PC Build for VR

[edwardbetter]

I’m looking to get into DCS with a new pc build. Here’s the part list: 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/bJ7YbK

I'm probably going to be using an oculus quest 2 and x56 HOTAS

Any potential issues with this build (apart from the fact that I’m using an AMD cpu)?

 

Edited to actually include the part list 

Edited September 8, 2022 by edwardbetter

[unlikely_spider]

That build is strikingly similar to my current PC. I have a good experience with the Reverb G2, albeit with some settings turned down vs what I could accomplish with a monitor. Some maps are better than others.

Keep in mind that the next-gen AMD CPUs on the horizon will require a new socket and building an AMD system now has no upgrade paths without replacing the motherboard. I don't know much about Intel at the moment though, so am unsure if that is more flexible.

Also make sure to enable the XMP profile for the memory. A lot of ram runs much slower than the advertised speed by default, but it's a simple process to enable the higher speeds in the BIOS anytime. AMD processors are particularly sensitive to ram speeds which is why this is something to pay attention to.

Edited September 8, 2022 by unlikely_spider

[EightyDuce]

There are no potential issues with it being an AMD cpu, its solid. However, if you are staying on AM4 with DDR4, I would highly recommend going with 5800X3D if your focus is VR. It can be had on Amazon for $384.

Edited September 8, 2022 by EightyDuce

[Burt]

Nvidia for VR

[edwardbetter]

10 hours ago, EightyDuce said:

There are no potential issues with it being an AMD cpu, its solid. However, if you are staying on AM4 with DDR4, I would highly recommend going with 5800X3D if your focus is VR. It can be had on Amazon for $384.

 

What’s the performance difference if I stay on 5800X?

[BitMaster]

it's a performance gap that might make a difference, just check the 5800X3D reviews to get a glance of how well it performs in games in general.

I would only pick the 3D variant if I was buying AM4 now....and get 64GB, DCS can easily flood those 32GB in seconds.

[EightyDuce]

On 9/8/2022 at 11:43 PM, edwardbetter said:

What’s the performance difference if I stay on 5800X?

In gaming it's anywhere between 10-25% on avg. over 5800X. Biggest gains are  in single threaded games like DCS, with the biggest impact being frametime (very important in VR) and it virtually eliminates any RAM bottleneck. 

Edited September 11, 2022 by EightyDuce

[3WA]

Not a fan of TP-Link.  Had problems with their wi-fi.  You'll find Netgear to be much better.

[edwardbetter]

Also is a 3070 good enough for vr or no

[BitMaster]

I am not a VR user anymore but from what the forum generally says, VR is 3080 and up.

Maybe wait till the new GPU's arrive to get a better deal on a VR capable card.

[Burt]

For VR you want the most gpu vram possible … I’d say 12gb and up. I heard the new NVidia 4000 series will have a 16gb card in the mix which will be great. 

Edited September 17, 2022 by Burt

[edwardbetter]

17 hours ago, Burt said:

For VR you want the most gpu vram possible … I’d say 12gb and up. I heard the new NVidia 4000 series will have a 16gb card in the mix which will be great. 

 

Yeah I might wait for the new gpus

[edwardbetter]

Here’s an alternate build:

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/edward686/saved/#view=sKmzP6
opinions?

 

EDIT: I might wait for RDNA 3 and 7xxxX3D

Edited September 27, 2022 by edwardbetter

[LucShep]

2 hours ago, edwardbetter said:

Here’s an alternate build:

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/edward686/saved/#view=sKmzP6
opinions?

 

EDIT: I might wait for RDNA 3 and 7xxxX3D

 

That looks good if you're in a hurry, but I'd wait a little more time, to be sure on the CPU and GPU choice.

AMD RDNA 3 will launch on November 3rd, so maybe wait for their initial reviews, see then if the higher end (supposedly the RX7800XT and RX7900XT) are within your reach. Note that, for these, we'll also have to wait for the power supply requirements (see the Nvidia RTX4000 curfuffle).
Also consider that, if it's for VR, instead of the AMD RX6900XT you'd be better with an Nvidia RTX3090, which will come far down both in new and used market prices (but would recommend a 1000W PSU for it).

On the processor choice, I'd definitely wait for Intel 13th gen Raptor Lake, already launched and available on the 20th of October (see HERE). With up to 15% on single-threaded and 41% multi-threaded stronger performance than current 12th gen, I'm not so sure that the AMD Ryzen 7000 series will keep their current novel momentum.
So, maybe wait for the Intel 13th gen reviews and gaming benchmarks (expect these to be a bit better).
Still on the processor choice, yes, the X3D version of the Ryzen 7000 series will be awesome (much better for gaming than these initial ones), but I doubt that we'll see it before 2nd quarter of next year, if that soon.

Edited September 28, 2022 by LucShep

[edwardbetter]

16 hours ago, LucShep said:

That looks good if you're in a hurry, but I'd wait a little more time, to be sure on the CPU and GPU choice.

AMD RDNA 3 will launch on November 3rd, so maybe wait for their initial reviews, see then if the higher end (supposedly the RX7800XT and RX7900XT) are within your reach. Note that, for these, we'll also have to wait for the power supply requirements (see the Nvidia RTX4000 curfuffle).
Also consider that, if it's for VR, instead of the AMD RX6900XT you'd be better with an Nvidia RTX3090, which will come far down both in new and used market prices (but would recommend a 1000W PSU for it).

