Newbie to VR

[VR andysonofbob]

Think 970 is display port 1.2. Tom'sHardware seems to think it is.

RiftS is your baby for your specs, which are a little low.

But

You could upgrade the CPU (just make sure it is compatible with your mother board, which is usually the same generation, DEFINITELY UPDATE MB BIOS TO NEWEST BIOS VERSION OR IT MIGHT NOT RECOGNISE THE CPU IF IT CAME OUT AFTER MOTHERBOARD!!!) and you can defo update GPU.

If, for some bizarre reason your GPU isn't 1.2, which it will be, return it. You will obvs know the second you plug it in.

All the best!

 

[sgurr]

I'm probably going to get slapped for saying this

Nah

but if you want the best experience possible and a reasonable price, the only headset is an HP Reverb G1 ( revision 200 ) or Reverb G2 ( available for pre-order ).

I agree o7


@Speculative , are you willing to go second hand?

If so, a Reverb G1 is about the same cost (in the UK anyway) as a new Rift S.

Also, for far less $$$ it's worth considering a 2nd hand Lenovo Explorer.
It's an earlier WMR headset than the Reverb, better reviewed than the others at the time and has a higher resolution than either the HTC Vive or Rift S (which Lenovo builds).
There is some screendoor, although I can't compare directly with the Rift S, and colours were fine with blacks being black enough for me.
It would let you dip your toe in without going all in on a new headset, and you could sell on again if you didn't get on with it.
I used it for 6-8 months with a 970, good performance on mid range settings and comfortable to wear. I've kept it as a backup headset when I've sold on an original Rift and Samsung Odyssey+

 

[Speculative]

Guys,

Thank you so much for all your help. I have taken the plunge with the Rift S as I wanted the full setup and not just the headset.

I may well be begging for help shortly, but it should all arrive tomorrow.

Once more thank you all so much. I am generally cautious about asking for help on online forums as people can be rather....well, negative. But thank you

 

[[VR] Orodruin]

I have taken the plunge with the Rift S

Enjoy!
(And say hello to Zuckerberg’s surveillance bots for me )

 

[Speculative]

He already knows Im a 40 year old anime watching martial arts practicing sailor with a really poor sense of humour and not much free game time, if knowing i like ED (I already like ED on FB) and RPG games gets him off, hes welcome to the info

Cheers for all the help, it really is appreciated

 

[sgurr]

Nice one o7

 

[Kellan Fell]

View attachment 185778
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So I take it this is ok? also 16GB Ram

now I just need to look at what type of VR headset!

I have no idea what to look for buyt realistically the Oculus Rift S seems pretty much all i can afford at the moment. I will keep looking!

Should this be ok to run a reasonable quality setup?

I played for over a year on an i5 with 16GB RAM and a GTX970 card with a Rit headset and never really had a problem, though occassionaly the SRV would make me feel queasy. I upgraded to a 1070i card and everything is fine...

 

[Arioch]

He already knows Im a 40 year old anime watching martial arts practicing sailor with a really poor sense of humour and not much free game time, if knowing i like ED (I already like ED on FB) and RPG games gets him off, hes welcome to the info

Cheers for all the help, it really is appreciated

I found the Rift S setup to be very straightforward, but as a 48 year old anime watching ex-sailor (you now know more than Mr Z does) I’ll happily give any advice I can once it arrives

I think common first stumbling blocks are the USB 3 port that you use and having sufficient lighting in the room.

Hope you’ve got parked up in a Coriolis hangar - that first “return to surface” VR moment is pretty awesome!

 

[Speculative]

I found the Rift S setup to be very straightforward, but as a 48 year old anime watching ex-sailor (you now know more than Mr Z does) I’ll happily give any advice I can once it arrives

I think common first stumbling blocks are the USB 3 port that you use and having sufficient lighting in the room.

Hope you’ve got parked up in a Coriolis hangar - that first “return to surface” VR moment is pretty awesome!

I guess we will find out how up to speed with things I am tomorrow! I have several USB 3 slots so hopefully that wont be an issue, and I have a well lit room, both natural and artificial!

Thanks for the offer of help...I may well take you up on it!

 

[Meresiga]

My choice of Oculus Rift s helmet was due to the fact that I wear glasses. And I don't understand why do the reviewers of virtual reality helmets never talk about whether it is possible for people who wear glasses to use the helmet? In the Oculus Rift s helmet, this is possible. And when it comes to reviews of new helmets - here is no word about glasses. Guess for yourself?

