HP Reverb G2 - The Hype is real

RupturedLung

R
I'm running the G2 off a 2080 Super and don't get any stuttering. However, I dropped the resolution in steam vr to around 60%, which was still listed as over 2000 pixels per eye. At 100% it is, unsurprisingly, unplayable. My feedback so far:
1.Getting it to work with the USB ports was a nightmare. I tried every single one and eventually one worked. I'm leaving it be, it's been ok for 3-4 days now but initially I thought I had a brick.
2.The increased clarity is fantastic, not sure I even need a new graphics card, it's a very nice increase over the Rift S and as the foam gets used to my face, the tunnel vision effect is lessening.
3. The sound is the other great thing, so much better than the Rift S I had before, I don't need to wear extra headphones now.
4.There is a bug with Star Wars Squadrons sound, click in the options to mute it in the background ( or something like that, it's to do with background noise. That sorts it.
5.The controllers kinda suck compared to the Rift S. The tracking is ok, good enough for Beat Sabre. Get rechargeable batteries.
Overall very happy with it, the visuals and sound make it a worthwhile upgrade over the Rift S.
 

Crank Larson

Crank Larson
Managed to get hold of a Radeon 6800. It has a USB slot on the GPU, and the G2 plugged into that and a DisplayPort works perfectly. When I was running on the 980Ti I used motherboard USB, and was getting sound clipping. No such issues on the new card. I put all E: D settings to Ultra and it ran fine (and looked beautiful). I have tweaked some down now as I've increased model draw distance and terrain work.

The display really is superb, as is the sound. Comfort is excellent too. I haven't set up the controllers so can't comment on those.
 

milligna

milligna
Haven't had many problems with my G2 thus far, sometimes the transitions in and out of SteamVR are a bit janky and jarring but that's about it. Looking good in the sims, tracking just fine for Skyrim.

The USB stuff sounds hideous and always the stuff that tends to go wrong for me with VR rigs. Glad there's no trouble on that front so far.
 

Morbad

Morbad
Crank Larson said:
Managed to get hold of a Radeon 6800. It has a USB slot on the GPU, and the G2 plugged into that and a DisplayPort works perfectly. When I was running on the 980Ti I used motherboard USB, and was getting sound clipping. No such issues on the new card.
Click to expand...

Kind of annoying that NVIDIA chose to omit the USB-C port (which was present on the Turing) on Ampere. Motherboard USB quality can be all over the place, for various reasons. Even ignoring possible controller issues, video cards with USB-C have voltage conversion in immediate vicinity of the port, while most boards just use +5v from the PSU, and then have massively long traces to ports.
 

Dooguk

D
Morbad said:
Kind of annoying that NVIDIA chose to omit the USB-C port (which was present on the Turing) on Ampere. Motherboard USB quality can be all over the place, for various reasons. Even ignoring possible controller issues, video cards with USB-C have voltage conversion in immediate vicinity of the port, while most boards just use +5v from the PSU, and then have massively long traces to ports.
Click to expand...
X570 the nightmare continues...

I tested the voltage on one of the USB ports at the rear with the G2 connected and it was 5.008v. One at the front measures 5.016. The rear ones don't let the G2 start but the front one does, but it has issues with sound and other weird glitches. It won't start with the tester plugged in.
Suffering because of my X570 choice. Fancy not testing the G2 on what is a fairly common chipset that has been out for a while. HP's excuse is maybe they should have tested on more "home brew" systems. I wouldn't call an ASUS X570 based motherboard with an AMD Ryzen 9 3900X CPU "home brew", pretty standard more like. Waiting for a pcie card to turn up. I don't want to use a hub as my system already looks like a shrine to the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

To be continued...
 

Morbad

Morbad
Dooguk said:
I tested the voltage on one of the USB ports at the rear with the G2 connected and it was 5.008v. One at the front measures 5.016. The rear ones don't let the G2 start but the front one does, but it has issues with sound and other weird glitches.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't appear to be a voltage issue on your setup then. Could impact how much a hub can help.

Dooguk said:
It won't start with the tester plugged in.
Click to expand...

Cheaper USB voltage testers generally only pass through a USB 1.1/2.0 connection and rarely even have pins for USB 3.0/3.2. So if you're trying to plug it in through the tester, that could be the issue there.

Dooguk said:
Suffering because of my X570 choice. Fancy not testing the G2 on what is a fairly common chipset that has been out for a while. HP's excuse is maybe they should have tested on more "home brew" systems. I wouldn't call an ASUS X570 based motherboard with an AMD Ryzen 9 3900X CPU "home brew", pretty standard more like. Waiting for a pcie card to turn up. I don't want to use a hub as my system already looks like a shrine to the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Click to expand...

Many of the USB ports on the AM4 platforms don't connect to the chipset. The CPU SoC itself has USB controllers on it. You'd need to check your motherboard to determine which ports connect to what.

