We are all reading about the high demands of the Pimax. This is only one data point, but I have a strong suspicion it’s going to help people, so I’m starting a thread about it. That said, all the usual provisos apply of, my opinion, not a computer scientist, mileage may vary, bla bla bla…
Essentially I am seeing people with much better gear than me suffering with hindered performance on their 8K and 5K+. Additionally, a lot of people are having lots of issues with operation of the pimax software- both in terms of operation and updates/installation.
After spending years playing with windows installs in various VM’s, I am pretty convinced that a well loaded up standard windows 10 installation is at the heart of many of these issues. Before my new SFPC build, I was running an FX9590 with a 1080ti and had great performance with pretty much any title I threw at it. My 3d modeling was a big driver for my rebuild, plus given my rig was about 6 years old, the upgrade paths for AM3 were long gone. Plus I knew the 1080ti wasn’t being well served on this platform. But I digress…
I probably shouldn’t be broadcasting this, but despite owning several W10 licenses, I decided to move to LTSB around 2016. When you install this build, you will find something like 55 to 60 processes running, as opposed to the usual 120+. I also disable a lot of stuff- including pretty much all of the nvidia console stuff. If I want to adjust a setting or look at FPS- I might turn some stuff on, play around and turn things off. The other thing I do is after installing windows I manually install all of the c++ redistributables. Then I let the system update. Many attest to the optimization of W10, but my experience indicates there’s a limit.
I have run more slipstreamed setups, but I feel this is a moderate, but focused approach. I run most games in the full FOV, with cranked in-game details. I don’t crank the SteamVR SS override, but my Pimax is usually wide FOV and 1.75 on pretty much all the VR I play. I am not watching FPS all the time, but I can thrash my head around, and I rarely see any stutter or any indication of frames dropping into, say, the 30fps range. As the software goes, it installed perfectly and it has never crashed. Not after firmware or software updates. I installed it ONCE.
The other thing I do is run portable versions of applications every chance I get. I am running a LOT of programs on my machine, yet there isn’t a single background updater or service that doesn’t need to be there. I feel that all of this put together is giving me a bit more out of my hardware. And for those who care about the look of the OS, I do run a custom skin with custom icons and rainmeter. If you think all this cutting back makes my machine look like a win98 potato- don’t. My OS looks as sexy as anything on r/battlestations. Don’t ask me about the desk, tho… 
TL:DR
So if you are feeling desperate that for some inexplicable reason your i9/2080ti is just barely cutting it with the Pimax, I STRONGLY urge you to get your hands on LTSB. Get all the c++ redist’s in there. Go as portable as you can manage. Yes they take an extra 1.5 seconds to load but on modern CPU’s the performance hit is negligible. Obviously older rigs like an i7/1080 would benefit even more. If you feel like you need to rebuild for your Pimax, that’s cool but definitely give this a go if you are not jazzed at the thought of dropping hundreds (or thousands) on a new rig.
PS- The other bonus of portable applications is that you will never re-install again. If you wipe your machine, keep a copy of your portable installations (I keep it all in one folder) and just DRAG AN DROP. Boom. Installations back online as if nothing ever happened. I can wipe my machine and be back online in a couple hours. An installation image would be faster, but I personally like to update my apps and OS everytime I refresh. I usually do it once or twice a year. I never have random CTD or bluescreen.