 

[Speculative]

I could upgrade my specs to an i7-6700 3.4GHz and a NVIDIA GTX 1660 for about £500. I think that is pretty much all my motherboard can take.

The other option is just buying a new system for circa £1200 with i7-9700 and GTX 1660 Ti

both would have 16BG RAM, the question is; would upgrading mine give longevity or is it worth just going for a new system?

 

[Arioch]

I could upgrade my specs to an i7-6700 3.4GHz and a NVIDIA GTX 1660 for about £500. I think that is pretty much all my motherboard can take.

The other option is just buying a new system for circa £1200 with i7-9700 and GTX 1660 Ti

both would have 16BG RAM, the question is; would upgrading mine give longevity or is it worth just going for a new system?

I rebuilt my system last year and going from an i5 4670k to an i7 8700 and DDR3 to DDR4 really improved any small hiccups & stutters that I was getting. Moving from a GTX 1060 to a GTX 1080 allowed me to run at higher ED graphics settings with a small increase in “HMD Quality” (up to 1.25).

I’d say now is a bad time to look at graphics cards upgrades, with the release of the 3-series cards just around the corner - you might get a better deal once retailers (hopefully) start dropping prices on their existing stock to make way for the new stuff.

Also, prices are really good on solid-state storage at the moment, which is worth looking at if your system is still disk based - massive reduction in load times etc and well worth it.

 

[Terekhov]

Guys,

Thank you so much for all your help. I have taken the plunge with the Rift S as I wanted the full setup and not just the headset.

I may well be begging for help shortly, but it should all arrive tomorrow.

Once more thank you all so much. I am generally cautious about asking for help on online forums as people can be rather....well, negative. But thank you

Welcome to the VR club. I have a Rift S and ignoring the recent Facebook issue, it's been excellent in bang for buck terms.

This thread seems so far to be centered on hardware choice. One thing you will find out, it that when 'under the hood' your keyboard is not visible to you and therefore game functions bound only to keys are pretty much inaccessible. You may need to rethink which controls are assigned to yor controller buttons, but also you will probably have seen reference elsewhere here to Voice control software called VoiceAttack. I would recommend that - it will work through the Rift S microphone and headset just fine.

With voiceattack you tell it to recognise certain phrases and to take certain actions when it hears them, so one of the simplest command might be: I say "Landing gear", it presses "L" for me. Voice attack is very much more powerful thn just "hear this, press thet key", but that basic functionality will serve you well for a long time.

It will take time to get your control layout optimal, don't be phased by that. There are premade voice packs from HCS that will set up a full voice controlled ship for you - from my PoV, they are to chatty for me, so I have not bought or used them.

If you choose to bu voiceattack, buy it directly from the manufacturers website, not only fo they get more of the money that way, but also it's more versatile not to have VoiceAttack tied to steam. I have no connection with VoiceAttack other than to have purchase the product.

Anyway, have fun and be prepared for that Wow moment then you lift of inside a starport for the first time in VR.

 

[Speculative]

I’d say now is a bad time to look at graphics cards upgrades, with the release of the 3-series cards just around the corner - you might get a better deal once retailers (hopefully) start dropping prices on their existing stock to make way for the new stuff.

Thank you when are the 3 series supposed to drop? I will bear it in mind!

any thoughts about the possible longevity with the above set up? or is it worth waiting for the drop and then seeing what new PCs are out there?

Welcome to the VR club. I have a Rift S and ignoring the recent Facebook issue, it's been excellent in bang for buck terms.

This thread seems so far to be centered on hardware choice. One thing you will find out, it that when 'under the hood' your keyboard is not visible to you and therefore game functions bound only to keys are pretty much inaccessible. You may need to rethink which controls are assigned to yor controller buttons, but also you will probably have seen reference elsewhere here to Voice control software called VoiceAttack. I would recommend that - it will work through the Rift S microphone and headset just fine.

With voiceattack you tell it to recognise certain phrases and to take certain actions when it hears them, so one of the simplest command might be: I say "Landing gear", it presses "L" for me. Voice attack is very much more powerful thn just "hear this, press thet key", but that basic functionality will serve you well for a long time.

It will take time to get your control layout optimal, don't be phased by that. There are premade voice packs from HCS that will set up a full voice controlled ship for you - from my PoV, they are to chatty for me, so I have not bought or used them.

If you choose to bu voiceattack, buy it directly from the manufacturers website, not only fo they get more of the money that way, but also it's more versatile not to have VoiceAttack tied to steam. I have no connection with VoiceAttack other than to have purchase the product.