Problems with trace length/routing are also more down to the board than the chipset. If the PHYs aren't in close proximity to the ports they connect to, there can be signaling issues.
 

Crank Larson

Crank Larson
Dooguk said:
X570 the nightmare continues...

I tested the voltage on one of the USB ports at the rear with the G2 connected and it was 5.008v. One at the front measures 5.016. The rear ones don't let the G2 start but the front one does, but it has issues with sound and other weird glitches. It won't start with the tester plugged in.
Suffering because of my X570 choice. Fancy not testing the G2 on what is a fairly common chipset that has been out for a while. HP's excuse is maybe they should have tested on more "home brew" systems. I wouldn't call an ASUS X570 based motherboard with an AMD Ryzen 9 3900X CPU "home brew", pretty standard more like. Waiting for a pcie card to turn up. I don't want to use a hub as my system already looks like a shrine to the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

To be continued...
Click to expand...

Is it your X570 choice? What GPU do you use? And what make is your motherboard (is it Asus)?

My new machine is X570, but I'm not willing to pay a premium for the CPU/GPU, so won't have built it until availability improves. I got the 6800 because my 980Ti couldn't handle the G2, and that was the cheapest card I could find that would. I'm planning on a Ryzen 5900X and probably a 6900 XT. I'm assuming the 6900 XT comes with USB-C also, which I also assume (maybe wrongly) won't have a USB issue.
 

HeavyGroovez

HeavyGroovez
A breakdown of day 1...

Out of the box rigged it up it via USB-C and it didnt like it. Used the provided adapter on a standard USB 3.0 port - sorted. Then it moaned about not being able to connect via display port, switched it into another port on the card - sorted. Fired up WMR and bingo, a working HMD.

I had a list of stuff on the G1 that i really wanted sorted so here goes a back to back comparison.

Cable
=====

Massive improvement, the old one was an absolute UNIT and a real pita. New one is awesome and well routed.

Gasket/Fit/Comfort
===============

I always considered the Index to be the head slipper of my collection. The G2 is even better than the venerable Index, super comfy and the nose flap is the first one that hasnt been ripped off immediately !!

No annoying sticky out bits so you can use it in a high back sim racing rig. Big win.

Panels
=====

The G1, despite its killer pixel fill, had poor dynamic range and very sub par colour. This was exacerbated by annoying mura which was very visible against bright sky backgrounds.

The G2 is in a completely different league. The dynamic range is superb, the colour is as good as the Index (if not better) and the mura, whilst still present as faint horizontal bands is much more uniform and way less immersion breaking.

Lenses/Distortion Profiling/God Rays
============================

The G1 lenses had a big sweet spot and well suppressed god rays. They did suffer from fairly severe pupil swim and geometric stability wasnt perfect.

The Valve lenses on the G2 have a much smaller sweet spot, its the first thing you notice and its a bit of a shock until you settle into it. The distortion profile is better and there is no perceptible geometric warping. Pupil swim is gone. There is however a lot of coma off axis for example when you look at the starfield in Elite. God rays are more noticeable but not an issue.


Conclusion
=========

Bloody good job HP !

The sweet spot is a bit of a let down, im not going to pretend otherwise, but overall it is an awesome evolution of the consumer HMD and provides a very immersive experience.
 

Dooguk

D
Crank Larson said:
Is it your X570 choice? What GPU do you use? And what make is your motherboard (is it Asus)?

My new machine is X570, but I'm not willing to pay a premium for the CPU/GPU, so won't have built it until availability improves. I got the 6800 because my 980Ti couldn't handle the G2, and that was the cheapest card I could find that would. I'm planning on a Ryzen 5900X and probably a 6900 XT. I'm assuming the 6900 XT comes with USB-C also, which I also assume (maybe wrongly) won't have a USB issue.
Click to expand...
The motherboard is an ASUS ROG STRIX X570 E GAMING, CPU AMD Ryzen 9 3900X, GPU VEGA 56. Like you I am not going to pay over the odds for a new CPU or GPU.
I will get the Ryzen 5900X in the new year when things have calmed down a little. I will not be getting the 6900 XT because the price is too high for such a small improvement over the 6800 XT. Nvidia may come out with a 3080 with more VRAM, I'll wait an see.
 

Dooguk

D
Crank Larson said:
This seems to be where the issue is. Asus, rather than just USB. I haven't seen any reports of other motherboards with the issue.
Click to expand...
All the USB slots on the board are USB 3.2 Gen 2 and none of them work with the G2. I have seen other X570 boards with at least 1 USB 3.2 Gen 1 slot. I'm going to guess if you connect it to a Gen 1 slot it will be OK. Just my guess though.

edit: There is a USB 3.2 gen 1 header for the front panel but that only partially works
 
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RupturedLung

R
HeavyGroovez said:
A breakdown of day 1...

