Are you running VR under minimum specs? Any good?

[Kkronnoss]

If you are trying to spend as little as possible and going down new CPU mainboard, GTX 1060 and PSU route, I'd try what you said... sticking the GTX 1060 in what you already have first (if your PSU is good enough!) and see if performs ok. It probably will be ok and you could just buy that extra RAM if you wanted. If your CPU is going flat out then look at the rest of the upgrade, if not keep what you have. I think that is what I would do, I mean you might (and probably would) get away with it with the GTX 1070 but it’s a lot more money to risk finding out.

If you want to upgrade the rest the money saved on the 1070 would pay for a large chunk of it (over here an FX-8300 + Mainboard is about £160 and the 1060 is £150 less than the 1070) You would need a socket AM3+ motherboard that says it supports DDR3-1600 and has some USB 3.0 sockets. Something like this https://www.scan.co.uk/products/gig...3plus-ddr3-pcie-20-(x16)-2-way-crossfirex-atx should do the trick (this one was commonly purchased with an FX-8350 CPU from scan, don’t think you can overclock with it but its low priced). You can pair that with something like https://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd...e-42-ghz-socket-am3plus-95w-16mb-cache-retail or https://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd...40ghz-turbo-42ghz-8mb-l3-cache-125w-cpu-retai From what I’ve been reading DDR3-1866 RAM is what you would normally use with those CPUs but what you have will work, just with a minor performance hit but if you buy more make sure it is the same as you already have.

It isn’t gonna be the best VR experience but it should be good enough to enjoy and if in a year or two you want more performance (and you probably, will ED in VR is AWESOME!) you should just be able to plonk a GTX 2070 or whatever it is in and ramp up those settings. I think I was using what was then (before Horizons 2.2) VR med default setting with my GTX 970 but that was before ASW so it was a bit choppy at times. You could probably get away with VR high at 45fps at a guess. It is super sampling/HMD quality increases @90fps that are the real killers and why people end up with big beefy cards. I've got a GTX 1080 now and want even more power but I would much rather play in VR on a GTX 970 or GTX 1060 than be playing on a monitor.

Update: been checking out YouTube videos and it seems it is quite likely your CPU could cause a bottleneck. I will link the video that shows it most clearly. The setup is similar to what you will have and during the benchmark the CPU goes to 100% on all cores so the limiting factor is the CPU not the GPU which never reaches 100%, so if in the video it was a 1070 not a 1060 there would be no gain over the GTX 1060. Get a 1060 mate. https://youtu.be/821R3NoiVWc

Man - you are the guru.

Good news is that my 7600 is slightly better than the 6600K in that vid (according to benchmarking - not by much it seems - even though it's a 3.1 mine regularly gets up to 3.8) but it does show that i could get away with it on lower res settings (which i dont mind). Draw distance could be an issue...

It seems that the RAM doesn't get much over 6GB in that vid - is it worth throwing another 8 in? Because if i upgrade the CPU/MOB then i could just buy an 8GB stick of better/more suitable RAM for the MOB...

I'll look into that MOB and CPU set-up - Just to clarify:

Gigabyte 970A-DS3P AMD AM3/AM3+ ATX Motherboard
FX-8300 AMD Vishera 8 Core 4.2 GHz Socket AM3+ CPU (seems better bang for buck than the 8350)
GTX1060 (is something like this ok? https://www.ple.com.au/Products/624708/ASUS-GeForce-GTX1060-STRIX-6GB-GDDR5 )

Thank you once again, i've really appreciated your help as this is a bit of a minefield!

PS - Do SCAN deliver to Australia? Their prices are cheap, even with conversion to $AU!! (NVMND: They might not: https://www.scan.co.uk/help/orders/delivery/delivery-europe )

 

[Gortron]

You’re welcome, built a few of my own computers before and needed to stretch my cash, so know where you are coming from.

I doubt Scan deliver to OZ and it probably wouldn’t work out cheaper in the end. You might have to pay sales tax or some sort of import tariff your end if customs see it, not really sure how that works but could go wrong. Might be worth starting a thread somewhere to see where is a good place to buy in OZ or try asking HJ-RedRaven; I think he is from there, and a good person to ask for a second option too, he is very knowledgeable about VR. I could well be worrying too much about the weakness of your CPU. Intel chips are much better for games right now, if someone with a minimum spec AMD chip or less said they are running a GTX1070 with VR fine I’d be less cautious.

