R9 380 4GB OC Edition no good for Rift?

[Kkronnoss]

I posted this on the Oculus forums but havent received a response so was hoping the Elite community might be able to provide me with some advice:

I just recently bought the above GPU. I need to get a bigger case and this was one of the few cards that would fit atm. I've just discovered this card is no good for the Rift... Is this true (seems odd given it's newer than the R9 290 which is recommended equivalent or greater), and should i be getting a different card and, if so, what would people recommend for a similar price point (or cheaper)? OR will the 380 be ok (even though it isn't listed as a suitable card unless I've missed something)


Thx in advance for any advice.

 

[the100thmonkey]

The R9 290 is a more powerful card though. Yours is about as powerful as a GTX960 4GB, which I'm given to understand is the lowest card that's "recommended" for VR (i.e. that manufacturers have the brass neck confidence to put a "VR-ready" badge on.)

Try it in VR low settings and if you get 90fps, you get 90fps and you can try tweaking up quality settings from there. If it struggles, you can try tweaking down. That 4GB of vRAM is what's going to limit you, and there's not much you can do about that. The RX480 has 8GB of vRAM, and would make a good replacement if you're on a budget, alongside the GTX1060 6GB. If you can go higher, the GTX1070 works well for me, after some tweaking, and the current top card for VR, or any high-resolution gaming, is the GTX1080. There are some new AMD cards coming in the new year. You might wish to wait for them to see what it does to Nvidia's pricing strategy.

Basically, if the card can run 2160x1200 at 90fps, it'll work OK. Not many can though - even the GTX1070 won't do ultra settings at those framerates.

What are your PC specs?

 

[Kkronnoss]

Thanks for the reply. Currently running an AMD A8 7600 (crappy, I know) with 8GB RAM and of course the R9 380 (oh and Win 8.1). First thing ill do is upgrade the chip (and probably motherboard) and then sell the 380 and maybe go the RX480 if you think it's worthwhile? I need a bigger case first but that's easy done. I also replaced the PSU with a Thermaltake 550W when i got the R9.

Thank you for the advice, much appreciated - I am not a competent PC builder...

 

[the100thmonkey]

No worries! It's a fine card for 1080p/60Hz, but it's the 90Hz requirement that spawns seemingly extreme system requirements.

Your APU is below the recommended spec for VR with Horizons (an i7-3770K,) but I don't think it's going to be a problem - Horizons isn't that CPU-oriented; most of the heavy lifting is done by the GPU.

If you decide to go Nvidia, several manufacturers now make short versions of the 1060 and 1070, which easily fit inside even cramped cases if you have 2 PCI-E slots to spare.

 

[Kkronnoss]

I'm ok with getting another case, that's reasonably inexpensive so I am able to go with a bigger size card if need be.

I think the MSI motherboard supports a Kaveri Quad-Core A10-7850K too so i might look at this? Not sure about CPU's, thoughts? Also supports these:

Kaveri Quad-Core A10-7850K
Kaveri Quad-Core A10-7800
Kaveri Quad-Core A10-7800B
Kaveri Quad-Core A10-7700K
Richland Quad-Core A10-6700

Anmd no idea which one would be better for VR.. :/

Maybe even another stick of RAM while I am at it...

Starts with a budget in mind, ends up blowing it all...