VR build from scratch?

[dogbite]

FWIW, ive found elite dangerous to be somewhat of a cpu hog in and around stations. I’m hitting 80% cpu on my 3570k which is overclocking to 4.3ghz — i read on reddit that swapping out to the 3770k and hyper threading will help with that.

The higher clock of the i7 might see better performance assuming you get one that overclocks as well as the i5. I have read comments that the 3570 was generally a better OC chip than the 3770. Hyper threading is irrelevant to Ed and games in general afaik.

 

[Flapdrol1337]

Hyper threading is irrelevant to Ed and games in general afaik.

Used to be the case. But hyperthreading works for everything that can load up the "real" cores to 100%. In the digital foundry review the new i7 beats the new i5 by 20% in ashes of the singularity when both are clocked to 5 GHz, and the 7700K matches the new i5. Similar results in the other games they test.

It's easier to 100% load 4 cores though, so you'll see a much bigger difference between 7600K and 7700K.

 

[dogbite]

Used to be the case. But hyperthreading works for everything that can load up the "real" cores to 100%. In the digital foundry review the new i7 beats the new i5 by 20% in ashes of the singularity when both are clocked to 5 GHz, and the 7700K matches the new i5. Similar results in the other games they test.

It's easier to 100% load 4 cores though, so you'll see a much bigger difference between 7600K and 7700K.

I agree. There is a demonstrable difference especially when dealing with the 7 series (the 7700k is a juggernaut) and likely the new Coffees will yield similar results or more and in a game like Ashes where the fps is low the difference may even be visible. How much of that is HT, increased cache , or architectural is hard to determine and synth benchies are only so telling. When you look at DF's comparisons on the higher fps titles (100+) then your not going to notice. My contention was NOT that there wasn't a difference only that it was generally irrelevant and in Ed in VR and comparing the two 5th gen cpus at the same clock would likely show no visible difference. I haven't seen an effective demonstration that ED is advantaged by HT, but an certainly open to being shown.

Benchies are nice enough for tweaking one's system and as a guide for comparing components in search of the best bang for the buck. The important thing is does the system run the games you want to play. If a given i5 runs those games at 100 fps and the i7 at 130 then the i5 is sufficient to the task regardless. I run 20 VR titles almost all maxed and at pixel density 2 and for those that aren't maxed it's not due to the cpu.

 

[ZaCLoNe]

If you don't want to overclock at all, skip the K chips, and skip the Z boards in favour of cheaper models that don't offer overclocking. No point paying for an unlocked chip/chipset that you aren't going to push. That will also help in terms of saving some cash.

Don't skimp on the cooler. Noctua make excellent air coolers that are quiet. They are by no means the only one, but I find them to be at the top of the heap, and easy enough to get hold of where I am - their fans are excellent.

Also, consider assembling the PC yourself, lots of "how to" guides on the net, and it is pretty easy. You're not likely to ruin anything, especially if you pay attention to the guides. I'm sure you could also find someone that would help you out for a beer, I know I'd help someone learn to build for one. It's very satisfying, and a worthwhile skill. Your call though. If you can build a small lego kit, you can build a PC.

As a rift owner, I agree with the Vive, in terms of tracking at the very least. Room scale with the Rift is a bit of a mission, with 3 cameras and 3 USB ports tied up, and all the cables running around the room... I don't play any room scale games at this stage, so not an issue for me, but I will be considering this heavily when it's time to upgrade.

Having said that, I really do hope a viable tracking alternative is invented that doesn't need cameras or lighthouse tech.

Z...

K=unlocked CPU and does not come with a heatsink. Non-K Intel CPUs come with a heatsink. So, if you buy a non K Intel, then you don't need an aftermarket cooler and can save money ($20-50 USD)by just using the one that comes with the non-k CPU.

Source: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005940/processors.htmlhttps://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005940/processors.html

 

[IronmanG]

Just got the 8600k at 4.8. Made the difference between playable and unplayable with my previous cpu. Buy cheap buy twice. Get a 1080ti and 8700k and eat pasta for a couple of months

 

[TorTorden_VR]

K=unlocked CPU and does not come with a heatsink. Non-K Intel CPUs come with a heatsink. So, if you buy a non K Intel, then you don't need an aftermarket cooler and can save money ($20-50 USD)by just using the one that comes with the non-k CPU.

Source: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005940/processors.htmlhttps://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005940/processors.html

Well I still would highly recommend an aftermarket cooler.
70c idle on stock was not uncommon with those.
Just a reasonably priced $30 aircooler will knock temps back considerably and run quieter.

My current i7 8700k never goes above 50c.
But then again I got a dual corsair 115i...
I had to take to stuff off the mobo to make it fit...
Luckily the offending part was just a LED hood for the IO ports.

I'm not looking at those in vr.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

The higher clock of the i7 might see better performance assuming you get one that overclocks as well as the i5. I have read comments that the 3570 was generally a better OC chip than the 3770. Hyper threading is irrelevant to Ed and games in general afaik.

Not true anymore. ED uses the threads in i7 and Ryzen CPU's. I know I will get better performance if I swap out my i5 2500k to an i7 2600k which is what I am looking at doing.

Also more and more games are now coming mullt core and thread enabled.

 

[TorTorden_VR]

The higher clock of the i7 might see better performance assuming you get one that overclocks as well as the i5. I have read comments that the 3570 was generally a better OC chip than the 3770. Hyper threading is irrelevant to Ed and games in general afaik.

This statement is my new pet peeve and needs to be killed.
True enough about five years ago.
Utterly false for the last two.

Games have become highly thread optimised over the past few years and is really taking off in how many threads they can employ.
Take the Unreal engine, it will use at least 12 threads if available, Unity, for now, about 8 threads.
Those two engines pretty much count for 99% of VR titles, and most other games as well.

And if the game engines themselves can't employ all cores or all threads, Windows is capable of delegating them other programs, for VR that could be steamvr or oculus processes and tracking all rather CPU intensive tasks.

I would not upgrade to anything pre DDR4 these days.

I would much rather recommend the new six core i5 that goes toe to toe with the i7 7700k in benches and overclocks quite nicely.
And don't skimp on RAM speed (yes RAM speed is coming into play as well).