VR Upgrade / replacement

[Ghostmaker]

Ok all currently running a hp reverb G2 with a 4090 and 7800X3D

Im happy with the Reverb but when all stops working what would you think would be a sensible upgrade / replacement?

I have my eyes on the Pimax Crystal Light - but what bothers me is.. if i order and wait and then get a duff unit ill be really annoyed. Or if i have one its all ok then 6 months down the line it has a fault. Also would like the Dmas ear phones but there never in stock either.

Tell me your thoughts

Edited November 28, 2024 by Ghostmaker

[Aapje]

The Quest 3 is less risky, but with a 4090, you can get better quality with the Pimax.

[pollekepol]

Also had the HP Reverb G2. Now a very happy Pimax Crystal Light owner. With the default ear phones btw. Thought I would also go for the DMAS, but sound from the default ones is definitely good.  Don't perceive the audio as downgrade compared to Reverb G2.

[Ghostmaker]

8 hours ago, pollekepol said:

Also had the HP Reverb G2. Now a very happy Pimax Crystal Light owner. With the default ear phones btw. Thought I would also go for the DMAS, but sound from the default ones is definitely good.  Don't perceive the audio as downgrade compared to Reverb G2.

How long have you had the headset for and how oftwn do you use it? Compared to the G2 when looking throught the pinax lenses, is there any strain or cross eye effect or barrel feeling like alot of people say? Or do they have faulty units?

Cheers

[Brainfreeze]

Talking to various owners many dislike Pimax for comfort and brand issues.  Most super happy with Quest 3.  New headsets are coming soon but priced 2-3x higher than Quest 3.  I admit Varjo Aero with foveated rendering is brillant but discontinued...

[Ghostmaker]

1 hour ago, Brainfreeze said:

Talking to various owners many dislike Pimax for comfort and brand issues.  Most super happy with Quest 3.  New headsets are coming soon but priced 2-3x higher than Quest 3.  I admit Varjo Aero with foveated rendering is brillant but discontinued...

Yeah see this is what makes ne Nervous about the pimax. I dont know enough about the Vr's just want a very clear visual better than the Hp reverb G2 if im going to buy a new one and i want it to have a cable wired VR for better visuals

[Brainfreeze]

People say the lenses of Q3 are really good.   Buy from amazon or a retailer you can easily send back to if you don't like it and just try...best way to do it IMHO

[Aapje]

The Quest 3 has major comfort issues, but this can be remedied relatively cheaply with aftermarket headstraps and the like. There are a ton of options, since the headset is sold in large volume. The Pimax seems to have better default comfort than the default for the Q3 (but this is not saying much), but there are fewer options to really tune it to your likes. 

The Q3 lenses are great, with little distortion and a big sweet spot. So it is relatively easy to get a nice sharp image, while the Pimax has a much more limited sweet spot. QA of the Pimax is poor, especially for the lenses and their fitment.

The Quest has a USB C port, which means relatively low bandwidth, so the video signal has to be compressed. As a result, the visual quality is restricted. The Crystal Light can reach better quality, but this requires a strong GPU. However, the Quest has much more flexibility with getting shorter/longer or lighter cables. I've seen complaints that people consider the Crystal Light cable too heavy and too short. AFAIK there is no optical cable available, although it has been requested from Pimax, so perhaps they'll make one.

The Quest has the option to be used wirelessly, that does not exist for the Pimax.

From what I've seen, both tend to require more tuning/fiddling than the G2, which seems to be a common complaint by people moving over.

 

[Brainfreeze]

The small sweet spot of the G2 is the main drawback... Aero has a massive sweetspot and eye tracking and that is a major improvement... i would not go for a small sweetspot.  Quest(s) always need the add-ons ... no need to even mention it; it is a given...comfort strap/balance/faceplate... oh and the cable!!. 

 

[Aapje]

1 hour ago, Brainfreeze said:

Quest(s) always need the add-ons ... no need to even mention it; it is a given..

Just because it is common knowledge among some, doesn't mean that everyone will know it.

[Ghostmaker]

Ah my heads scrambled lol

Its hard as you cant go somewhere and try them in the uk as far as im aware 

 

[diego999]

12 hours ago, Aapje said:

The Quest 3 has major comfort issues, but this can be remedied relatively cheaply with aftermarket headstraps and the like. There are a ton of options, since the headset is sold in large volume. The Pimax seems to have better default comfort than the default for the Q3 (but this is not saying much), but there are fewer options to really tune it to your likes. 

The Q3 lenses are great, with little distortion and a big sweet spot. So it is relatively easy to get a nice sharp image, while the Pimax has a much more limited sweet spot. QA of the Pimax is poor, especially for the lenses and their fitment.

The Quest has a USB C port, which means relatively low bandwidth, so the video signal has to be compressed. As a result, the visual quality is restricted. The Crystal Light can reach better quality, but this requires a strong GPU. However, the Quest has much more flexibility with getting shorter/longer or lighter cables. I've seen complaints that people consider the Crystal Light cable too heavy and too short. AFAIK there is no optical cable available, although it has been requested from Pimax, so perhaps they'll make one.

The Quest has the option to be used wirelessly, that does not exist for the Pimax.

From what I've seen, both tend to require more tuning/fiddling than the G2, which seems to be a common complaint by people moving over.

 

 

This is spot on.

I don't think you can get better image quality than the Quest 3 for the same price, but it comes with its own set of drawbacks.

