GTX 1070 users - what settings are you running at in VR?

[the100thmonkey]

As per the title.

I've recently upgraded my system and have an OSVR HDK2 headset on the way, scheduled to arrive around Christmas time. I'm trying to minimise my setup headaches as much as I can, as I imagine most of my patience is going to be tested by getting OSVR to work with SteamVR. To that end, I'd like to ask users here what their settings are with a similar setup:

• i7 6700K @stock, but I'm not afraid to overclock if it's recommended - I've been OCing for years.
• 16GB DDR4 3000
• Zotac GTX 1070 Amp! Edition @stock (again, I'm not afraid to overclock it, although I do generally prefer to leave GPUs as they are)
• OSVR HDK2 - 2160x1200 @ 90Hz

Thanks in advance for all your help!

 

[Herbrand]

Custom VR High with some settings increased, SuperSampling set to 1.5.

 

[Wood67]

I use Dr Kaii's tool and am still playing around with it (1070 + CV-1). I now have SS down to 1.0 and the HMD up at 1.5 in the latest build. Most other settings are in the High range, except some of the ambience occlusion and bloom stuff which is off or low. I'm only running an i7 3770 CPU, but it works quite happily. To be honest I don't see a massive amount of difference as I change the settings, but I don't dedicate too much time to analysing the results element by element. Every now and then I just change a few things and then play for a while. So I still don't really know whether to increase SS over HMD quality or the other way round for example.

Probably the biggest difference was applying the Cool Blue colour mapping.

 

[Oasis81]

good for you
i CAN'T have this settings

run a vr medium and low with some settings to high, but with hdM 1.25 ans SS 1.00 after 10 minutes i've stuttering

can be the CPU? I5 6500... that never touch the 100% of usage. the GPU 1070 touch the 95 % of usage.. and the FPS are alwais between 45 and 90

this is with SS 1.0 and HDM 1.25 and SMAA active

anyway, with I7 and 1070 sewt

SMAA
ss 1
HDM 1.5

ambient high
reflection high

the others as you want.

 

[Wood67]

run a vr medium and low with some settings to high, but with hdM 1.25 ans SS 1.00 after 10 minutes i've stuttering

Not sure what that is (not up to speed on the tech anymore). If I get stuttering it will be limited to dropping out of SC/HS for a couple of seconds. Planetside in the SRV can be a little weird, and in-station FPS can drop to 45 with ASW cutting in. My CPU is an i7-3770 so quite old, but the setup is comfortable enough.

 

[the100thmonkey]

Why are people running with supersampling and anti-aliasing?

Surely that's kicking your cards in the balls... What impact does it have on image quality?

 

[Martynyuu]

for me first bottleneck was the old 3570k i5 and the second was GPU ram speed SS and AA seems to love GPU RAM speed.

 

[evilscoop]

supersample at 1.0
hmd quality at 2
AA off
rederer set with chaperone switcher, 1.25
rest high

6820hk processor and 1070 on alienware laptop, all runs fine

 

[the100thmonkey]

supersample at 1.0
hmd quality at 2
AA off
rederer set with chaperone switcher, 1.25
rest high

6820hk processor and 1070 on alienware laptop, all runs fine

That's good to know - the laptop cards are clocked a little lower than the desktop variants.

Thanks all for the replies!

 

[Wood67]

Why are people running with supersampling and anti-aliasing?

Most likely because I don't really have a clue what I'm doing lol! But I thought SS and AA are two completely different things - the former smoothing out the whole image through re-processing, the latter targetting the jaggies specifically. If that assumption is wrong, it proves my initial statement of course!

 

[Oasis81]

Why are people running with supersampling and anti-aliasing?

Surely that's kicking your cards in the balls... What impact does it have on image quality?

try with SS 1.00 and AA off or MSAA
for me there is difference. no?

also because i can't run over 1.00 of SS.

 

[the100thmonkey]

But I thought SS and AA are two completely different things - the former smoothing out the whole image through re-processing, the latter targetting the jaggies specifically. If that assumption is wrong, it proves my initial statement of course!

That's accurate. On LCD panels, most people use supersampling in place of AA because it looks better - AA usually involves some shimmer, whereas resampling tends to have less. Both are expensive in terms of rendering - 2.0 supersampling on a 1920x1080 monitor effectively renders the image at 4K (3840x2160) and scales it down.

try with SS 1.00 and AA off or MSAA
for me there is difference. no?

also because i can't run over 1.00 of SS.

I think you may have misunderstood me - I'm asking why people use both supersampling and anti-aliasing. Both are well-known performance hogs that do pretty similar things and have similar purposes on standard non-VR setups. I'm asking what the benefit is on a VR headset.

