Hardware & Technical Mash to dauphinoise: What to do with a Potato?

Rock Hunter

Rock Hunter
I'm getting desperate to try VR but have problems. The first is the size of my wallet, the second is the PC I'm currently using to play on.

My PC will, apparently, run VR at the most basic level i.e. not recommended, just basic running and generally I'm very relaxed about FPS. Before finding E.D. I was running around Bolivia in GR: Wildlands with settings pretty much maxed out and fps rates of 25-30 (maybe 32 tops) and that doesn't bother me one bit as I've never played any game on the latest tech. With that in mind I'm tempted to give VR a go with what I have but sense dictates it may be time to upgrade a little first.

The problem is, if I need to upgrade on a limited budget, what is worth upgrading first? Can I get a 1060/70 and be good to go? Does that motherboard look way too weak to cope with anything more than the 1050Ti and the old cpu? Where do I start if I can't do it all at once?

So these are my current stats:

Intel i5-6400 2.70Ghz Skylake
Nvidia GeForce 1050Ti
Asus H110M-A Motherboard


P.S. I'm medically diagnosed an IT idiot, I can switch things on and off and I can load up and shut down games. Fitting stuff myself is a sure fire way to break whatever is in my hands.

Thanks for any help
 

Rock Hunter

Rock Hunter
Zieman said:
1060/70 will be more power hungry, what's your PSU?
Click to expand...

I’m assuming you’re looking for more than just the power supply from my plug socket, I did warn my IT knowledge is woeful. Is there a way to find this out other than taking the side of my PC...or do I need to find the unit within my PC?

Apologies for such a dense response.


Found it. My power supply is a Corsair CX430 430W.

Caramel Clown said:
Just to note one thing - you will care for fps and stable frame times in VR. Otherwise you'll just get sick in minutes, and cause terrible eye strain.
Click to expand...


That’s a very fair point and whilst I’ve no experience of VR it’s the kind of thing I can image would be just one very valid reason for upgrading before even thinking about buying a VR unit.
 
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Zieman

Zieman
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Rock Hunter

Rock Hunter
Zieman said:
Hmm, geforce.com recommends at least 500W PSU for the GTX 1070 and 400W for 1060.
https://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-1070/specifications
https://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-1060/specifications

EDIT: that said, I don't remember my PC ever drawing over 400W from the socket, and I play E: D in 4k resolution with GTX 980ti which is much more power hungry than a 1070 (250W vs 150W)...
Click to expand...

I think this highlights a simple fact. The slow, steady upgrade route is really the only route to take towards a ‘VR capable’ PC. At least many of the components are relatively cheap as I’m not looking at top end stuff but mid level. Time to do some serious browsing and research.

Thanks for your time and help.
 

TorTorden_VR

T
I second this.

High fps is not a recommendation for VR it is an absolute requirement.
And compared to regular gaming it won't be slightly less immersive, or little annoying.

It will make you sick like puje your guts out sick.
Not want to look at your pc sick.

And sadly Elite is fairly more power hungry than most VR titles.
 

VenAAX

V
Take a look at a used 1070. They are fairly good for entry-level VR... you won't be playing in High, you'll be stuck in VR medium settings, but it's good enough to start with.

I use a 1080 TI to play Elite in VR Ultra, in my Vive.

Make sure your PSU is > 500 watts. Even used PSUs are good, just double-check jonnyguru, and I'd recommend doing some reading on an actual computer enthusiast forum. OC3D, OCUK, ExtremeOverclocking, Overclock.net, Hard|Forum are all good resources.

Maintaining a full 90FPS with low jitter (you want, ideally, NO jitter... no missed frames, no reprojection (though a little in stations is fine), no motion smoothing is the best. In fact, if you will run SteamVR Beta, DISABLE motion smoothing for Elite -- large FPS impact and it makes everything look really, really ugly when it smooths systems and move your head. As in, you'll get sick from that weird ghosting effect.

Elite isn't terribly CPU-bound except for route plotting. Route-plotting in VR will sometimes result in some frame jitter or dropped frames. Keep your head still when route-plotting in VR. The puke is not worth it.
 

TorTorden_VR

T
VenAAX said:
Take a look at a used 1070. They are fairly good for entry-level VR... you won't be playing in High, you'll be stuck in VR medium settings, but it's good enough to start with.

I use a 1080 TI to play Elite in VR Ultra, in my Vive.

Make sure your PSU is > 500 watts. Even used PSUs are good, just double-check jonnyguru, and I'd recommend doing some reading on an actual computer enthusiast forum. OC3D, OCUK, ExtremeOverclocking, Overclock.net, Hard|Forum are all good resources.

Maintaining a full 90FPS with low jitter (you want, ideally, NO jitter... no missed frames, no reprojection (though a little in stations is fine), no motion smoothing is the best. In fact, if you will run SteamVR Beta, DISABLE motion smoothing for Elite -- large FPS impact and it makes everything look really, really ugly when it smooths systems and move your head. As in, you'll get sick from that weird ghosting effect.

Elite isn't terribly CPU-bound except for route plotting. Route-plotting in VR will sometimes result in some frame jitter or dropped frames. Keep your head still when route-plotting in VR. The puke is not worth it.
Click to expand...

I disagree.

Cpu in elite can make quite a difference.
Upgrading from an i7 4790k to an i7 8700k was as big an updates to fluidity and fps stability as moving from a 980ti to a 1080ti.
Especially noticeable in Resource sites and conflict zones.
Regardless of graphics settings I would hit ASW throttling and stay throttled until I left the area.
 
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