Help me spec a new PC with VR in mind

Rock Hunter

Rock Hunter
....what should I look for in terms of 'best' components?

I currently run a Samsung Odyssey on my i7 6700k with 16Gb RAM DDR4 2400Mhz and a GeForce GTX 1070. It's fine, infact it's not it's amazing (....but that's as much about ED in VR and the fact I haven't experienced it on a better system,) but I'm looking to a new PC either this summer or perhaps in the autumn and have decided it's time I spent some money on something that can really run VR well. I've got a budget of around £3500 but I'd go above that if it would get me an appreciable difference from what I could get at my initial budget.

I'm a photographer and only use my PC for editing/processing via Lightroom and Photoshop, the usual web browsing and then gaming so other than getting a much larger SSD than on my current system (a mere 128Gb ) and a larger HD I'm at a loss as to what would benefit me the most. I know virtually nothing about the best manufacturers, the best motherboards, the difference in brands of GPUs etc etc. Some ability for future upgrade would be very useful as I tend to make do with what I have for quite a while and just upgrade a few bits if needed.

Perhaps I could ask a question or two first but I'm open to advice of all sorts.

1. How much realistic difference would running two SLI GPU's make to Elite in VR? Does one GTX 2080 Ti do a better job than two 1070s in SLI (I'd be looking to buy the upper echelon of gpu although the Titan(?) may be more than I'm willing to currently spend.....though perhaps I'm looking at this in the wrong way?)
Which leads me to question 2.

2. What components are the ones that you really should be spending big on and which areas have a little more give?

3. RAM speed - is there a DDR5? How much value is there in 3600MHz over 2400MHz e.g. Would you go 128GB DDR4 2400MHz or 64Gb of DDR4 3600MHz....or is that not how it works:unsure:

I haven't even touched on CPUs yet but I'm guessing we're straight in with an i9 of some sort?

Am I missing some obvious questions, asking the wrong questions and in danger of not looking for the right things?

I had a look at UK Gaming Computers website, where I got my current set up several years back, and have looked at 'Extreme' PC's around my budget and then looked at specc'ing them but I simply don't know which components offer the best value with regard to VR much beyond a meaty as hell GPU. I was looking at this one and wondering about changes I could make when I realised I need to ask some people who know they're stuff, and definitely Elite VR stuff, first.

Thanks......and looks ashamedly towards the floor with his lack of IT skills
 
Last edited:

Rock Hunter

Rock Hunter
HeavyGroovez said:
Forget SLI, its no use for VR. In fact its no use for anything other than benchmarking. For VR a single 2080Ti is what you want.
Click to expand...

I did some reading up on SLI after posting my OP and your advice and opinion backs up the articles I read. That’s a nice saving straight away. I’m happy to spend on ‘future proofing’ but there’s no point wasting money I could use elsewhere. Thanks.
 

sewerratuk

sewerratuk
I have an i7 6700 with GTX1080 and am considering an upgrade to both but wonder if the motherboard will also bottleneck things.
 

Lord Megadrive

L
Also, the 2080 unless you’re using raytracing isn’t that much different performance wise from a 1080ti. The 2080 is a bit more power efficient I believe but it has less cuda cores so For traditional graphical effects the 1080ti even beats it.
 

Rock Hunter

Rock Hunter
Lord Megadrive said:
A mate of mine plays on an i7 6700k, has a 1080ti and uses a HTC vive, gets the required 60fps easily, admittedly the processor has been overclocked to 4.6ghz.
Click to expand...
Lord Megadrive said:
Also, the 2080 unless you’re using raytracing isn’t that much different performance wise from a 1080ti. The 2080 is a bit more power efficient I believe but it has less cuda cores so For traditional graphical effects the 1080ti even beats it.
Click to expand...

I’ve capped my FPS through WMR to 60 just to try and keep it steady, it seems to range from 60 down to 45-48 inside stations. It’s on games like GR: Wildlands that I’m still amazed at how low my FPS can be with my current set up.

Are there still 1080Ti on the (new) market? I’ll have to Google cuda cores, my knowledge really is poor.
 

Warmedxmints

W
All you need to upgrade is your GPU really. I would opt for a 1080ti or 2080ti. It isn't going to make much odds but a larger SSD would be nice and as you are editing photos, I would recommend upgrading to 32gb RAM. The ram isn't going to make much odds when it comes to gaming but will help if you are manipulating large images.
 

Space Dandy

Space Dandy
A 1080ti and rtx 2080 is about the same performance. When rtx gpu first came out the 1080ti edged out a little over the rtx2080 in that "in general" it beat out the 2080 barring some few exceptions.

Now however the rtx 2080 beats out "in general" the 1080ti barring some few exceptions. If you have a 1080ti there's no point in "upgrading to" a 2080 as it's more of a "lateral" upgrade rather than a a vertical one.

IF you have neither then your just better off getting a rtx as most likely the 1080ti will be used AND cost more than a new 2080 on sale.

I will be building a new VR machine, just waiting till the ryzen 3600x/3700x cpu come out, to decide on cpu and so have done quite a bit of research on gpu's too and I will be getting at minimum a rtx 2080 UNLESS I am strapped for cash for some reason AND can get a really really really good deal on a 1080ti which I doubt as people want stupid high prices for them claiming they are "better" than a rtx 2080 when that's flat out false.


Your cpu isn't that old and if it's not OC you should probably OC to something like 4.6 or 4.7ghz and not build a new system right now.

Buy a rtx2080ti if you can afford it which I would say you can with that budget, I think the bigger gpu will have more of an effect than a new cpu as your cpu isn't really that old or slow..it's just lacking cores for the long term.

Once you stick in a new gpu you can always move the gpu to a new system later on if you see the 6700k is bottle necking the gpu.

I used to be a big fan of sli just loved my dual 5770 but sli is just not that good anymore, generally it more hassle than it's worth and two gpu's do not "double" your performance...sli is for when you have the fastest card available and you still need more oommphh for some reason......then you try to sli and that only if for the reason you need the extra omph sli is effective. Sadly this is not really the case much any more in games etc and is more for bragging rights.

Oh I almost forgot for ddr4 ram you want speed like 3200 (cas 14) as it's the equivalent performance wise to ddr3 1600mhz.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom