Finally tested the Pimax Vision 8kX in competitive PavlovVR.
tldr
Scenery looks better, and this helps a tiny bit with spatial awareness. Reduced supersampling requirements, at full visual quality, drastically reduce GPU load, to the point of almost entirely eliminating Smart Smoothing latency/artifacts. Refresh rate between 75Hz/90Hz does not matter.
If there is one headset to have for PavlovVR and everything else combined, it is the Pimax Vision 8kX in native mode at all times.
However, the slight benefits in optical clarity are not as compelling of a step up for roomscale as they are for seated mode, or were for roomscale from the Oculus/Vive to the 5k+.
Because of that, I will personally be sticking to my plan to have both the Pimax Vision 8kX and keep my 5k+ just for PavlovVR. To ensure no sweat or damage befalls the Pimax Vision 8kX which I find so much more essential for seated use.
_ Optical Clarity _
Despite significantly improved optical clarity, the ability to see opponents behind vegetation or other cover did NOT noticeably improve. Presumably this would also be true in Onward.
Likewise, there was definitely no improvement in my performance on the practice map, which I can get down to a perfect score in at most 21 seconds.
Unzoomed sights were not more readable to the point of improving accuracy. Iron sights do look nicer, the red dot is more subtle, but this made no difference at all to usability.
What did significantly improve was my sense of spatial awareness. Finer textures and sharper edges helped me align sights, including telescopic sights, significantly more quickly and accurately. However, this was not probably not enough to account for even one additional point on a scoreboard in a few hours of gameplay.
Overall, the higher resolution does make experiences like PavlovVR more immersive, but it is not such an impressive step up as moving from Oculus/Vive/etc to the 5k+ was.
My ability to appreciate that more immersive visual quality in PavlovVR may result substantially from the many hours of desktop and simulator use I now have in the Pimax Vision 8kX. So players who do a mix of seated/roomscale may get the most benefit in these roomscale experiences.
If you are only going to buy one headset, definitely make it an 8kX. At minimum, the scenery is definitely more pleasing, and the improvement for seated experiences is phenomenal.
_ Refresh Rate _
Please, I do not want to hear any more suggestions about âneeding 90Hz nativeâ. No, unless you have some kind of weird flicker sensitivity, you donât.
At this point, I have used a variety of refresh rates, on various headsets, from 64Hz to 120Hz, and I can state with confidence, especially thanks to the PavlovVR practice map, the difference between 75Hz and 90Hz, even with the added optical clarity, could NOT provide any observable competitive advantage, not even less than would be required to score one extra point in hours of gameplay.
That said, the difference between 75Hz and 120Hz may be enough to make you a better gamer very slightly faster. I have unproven doubts the difference between 120Hz and 160Hz matters even that much though, and I expect the next milestone in refresh rate is upwards of 400Hz.
_ Smart Smoothing _
As previously discovered, less supersampling is needed for the Pimax Vision 8kX than for other headsets (ie. 8k+). Consequently, PavlovVR was almost always able to achieve >1.25x Total SR (probably 1.5x Total SR, but PavlovVR does not give a number for this) at 75Hz without Smart Smoothing at all, confirmed by FPSVR.
Lower latency, due to single frames being pushed directly to headset, qualitatively does seem to improve my performance as a gamer, though again, probably not enough to account for an extra point on the scoreboard. This is because about half as much compensation is required for lag when looking though sights.
Drastically reduced GPU requirements does have a compelling impact on reliability. Forest and Cyberpunk maps are no longer at risk of occasional horrible double framing. This alone would be a compelling reason to use the Pimax Vision 8kX in native mode for experiences like PavlovVR.
_ Comfort Kit _
Extra surface area on the comfort kit reduces side-to-side shifting motion. This is much more comfortable, to an extent that cannot be appreciated adequately at a roadshow.
Whereas I said the MAS was nearly a requirement for using the comfort kit with seated experiences, it may not be for roomscale.
Foam quality on the comfort kit, in my experience, is second to none. It might as well be teflon coated, having the best characteristics of synthetic leather and especially soft loose fabric as might be used to cover a microphone.
Extra surface area really helps reduce unwanted headset motion, I cannot stress this enough.
Lack of physical contact between eye/brows and lenses is a much more serious reason to consider the comfort kit. With the older facial interface, I would only play PavlovVR while using the thick synthetic leather VR Cover to keep the lenses safe.
_ Durability _
Despite exercising extreme caution (being very much mindful this loaner headset cannot be replaced at the moment), I did tap the controller to the side of the headset once, maybe twice, while reaching over my shoulder. This is something I have only done a few times to the 5k+ in hundreds of hours of intense gameplay.
Where the 5k+ may have sounded a little hollow, and may have acquired one small crack on the corner of the plastic chassis, the Pimax Vision 8kX sounded solid, and does not show a scratch.
Keep in mind this unit is NOT FINAL. Lack of serious manufacturing defects in such an early unit should be taken as an extremely good sign that issues with plastic consistency have been resolved.
Having survived CES, roadshows, and this minor incident, the durability of the new Pimax Vision 8kX is continuing to prove at least as good as the best of the older model headsets.
_ Cleanliness _
PavlovVR is (in my experience) the absolute worst thing to do to headsets. Enough sweat inevitably seems to evaporate to coat the lenses with a layer of grease. Foam absorbs things I would not want to remain on my face during hours of seated usage.
Pimax Vision 8kX is of course not immune to these issues, like every other headset, Pimax or otherwise.
However, the Pimax Vision 8kX does not as quickly show degradation in image quality due to a spot of heavy grease or such on the lenses. Because the margins for text readability are already much better satisfied, usability suffers less from imperfections.
Lens grease was persistent enough that I had to wet part of a microfiber cloth to remove it.
Dabbing the foam nightly with a wet paper towel - very carefully - has become standard practice for me to guarantee against any build up.
At CES, I tried a leather version of the comfort kit. Though much less comfortable, definitely not desirable for seated use, for roomscale use, it may be a little easier to keep clean.
For VR gamers who frequently play PavlovVR or equally intense experiences, I strongly recommend trying a variety of options for keeping the facial foam clean. Donât settle on any solution - Comfort Kit or going back to a standard facial interface with a synthetic leather VR Cover or otherwise - until giving yourself at least a few days to adapt to the geometric differences and variable maintenance requirements.
_ Methodology _
- Particularly classic maps were tested, including Office, Forest, Cyberpunk, Goldeneye Runway/Bunker/Facility/Cradle, CSGO Sand, etc .
- DM and TDM are my favorite modes, and I did indeed hold my place at or near the top of the scoreboard against skilled opponents.
Please keep in mind these conclusions are mostly highly specific to PavlovVR usage, and the Pimax Vision 8kX unit is a NOT FINAL unit, so end users may see some more subtle improvements.
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More interesting things are still on the way yet. Here is a small sample. Please keep in mind this was done with Elite Dangerous optimized for single-frame latency (Smart Smoothing NOT activating), and the video capture quality was imperfect, so the actual view in the headset was in fact MUCH sharper. Also, the transparency of the desktop overlays is way more usable in the headset than in video - only just barely enough to see through.
