The ULTIMATE "Is My PC Good Enough?" (for DK2) Thread

[cybereality]

OK, by popular demand I am making one single "is my PC good enough thread" that will be stickied.

If anyone creates a new thread about this, it will be locked immediately.

Please, this thread should be for DK2 only. Nobody knows what CV1 will need, and if you are only preparing for the next version of the Rift, then you should wait and make an informed purchase at that time.

I will start. I am using a:

- Intel i7-3820 @ 3.6GHz
- Nvidia GTX 680 previously (now GTX 970)
- 16GB DDR3
- Windows 7 64-bit

Mostly all the demos I have tested will work in both Direct and Extended Mode. I haven't done extensive benchmarking, but it's mostly a smooth experience. Some games do have judder, but I'm not sure it's only performance related.

One thing to note: laptops have really poor support for the Rift. Especially with switchable graphics (Optimus) there are hardware limitations that cannot be fixed with a software patch, and will probably never work correctly. If you are buying a new computer today I am STRONGLY RECOMMENDING that you DO NOT purchase a laptop for VR development. You will be sorry if you go down this road and most likely performance will be slow and the games will crash. In almost all cases, a good desktop machine will be significantly better than a laptop you can purchase at the same price.

Please join in with a list of your system specs and if you have a smooth experience with DK2.

[Anonymous]

"cybereality" wrote:
I'm really sorry, but you don't understand the situation. It's not just about performance (though that is certainly an issue as well). The main problem is that the GPU architectures used on the vast majority of laptops are fully INCOMPATIBLE with the Oculus software. Meaning the headset WILL NOT even be detected, let along work. The screen will remain black, you will never even see ONE pixel light up.

This is namely because of Optimus (aka Switchable Graphics) that causes the HDMI port to be hardwired to the Intel GPU. Even if you can overcome the compatibility issues, there is still a significant added latency from having to copy the back-buffer from the Nvidia card to the Intel card every single frame.

Maybe you haven't been looking at the forum, or choose to ignore all the warnings. Do a search for "Optimus", you will find literally HUNDREDS of people that are SOL because they tried to use the dev kits on their laptops. Literally, it just DOESN'T WORK.

Oh I understand - I'm pretty sure 20% of my posts here have the words "Optimus" and "crap" in them pretty close together :mrgreen: .

I used to have a laptop with Optimus and it slowly deteriorated until Oculus support was completely gone.

So my mission was to find a new laptop that didn't have what I like to call "Optimus crap" - and I found the Asus ROG G751JY. It simply only have one display adapter and it is an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M with 4GB RAM. (It also have 4 USB 3 ports so I'm more than set there also).

The thing is I understand why you say what you do - because most laptops just doesn't work with the Rift. Even most Asus ROG laptops have Optimus (as of when I bought mine at least) and you really need to know what you're looking for to get the correct one. So basically most laptops just doesn't work, maybe to the point where you can say "laptops doesn't work with the Rift". But to generalize and say that no laptops work is only 99.9% correct.

[cybereality]

Yes, you are correct on that point. There are a few laptops that are technically compatible (though whether their performance is better than a desktop 970 is questionable). And there are new GTX 980 laptops that do have a better chance of working. If you are lucky to have one of these, that's great. However most people can just believe laptops don't work at all and they will be better off.

[Anonymous]

As I understand the reason for this laptop not having Optimus is because users requested a gaming laptop without it - and Asus took their flagship gaming laptop and did what the users wanted. And this was before Oculus came to this situation.

There seem to be a general idea that people buy laptops so they can game on a train or whatever. But many actually just want the freedom of movement. I myself will probably never run it on the battery alone and always keep it plugged in, the only reason to even have a battery is that it functions like a UPS :geek:

[TheAsimovInitia]

"cybereality" wrote:
Laptops are NOT officially supported an may NOT work at all. I wish people would stop the confusion.

Can we get a unofficial thread explaining this. As this was not the case in the past (never been supported but has worked). I have gotten all demos to work previously. With unofficially i mean, can we get a list of of things that works and doesn't. We as devs need to be able to use laptops for our development needs. OK if you don't support it for gamers, but it would help with a list of things that work and does not.

[Impulsor]

I launched Firestrik 1.1 yesterday, got a 12100 something result with:

i7 4790k @ 4.4 ghz (OCed)
reference GTX 980 ti with a 20% OC.
32 gb of Ram @ 1866 MHz

I think I'm more than ready, eff yeah!

[drmrw2]

just ordered from xotic pc

ASUS G20AJ-US009S
16gb ddr3 1600mhz dual channel
2tb hdd
evga GTX 980 Ti overclocked, whisper quiet gpu
intel i7-4790
dual power adapters (one specifically for gpu) 230w and 180w

[KingNeba]

Here's my slim PC setup:
GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB (Low Profile)
Intel Core i5-2400 (4-core @ 3.1GHz)
16GB DDR3-1600
Inateck Superspeed 7 Port USB 3.0 Card

Although this is my first post I've been researching and trolling for sometime. One thing I haven't been able to find a definitive answer on is the kind of experience someone with a setup like mine can expect from the CV1.

Is it fair to say games/demos like A Chair in a Room, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, Lunar Flight, and Vox Machinae will work on my system with the CV1? All of the information and specs regarding these games refers to the DK2 but I know the CV1 will require a bit more power from a system to function at all.

I understand EVE: Valkyrie isn't in my immediate future but hopefully the more simple experiences are. Thanks.

[alexpez]

I get a CPU failed on the official Oculus test, but I get 9533 in that Firestrike test, running an i5 2500k at 4.4GHz with a 50 quid uberfan on it which I picked up in 2011, and a stock gtx970 card that's been in my PC since December 2014. Not an expensive pc by any stretch.

Full results from my system:

Score: 9533 with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970(1x) and Intel Core i5-2500K Processor
Graphics Score: 11842
Physics Score: 7935
Combined Score: 4413

(oculus recommended spec comes in at 9271 according to 3dmark)

[sven]

We need a new thread for the CV1!
Specifically I'm wondering about my i7-2600K. Will I have to overclock it? It's 7% slower in single core performance than the recommended i5

[dtrulez]

Please excuse me if this is already asked, but is there a demo (except 3dmark), which stress tests your PC with some content which is VR dedicated, so we can test and see the results prior to Oculus purchase. The Oculus tool seems too shallow as it only checks what you have under the hood, which I already know.