Issues with compatibility tester and queries

[The_Bob]

Hi,
I am thinking of ordering the Rift although I am on the fence because it is alot more expensive than I thought it would be (obviously far from alone here). When I ran the tester it said that my processor and GPU were lacking and I would have to upgrade. My CPU (i5-3570K) is a little bit old but still pretty decent and I think it would be OK. I compared it with the recommended one and they are pretty similar with my processor having the same number of cores and actually a slightly higher clock speed (3.4GHz vs 3.3GHz): http://ark.intel.com/compare/65520,80815

For the graphics card I am pretty sure that it might not be enough but actually the tester is not working properly and only picking up the integrated graphics on the CPU chip rather than the proper GPU. The GPU that I have is a AMD Sapphire HD 7850 2GB GDDR5 (http://www.amd.com/en-gb/products/graphics/desktop/7000/7800). I compared it to the recommended AMD one here: http://products.amd.com/en-us/compare?prod1=18&type1=Desktop%20Graphics&prod2=38&type2=Desktop%20Gra...

What do people think? Hopefully the CPU is OK but I am guessing that I will need a new GPU. Any recommendations?

[steveoz32]

It's not really clear enough TBH, they just took a short cut and checked what current gen intel and Nvidia products would run it.

Some have claimed my PC will have issues, yet I fail to see how 780SLI which I score nearly double a GTX 970 score in Fire Strike wouldn't run CV1. I run 5910x1080 @ 75hz on ultra currently, thats a lot of pixels, yet the checker said my GPU solution doesn't cut it.

With DK2 SLI did work, at least on games which had engines supporting SLI. SLI works fine on ED as well, you can even run stereo 3d without a rift and stream to another screen / headset.

I guess it all depends on what you want to do with it. For some demos it might be fine, for some games it might be fine, but for others it might lag like hell. 95fps is quite a jump from the 60-75 a lot of people are still running.

I guess no one will really be able to tell until the drivers and hardware are in consumers hands.

[cybereality]

The Compatibility Tool is not perfect, but should give you a good idea if you are totally failing or totally passing the test. If you are right on the border-line, it is possible you could still be OK. However, most of the games are being optimized to run well on 970/290 class GPUs. If you are even slightly below that, you may receive a diminished experience.

[Lemming1970]

to give you an idea this is comparing your card to the one I replaced with a GTX970. (then a 980ti)

The 6990 had about half(rough estimate) the performance of the GTX 970. Which makes your card about 1/4 of the performance of a GTX970. Time for an upgrade I'm afraid.


http://www.hwcompare.com/12049/radeon-h ... n-hd-7850/

[steveoz32]

"cybereality" wrote:
The Compatibility Tool is not perfect, but should give you a good idea if you are totally failing or totally passing the test. If you are right on the border-line, it is possible you could still be OK. However, most of the games are being optimized to run well on 970/290 class GPUs. If you are even slightly below that, you may receive a diminished experience.

I can kind of understand, but there is old tech that will exceed performance of the suggested that is required, and I can't believe that it will be optimised for say a 970, surely it's optimised for Direct X version, GPU drivers (which if latest DX compatible and not out of support should not be an issue), and most of all, if it has enough Vram, enough bandwidth and can push enough pixels it should be good.

Basically what you are saying, is they are trying to 'optimise' and keep games within the limits of a 970 as the base spec. But many systems can slay that spec easily but are showing as incompatible in the checker.

It would make more sense for someone to say how much Vram, how much bandwidth and how many pixels to push is recommended.

I for example refuse to believe that if I can push 6.4 million pixels just fine on latest games with the highest settings, and the rift is only 2.6 million pixels, that my system should have any issue. If it does, that is just terrible / lazy coding for software and runtime / drivers for the rift.

I'm upgrading my daughters 680 spec GPU to a 690 which I ordered a few days ago as I am moving her onto a surround setup too @ 5910x1080, and the 690 is still an absolute beast of a card, yet I guarantee it will too fail the checker.

There is no way on earth I would get her a 970 over a 690! Nor sell my two overclocked 780's and get one 970! It would never run my resolution and detail level.