[DucS2r]

I have an i9-11900 and a 3090. I used a G2 for years and was finally happy with it with the improvements in DCS. Tried a PCL with the intention of sending it back if I didn’t like it. It took some work tinkering with Pimax Play, Quad views and Quad Views companion, but as of now I could not be happier with it. It runs about the same or better than the G2 in terms of FPS, but clarity and the area in focus are way better than the G2 and I can run it with similar settings in DCS to the G2 (high on most settings, low or off on shadows) and use TAA instead of DLSS with the jets, DLSS on balanced with the choppers. I might have been lucky, but no problems at all. It is not as comfortable as the G2 but there are aftermarket pads that help a lot. 

[Ghostmaker]

4 hours ago, DucS2r said:

I have an i9-11900 and a 3090. I used a G2 for years and was finally happy with it with the improvements in DCS. Tried a PCL with the intention of sending it back if I didn’t like it. It took some work tinkering with Pimax Play, Quad views and Quad Views companion, but as of now I could not be happier with it. It runs about the same or better than the G2 in terms of FPS, but clarity and the area in focus are way better than the G2 and I can run it with similar settings in DCS to the G2 (high on most settings, low or off on shadows) and use TAA instead of DLSS with the jets, DLSS on balanced with the choppers. I might have been lucky, but no problems at all. It is not as comfortable as the G2 but there are aftermarket pads that help a lot. 

With my G2 on my 4090 & 7800x3d i can run qeverything pretty much maxed out with shadows on and still get between 70 & 90 fps in the air but about 45 / 55 on the ground. If i kept the same settings on the pimax would i struggle to get the same game play and fps?

[slughead]

My money would be on the Quest 3.

[DucS2r]

16 hours ago, Ghostmaker said:

With my G2 on my 4090 & 7800x3d i can run qeverything pretty much maxed out with shadows on and still get between 70 & 90 fps in the air but about 45 / 55 on the ground. If i kept the same settings on the pimax would i struggle to get the same game play and fps?

I would think so, that is a lot of horsepower. It takes a couple of weeks to dial everything in, with settings in Pimax Play, Quadviews companion and DCS. But that is pretty similar to the time I spent dialing in the G2. DCS has made major improvements that have made VR more efficient, at least for me. DLSS helps as well. The quadviews settings are the most crucial to performance. 

[Ghostmaker]

17 hours ago, DucS2r said:

I would think so, that is a lot of horsepower. It takes a couple of weeks to dial everything in, with settings in Pimax Play, Quadviews companion and DCS. But that is pretty similar to the time I spent dialing in the G2. DCS has made major improvements that have made VR more efficient, at least for me. DLSS helps as well. The quadviews settings are the most crucial to performance. 

What are the quad views? Did you mean you would have thought id get the same if not better than the g2 or i would struggle?

[DucS2r]

I think you would do at least as good in fps with better visuals. In fact, I just ordered a 4090 for my rig. Quadviews is a fixed foviated rendering program that works with DCS that gives you better performance by limiting the resolution in the periphery of your view. Google it, there is a ton of info on how it works. The companion program just makes it easier to adjust the settings in quadviews. Quadviews works with the G2 as well, but it is now integrated into the Pimax software. 

[Dangerzone]

On 11/30/2024 at 7:36 PM, Ghostmaker said:

With my G2 on my 4090 & 7800x3d i can run qeverything pretty much maxed out with shadows on and still get between 70 & 90 fps in the air but about 45 / 55 on the ground. If i kept the same settings on the pimax would i struggle to get the same game play and fps?

With quadviews (and that's the key) - I've been able to outperform my reverb on the 4090. I don't fully know the black magic at play - but stunning visuals, and 90fps is definitely achievable at altitude.

The Pimax also has a 72hz/fps option as well - and I've come to use that for now. Just gives me a bit more elbowroom with CPU bound settings (as I'm CPU, not GPU bound with the Pimax Crystal thanks to Quadviews). 

Coming from a G2 as well - you'll only notice enhancements with Quadviews. Yes - quadviews 'softens' the margins, but even with that, from the reverb with such a small sweet spot - the Pimax with Quadviews is still an upgrade. 

[Brainfreeze]

Foveated rendering is the next step above quad view....The area that is rendered in higher resolution follows your gaze.  This way you always have high resolution where you look and peripheral is rendered in a lower resolution.  It gives me about 30% more fps in the Aero as an example.

[Phantom711]

vor einer Stunde schrieb Brainfreeze:

Foveated rendering is the next step above quad view....

You mean „Dynamic(!) Foveated Rendering“…

But you are mixing things up here a bit. QuadViews is a Foveated Rendering method as well and also follows your eye gaze if your headset supports eye tracking. For a fact this is the intended use of QuadViews. That it also works in a static mode is rather a side effect.

[slughead]

2 hours ago, Brainfreeze said:

It gives me about 30% more fps in the Aero as an example.

It can also give less fps over areas of a large number of objects such as cities. For me, I no longer use it for this reason.

[Brainfreeze]

54 minutes ago, slughead said:

It can also give less fps over areas of a large number of objects such as cities

Really? At the same headline resolution?  It only reduces resolution around the 'look area'... I can see how processing the eye tracking / quad view has an overhead cost but not sure how that would result is lower fps overall? 

[slughead]

Yes. It has to draw everything 4 times instead of twice. So if you have a large number of objects, such as a city, the CPU is loaded harder. Give it a try over Dubai or Syria cities. If you already dial down the settings then you may not notice.

[Brainfreeze]

48 minutes ago, slughead said:

Yes. It has to draw everything 4 times instead of twice. So if you have a large number of objects, such as a city, the CPU is loaded harder. Give it a try over Dubai or Syria cities. If you already dial down the settings then you may not notice.

Ok got it.  I will try it out.  I am running max settings so should be pretty noticeable.  I mostly fly Syria and incirlik area is pretty crowded but I am still much better with DFR than without over these FWIW