Rift CPU usage and image clarity question

[enigma01]

Hi all, 

I am new here and recently got my new Rift CV1. I hoping someone can help with a couple of questions I have.

First... How sharp can I expect the image clarity to be from the headset? I have the headset fitting correctly and set the IPD set to give the sharpest picture. The issue I have is that I see vertical lines, perhaps this is normal? Some small text is also difficult/impossible to read - such as some of the menus when playing project cars. When playing project cars things in the distance are not clear at all. Am I expecting too much from the image clarity? I am using a single EVGA 980Ti, i7 4790k cpu and 16gig ram. 

Second... CPU usage after installing Rift and software. When my computer was idle (only the desktop viewable) or just using applications that use low CPU my cpu clock speeds would drop down to around 800mhz, now my cpu is constantly at around 4.4ghz. This is even when I don't have the Oculus home software open. My idle temps have risen by about 15 degrees C, and cpu takes much longer to cool down after playing a game. Is there anything I can do about this other than uninstalling the rift?

Would really appreciate any help or advise. Thanks!  🙂

[Anonymous]

Welcome!

Just to quote my teacher I once had, "Just because A happens - doesn't mean C is the result."

Are you sure It's the Rift software and not something else running in the background? Maybe some software you downloaded for the rift? Maybe getting a better cooling unit? I never had problems with a over heated CPU. You can buy a pretty good air cooling unit for around less than 100$ or a water cooler for less than 150$ (don't cheap out on your coolers if you are getting an I7 CPU).

Image quality wise - it wont be like looking at your 1080 monitor. You will notice a small "square" like box around in the screen if you look for it. As for it looking blurry - It always comes down to the person and getting it just right for their head. It took me well over a few days to find my sweet spot that things don't look blurry. It should look pretty clear unless you have issues with your eyes. I have to wear glasses irl other wise I can't see - so the same will  be true with the rift. With them on - the image looks pretty clear (except the very very far background will look kind of messy as the resolution isn't that high - aka, why I said it wont look like a 1080 monitor). Not sure how old are you - but think 720? Still good enough, but you always want more 🙂 

Eye tracking + Higher resolution screens will help fix that later down the road for gen 2 - just not something that was ready for gen 1 devices. This tech still at least 2 to 4 years out - 

[enigma01]

Thanks for your reply, much appreciated! 

I actually have a H80i cooler, have never had any issues with cooling before. I have't installed any other software recently other than Oculus Home and some programs within this. If i restart my computer by cpu runs at 800mhz on all cores. As soon I put on the headset and open Oculus home the cpu spikes to 4.4ghz all cores and sticks at this even after a take off the headset and close Oculus home down. There must be something drawing on my cpu still even though I've closed the software.

I actually have near perfect vision in my left eye, but slightly long sighted in my right. I've not wore glasses for years, but perhaps this could cause some of the clarity problems. I'm not sure what you mean by the small square box? I've had a more detailed look and the lines I see are actually crisscross. I'd say the image quality I am getting is more like 360!

[Rifts]

The crisscross or "jeans pattern" lines you see is how the pixels are arranged and its normal. I see them aswell. Unfortunately there's no way to make them less apparent without higher resolution displays. What you can do is download the Oculus Debug Tool and set "pixel per display pixel override" to a value between 1-2, it will increase the percieved resolution by 0-100% and make the image appear much clearer. I have a 980ti aswell and can push it to 1.2-1.7 depending on the game without stutter.

Regarding CPU usage I'm not sure I can help you. I have a i5 4460 and have never experienced any problems with over heating, it seems to be at a steady 3.3GHz at all times, with usage at 8%, then spiking to ~35% when putting the HMD on and sitting in Oculus Home. Maybe you could try unplugging the HMD to see if it's a hardware or software issue.

[enigma01]

Thanks for the confirmation regarding the "jeans patten" being a newby I didn't know whether this was normal or not. So now I have a lot more peace of mind!
I did try the debug tool, but it didn't seem to have any effect. I'm sure I followed the instructions correctly. Should I move the extracted files to a specific location?

Regarding my cpu.. It's not that it's overheating as such, it's keeping stable (so far anyway). It's just I was used to the clocks automatically adjusting to the situation. Even when I would play a game on steam I could see from hardware monitor that my clock min is around 800mhz and Max 4.4ghz, when I would exit steam the clocks would drop back to 800mhz straight away (before installing my rift). This doesn't happen with oculus home, when I exit the clocks stay stuck at 4.4ghz, despite this though actual cpu usage when on oculus home page is only around 25% according to task manager. I guess it's not that huge a deal and I'll just restart my computer if I want to do something less cpu intensive after using the rift. I feel that my cpu being stuck at 4.4ghz may put unnecessary stain on it? If I knew what process it was that was causing it, I could just end it. I will try disconnecting the hardware later to see if this makes any difference, I have a really awkward pc case and have to unscrew all my side panels to get to the ports!