Waxer

Mentioned by VKB NA here: https://vkbcontrollers.com/?p=92765

Well Jabbers came up trumps today. No not that Trump... [let's leave political jokes aside - Ed] Thanks Jabbers! And to the OP: sidewinder question answered by Jabbers video, linked above. And Canted: one of the comments on Jabbers video has the VKB F-14 grip and he reports that canted positioning is not possible. Maybe a VKB rep can confirm?

Personally, I'd be happier if Winwing did their throttle without their grip and base. As I fly VR the buttons are less interesting to me: a long throw mechanical throttle with metal parts is better from my and a button packed, small form factor plastic throttle. But I understand that everyone will have their own opinions, some who will agree and some who disagree. Happy for all the people looking forwards to this.

:thumbup:

Hey folks. Thinking about pulling the trigger on the VKB F-14 Combat Grip. I don't already own a Gunfighter, so all in with shipping it is c.€450... so yeah... not cheap. I do already own a VPC base, so clearly their VFX grip is a much less expensive option for me. However I've been put off by the lukewarm reviews which mention spongy push buttons and the long autopilot lever. Maybe I am being too picky, but I'd rather make the most informed choice so I thought I would reach out the community. To any people that own and have used the VKB F-14 grip, please can you share your impressions? Specifically: 1) Button feel? 2) DLC feel? 3) Weapon selector feel? 4) Anything else you think relevant. To any people that actually own BOTH, I'd really like to get your opinions. There is one guy with a helpful video on Youtube I've watched but he had only used the VPC and not the VKB even though he owned both. I know Jabbers was going to do a video review of the VKB option, but as yet he has not been able to publish that review. Thanks to anyone with some constructive, hands on experience with the VKB grip.

Yes DDR3 bottleneck. I am on DDR4, so probably I will wait to build another system until I can get DDR5. I am looking at Comet Lake, but unlikely to buy unless I have a problem with my current rig before then. I might well get a 3080 Ti however, but I will be a late mover as I want an aftermarket GPU with a high bios power cap.

I have quite a lot of experience of building my own systems. Here are a few comments: 1) I feel that the guy arguing that IPC gains mean a 4.2GHz AMD CPU will outperform a 4.8GHz Intel CPU on single threaded performance due to IPC gains is flat out wrong. IPC gains do mean that later generation CPUs are generally faster than earlier CPUs at the same clock speed, but not to the extent that it would make up 600MHz of clock speed. 2) AMD CPUs are already efficiently overclocked by AMD with their clever software, meaning there is very little extra performance to be bought by end user overclocking. You can do it, but gains are small and you pay the price in noise, power consumption and heat fatigue on your system. (Transistors degrade if run at high temperatures). In contrast, historically Intel CPUs can usually be overclocked effectively with big performance gains if you have a capable motherboard, power supply and cooling solution. For example my CPU should turbo at 4.0GHz, but I have it running 24/7 at 4.8GHz while at low operating temperatures. 3) If your focus is - as you say - reducing low 1% framerates even more than boosting average fps (which is a very sensible goal btw), then the following applies: a) Make sure your system cooling is keeping temperatures under control. If you have temperature spikes this could cause CPU throttling. Keep it cool and allow your CPU to keep running flat out. How? Lots of air flow in and out of the case. Personally I have an overkill dual D5 pump custom water-cooling rig. That works, but it is expensive. (Great fun though!) b) Make sure you never hit RAM capacity. Chart RAM usage. If you are maxing out 16GB, go for 32GB. c) Get fast RAM and don't ignore latency. You need to balance the two to get a well optimised system. Currently DDR4 3600 / CL16 is decent. But look at secondary timings too so look for 16-16-16-36... so manufacturers sell 16-18-18-38 as CL16 memory... LOL jokers. You can go more crazy than that but it is diminishing returns. 4) Because a system has background tasks you want a multicore system for sure. But there is little point adding more and more cores that sit idle, or even worse generate heat and make core density higher making things more difficult to cool. CPU manufacturers LOVE to sell you more cores because they find it hard to increase clock speeds from where they are now and they want you to spend money. If I were building a new system now I would shoot for 8 cores as that is what the next generation of gaming boxes is going to have so software will be optimised for that many cores. That is assuming your main use for the computer is gaming. If productivity tasks requiring lots of cores then Threadrip away and get as many cores as you can afford. But that is a different use case.

I already have a WarBRD base which I like. (And a WarBRD grip that is okay, but just okay). Was considering VFX for Tomcat action... but VKB F-14 grip looks better quality. (Have seen Jabbers video VFX which I though was informative). What are your impressions of the VFX grip?

Throttle only is of interest. Don't want the grip or grip base.

Pretty funny... the 3 people on this thread looks like the battle of the extreme motherboards: X299 Dark, Z390 Dark, X299 Rampage VI Extreme Omega. I suppose we all know our hardware. LOL. All we need is someone with a X570 / TRX40 Aorus Xtreme to complete the collection. And GPUs... good point Jay. This headset can do 90 fps, but even on low settings the best GPUs will not be able to average 90 fps. I've seen people use SLI configurations with DCS with 70-80% scaling (which is great), but apparently SLI does not work with VR. Can anyone confirm or refute?

