Gaming laptop for VR?

[mossfoot]

I'm considering a new computer for playing Elite in VR but don't want another desktop. But I also wish to keep my current desktop as the core of my entertainment center for movies and whatnot.

Might I get some feedback on how this might stack up in the long run? Or maybe someone already uses something similar?

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/msi-gp65-leopard-15-6-gaming-laptop-black-intel-i7-10750h-512gb-ssd-16gb-ram-geforce-gtx-1660-ti-en/14788023

 

[Arioch]

If I recall correctly, @Old Duck bought a laptop with a 1660ti graphics card and was quite happily running a Rift S from it.

VR will love the i7 and DDR 4 RAM so that should be fine. What headset are you intending to use?

 

[mossfoot]

I currently have a Lenovo WMR headset, but am considering getting an Occulus Rift S. Any idea what kind of settings he was able to run it at?

With a laptop like this, how feasible is it to upgrade the graphics card later? That would go a long way to making my decision since I'd like to keep it relevant in the long run.

I am also considering a desktop in order to get a more powerful rig: Like this one, for example: https://www.lenovo.com/ca/en/desktops-and-all-in-ones/ideacentre/500-series/Creator-5i/p/90R70001US

 

[Arioch]

I currently have a Lenovo WMR headset, but am considering getting an Occulus Rift S. Any idea what kind of settings he was able to run it at?

With a laptop like this, how feasible is it to upgrade the graphics card later? That would go a long way to making my decision since I'd like to keep it relevant in the long run.

I am also considering a desktop in order to get a more powerful rig: Like this one, for example: https://www.lenovo.com/ca/en/desktops-and-all-in-ones/ideacentre/500-series/Creator-5i/p/90R70001US

I’m afraid you’ll have to get OD to answer your performance question, but when I had a GTX 1060 in my desktop I was able to run mostly high settings with a Rift CV1 though I frequently dropped into ASW in busy situations.

Upgrading a laptop graphics card is generally impossible - the ones that are upgradeable tend to make it a big selling point and are very rare. There is the possibility of using external card enclosures but they require a Thunderbolt port (if I remember correctly) and you never get the card’s full performance.

Desktop is the way ahead if you want to upgrade components and you don’t need the portability of a laptop.

 

[Old Duck]

If I recall correctly, @Old Duck bought a laptop with a 1660ti graphics card and was quite happily running a Rift S from it.

This is true! That said, the laptop does hit its limits in VR (driving an SRV around a Guardian base in VR tanks performance for some reason), but for my normal day-to-day flying in space adventures, my laptop gets the job done.

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predator-i7-9750H-Keyboard-PH315-52-78VL/dp/B07QXLFLXT

 

[AlarmedBread]

I bought two years ago an msi gs65 with 1070m gpu. Which is pretty similar to what you're looking at. I wanted something easy to take with in my backpack while traveling. Paired with a mouse and orb weaver, it's good to go. For my work situation traveling and living out of a suitcase it was necessary.

It has performed well and allowed me to enjoy gaming while traveling for work. With VR it's even better and ticks the box of missing my old triple monitors with head tracking setup. I can't max out every setting in every game obviously. Do make yourself a list of current / upcoming titles and ensure you'll have acceptable performance before buying the laptop.

I spent $2,300 on the laptop plus SSD upgrades and upsie insurance. it's still performing well enough after two years for me. If I had bought something cheaper I would probably be looking to replace it by now.

The convenience and ease of travel with a laptop setup for me has been great. I am still getting used to VR and have a couple old joysticks, also trying the mod to use the VR controllers in this game. I haven't settled on doing that or investing in a better HOTAS setup to fit in my carry on bag.

Overall I'm happy with the purchase and the smiles per $$$$ have been worth it to me.

 

[mossfoot]

Thanks for the advice, both of you

Sadly if that setup would struggle with a guardian site in VR and I couldn't upgrade the card later, then I'm back to considering a desktop solution.

However, I did find a different laptop with an RTX 2060 that I can get for a very good price.

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/asus-rog-strix-g17-17-3-gaming-laptop-intel-i7-10750h-512gb-ssd-16gb-ram-rtx-2060-open-box/14776589

But honestly I don't know what the practical difference between a 1660ti and a 2060 when it comes to VR. They're just numbers and my brain goes "bigger = better?"

