My PC Specs and possible VR Quest 3

[PacFlyer23]

I've been in DCS for over a year now and have started thinking about going from TrackIR to VR, looking at the Quest 3. I'm wondering if my PC specs are good enough for a VR experience that's on par with my current one. I only use this PC for DCS and fly the A-10Cii in single player campaigns, and get fps in the 120 range (I've capped it in game too). 

Intel Core i5 12600K 3.7 GHz 
NVIDIA RTX 4070-Super
1TB NVME SSD
32GB DDR4 RAM 

Samsung 32” Odyssey Neo G7 4K 165 Hz Curved Monitor

Thoughts/recommendations?

Edited August 22, 2024 by PacFlyer23

[Flummi]

I think you are set to go with low to medium settings in DCS. Don't hesitate, it's a beautiful experience!

For myself the biggest drawback is GPU (see my siganture).

[Phantom711]

vor 33 Minuten schrieb PacFlyer23:

I'm wondering if my PC specs are good enough for a VR experience that's on par with my current one.

Even though I would say your system is good enough for a reasonably good VR experience, the answer to the above question is „no“. And it would always be no, since everybody needs to make some compromise for VR with regards to some of the eye candy…even with a 4090.

[Qcumber]

2 hours ago, PacFlyer23 said:

I've been in DCS for over a year now and have started thinking about going from TrackIR to VR, looking at the Quest 3. I'm wondering if my PC specs are good enough for a VR experience that's on par with my current one. I only use this PC for DCS and fly the A-10Cii in single player campaigns, and get fps in the 120 range (I've capped it in game too). 

Intel Core i5 12600K 3.7 GHz 
NVIDIA RTX 4070-Super
1TB NVME SSD
32GB DDR4 RAM 

Samsung 32” Odyssey Neo G7 4K 165 Hz Curved Monitor

Thoughts/recommendations?

 

I used to run a Pico 4 which has similar resolution to a Q3. With your specs you will need to use fixed foveated rendering to get a decent performance.

I can run a Quest Pro with a similar spec pc to you. It runs very well. 72fps and about 70-80% GPU use in most situations. You could try buying a QP instead. They are a bargain used or even new on eBay. I got mine for £300. 

Edited August 22, 2024 by Qcumber

[av8orDave]

2 hours ago, Phantom711 said:

Even though I would say your system is good enough for a reasonably good VR experience, the answer to the above question is „no“. And it would always be no, since everybody needs to make some compromise for VR with regards to some of the eye candy…even with a 4090.

This is the correct answer.  I've used a number of VR headsets on multiple systems, and the sad reality is that you have to level-set your expectations when it relates to VR, even with a top-end system. 

Compared to TrackIR, the visual experience won't be on-par... you'll have to make graphical tradeoffs, primarily on texture settings and other visual details. The benefit is the "immersion" you get in VR. You're no longer flying in your living room starting at a flatscreen monitor with a hat and infrared clip on your head. You're now sitting in the cockpit, at least as far as your visual senses are concerned.

If you don't think you want to live with lower graphics settings, and don't want to spend at least some time tweaking and adjusting trying to get just the right experience, don't torture yourself with VR. Once you try it, you can't un-see it.  

[LucShep]

16 hours ago, davidrbarnette said:

This is the correct answer.  I've used a number of VR headsets on multiple systems, and the sad reality is that you have to level-set your expectations when it relates to VR, even with a top-end system. 

Compared to TrackIR, the visual experience won't be on-par... you'll have to make graphical tradeoffs, primarily on texture settings and other visual details. The benefit is the "immersion" you get in VR. You're no longer flying in your living room starting at a flatscreen monitor with a hat and infrared clip on your head. You're now sitting in the cockpit, at least as far as your visual senses are concerned.

If you don't think you want to live with lower graphics settings, and don't want to spend at least some time tweaking and adjusting trying to get just the right experience, don't torture yourself with VR. Once you try it, you can't un-see it.  

Yep, agreed.

As much as I like my big screen with headtracking, once you taste DCS in VR (if in good conditions) nothing else feels as good. 
The meme "once you taste VR you never go back" was real in my case. 

DCS is one of the sims that really makes all the sense to use in VR (you're there, in the cockpit).  Buuuuut.... it is very demanding on hardware - too much, IMO.

When things get too heavy or complicated, if you fly mostly SinglePlayer (not MultiPlayer) and don't use recently released modules and maps, then I'd suggest trying DCS 2.5.6 (link in my signature).  It's a three year (plus) older version of DCS with simpler shaders and without the new clouds system. Much lighter on resources (about 30% less GPU usage, about the same also for less RAM and VRAM usage). 

Made all the difference for me (butter smooth, which never was since 2.7, still isn't with latest 2.9) and, as I fit that "offline player, non-recent modules" profile, never looked back. 
Sure, it sucks to miss newer and upcoming modules that do interest me, but at least in VR it all finally works smooth (can even crank up details and resolution) and don't need to upgrade the PC, nor worry about another game update breaking this or affecting that - I finally just enjoy it.  And if you have friends using it too, it also runs great online.

Edited August 23, 2024 by LucShep

[PacFlyer23]

Thanks for the good information and advice. Since I'm enjoying my current experience in non-VR, and don't want to yet get hooked on VR I think I'll hold off on it for a while. My i5 seems to be at the lower end of performance for VR. Also I've heard rumors of a new Quest 4 and Nvidia RTX 5090. Maybe next summer I'll be ready to upgrade or replace my current PC with an i9 and RTX 5000 series card if that leads to a better VR experience. 

[HansPeter1981]

On 8/22/2024 at 6:42 AM, PacFlyer23 said:

... and get fps in the 120 range
NVIDIA RTX 4070-Super...

Samsung 32” Odyssey Neo G7 4K 165 Hz Curved Monitor

 

Hello, and welcome to the endless "Hardware Race" of DCS.

By the way I dont't blame Eagle Dynamics for this. It's all driven by oureselves. The game has been visually improoving fast over the years and since most of us are driven by getting a close to real life visual experience as possible, mostlikely to fullfill the dream of flying fast Jets one way or another, we try to keep up with this race as much as our financial situations allows. 

My guess is, if you go VR this race will accelerate for you sooner then later and requiers a higher budget unless you are very disciplined and patient with your spendings.

 

 

In regards to your 120fps at 4k with a 4070 Super... what are your settings?

And do you also get 120fps in a heavly treed valley in the caucasus 500' off the ground with Mirrors on & Tpod on?

Edited August 23, 2024 by HansPeter1981

[PacFlyer23]

Good points. I fly the A-10Cii no real air-to-air engagements, so I don't turn on the mirrors. I'm probably not taxing my i5 pc and 4070-Super graphics card that much, and can get away with higher settings. 

 

Edited August 24, 2024 by PacFlyer23