On the processor choice, I'd definitely wait for Intel 13th gen Raptor Lake, already launched and available on the 20th of October (see HERE). With up to 15% on single-threaded and 41% multi-threaded stronger performance than current 12th gen, I'm not so sure that the AMD Ryzen 7000 series will keep their current novel momentum.
So, maybe wait for the Intel 13th gen reviews and gaming benchmarks (expect these to be a bit better).
Still on the processor choice, yes, the X3D version of the Ryzen 7000 series will be awesome (much better for gaming than these initial ones), but I doubt that we'll see it before 2nd quarter of next year, if that soon.

 

From what I’m seeing, the 6900xt is better than the 3080. Is the 3090 price difference worth the money performance?

[LucShep]

1 hour ago, edwardbetter said:

From what I’m seeing, the 6900xt is better than the 3080. Is the 3090 price difference worth the money performance?

General gaming and 1440P screen resolution yes, the RX6900XT 16GB is a better deal, but for VR  (or 4K, or triple screens) it's not stronger than the RTX3080 12GB, though the former has 4GB more VRAM (video memory) than the latter, and that can make it more apppealing.
For DCS, Nvidia tends to work better than AMD for 4K+ screen resolutions and VR, and that's the way it is.

The RTX3080 12GB vs RTX3090 24GB is just 12% difference in performance, but it's also double the VRAM on the 3090, which favours it immensely, due to how DCS can devour upwards of 14GB VRAM with some modules and maps (and in MP).
If it's for a single 1440P monitor, I'd say maybe not worth it, but for single 4K monitor (and triple screens) and especially for VR, I'd say an RTX3090 is worth it for DCS 2.7.
But still, maybe wait for their prices to go down a bit, new or used.

Edited September 28, 2022 by LucShep

[edwardbetter]

On 9/28/2022 at 9:53 AM, LucShep said:

General gaming and 1440P screen resolution yes, the RX6900XT 16GB is a better deal, but for VR  (or 4K, or triple screens) it's not stronger than the RTX3080 12GB, though the former has 4GB more VRAM (video memory) than the latter, and that can make it more apppealing.
For DCS, Nvidia tends to work better than AMD for 4K+ screen resolutions and VR, and that's the way it is.

The RTX3080 12GB vs RTX3090 24GB is just 12% difference in performance, but it's also double the VRAM on the 3090, which favours it immensely, due to how DCS can devour upwards of 14GB VRAM with some modules and maps (and in MP).
If it's for a single 1440P monitor, I'd say maybe not worth it, but for single 4K monitor (and triple screens) and especially for VR, I'd say an RTX3090 is worth it for DCS 2.7.
But still, maybe wait for their prices to go down a bit, new or used.

 

Would a 3080 ti be enough? The price difference is pretty high

[blkspade]

I have a Reverb G2, and use a 6800XT but have tested both the 3080 10GB and 3090 in my system. The 3080 was basically no better than the 6800XT, while the 3090 was noticeably better than both. Better more consistent frame rate at a higher pixel density. The 10 GB of the 3080 isn't enough to run the G2 at native RES, but you obviously don't need 24GB. I'd imagine the 6900XT or 6950XT being equally better than the 6800XT as the 3090 is to the 3080 could offer a similarly improved experience.

[edwardbetter]

So what’s better: rx 6900xt or 3080ti?

[LucShep]

On 10/1/2022 at 7:54 PM, edwardbetter said:

Would a 3080 ti be enough? The price difference is pretty high

An RTX 3080Ti is like a 3090 (non-Ti) just a wee bit slower, but with half the VRAM of its bigger brother. ....and there's the problem with it.
I don't think I could justify paying that much for a GPU with "just" 12GB of VRAM (still way too expensive for what it is, IMHO).
...but that's me, and I'm not you.

DCS is littered with textures of humongous sizes, and 16GB (or more) of VRAM would be ideal, as it can make a difference with VR, single 4K, or 3X screens.
But, at the same time (for reasons we could speculate, but not important here), given two GPUs of same segment, one from Nvidia and one from AMD, the former will have more "raw power" and perform better than the latter at higher resolutions (again, that's VR, single 4K, or 3X screens).

If DCS and VR is your sole interest in gaming/simulation, you'll find there's a reason why the RTX3090 is so popular with DCS users who demand the best performance.
It has the better "raw power" (of Nvidia), nulling the performance issues that, sometimes, the RX6900XT may have, while packing huge ammounts (24GB) of VRAM that its other brothers (RTX3080/Ti) sometimes may lack. Yes, it comes at a really high price though (and it's worth waiting for its price to go down, IMO).
 

On 10/2/2022 at 3:22 AM, edwardbetter said:

So what’s better: rx 6900xt or 3080ti?

I'd say that the RX6900XT and RX6950XT 16GB, are the better deal (IMO) if you also have other gaming/simulation interests beyond DCS.
They strike a balance of good performance and great ammount of VRAM. While still a lot of money, at the tempting prices that they now start to go for, they are no longer outrageously expensive as the Nvidia counterparts are (you probably noticed it). If at discounted price, I'd grab one instead of an RTX3080Ti.

For me, the next best alternative is the RTX3080 12GB, if at lower price (as should be), itself just a tiny little slower (marginally?) than the RTX3080Ti 12GB and with same VRAM.

Edited October 4, 2022 by LucShep

[BitMaster]

The difference between 3080ti and 3090ti is down to ~100-200€ @ mindfactory for certain models.

If I had to buy I would take the full thing. 12GB more for 150ish€, always !

 

https://www.mindfactory.de/Hardware/Grafikkarten+(VGA)/GeForce+RTX+fuer+Gaming/RTX+3090+Ti.html

https://www.mindfactory.de/Hardware/Grafikkarten+(VGA)/GeForce+RTX+fuer+Gaming/RTX+3080+Ti.html