Danger, avg guy video review incoming

[DPangolin]

So I’ve been kinda jabbing at anyone reviewing an Artisan about selling it to me. Well, I said it to the right person, and now I own one! A new friend whom may be identified if he chooses in the comments below, really helped me out with this. To show my appreciation, instead of just writing up my thoughts, I made a fool of myself on a video.

I kinda rushed through it, and probably didn’t say everything I could think of. I don’t have any audio recording equipment, so I had to kinda dub myself, and it became tiring after working on 10 minutes for 6 hours. I think if I had a lapel mic, or anything really, my original thoughts while I was on screen were longer format but a bit better. It didn’t help that my action cam cut out 1-2 minutes and split the video into segments. This is not an unboxing, or spec tech talk, there are plenty of those on youtube. This is just me, a guy that works hard to buy things he enjoys. I might be coursed into a better follow up if enough people ask, but I doubt that will happen, maybe thankfully. Also, there is no significance in my attire, other than I’d rather remain a bit anonymous to the internet at large.

I really love the Artisan. If I wanted to be critical of anything, it might be the position and angle of the cords exit from the headset. As someone who deals with wires all day, it looks like it has potential for creating a break from the repeated flexing. Moving it further outboard and reducing the angle would help if possible. I think I will not have a problem as I will care for it, but those who don’t may be in for problems with heavy usage.

It’s almost 3AM my time, so my thought’s are a bit scattered.

Watch this VR fool review of the Pimax Artisan

[DPangolin]

Also, the walk in was not a set-up. I was tying everything on in the bathroom after I started the camera.

[mirage335]

Why do you think the Artisan can run on a less capable computer than the 5k+? Both have same vertical resolution, 1440v (and horizontal FOV is adjustable).

Also, my tests on the 8kX show that higher native resolution reduce the need for supersampling. Though of course, the cost effectiveness of a more expensive headset with a less expensive computer is still a consideration.

Point-by-Point Demo of (not-final) Pimax Vision 8kX

[Heliosurge]

Good review. However don’t be afraid to checkout the 5k+ as with switching FoV to small is around the Artisan. I can run both the 5k+ and og 8k on my other setup an i5-6500 with an Amd R9 390 on Normal FoV with decent results. Your system is stronger.

@bubbleball I believe runs a 5k+ at one time on an FX8350 with a 1070.

[Djonko]

Hey mate, nice review!! I’m glad my Artisan found a new happy owner I agree, it’s a good headset, in fact I personally thought it’s the best Pimax headset I’ve tried (better than my 4k and 5k+, 202 model). I think they’ve hit the sweet spot with it in several ways (price, distortion, FoV). Enjoy!

[ziddan]

You can try putting the wire though the hole in the back of the strap, thats what ive done so it doesnt bend as sharply. i was getting some snowflakes for a while using the default positioning (after close to year of use) because i think it was stressing the shielding but those went away after this change.

[DPangolin]

My assumption is someone running a stock out of the box headset, without getting into tweaking VR settings, without sacrificing in game visual settings. I’m not a hardcore VR guy. I’m just avg joe that got into VR when he made enough money to afford it.

Also, the Artisan has a smaller FOV out of the box, if you can’t see it, it’s not being rendered, which is less work for your GPU. While they both have the 1440 you speak of, it’s 2560x1440 vs 1700x1440. If each headset is running at max native resolution and max refresh rate, it would only make sense that the 5k would require more muscle to run at it’s native resolutions while utilizing that 144hz refresh rate, or is screen tearing or vsync lag not a thing in VR?

I’m not a mathmagician, or a nvidia user of any super scale sample subreddit wizardry. I don’t even play with software scaling settings in any of the VR menus. Out of the box, plug and play, without touching the settings, I find it hard to believe you can render an image on a higher resolution display at it’s native resolution, without incurring GPU power costs. It just doesn’t make sense. This doesn’t mean I’m not wrong, and I’m always willing to read the explanation.

While it may be possible to run my 5K+ at lower settings or a smaller FOV equivalent to the max of my Artisan, why would I? I only have a 5k+ because you could not buy and still can not buy an Artisan directly from Pimax. My second hand artisan just happened to beat my 5K+ to my door by days.

I’m not here to cause a fuss or put out misinformation. I’m just going off my experience. Maybe someone has done real world in game FPS/latency benchmark testing of all these headsets on the same system, with the same software settings, aside actual resolution without any scale tweaking, and maybe it proves me wrong.

Djonko I can’t say it’s my favorite Pimax headset yet, as my 5k+ is still boxed up. Maybe one day I will find out.

I’m probably not going to open it up before I move to my next house.

