Time To Build ?

[a2jack]

Looked at them all, thanks guys. The 2k build would be the best choice on the list.

However, I have now have settled on the Oculus Quest at about $600 as my easiest entry into VR. Later, as the tech catches up to big monitors I'll build up a big box.

Tech-wise real VR is now headset bound and mostly solitary. Big monitors and multi person sharing are yet to come.

My biggest problem now is finding a demo on the Quest to check out my susceptibility to vertigo. If I pass that test I will buy, and get started on driving that "Steam Train" LOL.

Thanks all. BTW, do I need a Fireman ? a2

 

[Huntn]

Looked at them all, thanks guys. The 2k build would be the best choice on the list.

However, I have now have settled on the Oculus Quest at about $600 as my easiest entry into VR. Later, as the tech catches up to big monitors I'll build up a big box.

Tech-wise real VR is now headset bound and mostly solitary. Big monitors and multi person sharing are yet to come.

My biggest problem now is finding a demo on the Quest to check out my susceptibility to vertigo. If I pass that test I will buy, and get started on driving that "Steam Train" LOL.

Thanks all. BTW, do I need a Fireman ? a2

The Microsoft store had both a Vive and an Occulus available to test drive when I needed to check that aspect out, even if you plan on purchasing different hardware. They also assigned a employee to walk me though it, I spent about 45 minutes with it.

Occasionally I have experienced a wave of mild nausea, but much as to do with the type of game I am playing. Game developers are trying to mitigate nausea in the game environment with movement mechanism that reduce the frequency and magnitude. I imagine one of the toughest environments would be a dog fighting sim, but looking over your shoulder without having to progressively click the view would be outstanding.

Now in a former life I flew a state of the art (at the time) full visual (bubble) F-14 simulator and there were no nausea issues, because there you were sitting in a real (not virtual) cockpit, looking at a virtual sky and bogies. In the airlines, a physical flight deck, and a visual screen looking out the forward windows. It’s the virtual cockpit, when everything you are seeing is virtual is when the motion problems occur.

 

[a2jack]

The Microsoft store had both a Vive and an Occulus available to test drive when I needed to check that aspect out, even if you plan on purchasing different hardware. They also assigned a employee to walk me though it, I spent about 45 minutes with it.

Occasionally I have experienced a wave of mild nausea, but much as to do with the type of game I am playing. Game developers are trying to mitigate nausea in the game environment with movement mechanism that reduce the frequency and magnitude. I imagine one of the toughest environments would be a dog fighting sim, but looking over your shoulder without having to progressively click the view would be outstanding.

Now in a former life I flew a state of the art (at the time) full visual (bubble) F-14 simulator and there were no nausea issues, because there you were sitting in a real (not virtual) cockpit, looking at a virtual sky and bogies. In the airlines, a physical flight deck, and a visual screen looking out the forward windows. It’s the virtual cockpit, when everything you are seeing is virtual is when the motion problems occur.

It’s the virtual cockpit, when everything you are seeing is virtual is when the motion problems occur.

So, as we move nearer to aVR we will have a solution. Also, large open monitors for group participation, which I believe is in the very near future, will make all this a thing of the past.

For now, I am an Oculus Quester, or at least will be on Friday. Now to get that DeRail app. Thanks Huntn. a2

 

[RedTomato]

My main machine is a Mac so last year when I built a second computer for VR and other uses, it had to be pretty small & cheap.

- i5-6100
- Gigabyte GA-B150N - ITX board
- 1x 8GB DDR4
Above came as package for about £120

- Fractal Design Node 202 mini-ITX case - £20 or £40 can't remember
- 256GB SSD - Samsung 850 - £25
- FSP PSU - ex server - £10 off fleabay

• Case pizza design means it can hide behind the TV. Nice and small. All the parts were bought used one at a time.
• Motherboard was cheap but has a m.2 NVME slot, UBS3, and a USB-C port for futureproofing.
• Never run an OS off a HDD, always get a SSD, a decent Samsung 850 or 860 is cheap used.

Upgrades:

• First I got a 1050 for about £70, then i upgraded to a 1060 6GB for £120.
• I added a couple spare 1TB 2.5" HDD for storage (£10 each used), then a 4TB 2.5" drive, then a second 4TB 2.5". The 4TB drives were about £60 each, new in external enclosures. I opened them & removed the drives. I have well over 10TB in there now.
• I've just added a second 8GB of RAM for about £20 used,
• and a 1TB m.2 NVME drive for £70 new off the Prime Day sale.

I bought an Oculus Go, and a Lenovo WMR headset. The WMR is nice but the Go gets so much more use, and it doesn't even need a PC. Thinking about selling the WMR. People say the Go isn't real VR, but the advantage it doesn't need a dedicated VR space, it's just put on and go.

Anyone thinking of trying out VR but not sure if they like it, I strongly suggest getting a Go. They're cheap, about $150 nowadays on sale, and no pc is needed.