 

[AlarmedBread]

You can search benchmarks, and compare cards. 3dmark VR benchmarks, add gpu you're considering to compare.

This link has the 1660ti, 2060, 2070, 2080 max Q versions. You should search the exact laptop you're looking at as these results may not match what you buy depending on hardware.

Result

www.3dmark.com

Here's a link to 3dmark, which you can download free on steam to benchmark your current rig as a baseline - https://benchmarks.ul.com/vrmark

 

[Meresiga]

I can tell you about my experience using my laptops in VR mode with Oculus CV1 and Oculus Rift S helmets.
I had a laptop for two years - HP Omen 17 i7-7700HQ (2.8)/32Gb/1TB+512GB SSD/17.3" FHD AG/NV GTX 1070 8GB.

I used the Oculus Rift S helmet with this laptop in the game Elite Dangerous via the Display Port. However, the laptop was very hot, especially in combat modes. At these moments, the game even started to slow down. To prevent heating, I bought a laptop stand with fans. But in combat modes, the video card still started to slow down the image output.

After a whole year of using this laptop, I purchased another laptop from the same manufacturer, but a newer model - HP Omen 17 i9-10885H 32Gb 1Tb + SSD 512Gb nV RTX2080 Super 8Gb.

In combat modes, the game's slowdown has stopped. However, the laptop (its video adapter) warms up even more. I had to use the old laptop stand with fans, and additional cooling for the keyboard. The laptop cools down perfectly. And this additional cooling device applied very well to the additional keyboard.

Here in the attached files - in the first photo, an old laptop with an Oculus CV1 helmet with an external monitor and with the Elite Dangerous game running.
The second photo shows a new laptop with additional cooling on it and an additional keyboard. The helmet in the photo is an Oculus Rift S.

Next to the laptop - joysticks from Saitek X52 Pro.

In conclusion, I can say that I didn't have any other problems (except for heating) with laptops from Hewlett Packard. There were no problems with the helmets from Oculus. And I've never used Steam. The game was purchased from the manufacturer, not via Steam.

 

[Morbad]

A 1660 Ti will suffice, but if you can swing for a 1080 or 2070, even if you have to sacrifice something like integrated display quality, it will be a better experience.

Even the 2060 is modestly superior to the 1660 Ti, but not so much more that it would be worth paying appreciably more.

 

[varonica]

I have this, can't compare prices because I am in Australia;

MSI G63 Raider RGB 8SF

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 1/15/2020, 21:33:03
Machine name: MSI
Machine Id: {5E8749AF-CC97-4CF4-BFB0-65218D0A21E8}
Operating System: Windows 10 Home 64-bit (10.0, Build 18362) (18362.19h1_release.190318-1202)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.
System Model: GE63 Raider RGB 8SF
BIOS: E16P7IMS.106 (type: UEFI)
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8750H CPU @ 2.20GHz (12 CPUs), ~2.2GHz
Memory: 16384MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 16228MB RAM
Page File: 15147MB used, 3905MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 12
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: 120 DPI (125 percent)
System DPI Setting: 120 DPI (125 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: UnKnown
Miracast: Available, with HDCP
Microsoft Graphics Hybrid: Supported
DirectX Database Version: 1.1.2
DxDiag Version: 10.00.18362.0387 64bit Unicode

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce RTX 2070
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Type: Full Device
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1F10&SUBSYS_126A1462&REV_A1
Device Status: 0180200A [DN_DRIVER_LOADED|DN_STARTED|DN_DISABLEABLE|DN_NT_ENUMERATOR|DN_NT_DRIVER]
Device Problem Code: No Problem
Driver Problem Code: Unknown
Display Memory: 16145 MB
Dedicated Memory: 8031 MB
Shared Memory: 8114 MB

No problems. There are newer and faster cards out now of course but at the moment with the current standard of VR devices I can't see there being any issues. Of course if they substantially increase the resolution of VR displays and quality of game graphics it might start getting a bit slow, but that won't happen for a few years at least, games always lag behind hardware, except for Crysis of course!