Anyway, have fun and be prepared for that Wow moment then you lift of inside a starport for the first time in VR.

Most of my stuff is dealt with via HOTAS but I will definitely look into voice attack as an option. To be fair, I will need to completely re do my whole set up I think!

 

[Arioch]

...when are the 3 series supposed to drop? I will bear it in mind!

any thoughts about the possible longevity with the above set up? or is it worth waiting for the drop and then seeing what new PCs are out there?

The “big reveal” is happening next Tuesday, probably the 3080/3080ti/3090 expensive (and possibly power-hungry) cards, with the lower cards being revealed within the next few months (going by previous generations). Hopefully price drops on 10- & 20- cards once the release dates are known.

Whether it’s worth you waiting depends on what performance you get once the Rift S is set up - if you don’t mind having lower graphics settings to get smooth gameplay, I’d say it’s worth waiting a few weeks. Upgrading your CPU would be a pretty safe first step though.

Also a couple of things: many players recommend Voice Attack, but I’ve never felt the need for it and I use the default mapping on an Xbox 360 pad (There are still a few empty mappings left as well), also - Rift S sound is very poor but you can mitigate this by either using plug-in headphones or using the Windows sound settings to boost the base (I’ll have to check my own settings, but it does make a difference).

 

[[VR] Orodruin]

Also a couple of things: many players recommend Voice Attack, but I’ve never felt the need for it

But ... immuuuuuhhhrrrrsion!

Jokes aside, it is pretty handy for creating macros that let you focus on other things - both voice and keypress activated.

(An unproportional amount of my 5 weeks out of game during vacations have been spent thinking of VA macros I will implement when I get back ......)

 

[Ashnak]

With Arioch mentioning the 3080++ cards and their (prospective) power consumption (NVidia is apparently even introducing new power connectors for at least their reference designs), one thing to keep an eye on for the OP: before you start to upgrade CPU or GPU, make sure your PSU has enough reserves to run the new hardware, and some spare power to run the headset.

I have been running a CV1 on an i5/4690k, starting with a 980, then switching to a 1080ti. That also worked similarly well for a HP reverb G1 (i.e., at my graphics settings, with noticeable FPS drops on planets or in stations). I upgraded earlier this year to AMD Ryzen 7, and the CPU load dropped from a constant >90% to around 50%, while the GPU load now is usally above 80%. Means, I could use a better GPU - let's see what happens on Tuesday.

 

[Ashnak]

P.S. I suppose that ship in your sig is where you're working on. I first thought the openings on the sides were doors (or human scaled, at least) until I zoomed in...

 

[Arioch]

But ... immuuuuuhhhrrrrsion!

Jokes aside, it is pretty handy for creating macros that let you focus on other things - both voice and keypress activated.

(An unproportional amount of my 5 weeks out of game during vacations have been spent thinking of VA macros I will implement when I get back ......)

I guess I’m just a switchy-flicky kinda person instead of a make it so speaker

The years of muscle-memory built up since the premium Beta probably have something to do with it as well! I just wish there was an easy way of getting System names in the Galaxy map search box - currently I use the Rift S pass-through view and my illuminated keyboard, but I’d prefer an in-game solution (virtual keyboard).

 

[Speculative]

Whether it’s worth you waiting depends on what performance you get once the Rift S is set up - if you don’t mind having lower graphics settings to get smooth gameplay, I’d say it’s worth waiting a few weeks. Upgrading your CPU would be a pretty safe first step though.

Also a couple of things: many players recommend Voice Attack, but I’ve never felt the need for it and I use the default mapping on an Xbox 360 pad (There are still a few empty mappings left as well), also - Rift S sound is very poor but you can mitigate this by either using plug-in headphones or using the Windows sound settings to boost the base (I’ll have to check my own settings, but it does make a difference).

The question is whether the i7-6700 worth the upgrade or is it already "past its best" futurbility wise?

with the sound issue, can I not use my surround sound that is connected to the computer?

With Arioch mentioning the 3080++ cards and their (prospective) power consumption (NVidia is apparently even introducing new power connectors for at least their reference designs), one thing to keep an eye on for the OP: before you start to upgrade CPU or GPU, make sure your PSU has enough reserves to run the new hardware, and some spare power to run the headset.

Very good point about te PSU...how would I be able to tell?

P.S. I suppose that ship in your sig is where you're working on. I first thought the openings on the sides were doors (or human scaled, at least) until I zoomed in...

Yeah thats my current ship, definitely NOT human sized doors

again thank you for all your help so far guys.