 

[a2jack]

My main machine is a Mac so last year when I built a second computer for VR and other uses, it had to be pretty small & cheap.

- i5-6100
- Gigabyte GA-B150N - ITX board
- 1x 8GB DDR4
Above came as package for about £120

- Fractal Design Node 202 mini-ITX case - £20 or £40 can't remember
- 256GB SSD - Samsung 850 - £25
- FSP PSU - ex server - £10 off fleabay

• Case pizza design means it can hide behind the TV. Nice and small. All the parts were bought used one at a time.
• Motherboard was cheap but has a m.2 NVME slot, UBS3, and a USB-C port for futureproofing.
• Never run an OS off a HDD, always get a SSD, a decent Samsung 850 or 860 is cheap used.

Upgrades:

• First I got a 1050 for about £70, then i upgraded to a 1060 6GB for £120.
• I added a couple spare 1TB 2.5" HDD for storage (£10 each used), then a 4TB 2.5" drive, then a second 4TB 2.5". The 4TB drives were about £60 each, new in external enclosures. I opened them & removed the drives. I have well over 10TB in there now.
• I've just added a second 8GB of RAM for about £20 used,
• and a 1TB m.2 NVME drive for £70 new off the Prime Day sale.

I bought an Oculus Go, and a Lenovo WMR headset. The WMR is nice but the Go gets so much more use, and it doesn't even need a PC. Thinking about selling the WMR. People say the Go isn't real VR, but the advantage it doesn't need a dedicated VR space, it's just put on and go.

Anyone thinking of trying out VR but not sure if they like it, I strongly suggest getting a Go. They're cheap, about $150 nowadays on sale, and no pc is needed.

Like your build. Case size and cost is a winner.
Down the line I will go this route.

For now I have bypassed the Windows change over and went with the Oculus Quest machine, as an entry into VR.

Eventually I will have to go back to MS, as Apple has really dropped the ball on graphics. Thanks for your reply. a2

 

[Huntn]

My main machine is a Mac so last year when I built a second computer for VR and other uses, it had to be pretty small & cheap.

- i5-6100
- Gigabyte GA-B150N - ITX board
- 1x 8GB DDR4
Above came as package for about £120

- Fractal Design Node 202 mini-ITX case - £20 or £40 can't remember
- 256GB SSD - Samsung 850 - £25
- FSP PSU - ex server - £10 off fleabay

• Case pizza design means it can hide behind the TV. Nice and small. All the parts were bought used one at a time.
• Motherboard was cheap but has a m.2 NVME slot, UBS3, and a USB-C port for futureproofing.
• Never run an OS off a HDD, always get a SSD, a decent Samsung 850 or 860 is cheap used.

Upgrades:

• First I got a 1050 for about £70, then i upgraded to a 1060 6GB for £120.
• I added a couple spare 1TB 2.5" HDD for storage (£10 each used), then a 4TB 2.5" drive, then a second 4TB 2.5". The 4TB drives were about £60 each, new in external enclosures. I opened them & removed the drives. I have well over 10TB in there now.
• I've just added a second 8GB of RAM for about £20 used,
• and a 1TB m.2 NVME drive for £70 new off the Prime Day sale.

I bought an Oculus Go, and a Lenovo WMR headset. The WMR is nice but the Go gets so much more use, and it doesn't even need a PC. Thinking about selling the WMR. People say the Go isn't real VR, but the advantage it doesn't need a dedicated VR space, it's just put on and go.

Anyone thinking of trying out VR but not sure if they like it, I strongly suggest getting a Go. They're cheap, about $150 nowadays on sale, and no pc is needed.

My main computer is a 2016 MBP, main as far as using it regularly for every important computer task except... gaming. The MBP I owned before this one, had a dedicated graphic card, I was traveling for work, had Boot Camp and I used to sell it in the MR’s Gaming forum as a traveling option for those who feel Macs are important to them. My understanding is that the Boot Camp gaming option is going to go poof soon.

Then in 2016, Apple in their wisdom upped prices, and there was no way I could justify a $3000 laptop, although I still spent $2000 for a computer that my $1400 PC can run circles around when it comes to gaming.

It’s possible I am in a gaming bubble, but I’d have a hard time understanding if Apple was not seriously concerned about the advances in VR, one of the main components being gaming for the masses, and them being left out. As I said, possibly my distortion of how important gaming is to average people. If accurate, I’d guess Apple is happy with their iOS devices in the market.

I’ll will tell you this, if Apple continues to raise their Mac computer prices, I’ll start seriously considering cutting my Mac ties, while acknowledging I’m seriously emotionally vested in the MaOS ecosystem.

 

[gkarris]

It’s possible I am in a gaming bubble, but I’d have a hard time understanding if Apple was not seriously concerned about the advances in VR, one of the main components being gaming for the masses, and them being left out. As I said, possibly my distortion of how important gaming is to average people. If accurate, I’d guess Apple is happy with their iOS devices in the market.