FYI Tyriel Wood recommends this for simulator users with a large budget. $1,300 without base stations $1,830 with base stations +$100 for audio upgrade. Looks good, but personally I'll wait an see. Don't really want to spend that much money on a technology that is currently advancing very quickly. I imagine that a significant number of people on here will be interested.

Well, I have never demoed a Pimax. What I have read and seen in review videos is that despite the Pimax's wider FOV the sweet spot is the limiting factor and that much of the wider FOV is wasted (and uses up GPU resources). It is very difficult shopping for VR headsets as 1) just reading the specifications gives only a partially accurate impression: how good a headset turns out to be is often the sum of parts rather than certain specifications being better than others. 2) What works well for one person might not work for another because our eyes and IPD are different. 3) It is hard to demo things so you generally have to read reviews, order in faith and return if the experience sucks. In terms of wait or buy now, we are close in theory to the next upgrade cycle. However with this terrible Pandemic sweeping over the planet I imagine that new product launches in every industry around the world will be getting delayed this year. In terms of Rift S or Index, I had no idea that prices were that comparable where you live. When I bought my Rift S it was less than half the price of the Index (including base stations and all that jazz).

Water-cooled EVGA 2080 Ti owner here. (Wish I had patience for a KP!) I own a Rift S, so can offer some comments regarding that. 1) My GPU drives it without issue. I am CPU bottled, not GPU. 2) Very nice motion tracking. Provided that there is light in the room that I am using it never loses tracking which is smooth and accurate. 3) Had some troubles early on with the hand controllers losing wireless signal. Then had to faff around reconnecting them. But that seems to have been corrected now with firmware improvements. 4) Microphone: crap. 5) Earphone: meh. Not crap, but not particularly good either. 6) Optics: surprisingly decent. Kind of a good all rounder, but does not excel in anything either. Overall Rift S is a good way to try VR at a low price point and / or to get VR but hedge yourself for a bigger purchase once the technology matures further. You got a KP, so I imagine value is not top of your criteria. But anyways...! LOL. Half-Life game, no idea. But in DCS even though spotting targets and reading some moving maps and things like that in a cockpit is difficult with VR, the overall immersion means that I am NOT going back to TrackIR. It is truly an incredible experience. DCS and VR is way better than any other VR application I have experienced.

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For sure, VKB grip means a new base too. So it works out much more expensive.

Hmm, thanks for the honest feedback. I am using Warhog and F/A-18C grips myself. I was considering VFX as I already have the Virpil base. Although I must admit that I liked the look of VKB's F-14 grip better and was likely to hold out for that.

Very nice: particularly like the custom frame that you and your buddy did. Also the choice of chair is smart: comfortable and also you can check six with your VR headset relatively easily compared to faux car bucket seats you get with "gamer" chairs. How are you finding the VFX grip?

Wow.

Ordinarily I would be somewhat impatient. However we should all consider that currently there are millions of people in home quarantine in China, many thousands (at least) infected with Kung Flu / COVID-19, thousands dead. If you've been paying any attention to current affairs the Chinese supply chain is massively impacted. (8 largest ports in China closed, national holidays extended etc). Hence your "toy" might not be ready to deliver yet. Get some perspective. Edit: Turns out VKB are saying (this evening) that they are opening orders on 17 Feb. Although they warn of shipping backlogs. It is hard to know what exactly is the situation in China right now. Last news story on this I've seen suggested that >700 million people in China were under quarantine. (Up from c.500 million about a week ago). If true... incredible. But if VKB are suggesting they are back to work tomorrow... who knows?

Stay safe Alex. Best wishes to you and your colleagues.

The travel ban has now been extended to affect 36 million people living in Chinese cities I think. (It was 12 million people as I went to bed last night). I would not be surprised if the travel ban goes even further with perhaps a total lockdown of all Chinese airports. There has never been a lockdown of so many people EVER. People have died. Many more people will die. Any inconvenience for some gadget being delayed needs to be put into perspective with that. My thoughts go out to the Chinese people, their incredibly brave medical staff and the army (trying to keep public order) in dealing with this.

Thanks for your write up. I like what you did with your custom throttle mount / plinth. Bearing in mind the weight and bulk of the throttle I would build something like that myself if I bought the throttle. The desk mounts are worthless to me as I don't like the design and want to risk them damaging my expensive office desk. I don't think I will be buying the base and grip regardless, so the throttle will only be an option if priced sensibly as a stand alone option.

So... this thread has gone quiet again. For those that did not take the plunge... Can anyone that has taken delivery of Winwing's HOTAS please share early impressions from their use of the equipment over Xmas? I am sure there are many that would be interested in user impressions. Thank you.

Yeah. The idea of this being in our grubby mitts by Christmas is for the birds.

There are some photos of the F-14 + GF3 with the 200mm extension. Have you got any photos of the 100mm extension fitted that you can share, please?