POST YOUR SPECS

[samm]

Agreed :D What's your favourite game / application on it so far? And were you shocked by the low apparent resolution as well?

[Bokishi]

No I expected the low res, as it's only 1080p resolution strapped so close to your face. What I wasn't used to is having to worry about judder, and always needing 75fps at all times to achieve "presence". This makes it so you have to lower details a bit to achieve that constant 75 fps while your game is being rendered in 1080p twice (for each eye). This will be even harder to achieve if a 4k version of the Oculus came out. Not even 60 fps is enough for smooth head tracking. I'm expecting future video cards to have optimization for VR as more people adopt it. What makes up for the seemingly low res right now is immersion. It even blows my multi-monitor setup out the window

 

There's a big difference between seeing that Alien Isolation monster on a flat screen, and seeing it physically in front of you and 9 feet tall; you better run lol.

 

Even Elite Dangerous is epic on my oculus + hotas joystick setup. I am caption of my own starship with full reign of the galaxy! I can put my ship on auto pilot and physically stand up and look out my side window and see the stars and asteroids go by. Everything is huge and I feel like I really am in space.

Edited December 25, 2014 by Bokishi

[Fighter]

What do you use to control a first person game on Oculus?

[Bokishi]

360 controller, to walk and your head movement to aim. It's implemented very smoothly and lifelike in Alien Isolation. Its positional tracking lets you peak your head past barriers, or vent grating at life size enemies.

 

I tried HL2 but it's vr config is sloppy and made me feel sick literally

Edited December 26, 2014 by Bokishi

[Fighter]

Controller to turn also? I'm assuming you don't need to turn your head like an owl.

[Bokishi]

Yes controller turns your view with right stick, but looking up and down with controller is disabled, only your head can do that. DOF blurring effects are also disabled because your own eyes can almost supply a similar effect themselves.

 

Playing Alien Isolation like this is like playing on the holo deck. The sense of presence in that world is unbelievable. The only thing that reminds you that it's just a video game is that you are using a controller to move and you get a pause menu when you push start button

[Humanoid]

I upgraded my home theatre audio to a pair of Monitor Audio Silver 8 floorstanders and a Silver Centre for an oddball 3.0 setup. No real space for a sub or surround speakers but with most of my movies being PCM mono/stereo soundtracks, I didn't feel they'd be particularly missed.

 

As a result of that upgrade, I had a spare pair of Monitor Audio Bronze BR2 bookshelf speakers spare, so I figured I may as well use them as desktop speakers. Bought myself a Topping VX1 amp to power them, a fairly basic and "cheap" 2x25W class T amplifier. Not a huge upgrade from my Audioengine A5 powered speakers - unsurprising given they cost the same - but undoubtedly superior.

 

For what it's worth, the VX1 also boasts a DAC - it's toggleable between RCA and USB inputs - but I have no real reason to use it over the one in my Essence ST soundcard. However I imagine this route to be a pretty good one for anyone trying to move past onboard sound, the VX1 is basically the same price as a standalone USB DAC/headphone amp (such as the popular FiiO entry level models), so in essence you're getting the power amp portion for 'free' and save having another bulky box as your desk.

[Pidesco]

ASUS P8H77-V LE

INTEL Core i5 3450 3.10GHz
GEIL 8GB DDR3 1600MHz

EVGA GeForce GTX 580 1.5Gb

ASUS Xonar D2X
Canton Movie 60CX Speakers
Crucial MX100 512GB
Seagate 1Tb 7200 RPM S-ATA2 32Mb
Samsung 19" 923NW
Gamepad XFX XGear Dual Reflex
Cyborg V.5 Rumble Pad

 

 

New SSD for the extra space. Also, a Dell U3415W is on the way, and a GTX970 is probably on the cards as well, so that I can power that gargantuan beast of a monitor.

 

I'm thinking of using the old ssd and graphics card to start off a PC build for the kids' movies and games on the TV.

[Fighter]

I have no experience with SSDs. I've heard it a few times that they are prone to breaking and have longevity issues. Any truth there?

[Pidesco]

Not these days, no. Go for it if you can afford it.

[Achilleslastand]

AMD FX 8350 CPU

ASUS M5A97 Mobo

8 Gigs Corsair Vengeance Ram@1600

MSI R290 OC 4GB VRam GPU

Samsung 850 500GB SSD

WD Black 1 TB HDD

Antec 900 case

Thermaltake 750 watt PSU

28 inch monitor@1900x1200 which can be viewed 2560x1600 via AMD VSR

 

Not a cutting edge PC by any means but is pretty good in my book.