I’ll will tell you this, if Apple continues to raise their Mac computer prices, I’ll start seriously considering cutting my Mac ties, while acknowledging I’m seriously emotionally vested in the MaOS ecosystem.

As I'm saying that my take Apple will have a Premium Turn-Key VR System, but mainly for CAD/CAM/CAE and Science, not gaming at all. They're probably waiting to switch their systems to their ARM processors.

Then they can have a wireless 4k VR headset with it's own Apple A15X processor...

If you want turn key - I thoroughly love my PSVR headset. Rumor is the PSVR2 will have the cameras in the headset just like the latest headsets out there but you will probably need a PS5 to run it. The PS5 is supposedly gonna run all PS4/PSVR software and headset.

 

[BillyBobBongo]

I bit the bullet in the end and built myself a gaming PC, decided to reuse some parts from my Mac Pro to save money.

Component	Product Name
Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Cooler	Included with processor
Motherboard	MSI B450-A Pro Max
Power Supply	Corsair RM Series RM750
Memory	Corsair 16GB DDR4 3200 CL16
Videocard	Sapphire Pulse RX 580 8GB
Case	NZXT H510i
Case Fans	Included with case
Storage	Samsung 970 EV0 M.2 500GB and Samsung 850 Evo 1TB

All tolled I got it put together for about 580 euros. I've rolled back my Mac Pro to High Sierra and dropped back in the GT120 for now. I'm considering picking up a new Mac Mini and selling the Mac Pro on, I don't use it for work anymore.

Most likely I'll replace the RX 580 with a RTX 2070 Super at some point, which was the real point of the build, and I'll probably upgrade that CPU cooler too. But for now it's doing the job nicely.

 

[gkarris]

Most likely I'll replace the RX 580 with a RTX 2070 Super at some point, which was the real point of the build, and I'll probably upgrade that CPU cooler too. But for now it's doing the job nicely.

Nice, my RX470 I got in August 2016 still works great - especially on older games with many optimization patches.

Just played Destiny 2 on Steam (ported from Blizzard to Steam) on 1440/medium and I'm getting a constant 60 fps no matter how busy the screen gets.

You'll be pleased.

EDIT: Just looked at your RAM - hopefully you have some empty slots - you'll need 32Gigs when you upgrade that GPU or maybe even 64Gigs when you get a headset.

 

[BillyBobBongo]

EDIT: Just looked at your RAM - hopefully you have some empty slots - you'll need 32Gigs when you upgrade that GPU or maybe even 64Gigs when you get a headset.

I've got plans to upgrade to 32GB down the road, I was on a budget for this build so I've left some holes to fill in later.

But first that GPU.

 

[Huntn]

Nice, my RX470 I got in August 2016 still works great - especially on older games with many optimization patches.

Just played Destiny 2 on Steam (ported from Blizzard to Steam) on 1440/medium and I'm getting a constant 60 fps no matter how busy the screen gets.

You'll be pleased.

EDIT: Just looked at your RAM - hopefully you have some empty slots - you'll need 32Gigs when you upgrade that GPU or maybe even 64Gigs when you get a headset.

I have 32 GB RAM In my Windows box. Usually when I tell people that, they ask why so much? Are you talking computer RAM, and why is it needed, not sure what you are referencing.

 

[gkarris]

I have 32 GB RAM In my Windows box. Usually when I tell people that, they ask why so much? Are you talking computer RAM, and why is it needed, not sure what you are referencing.

Computer RAM is the Random Access Memory that the OS and Programs are loaded into.

The more, the better, especially with these fancy GPU's, games/programs/visuals and VR...

 

[Huntn]

Computer RAM is the Random Access Memory that the OS and Programs are loaded into.

The more, the better, especially with these fancy GPU's, games/programs/visuals and VR...

Yes, I know what it is. I’ve been told multiple times I don’t need more than 16gb, but I have 32.

 

[gkarris]

Yes, I know what it is. I’ve been told multiple times I don’t need more than 16gb, but I have 32.

Depends on what you're running keeping in mind the future, always get the most you can afford.. I got 16Gigs a few years ago (the "you don't need more than 8").

My usage, RX 470 (4Gigs Graphics Memory), around 60fps:

No Man's Sky, 1080p/Enhanced, 8.3Gigs In Use
Star Citizen, 1080p/Low, 11.3Gigs In Use
EVERSPACE, 1080p/Epic, 5.7Gigs In Use
DOOM (2016), 1080p/High-Ultra, 6.5Gigs In Use

The Future:
DOOM Eternal, 8 Gigs RAM (Predicted)
EVERSPACE 2, 4 Gigs RAM (Predicted)

Future "predicted" is always good to double...

I would assume VR Gaming is going to eat up even more...