Giving my 8k another try

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After my 8k has collected quite a bit of dust and having skipped some pitools versions I decided to test it again and got a 5k as well from a friend which I sold him.

I checked one by one past pitool versions and came to the conclusion that 254 was the only version that somewhat delivered in terms of fps.

The geometrical issues got a little better, still there though, but this is only thing that I can apreciate. (may play with H/V to improve further)
Installation worked fine (except the non-trusted issue, no biggie)

All FOV settings seem to be shrinked, probably to gain performace.

Smart Smoothing kinda works but a least on the 8k with 40Hz is disgusting. Feels like cutting through water.
But even without SM, which I remember was best having turned off anyway, there are lots of unplesantries.

The masking effect is very visible and things popping in the peripheral area even got worse than I remember. (PP on and off)
But this may actually be on NVIDIAs side as I noticed it on some 2D games as well. But many games (like division 2) usually have a setting for that to compensate.

I had artifacts like random things seem to glow and being streched for a second. (especially on table tennis)

Tracking didn’t seem to be spot on, probably because the overall feeling is way less snappy than my old vive and OD+
Just to be sure, I tried with games that delivered stable fps with pitool 1,0 and steam 100%.

The colors overall are dull, maybe beeing spoiled from the OD+ (yes, I tried contrast/brightness settings; +2/-1 seemed to make the best job)

Most funny observation is that I hated SDE most before but due to all the short commings it seems that the importance of SDE has significantly diminished.

I’ll try again tomorrow, tinkering with more settings and games just to make sure that the observations are not my fault and could have been avoided.

I tested mainly with the 8k which I still prefer.
Only + on the 5k is that it feels a tad snappier.

Maybe some input would help:

is rgb lighting still an issue that leads to problems? if yes, how do they occur?

I’m running steamvr beta, should I use the non-beta?

Is the maxres still „a must“ even when only running pitool1+steam100?
maxres for some reasons does not show in my steamvr.vsettings but in default. Sweviver said that changing the default is wrong.
Even though this setting may improve clarity and picture quality, it won‘t fix the issues mentioned above?

Overall snappyness got worse compared to 1xx versions, despite the „hardware not recognized“ issues + reboot orgies from back then?

Do 8k users agree that 254 works best for now?

Any input appreciated since I for sure need some follow up tweaks to do.

I9 9900k (HT on)
bequiet dark rock 4 pro
Asrock Taichi
32 Gb 3600Hz RAM
Samsung Evo 970 M2
6x Samsnung Evo 860 SSD
WD Black HDD
Asus 1080ti Accelero Xtreme III modded

@Heliosurge
@Skyrimer
as I know that you have the 8k as well, maybe you could give some input, thx guys

edit 1:
i can confirm the crash after ~1h of usage on 254, still in terms of fps it seems ok.
I could swear that „normal“ FOV seemed wider in previous versions. Have not checked on the exact numbers though.

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I’m using the 258 which works better for me since I had stutters since 144, so if you feel that tracking is not good check 258. I have to agree that all FOVs seem a bit smaller, but normal covers 90% of my view as it is, and distortion on the sides is almost non-existant now, or I’m really used to it and don’t notice it anymore.

The popping you mention happens mostly in SteamVR home for some reason some times, but I don’t see it in games, I’ve played Half Life Alyx, Lone Echo and Borderlands 2 recently and had no popping issues.

Is the maxres still „a must“ even when only running pitool1+steam100?
I don’t even even know what maxres means lol.

If you use 258, make sure gpu scaling is at 0, most of the times going over that gives issues, although it depends of the game.

Overall, i’m on the opposite side, I’ve had my 8K taking dust for months due to stutter issues, but now with 258 I’m really happy with my 8K. I’ve been blown away with HLA and Lone Echo (graphically, the gameplay is crap), and now Borderlands 2 is a ton of fun and looks pretty good. But what I like the most is that now I can trust 99% that my Pimax will work. 90% works just fine, and the other 10% of the times is just a matter of using the extremely useful reset HMD/Pitool buttons, and after a few seconds it works just fine. Before I simply got tired of stutters and working issues that required a full computer reset.

The only issue I’m having right now is blinking dots in the screen. I know it’s the cable, already had one replaced, it was fine before but now we’re getting higher temperatures in Spain they are starting to show. It’s very usable for now, barely a few dots here and there, but I’m fearing that as soon as temperature rises it’s going to start becoming unbearable and I will have to open a support ticket.

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thanks for your feedback, I‘ll give 258 another try. Any insight on the maxres topic?

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I can only give some input as I don’t have controllers and lighthouses. @Fresco though might have some good input.

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