2 Things......

The next thing I upgrade will be the CPU to a higher level Intel i5 or i7. The 8350 in general is outperformed by the Intel Cpus' and add to that a lower power consumption and its a no brainer to switch if you can afford it.

The best upgrade ive made recently is the SSD and its not even close. Windows boots in about 5 seconds and overall it has breathed new life into the rig.

[aska]

Sweex UPS pp210

27" AOC e2752Vq + 2x 27" AOC e2752Vh

Zalman Z5 Plus

Corsair AX760 Modular PSU

Noctua NH-U12P SE2 CPU Cooler

 

Intel Core i5 3570K @4.4 GHz

EVGA Geforce GTX 690

Asus P8Z77-V LX

G.Skill 16 Go PC12800 ARES

 

Asus Xonar Essence ST

SSD OCZ Agility 3 - 120 Go

SSD Samsung 840 Pro - 512 Go

Seagate Momentus Spinpoint S-ATA II - 1 To

 

SteelSeries Sensei Mouse

SteelSeries Steelpad 9HD

Logitech G19s Keyboard

Logitech F710 Gamepad

Thrustmaster Hotas Warthog

Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals

 

NaturalPoint TrackIR 5 pro

Elgato GameCaptureHD

Beyerdynamic MMX-300 Facelift

Windows 7 pro 64bit

[Mungri]

Is my PC obsolete?

 

I7 980

Asus rampage III extreme

12 Gb ram

SLI GTX 970s

Raid 0 1 Tb Samsung evo 840s

2 x 4 Tb seagate drives for all my pron

Asus Rog swift Gsync monitor

Antec HCP 1300w platinum PSU (It was on a really good offer!)

Corsair Carbide air 540 case

Corsair k70 cherry red keyboard

Logitech G700s mouse

Oh and a Creative titanium HD soundcard

Edited April 8, 2015 by Mungri

[Keyrock]

Is my PC obsolete?

 

No.  The i7 980X is STILL a monster.

[AwesomeOcelot]

Rebuilt old PC with new case/cooling:

CPU: Intel i5 2500K @ 4Ghz

MoBo: Asus P8Z68-v Pro

SSD: Crucial M4

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green 1GB

RAM: Kingston Hyper-X DDR3 1600 16GB

Cooler: Corsair i100

Case: Fractal Define R5

ODD: DVDRW

 

Upgraded my HTPC now with:

Kingston Hyper-X 1600 8GB

Western Digital Green 3TB.

 

Main PC:

 

Case: Fractal Define XL R2
PSU: Corsair HX850i
CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.30GHz
CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro H110 280mm
MoBo: ASUS RAMPAGE V EXTREME
RAM: 16GB Skill Ripjaws 4 F4 2666Mhz
GPU: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB DirectCU II OC STRIX
SSD:

• Crucial MX100 512GB
• Samsung 840 EVO 250GB

HDD: Western Digital 4TB Black

Keyboard: Corsair Vengeance K70
Gamepad: Xbox One Controller
Mouse: Logitech G502
Mousepad: Razer Goliathus Speed Medium
Monitor: AOC G2460PG 24" G-Sync 144Hz 1ms LED LCD TN

2nd Monitor: Asus VE247 60Hz 2ms LED LCD TN
Soundcard: Asus Xonar U7 Compact 7.1
Speakers: Creative GigaWorks T40 Series II
Headphones: AKG K551
ODD: Samsung SE-506CB 6x Blu-Ray Writer Slim

 

Laptop Lenovo Flex 2.

CPU: Intel Core i7-4510U 2.0 GHz

RAM: DDR3 1600 16 GB

SSD: 256 GB

ODD: DVDRW

GPU: Nvidia G840

OS: Windows 8.1

Display: Multitouch 15.6" LED 1080p

[Bartimaeus]

I bought 2x8GB of RAM for $75 expecting it to be canceled. It arrived just now. Whoops!

[Pidesco]

ASUS P8H77-V LE

INTEL Core i5 3450 3.10GHz

GEIL 8GB DDR3 1600MHz

MSI Geforce GTX 970

ASUS Xonar D2X

Canton Movie 60CX Speakers

Crucial MX100 512GB

Seagate 1Tb 7200 RPM S-ATA2 32Mb

Dell U3415W

Gamepad XFX XGear Dual Reflex

Cyborg V.5 Rumble Pad

 

 

The Beast has arrived!