Heliosurge I also had a 8150, which is comparable to the 8350. It’s not an ideal processor for even flat screen AAA gaming these days. I’m sure it is possible, but you are not running any CPU intensive games at a comfortable frame rate with those cherished dinosaurs of the AMD dark days. I remember running the steamvr benchmark with that CPU and my 770gtx, and sighing as it barely made the lower threshold. I actually saved money until I could build my current PC, just so I could get into VR. I know it was well worth the effort.

As far as muscle goes, I have some first place finishes in VR mark in my configuration class.

And had some decent results for an ambient air user.

However, the performance difference is clear from my old rig, to today’s. I think the 8150 was already the bottleneck there. Anything over a gtx770 really shows that processors age.

I think it may have been good enough for my 4k, for some less intense gaming, and basic experiences.

I’m always happy to learn new things, and I’m sure there is a learning curve for VR performance for me.

[Heliosurge]

The 5k+ as said can easily run well on an r9 390(Amd), 1060 6g, 1070 and and 980ti.

144hz? Maybe maybe not. But yes you can run it on Normal and even SkyrimVR with mods in Large. Your rig save that newer And cards still need work from bith Pimax and Amd is a good setup. Your Cpu definitely has enough power.

I do some SS but only when I feel the need to tweak. Otherwise base settings works fine in most. I will need to revisit thr dusty 5k+ sometime and test 120 and 144hz.

770 yeah not likely a go. Though did have a great result running 2x7950 in cf; med to sliver high in Steamvr Perf test.

[Djonko]

@DPangolin

Djonko I can’t say it’s my favorite Pimax headset yet, as my 5k+ is still boxed up. Maybe one day I will find out.

Keep in mind there are several revisions of the pimax 5k+, with different panels. I have the oldest one (202 version) and it suffers from ‘black dots’. That’s mainly why I prefer the Artisan. But the newest 5k+ should be much better than the one I have. So definitely try it out!

[mirage335]

@DPangolin

Also, the Artisan has a smaller FOV out of the box, if you can’t see it, it’s not being rendered, which is less work for your GPU. While they both have the 1440 you speak of, it’s 2560x1440 vs 1700x1440. If each headset is running at max native resolution and max refresh rate, it would only make sense that the 5k would require more muscle to run at it’s native resolutions while utilizing that 144hz refresh rate, or is screen tearing or vsync lag not a thing in VR?

Correct. Although the FOV is very easy to adjust (just make sure to set it before running SteamVR/Games/etc), the Artisan does kind of guarantee significantly less rendering.

Screen tearing and VSync lag are not issues in VR, but framerate is. Anything less than full refresh rate with Smart Smoothing off, or half refresh rate with Smart Smoothing on, tends to look very bad, double framing stuff way worse than losing VSync.

[drowhunter]

ModsVilleUSA , that you?

ModzvilleUSA!

[drowhunter]

I never asked but have you ever tried an index. Im so curious to put this debate to bed by trying it myself. but Pimax small is much larger than Index right?

[drowhunter]

hmm i havent run VR mark before. Actually, I think i ran it in 2016 but it didnt seem like the world standard as far as benchmarking Vr was concerened

I may try it again bow that more people have VR headsets.

[DPangolin]

VR mark is like any other synthetic out there, it’s not completely indicative of whether you can or can’t game in VR, but if your system can make a good showing in it, it will most likely perform well in most games. If it looks like my 8150 results, you might consider sticking with 60hz small fov VR. Orange room basic is still free if I remember right, so it’s no loss to try it. It’s also has a great demo for people who have never used VR, that just need to sit still and look around. My kids and ole lady loved it. Blue room is still brutal for all but the most expensive systems. You can also feed the headset the benchmark as well, but your frames will of course be capped at the refresh rate of your headset.

[PimaxUSA]

I think this link answers your question:

HMD Geometry Database

For TLDR: The index is 109.26 H and a Pimax 5k+ on Small is 120.29 H.

[DPangolin]

If I had a dollar for every time you answered that

[DPangolin]

I would ignore the odd frame drops to 60fps, it looks like an anomaly to me.

These are tests through the headset of course, (don’t know if it matters) but additionally it’s being displayed on a 144hz monitor. It was kinda fun to see just what my rig in normal every day use configuration would do. I’m half impressed.

[DPangolin]

For reference, same settings (default on VRMark, and whatever my PC was set to for everyday use) while watching youtube, on another 120HZ monitor, while playing the audio through a 4k TV, without sending the video through the Artisan.

[Heliosurge]

No haven’t tried the index as of yet. Haven’t had the opportunity. Pimax Small is 120, about 10° bigger if mem serves than Index’s Horizintal.

[drowhunter]

I still think i need to see it myself. Because from that chart it seems like the original vive is the same fov horizontal and actually 2 degrees more vertical than the Index

Everyone who i see bragging about the index keeps going back to the fov as the reason they can’t go back to other headsets. But its the same … what the heck is going on here?