I’m currently running an Intel i7-4790, 16Gb RAM, nVidia GTX 970. Since we won’t have controllers/lighthouses for a while, I tried running the 5k+ on this setup for giggles to see if I could do desktop-type VR. It does work. Sort of. Virtual Desktop loads and gives a full VR environment, but the headset doesn’t track around well and it’s quite choppy, even when reporting 80-90 FPS. This wasn’t unexpected, but a little disappointing.
I’m aware that the recommended GPU is a 1070 or better. I figured a 970 should be adequate to do more “static” VR stuff like Virtual Desktop and I’m curious if the bottleneck is more CPU-based than GPU. I’m not terribly well versed in the current technologies, so forgive me if I’m expecting too much.
I’m going to be upgrading to a 1080 or better in the near future. Just trying to decide if I should replace the CPU as well. Any thoughts would be most appreciated.
It really depends on time frame your looking at. Upgrading GPU in the near future might be best.
Your cpu is definitely something to consider for future upgrade. But since it will require a full upgrade with Motherboard & Ram. I would reccommend holding off this part. I would reccommend considering Amd’s Ryzen but wait on the release of the 3000 series as this will drive the 2000 series down in price & you can if not upgrading to the 3000 series right away can buy the latest chipset. Amd has really stepped up their game with the 2000 series & is a more economical for upgrading on mb price & features compared to intel.
I myself went with the r7 2700x but even the r5 2600x is s fine choice.
A lot will be dependent on what you want to run & your expectations.
@fresco for example has both a 1080ti & a 980ti. He has experimented on the 980ti with reasonable results. For example Skyrim is reported to run well with Mods but other titles might require lowering settings a fair bit.
If you list some titles he might be able to give you a better idea.
A mobo & gpu upgrade though wpuld be reccommended but a simple gpu upgrade for now might suffice.
Something you might try while holding off on your future upgrade as Heliosurge suggested would be to Overclock both your cpu and gpu if you haven’t. That can help considerably in my x.
Thanks for your help
I think that I will install the 2080 ti tomorrow and then when I receive my 5k+ I’ll test and try how it works.
The games I will play most of the time are Skyrim, some fps and racing games. Maybe some others but I really like these kind of games and I do think that they will need some heavy power to run perfectly.
Thanks @Heliosurge and @Fresco! I am indeed a backer, though I’m still not sure I opted for the 5k+ over the 8k that I pledged for. That’s something I’m still trying to discuss with support.
Really now my question is which GPU to get. Getting a 1070 now seems shortsighted, as it’s older tech and will likely be rendered obsolete in 1-2 years. Getting a 2070 would be better, but I’ve read horrific reviews of failing cards and RMAs that take forever. Going 1080 might be okay, but 2080 is a bit steep, price-wise.
Who knew this toy would turn out to be so expensive! lol
hi i have a gtx 970 too but with an i7 2600. I think i’m at 3.9mhz OC and have a 600W PSU.
Do you have any issues with the white sparkles/interference that a lot of people are experiencing (myself included). Also, curious what PSU do you have?
The 5k+ & 8k perform similar. But yes either way both headsets can be quite hungry. Depending on timeline could bear with things and see how Amd fairs with the Radeon VII. If SkyRimVR is the main game even a 2060 6g? Might be a good runner til later if price point good. @Ludiks was running a 1060 6g just prior to an upgrade.
Well, to be clear, I have a 5k+ in my hands right now. I pledged for the 8k, but I’m not sure if I’m supposed to get the 8k or if I should have a 5k+. So right now, my questions are related to the 5k+.
I was just poking around with the HMD on and it seems quite responsive at low-rendering (0.5). For example, Virtual Desktop reports 90 fps, 11fps capture, 2.1% CPU, 27% GPU, 21.6ms HMD latency.
The problem I’m having, and I’m not sure if it’s the GPU or something else, is that I’ll be looking straight forward at something, be it the Virtual Desktop, Steam VR interface, or just the standard “space-scape” background from Pimax. If I turn my head to look around the scene, it often will stutter for a brief moment, and then the orientation will shift. Now the location I was looking previously is shifted over to the side and rotated a random amount.
This happens quite often; hence my assumption that the GPU isn’t able to keep up with the faster motion. However, even slow rotations will sometimes result in a re-orientation of the main view area. Given the diagnostic numbers VD was showing, I’m now curious if the lack of a lighthouse is what’s causing my orientation issues and, in fact, the GPU is perfectly fine for what I’m doing.
User error. Had the HMD plugged into a regular USB port and not a 3.0 port. D’oh! Unit is tracking just fine now.
So now it’s a question of getting some kind of controller that I can use with it. I’ll try out some apps and games to see how well the 970 performs under load.