 

[Gortron]

Most likely because I don't really have a clue what I'm doing lol! But I thought SS and AA are two completely different things - the former smoothing out the whole image through re-processing, the latter targetting the jaggies specifically. If that assumption is wrong, it proves my initial statement of course!

VR is extremely demanding not only because of the very high resolution (even though it doesn't look like it with the screens that close to your eyes) but because your computer is trying render two completely different images at 90 FPS.

Some graphics settings are more demanding than others even though they visually have similar effects. What you have said is for all intents and purposes correct but if you use anti aliasing and then apply super sampling you are effectively asking your GPU to do some pretty hardcore maths and then asking it to redo everything at a higher resolution, then down sample to something that can be displayed. It's getting into the territory of diminishing returns, where your GPU is busy polishing up edges but unable to render frames fast enough for the overall experience to not be bad.

AA seems to use less resources than SS and HMD quality seems to be a less demanding way of sharpening up the picture and more effective than SS. I'm finding the VR Ultra preset modified with FX AA (a bit less demanding AA but a bit blurry) + SS 1.0 and HMD quality 1.25, on my GTX 1080 is near to 90fps enough of the time and the best balance between sharpness and performance for my eyes. It's still a work in progress though. If I wind back the effects and increase sharpness too much I get 'screen door' (it's so sharp I can tell I'm looking at screens and the illusion breaks) if I don't increase resolution over preset values it's too blurry and it becomes uncomfortable to spend extended time in VR. TBH I'm not convinced there is any value in having a 1080 over a 1070 because the balance is so hard to strike. Sorry I've digressed, try using VR High and modify similarly.

VR is bloody awesome though

 

[TomT]

I've been experimenting quite a bit, but am using these settings at the moment on GTX1070:

Spoiler

CPU is i7-6700K
32 GB ram
Windows 10

Seems to maintain 90fps fairly consistently. I'm always looking for ideas to tweak things further tho...

 

[the100thmonkey]

Thanks for the replies all.

Dr. Kaii's Tool (fnar) doesn't seem to work with OSVR headsets.

I got it up and running and yeah. Wow!

It runs through SteamVR, so any tips you have on setup at the Steam end would be really helpful!

• I see people mentioning "HMD quality" but I can't see that option in the OSVR software or in SteamVR. Is it a Vive/Oculus only thing? Fixed - it's in the graphics options menu. I'm a derp.
• I find the lenses have to be pretty close - too close - to my face for me to get decent focus. I don't need glasses - I last had my eyes tested about a year ago for my driving licence and everything was fine. Would changing the focal distance in the E:D settings alleviate this? Sometimes I smudge the lenses when I blink... :[

 

[the100thmonkey]

I've been experimenting quite a bit, but am using these settings at the moment on GTX1070:

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/QJiHhNP.png

CPU is i7-6700K
32 GB ram
Windows 10

Seems to maintain 90fps fairly consistently. I'm always looking for ideas to tweak things further tho...

Thanks for these settings - they really do work quite well. I get a few dropped frames at inopporunte moments, usually when it's busy in the HiRES or, strangely, when entering the hangar at a station. I mean, you might think that the bloody 3KM wide station with its millions of polygons, internal and external, would do that, but NO... the transition from station interior to basically a cuboid does it. LOL.

I'll let you know how I get on with tweaking settings for RES work. I shudder at the thought of what a mining laser will do - the fragments when doing that can bring a GTX 1070 to its knees on a standard 1080p monitor!

In other news, Dr. Kaii's tools does, actually, work with the OSVR HDK2 because it manipulates game client files. I'm still a derp. The blue HUD schemes are lovely and sharp too.

 

[Oasis81]

I've been experimenting quite a bit, but am using these settings at the moment on GTX1070:

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/QJiHhNP.png

CPU is i7-6700K
32 GB ram
Windows 10

Seems to maintain 90fps fairly consistently. I'm always looking for ideas to tweak things further tho...

mmm, i had about same config.. and i thing you can downgrade the enviromnment to high, and upgrade SS to 1.00 ... that it's better imho

 

[TomT]

mmm, i had about same config.. and i thing you can downgrade the enviromnment to high, and upgrade SS to 1.00 ... that it's better imho

Thanks, I'll give that a try!

 

[Ripbudd]

I have 970 and i'm going to upgrade it to GTX 3080/3080Ti (volta) this thig will eat VR like... candy?

Im surprised how well it runs on my 970, probably lot of async tricks they added. But damn i can only use 1.25HMD quality and on planets it's not perfect.

 

[the100thmonkey]

I have 970 and i'm going to upgrade it to GTX 3080/3080Ti (volta) this thig will eat VR like... candy?

Im surprised how well it runs on my 970, probably lot of async tricks they added. But damn i can only use 1.25HMD quality and on planets it's not perfect.

You're still doing pretty well - that's a two and a half year old card now.