The RAM use in that video can’t really be directly related to what will be used when you are running ED but from my experience of running ED in VR on 8Gb, 16Gb is a luxury not a necessity (barely any difference my PC normally uses 5-7 GB with ED running even now I have 16). You can just stick with the 8GB you have to start with (remember to disable the on-board graphics to save that RAM) and see how you get on. I wouldn’t swap the DDR3-1600 for the same amount of DDR3-1866. The negligible performance gain wouldn’t be worth the expense.
That card you linked to looks fine so long as it will physically fit in your case (I’ve been caught out with that before). This one looks good but a bit smaller http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/410267/VIDEOCARDS_GEFORCE_PCI-EX_GTX_10XX/MSI/GTX_1060_6GT_OC.asp

I think you will get away with just the graphics card but yep the Gigabyte 970A-DS3P AMD AM3/AM3+ ATX Motherboard and FX-8300 AMD Vishera 8 Core 4.2 GHz Socket AM3+ CPU should be fine. I’m struggling to find that FX-8300 for sale on Aussie websites though. Hopefully you will track one down if not the FX-8320 is the next one up I think.

 

[B1rdy]

I'd be looking for something 650W at least

I wouldn't, unless I had too much money.

I'll look into that MOB and CPU set-up - Just to clarify:

Gigabyte 970A-DS3P AMD AM3/AM3+ ATX Motherboard
FX-8300 AMD Vishera 8 Core 4.2 GHz Socket AM3+ CPU (seems better bang for buck than the 8350)
GTX1060 (is something like this ok? https://www.ple.com.au/Products/624708/ASUS-GeForce-GTX1060-STRIX-6GB-GDDR5 )

Thank you once again, i've really appreciated your help as this is a bit of a minefield!

If you can, you might want to wait for AMDs new CPUs to be release. Rumors say in within 2-3 months. AMDs CPUs aren't recommendable for gaming, only if you are really tight on the budget.
If you want to try VR, you probably can go with a card below the recommendations, at least for ED because it allows the game to render below the native resolution. But, and this is a big but, you would not want to play (especially) this game below native resolution, because it becomes really blurry and edges become even more pronounced. This game is barely acceptable in native resolution.

Generally speaking, for a gaming PC you want to place a bigger relevance to graphics card than CPU. So if you have a tight budget, but a little money to spare, go for a 1070 instead of a better CPU.
Regarding the PSU: For a single CPU and GPU system 500W is enough, if you don't buy chinese junk. Go for a beQuiet E10 500W or CoolerMaster G550M, if you want it to be cheaper. Both PSUs are more silent, have better components and are technically advanced over Thermaltake's PSUs.

 

[CMDR_Starling]

I have just bought (from scan because I live near the shop) the Vive and am running an 8350, with RX 480 setup. It works well on low vr settings, and is acceptable on medium, but the top end is too juddery for my liking. Hope this anecdote helps. Also, occasionally I send parts to my sister in New South Wales, and it's not very expensive to mail.

 

[Kkronnoss]

You’re welcome, built a few of my own computers before and needed to stretch my cash, so know where you are coming from.

I doubt Scan deliver to OZ and it probably wouldn’t work out cheaper in the end. You might have to pay sales tax or some sort of import tariff your end if customs see it, not really sure how that works but could go wrong. Might be worth starting a thread somewhere to see where is a good place to buy in OZ or try asking HJ-RedRaven; I think he is from there, and a good person to ask for a second option too, he is very knowledgeable about VR. I could well be worrying too much about the weakness of your CPU. Intel chips are much better for games right now, if someone with a minimum spec AMD chip or less said they are running a GTX1070 with VR fine I’d be less cautious.

