Bignewy's Pimax Crystal review

[BIGNEWY]

Hi all, 

Just wanted to quickly share some of my experience with the PIMAX Crystal. 

I was lucky enough to by loaned a Crystal to test, over the weekend I have set it up and tested. 

Initially I had issues with USB but quickly resolved after changing ports and using the correct USB 3 port on my machine with the powered HUB. 

After updating the firmware I had the headset up and running, and I can say I am very impressed, the quality of the lenses are great. 

I have used various headsets in the past, DELL Visor, VIVE Cosmos, and Reverb G2 and going to the crystal felt like an upgrade to me which was nice. The headset does feel slightly heavier than I am used to but the fit is good and the headset felt secure on my head. 

First use of DCS I did have some issues with white flickering, it turned out to be motion smoothing creating the issue and once disabled was no longer a problem. 

Quad foveated views with eye tracking make a huge difference, and my FPS was even higher than I usually get with the G2. 

75 FPS in the AH-64D even while on the ground, once in the air 75 - 90 fps and very smooth. 

My rig:
Windows 11, NVIDIA MSI RTX 3090,
Intel® i9-10900K 3.70GHz - 5.30GHz Turbo,
Corsair Hydro Series H150i Pro,
64GB DDR @3200,
ASUS ROG Strix Z490-F Gaming

I am certainly considering the PIMAX Crystal for my next headset after this initial experience, and want to thank @Calvin.Pimax and PIMAX for giving me the opportunity to test one. 

 

 

[Rufuz64]

Nice review, very similar to my experience. I use 72 Hz and therefore have a bit more eye candy, but I know that others have a problem with it and prefer to set it to 90 Hz. I have high settings and 72 FPS throughout.

@BIGNEWY  I use a small mod to reduce the weight, maybe that's interesting for you too:

My rig:
Windows 10, NVIDIA MSI RTX 4090,
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D 8-Core Processor, 3401 MHz,
64GB DDR @3200,
ASrock X570 Pro4

[Calvin.Pimax]

Hi @BIGNEWY

You're very welcome, and I'm thrilled that you're enjoying the Crystal headset!

We're delighted to have provided the loan unit for you to test, and your compliments are much appreciated 

Your review will certainly help other DCS members learn more about Pimax!

Cheers,
Calvin@Pimax

[BIGNEWY]

5 minutes ago, Rufuz64 said:

Nice review, very similar to my experience. I use 72 Hz and therefore have a bit more eye candy, but I know that others have a problem with it and prefer to set it to 90 Hz. I have high settings and 72 FPS throughout.

@BIGNEWY  I use a small mod to reduce the weight, maybe that's interesting for you too:

My rig:
Windows 10, NVIDIA MSI RTX 4090,
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D 8-Core Processor, 3401 MHz,
64GB DDR @3200,
ASrock X570 Pro4

Thank you for sharing, I use a ceiling rig already for cable management, but cool seeing how you have modded the experience  

[ldwater]

Out of interest could you share your DCS graphics settings?

I have a similar rig, except its a 3080 instead of a 3090 and I'm getting around 45 fps in the AH-64 (which I am mostly happy with btw).

Thanks!

[BIGNEWY]

33 minutes ago, ldwater said:

Out of interest could you share your DCS graphics settings?

I have a similar rig, except its a 3080 instead of a 3090 and I'm getting around 45 fps in the AH-64 (which I am mostly happy with btw).

Thanks!

Hi, 

Images attached of my current settings, the DCS ones are what I was already using with the G2, I could probably adjust them more now. I do like high FPS over anything else, my preferences my not suit anyone else. 

thanks

 

[Dovivan]

On 4/8/2024 at 11:31 AM, BIGNEWY said:

Hi all, 

Just wanted to quickly share some of my experience with the PIMAX Crystal. 

I was lucky enough to by loaned a Crystal to test, over the weekend I have set it up and tested. 

Initially I had issues with USB but quickly resolved after changing ports and using the correct USB 3 port on my machine with the powered HUB. 

After updating the firmware I had the headset up and running, and I can say I am very impressed, the quality of the lenses are great. 

I have used various headsets in the past, DELL Visor, VIVE Cosmos, and Reverb G2 and going to the crystal felt like an upgrade to me which was nice. The headset does feel slightly heavier than I am used to but the fit is good and the headset felt secure on my head. 

First use of DCS I did have some issues with white flickering, it turned out to be motion smoothing creating the issue and once disabled was no longer a problem. 

Quad foveated views with eye tracking make a huge difference, and my FPS was even higher than I usually get with the G2. 

75 FPS in the AH-64D even while on the ground, once in the air 75 - 90 fps and very smooth. 

My rig:
Windows 11, NVIDIA MSI RTX 3090,
Intel® i9-10900K 3.70GHz - 5.30GHz Turbo,
Corsair Hydro Series H150i Pro,
64GB DDR @3200,
ASUS ROG Strix Z490-F Gaming

I am certainly considering the PIMAX Crystal for my next headset after this initial experience, and want to thank @Calvin.Pimax and PIMAX for giving me the opportunity to test one. 

 

 

Hi BIGNEWY. 

Can you try this mission with your crystal? just sit to the hornet. Do you see a good black? becouse i see ugly grayed cockpit looks like crystal cant image dark black color like low bit color. . Envyroment dosnt feel like night and its ugly too. 

pimax black.miz

[kerlcat]

Thanks for sharing. Looking forward your review on Super late this year if Pimax could beat their plan.

[Nedum]

On 4/19/2024 at 5:15 AM, Dovivan said:

Hi BIGNEWY. 

Can you try this mission with your crystal? just sit to the hornet. Do you see a good black? becouse i see ugly grayed cockpit looks like crystal cant image dark black color like low bit color. . Envyroment dosnt feel like night and its ugly too. 

pimax black.miz 35.17 kB · 3 downloads

 

As I said already, I really want to help you, but as long you are not willed to post all your settings, I am unable.

Many people think, DCS has a good lightning system, but that's not true, not even a tiny bit. In DCS it will never be pitch black, because of the shaders and how ED is using them. If your settings are too dark, you will have to fight with strange things and a hazy, strange look.

As you can see in my (very bad) quick screenshots from the lenses, my cockpit is really black, but the outside look shows, how bright a full moon can shine.

I am playing with a DCS gamma setting of 2.8 in this scenario, but I raised the contrast to 69 (OpenXR Toolkit). The Pimax local dimming is set to extreme. I can tell you, with those settings, DCS looks much more realistic (especially beneath the clouds in the cloud cast), even at all day times.

I can tell you most lightning problems for the Night flying in DCS are coming from a much too dark setting. The current lightning engine in DCS is outdated.

Perhaps I will take some better pictures to show you how good the Crystal is, and I think your DCS settings are a way too dark.

 

Edited May 20 by Nedum

[BIGNEWY]

I don't have the crystal any more, my month long test finished. I may be getting access to the Crystal light however, so fingers crossed will have the opportunity to test that soon.