Possible VR purchase for DCS…

[rkk01]

A year a so back I planned to get a Reverb G2 - life stuff got in the way, but possibly back in the market

so what should I be looking at back end of 2023??

(likely only be used for DCS - maybe civvysim)

[The_Nephilim]

well mainly depends on the budget and what PC you currently have, Specs and budget??

[rkk01]

5 hours ago, The_Nephilim said:

well mainly depends on the budget and what PC you currently have, Specs and budget??

It’s a relatively old system…

i5-6600k on an ASUS Z170-A m/b

cpu is running at 3.9 gig

32gig DDR4 RAM

RTX3060 GPU 

 

the Reverb G2 V2 kind of matched my budget / expectations when I initially looked at VR for DCS, but the price has remained high in the UK (£620) and I suspect other headsets might offer similar / more for less £££

I don’t find the standard online / mag reviews that helpful as they’re not really aimed at our sort of sims

[ssg]

I am going to hijack a bit, how big deal is DFR?

Quest Pro is the most affordable DFR capable headset. Quest 3 however beats it on every other metric expect DFR and local dimming and is half the price. 

[edmuss]

2 hours ago, rkk01 said:

It’s a relatively old system…

i5-6600k on an ASUS Z170-A m/b

cpu is running at 3.9 gig

32gig DDR4 RAM

RTX3060 GPU 

 

the Reverb G2 V2 kind of matched my budget / expectations when I initially looked at VR for DCS, but the price has remained high in the UK (£620) and I suspect other headsets might offer similar / more for less £££

I don’t find the standard online / mag reviews that helpful as they’re not really aimed at our sort of sims

Unfortuately you're not going to have a great experience with the 3060 unless you're looking at valve index/riftS/WMR gen1 headsets, however their resolution and clarity impedes the reading of stuff in the cockpit; definitely below par for driving a G2.  Additionally the 4 core CPU is likely to get swamped pretty quickly now with the MT engine.  Realistically to have a decent VR experience with the G2 you should be looking at a 3080 upwards and even then you need to make compromises with resolution and some settings.

1 hour ago, ssg said:

I am going to hijack a bit, how big deal is DFR?

Quest Pro is the most affordable DFR capable headset. Quest 3 however beats it on every other metric expect DFR and local dimming and is half the price. 

When setup right it's a massive thing, I've seen uplifts of close to 100% with the aero over pure stereo rendering.  I have tweaked and tuned it to achieve these figures though.

[diamond26]

4 hours ago, ssg said:

I am going to hijack a bit, how big deal is DFR?

Quest Pro is the most affordable DFR capable headset. Quest 3 however beats it on every other metric expect DFR and local dimming and is half the price. 

I'm also in the market for an upgrade from Q2 and for sure reading the users' statements on QPro, the differences between Q3 and Qpro are more than eyetracking and local dimming. Lenses are better in Qpro offering better color and clarity. If those are covering the price difference I guess it's personal. I still try to make a decision myself between the two.

[LucShep]

11 hours ago, edmuss said:

Unfortuately you're not going to have a great experience with the 3060 unless you're looking at valve index/riftS/WMR gen1 headsets, however their resolution and clarity impedes the reading of stuff in the cockpit; definitely below par for driving a G2.  Additionally the 4 core CPU is likely to get swamped pretty quickly now with the MT engine.  Realistically to have a decent VR experience with the G2 you should be looking at a 3080 upwards and even then you need to make compromises with resolution and some settings.

Agreed, VR in DCS 2.8 or 2.9 is not a good experience with any gen2 headset if you're not rocking a RTX3080 or equivalent with a top 6+ core CPU and 32GB+ RAM (and preferentially better, even then it's not all rosy).

With that said, and instead of geting in debt by upgrading a PC (or to just quit the idea of VR alone), maybe try DCS 2.56 (check my sig), not the newest DCS versions.
Albeit unable to run the newest modules or terrains, with it you're looking at something like 2/3 of the hardware impact when compared (far better performance, especially in VR!).
Even more so with older systems, it can be the difference between having a super nice fulfilling experience, or having a very uncomfortable and disapointing one...

Edited November 6, 2023 by LucShep

[rkk01]

Thanks everyone - sounds like flat screen for my current generation of PC hardware

I have certainly noticed a drop in performance on Sinai / DCS 2.9

[Qcumber]

If you want to get a feel for VR see if you can pick up a second hand rift s. You can still get decent results with this headset.

[Lange_666]

^^^^^ this.
It gives you a headset with a display port so you don't have to "fight" the setup over airlink (wifi) or cable (USB).

[Habu_69]

I recommend checking out BigScreen Beyond, which is shipping to pre-orderers. That device has many attractive features, but also some disadvantages with regards to DCS; and I want to see a user performance review with DCS. Advantages include its comparatively tiny form factor, custom face gasket, tracking accuracy and latency, great mic, high native resolution and pancake lenses. Disadvantages include total cost (requires base stations for tracking), add-on audio, no eye tracking (or foviated rendering), some reported glare issues and delivery delay of few months for new orders. FOV is pretty good and It is a SteamVR device. You can find some reviews on YouTube.