The RAM use in that video can’t really be directly related to what will be used when you are running ED but from my experience of running ED in VR on 8Gb, 16Gb is a luxury not a necessity (barely any difference my PC normally uses 5-7 GB with ED running even now I have 16). You can just stick with the 8GB you have to start with (remember to disable the on-board graphics to save that RAM) and see how you get on. I wouldn’t swap the DDR3-1600 for the same amount of DDR3-1866. The negligible performance gain wouldn’t be worth the expense.
That card you linked to looks fine so long as it will physically fit in your case (I’ve been caught out with that before). This one looks good but a bit smaller http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/410267/VIDEOCARDS_GEFORCE_PCI-EX_GTX_10XX/MSI/GTX_1060_6GT_OC.asp

I think you will get away with just the graphics card but yep the Gigabyte 970A-DS3P AMD AM3/AM3+ ATX Motherboard and FX-8300 AMD Vishera 8 Core 4.2 GHz Socket AM3+ CPU should be fine. I’m struggling to find that FX-8300 for sale on Aussie websites though. Hopefully you will track one down if not the FX-8320 is the next one up I think.

I found a AMD FX-8300 BLACK Edition 8 Core Design 4.2Ghz Turbo Core 16M Cache 95watt on ebay for well under AU$200 which seems pretty good. I might hold off on the RAM and save the pennies there. Thx again, have really appreciated your advice.

I wouldn't, unless I had too much money.
If you can, you might want to wait for AMDs new CPUs to be release. Rumors say in within 2-3 months. AMDs CPUs aren't recommendable for gaming, only if you are really tight on the budget.
If you want to try VR, you probably can go with a card below the recommendations, at least for ED because it allows the game to render below the native resolution. But, and this is a big but, you would not want to play (especially) this game below native resolution, because it becomes really blurry and edges become even more pronounced. This game is barely acceptable in native resolution.

Generally speaking, for a gaming PC you want to place a bigger relevance to graphics card than CPU. So if you have a tight budget, but a little money to spare, go for a 1070 instead of a better CPU.
Regarding the PSU: For a single CPU and GPU system 500W is enough, if you don't buy chinese junk. Go for a beQuiet E10 500W or CoolerMaster G550M, if you want it to be cheaper. Both PSUs are more silent, have better components and are technically advanced over Thermaltake's PSUs.

I'd still like to upgrade this cpu and the FX-8300 seems pretty decent (in lieu of Intel) but the advice on a 1070 is good - thank you ill consider that. I have a Thermaltake 550W PSU so seems like that should cover me. Thank you for the advice.

I have just bought (from scan because I live near the shop) the Vive and am running an 8350, with RX 480 setup. It works well on low vr settings, and is acceptable on medium, but the top end is too juddery for my liking. Hope this anecdote helps. Also, occasionally I send parts to my sister in New South Wales, and it's not very expensive to mail.

Just out of interest (think ill still go for the 10 series), is that the 4GB or 8GB version?

 

[Plopsi]

I run an 8350 too, together with a R9 Nano (actually 2 but no Multi-GPU Support in ED :/). I expierience the same, playable up to medium (+SMAA, otherwise the flickering drives me too crazy). In my opinion the CPU is the bottleneck, together with the not soo performant implementation of FD, as I already see more graphics expensive games in VR running smooth. As nVidia reduces (combining) drawcalls already in the driver, a nVidia card with same performance should get a better result with this CPU.
All in all I just wating for the Zens to launch and then switch anyway ^^ - It can't get more worse than the Bulldozers .

 

[Beavis Tingleball]

im actually surprised you're not crashing constantly with a 500w psu. I know hardware isnt as power hungry as it used to be but you really dont want to starve your CPU and GPU. I run an i7 6700k gtx1080 and a thermaltake 850w psu..not saying you need an 850w but 500 is really pushin' it IMHO.

 

[Verlaine]

My nine-year-old Intel Core i7 965 with four cores and eight threads at 3.2 GHz is below Oculus' minimum spec. But Elite and other games run fine with my two-sensor Rift Touch setup. However, I run most games — even basic titles such as "Farlands" — at medium settings at best, most likely because of my AMD RX 480 8GB GPU. Additionally, my system has 16GB of RAM, SSD drives and the Oculus-recommended USB 3.0 PCIe card for the sensors.

I imagine I could push most VR games to high settings with a more powerful GPU, but I don't know how a more powerful CPU would impact the experience.