Out of the box rigged it up it via USB-C and it didnt like it. Used the provided adapter on a standard USB 3.0 port - sorted. Then it moaned about not being able to connect via display port, switched it into another port on the card - sorted. Fired up WMR and bingo, a working HMD.

I had a list of stuff on the G1 that i really wanted sorted so here goes a back to back comparison.

Cable
=====

Massive improvement, the old one was an absolute UNIT and a real pita. New one is awesome and well routed.

Gasket/Fit/Comfort
===============

I always considered the Index to be the head slipper of my collection. The G2 is even better than the venerable Index, super comfy and the nose flap is the first one that hasnt been ripped off immediately !!

No annoying sticky out bits so you can use it in a high back sim racing rig. Big win.

Panels
=====

The G1, despite its killer pixel fill, had poor dynamic range and very sub par colour. This was exacerbated by annoying mura which was very visible against bright sky backgrounds.

The G2 is in a completely different league. The dynamic range is superb, the colour is as good as the Index (if not better) and the mura, whilst still present as faint horizontal bands is much more uniform and way less immersion breaking.

Lenses/Distortion Profiling/God Rays
============================

The G1 lenses had a big sweet spot and well suppressed god rays. They did suffer from fairly severe pupil swim and geometric stability wasnt perfect.

The Valve lenses on the G2 have a much smaller sweet spot, its the first thing you notice and its a bit of a shock until you settle into it. The distortion profile is better and there is no perceptible geometric warping. Pupil swim is gone. There is however a lot of coma off axis for example when you look at the starfield in Elite. God rays are more noticeable but not an issue.


Conclusion
=========

Bloody good job HP !

The sweet spot is a bit of a let down, im not going to pretend otherwise, but overall it is an awesome evolution of the consumer HMD and provides a very immersive experience.
Click to expand...

I've heard that after a few days once the thing fits more closely on your head the sweet spot gets bigger as your eyes are a little closer to the lenses. I did find that to be the case.
 

Dooguk

D
RupturedLung said:
I've heard that after a few days once the thing fits more closely on your head the sweet spot gets bigger as your eyes are a little closer to the lenses. I did find that to be the case.
Click to expand...
I read a post on Reddit from an HP employee stating that they will look into making a faceplate that brings your eyes closer to the lenses, which increases the FOV.
 

Gortron

Gortron
HeavyGroovez said:
A breakdown of day 1...

Out of the box rigged it up it via USB-C and it didnt like it. Used the provided adapter on a standard USB 3.0 port - sorted. Then it moaned about not being able to connect via display port, switched it into another port on the card - sorted. Fired up WMR and bingo, a working HMD.

I had a list of stuff on the G1 that i really wanted sorted so here goes a back to back comparison.

Cable
=====

Massive improvement, the old one was an absolute UNIT and a real pita. New one is awesome and well routed.

Gasket/Fit/Comfort
===============

I always considered the Index to be the head slipper of my collection. The G2 is even better than the venerable Index, super comfy and the nose flap is the first one that hasnt been ripped off immediately !!

No annoying sticky out bits so you can use it in a high back sim racing rig. Big win.

Panels
=====

The G1, despite its killer pixel fill, had poor dynamic range and very sub par colour. This was exacerbated by annoying mura which was very visible against bright sky backgrounds.

The G2 is in a completely different league. The dynamic range is superb, the colour is as good as the Index (if not better) and the mura, whilst still present as faint horizontal bands is much more uniform and way less immersion breaking.

Lenses/Distortion Profiling/God Rays
============================

The G1 lenses had a big sweet spot and well suppressed god rays. They did suffer from fairly severe pupil swim and geometric stability wasnt perfect.

The Valve lenses on the G2 have a much smaller sweet spot, its the first thing you notice and its a bit of a shock until you settle into it. The distortion profile is better and there is no perceptible geometric warping. Pupil swim is gone. There is however a lot of coma off axis for example when you look at the starfield in Elite. God rays are more noticeable but not an issue.


Conclusion
=========

Bloody good job HP !

The sweet spot is a bit of a let down, im not going to pretend otherwise, but overall it is an awesome evolution of the consumer HMD and provides a very immersive experience.
Click to expand...

I think the FOV is probably my only disappointment with the G2 (other than the stuttering in Eliite which you have convinced me is just Elite not the headset).

It’s better in every way than the Rift S and I’ll take the FOV over the weird distortion I get in the Rift because of no physical IPD any day 👍
 

HeavyGroovez

HeavyGroovez
Just spent another couple of hours in American Truck Simulator.

Drove from Albuquerque in New Mexico up through Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Idaho before heading through Oregon up into Washington State and the lush greens of the Pacific north west !!!

Had the G2 at 100% and the experience was absolutely epic.

The 3090 is working beautifully and really proves its value at these super high resolutions. The gains over my old 2080Ti are massive.
 
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