Oh dear, it's looking like the nvidia 4090 is very hard to get, I thought it might be easier after the launch of 50 cards. I wanted the aorus waterforce, but looks like the 5090 might be the way to go even though the 5080 wf is fairly priced. Anyone yet taken the 50 plunge on ED?

 

[Andy Gee]

I can't remember the exact figures but the performance increase of the 4090 over its predecessor the 3090 (which I still have on my spare system) is very high, something like over 50% I think, which makes the performance increase of just 27% of the 5090 over the 4090 disappointing, particularly at a 2K price premium. The 4090 is more than enough to run ED, hopefully 4090 prices will drop.

Keep in mind that the 27% number is based on pancake use cases. According to the first benchmarks, there has been huge progress for VR with high resolutions with the 5090.

 

[Blood Drunk]

I play SS 1.0 HMD 1.25. 100% in steamVR and i use pimaxs own software. Which plays alot better than steams.
All ultra/ultra + yup even shadows, although their borked atm. AA is borked too but that's for fdev to resolve.
Seamless truly. And l had a reverb G2 before so I'm well aware of artifacting & reprojection. And l get none of that anymore.
I'm still in the market for a new gpu but the scalping going on atm prohibits me spending anything just yet.
The local dimming on the pimax CL is essential. Deals with that awful glow you get.

How on earth are you getting such a seamless experience on max settings? I've got virtually the same rig as you:
64gb DDR5 RAM
7800X3D CPU
5080 GPU

Yet if I run Elite on HMD 1.25 even with stuff turned down it only manages like 50-60fps in stations

 

[Dragsham]

Yup 60fps in stations too.
I did drop it to 1.0 hmd cos it artifacted sometimes in the periphery.
But out in space it's about 90fps which is acceptable, although not recently due to the microstuttering.
Do you have a pimax CL too?

 

[Groman]

In case anyone is interested in doing some benchmarking, I have started a thread there: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/2025-vr-benchmark.636069/

 

[Blood Drunk]

Yup 60fps in stations too.
I did drop it to 1.0 hmd cos it artifacted sometimes in the periphery.
But out in space it's about 90fps which is acceptable, although not recently due to the microstuttering.
Do you have a pimax CL too?

No I've got the reverb G2 - going to wait and see if Valve release their Deckard this year before deciding which headset to move to.

 

[Dragsham]

There are some nice headsets out or about to come out, but their really really expensive.
I'm very happy with the pimax. It's a bit chunky. But unlike the pimax crystal it's quite light in comparison.
And its drop dead clear, crisp, nice colours. And the black looks black. Must admit I'm glad I opted for local dimming cos the white glare had to be dealt with.
All in all it's a worthy replacement for the hp G2 reverb. Certainly no screendoor which the G2 did suffer from.
GL with the headset you choose. And be sure to post your findings!

o7

 

[aXeL]

Where is that dang'd Crystal Super?! I just took a proper spin with my new 5090 on my P4U and it's just bonkers compared with my old 3090. I even ran SS2.0x and HMD2.0x for a bit but it's still not quite good enough for that. TBH HMD doesn't look any better to me above 1.5x. Hopefully it will be enough for the CS.

 

[Dragsham]

That 5090 is a beast

 

[aXeL]

In case anyone is interested in doing some benchmarking, I have started a thread there: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/2025-vr-benchmark.636069/

I had a look at what you did when you put it together and I really like how you structured it. However for me, benchmarking involves running some scripted demo whilst I get tea and binge watch Youtube. I'm afraid this process, whilst well thought out IMO, is just far too much effort for a lazy butt like me.

If on the other hand we just said, fly into the docking slot at Abraham Lincoln Stn and as soon we get auto rotation match, stop and monitor the FPS for 5 sec.

Nowhere near as thorough as your approach but, I would submit that people are more likely to give it a go. The only thing that stops me right now is that I'm mapping a large unexplored system so I won't be back to the bubble for awhile.

 

[Groman]

I had a look at what you did when you put it together and I really like how you structured it. However for me, benchmarking involves running some scripted demo whilst I get tea and binge watch Youtube. I'm afraid this process, whilst well thought out IMO, is just far too much effort for a lazy butt like me.

If on the other hand we just said, fly into the docking slot at Abraham Lincoln Stn and as soon we get auto rotation match, stop and monitor the FPS for 5 sec.

Nowhere near as thorough as your approach but, I would submit that people are more likely to give it a go. The only thing that stops me right now is that I'm mapping a large unexplored system so I won't be back to the bubble for awhile.