[Keyrock]

Updated specs.  These should be my specs for at least the next couple years.  I don't foresee the need to upgrade anything anytime soon (I damn well better not need to upgrade after the ludicrous amount of money I spent on this rig):

 

CPU: Intel i7-4790K (@4.7 GHz)

CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H100i 

Mobo: ASRock Fatal1ty Z97X Killer 

RAM: 32GB ADATA XPG V2 DDR3 2400 MHz

GPU: Nvidia GTX Titan X

SSD: Seagate 600 Series 480 GB

HDD: Western Digital 7200 RPM 750 GB SATA

PSU: Seasonic X-Series 850 Watt 80 Plus Gold

Monitor: GREEN 27" 2560x1440

Keyboard: CM Storm QuickFire Rapid 10 Keyless Cherry Mx Brown Switches

Mouse: Microsoft Trackball Explorer

Speakers: Logitech Z506 5.1 Surround Speakers

Headphones: JVC HA-RX700 Circumaural

Microphone: AGPTEK Condenser Mirophone

Gamepad: Microsoft Xbox 360 Controller

Flightstick: Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas X

Wheel & Pedals: Atomic Lamborghini Gallardo Evo

Edited April 19, 2015 by Keyrock

[Bartimaeus]

How are the speakers? I once considered purchasing a Logitech set, but then I bought something else - though I'd like to note I paid only about 40% of Amazon's price (still for new, too). Warning: I know absolutely nothing about speakers.

Edited April 19, 2015 by Bartimaeus

[Keyrock]

How are the speakers? I once considered purchasing a Logitech set, but then I bought something else - though I'd like to note I paid only about 40% of Amazon's price (still for new, too). Warning: I know absolutely nothing about speakers.

They're okay, nothing special.  It's a budget 5.1 setup, you get what you pay for.  Decent frequency response range and clarity, probably not good enough for an audiophile, but plenty good enough for most regular folks.  Enough power for a small to mid-sized room; a good setup for a bedroom or a study, but probably not enough oomph for a good sized living room.

[Bartimaeus]

Hah, so it goes, I guess. I bought my speakers not really expecting to like them all that much...but I actually like their sound signature better than the headphones I have (Sennheiser HD595 and Sennheiser HD280), and have been using them almost exclusively since getting them. Too much bass for my tastes, though...which is funny, because I read before purchasing them that people complained about them not having enough, which encouraged me to purchase them. Guess I'm really not a bass-head.

 

In your experience, if you don't want more bass, is it worth getting a subwoofer?

[Keyrock]

Hah, so it goes, I guess. I bought my speakers not really expecting to like them all that much...but I actually like their sound signature better than the headphones I have (Sennheiser HD595 and Sennheiser HD280), and have been using them almost exclusively since getting them. Too much bass for my tastes, though...which is funny, because I read before purchasing them that people complained about them not having enough, which encouraged me to purchase them. Guess I'm really not a bass-head.

 

In your experience, if you don't want more bass, is it worth getting a subwoofer?

If you don't want the extra punch at very low frequencies then you can skip a subwoofer entirely.  A subwoofer doesn't really add much in the way of...  how do I put this...  tone, what it does is it adds punch, force behind really low frequency tones like bass drum hits and really really low bass guitar notes.  You'll hear the same tones without a subwoofer, for the most part, but you'll just hear them.  With a subwoofer you'll not only hear them, they'll also smack you upside the head, if that makes any sense.

Edited April 19, 2015 by Keyrock

[Bartimaeus]

Yeah, these speakers already have too much impact for me, so that's probably not a great idea. Thanks for the explanation, haha.

[barakav]

Gskill ddr4 2133

x99 sli plus

5820k oc

msi gtx 970

 

I am waiting for the next graphic card generation to come out so I will be able to play smoothly with a 4K monitor without an SLI.

[Keyrock]

I am waiting for the next graphic card generation to come out so I will be able to play smoothly with a 4K monitor without an SLI.

That's a wise choice, in my opinion.  SLI/Crossfire, while usually a more cost efficient option, does bring its own set of extra issues (issues I'd rather not have to deal with).  It's the reason I went for 1440p rather than 4K; you really still need SLI/Crossfire to do 4K.  Titan X is the first single GPU card that can legitimately do 4K, but it's still not fully there.  I mean, there are other single GPU cards that can technically do 4K, but no one investing the money in a 4K setup is looking to play on low settings or with crappy framerate.  Titan X can't max games out at 4K, but it can run them on mid to high-ish settings and still maintain a decent framerate.  We'll have to wait and see how the upcoming R9 390X performs, but unless it's significantly more powerful than the Titan X, I doubt it will be able to max games at 4K either.  Most likely we're looking at at least another year before it's possible to max out at 4K with a single GPU, and probably at least 3 or 4 years before you can max 4K without buying a top of the line card.