I am starting a new video series where I compare the Pimax 8k, Pimax 5K Plus and Vive Pro performance for several popular games on my GTX 1080ti computer.
In this first episode I tested Project Cars 2.
I tested on PiTool V. 1.0.1.76, with PiTool Quality at 1.0 and Steam Supersampling at 100%, Normal FOV. Here are the results:
Pimax 5k Plus:
FOV looks fantastic in the game. Just like if you were sitting in the car and wearing a racing helmet, since you can still see some black border on the right and left. But actually that even increases immersion
Picture is very clear, you can easily read all the texts, even small ones.
Very little SDE
Frame rates are acceptable, actually playing it is smooth and you do not see any stuttering (Average fps: 57.8)
could have improved fps by lowering SteamSS but simply want to test everything at the default settings
Distortion is negligible
No pixel persistence problems - no world moves with you problem (“wobbling”)
Microphone is great
Pimax 8K
FOV just as good as on the 5K Plus - Immersion is fantastic
Picture quality is not as good as on the 5K Plus, it is okay but simply not as sharp.
You can still read text but it is easier to read on the 5K Plus
Could not really see color differences in these bright scenes between 5k Plus and Pimax 8K
little SDE but it was more visible for me on the 8K as compared to the 5K Plus, especially on bright backgrounds, diagonal subpixel structure makes it more visible for me
Just like on the 5K Plus, game runs smoothly and I reached an average of 57.5 fps for a full race
Distortion negligible here as well on Normal Fov
We do have slight pixel persistence problems here for fast movements where the headset seems to be not fast enough to keep up with showing an updated frame
Microphone is great
Vive Pro
FOV is now ridiculously small as compared to the Pimax headsets, it feels like I am looking through toilet paper rolls
tough to play after having just played the same game on the Pimax headsets, because of the FOV difference
Picture quality is very good, everything looks sharp, very comparable to the 5k Plus picture, just on the smaller FOV
Colors look great on the Vive Pro, deep blacks, and vibrant colors, definitely better than both Pimax 5k Plus and Pimax 8k
little SDE, comparable to Pimax 8k because of similar subpixel structure (diagonal PenTile), especially on bright backgrounds
game runs very smooth, no problems with stuttering at all, average fps after a full race: 69.8 fps
even though around 12 fps more than on Pimax headsets, would never think of playing it on the Vive Pro as compared to both Pimax headsets, the immersion of the wide FOV is just so much better and game runs also well on the Pimax headsets
no pixel persistence, distortion problems whatsoever
headsets wiggles to the right and left when shaking head
Microphone is just terrible
Conclusion: Project Cars 2 runs great on GTX 1080ti and it’s definitely a huge step up as compared to the Vive Pro on the same system.
Fantastic video! Please keep them coming. I appreciate you including the Vive Pro, it gives me a base line. It truly puts things in perspective when we can see the FPS is only 12 frames less instead of people thinking OMG Pimax is almost 30 FPS off of its refresh rate!!! I’m hopeful Stand out Battle Royale and Pavlov video comparisons are coming soon
This is starting to feel like he is pumping the 5k. Everyone has stated before this that the SDE is worse on the 5k but now that is no longer the case. Will have to wait until actual people have it in hand.
I think this was intended more to compare the new Pimax headsets to the HTC Vive Pro rather than each other (which has already been done). If he had left the 8k out - people would have accused him of pushing the 5k+, so kinda damned if he did and damned if he didn’t
It’s just his honest opinion, supported by hands on experience. I agree, hopefully the first backers will have it very soon and provide more feedback
Could you, for the following tests, also note the rendering resolution as reported by SteamVR? It seems it has been changing from one PiTool version to another and also seems was different for 5K+ and 8K (at least that is what I got from @VoodooDE rant video).
I believe the three parameters: PiTool “Rendering Quality”, SteamVR Supersampling factor, and SteamVR rendering resolution should be enough to form the “complete reference” for future, if PiTool changes the resolution/rendering quality ratio again.
@mixedrealityTV: thanks for the review, great to see it is well playable after all, because in the beginning after the end of the embargo PJC2 had been flagged as one of the few games probably not playable all that well on the Pimaxes.
Just one question: you mention that the Vive Pro is also producing a similarly clear picture - I take you are referring to the view within the sweetspot. But how does the much smaller sweetspot affect the experience - in a racing game you do use the peripheral area at times e.g. when there is some overtaking going on.
One more comment. I was trying to pay attention to the GPU and CPU utilization and noticed the similar pattern to the late @SweViver video about DCS. In Pimax 5K+ and 8K the GPU usage was around 75% and CPU around 55% despite the low FPS. Even single thread performance was around 70%. On the other hand, in Vive Pro case the GPU was shown running at 95%.
I also noticed that in Vive Pro, fpsVR reported 98% reprojection? Should it report with such a big reprojection something close to 45 FPS instead? Or what does the reported 75 FPS actually mean?
Yeah it’s so confusing to hear him of even see plain contradictions, one day colors are better and the next there’s nearly any difference, the SDE sometimes it’s better, worse or equal between Vive Pro/5k/8k, performance may be better on 5k one day, better on 8k the next so now the recomendation on 5k for performance doesn’t make much sense. Also you hear in the review that the awful pixel persistence thing was fixed on m1 after several lens profiles updates (minute 9:00 of his review), but now it’s unfixable, how was it fixed previously then? And the add the other reviewers which don’t agree in many points.
So if reviews were meant to clear things up, they sure aren’t