It does indeed takes a few hours to fill in most of the data.
If you have limited time, you can just pick one setting profile and just run a few test scenarios.
Some is better than none, even one scenario can give an idea of the performance of a specific setup

Also those training scenarios can be run at any time because they are not dependent on your commander status.
It's easy to access for anyone and doesn't require actually going somewhere specific.

 

[Tiberius_0321]

Sony PSVR2; oled and 2000x2040 per eye resolution. This is good enough to read in game text; the blacks are black, and the price of entry is reasonable. $30 aftermarket psvr2 to steamVR hookup on Amazon. It should be enough to keep anyone wanting to try VR Elite Dangerous happy for some time. ED Copilot with Voice Attack and you're in business.

 

[Luriant]

Question for VRAM size.

Im searching used GPUs, and the market for 16GB is more expensive than for 12GB ram. From previous info,t I aim for more than 8GB, but I don't know if 12GB will be enough for elite.

As example, I saw 6750XT 12GB at 280€, that is more powerful than 7600XT 16GB. VR will be a Samsung Odyssey, a OLED with enough resolution that can be found cheap as second hand. CPU will be a 5700x3d, that I saw incredible VR reports in VR Chat, and also badly optimized games that need lot of L3 Cache space. I don't expect jumping to other more expensive or AM5 ----x3d CPUs.

Intel Arc have a lot of problems, and need Virtual Desktop app and SteamVR to work, so I will avoid this option.

Thanks for the advice.

EDIT: An too late, I found a great thread https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/how-much-vram-do-gamers-need-8gb-12gb-16gb-or-more.626264/

 

[DeckerSolo]

Question for VRAM size.

Im searching used GPUs, and the market for 16GB is more expensive than for 12GB ram. From previous info,t I aim for more than 8GB, but I don't know if 12GB will be enough for elite.

As example, I saw 6750XT 12GB at 280€, that is more powerful than 7600XT 16GB. VR will be a Samsung Odyssey, a OLED with enough resolution that can be found cheap as second hand. CPU will be a 5700x3d, that I saw incredible VR reports in VR Chat, and also badly optimized games that need lot of L3 Cache space. I don't expect jumping to other more expensive or AM5 ----x3d CPUs.

Intel Arc have a lot of problems, and need Virtual Desktop app and SteamVR to work, so I will avoid this option.

Thanks for the advice.

12GB VRAM is ok, 16GB is better, 8GB is minimum.

 

[Tiberius_0321]

Question for VRAM size.

Im searching used GPUs, and the market for 16GB is more expensive than for 12GB ram. From previous info,t I aim for more than 8GB, but I don't know if 12GB will be enough for elite.

As example, I saw 6750XT 12GB at 280€, that is more powerful than 7600XT 16GB. VR will be a Samsung Odyssey, a OLED with enough resolution that can be found cheap as second hand. CPU will be a 5700x3d, that I saw incredible VR reports in VR Chat, and also badly optimized games that need lot of L3 Cache space. I don't expect jumping to other more expensive or AM5 ----x3d CPUs.

Intel Arc have a lot of problems, and need Virtual Desktop app and SteamVR to work, so I will avoid this option.

Thanks for the advice.

EDIT: An too late, I found a great thread https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/how-much-vram-do-gamers-need-8gb-12gb-16gb-or-more.626264/

Just a suggestion. I have a Samsung Odyssey; the PSVR2 is better and quite cheap. The resolution is high enough that it is easy to read the cockpit menus and the Oleds give black blacks.

 

[Luriant]

Just a suggestion. I have a Samsung Odyssey; the PSVR2 is better and quite cheap. The resolution is high enough that it is easy to read the cockpit menus and the Oleds give black blacks.

Samsung Odyssey 2nd hand cost me 75€, PSVR2 cost me 440€+54€ for pc adapter.

The plan is waiting for sale in GPU, the limiting factor in watts and 2nd stock, currently plans are 200€ 5700x3D (V-cache was a big upgrade as I saw) + 100€ X570 motherboard (because Pci4.0 x16) + 280€ Rx6800 GPU (16Gb Vram) + 75€ Samsung Odyssey +2x8Gb or 4x8Gb Ram and the cooler. Everything work with my limited 500W PSU, but the 700€ price is above my desire level.

PSVR2 its 70% the money I already can't afford, a i5-4570 and 1070 is from Pre-VR era but work great for Elite Dangerous (but not with lots of apps like EDdiscovery and his maps in the background). VR is a luxury, not a necessity. I will wait, but at least, I know the perfect specs for me.

EDIT: 5800x3d with x570, cooler and 32Gb ram for 470€, same price but a superior CPU with same Watts. A decent upgrade.