How does the Pimax work?

Discussion in 'Technical & Support' started by lagg, Sep 13, 2019.

  1. lagg

    lagg Registered

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    Hi all.
    I've the Oculus Rift CV1 and i'm thinking on by the Pimax.
    I've seen that there is native support for rF2.
    I only use rF2. No other sims nor other type or games.
    Do you know if it's working well?
    Which one dou you recomend, the 5K Plus or the 5K XR?
    I've a I7 7700 and a 2080TI.

    Thanks.
     
  2. juanchioooo

    juanchioooo Registered

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    https://forum.studio-397.com/index.php?threads/problem-in-vr-with-pimax-5k.62332/

    read Mario Moretti's post:);)

    Where do you plan to buy them? In case I get interested and what price?:confused::cool:
     
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  3. The Iron Wolf

    The Iron Wolf Registered

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    I am Pimax user, and I only use it with rF2. It is not perfect - biggest caveat it cracks (which does not affect functionality). Pimax however, grants warranty, so you will be able to replace it if you want. Also, because of high FOV/canted screens, viewing geometry is unusual and some people claim it causes eye strain.

    However, I am happy with it and won't trade it for _anything_ currently available. FOV looks almost like it does in real life wearing a helmet.

    Regarding XR, I can't comment. I can confirm lack of OLED sucks in night races (that's number 1 thing I miss in Pimax), but people claim there's more SDE on XR version. BTW, if you care about SDE, to me it is worse on Pimax than on CV1, especially looking at light things, sky etc, but do you look there when you race? :)

    You can see my review here: I still stand by my words. https://forum.pimaxvr.com/t/pimax-5k-review-from-sim-racer/17005

    One interesting thing on performance: I never needed 90FPS with Cv1, 45+ASW was fine. Pimax's ASW is not as good as Oculus' but interesting thing is that somehow, framerates below 90FPS do not feel as bad as with Oculus. I'd say if you can reach 60FPS with Pimax, it looks as good as it does when you hit 90, it is difficult to explain.

    One more great thing about Pimax is its software - there's no enforced, stupid Home, you don't even need to run Pitool, so it is just Steam VR. I left Oculus precisely because of their software. Pimax does things the way I like them to be - I am in control, no forced updates, no home, no dashes, no ads.

    Finally, I would not recommend Pimax for a casual VR user, but if you can accept somewhat crappy device, for racing, there's nothing better as of 9/13/2019. Resolution is a bit lower than some of the competion, but FOV is much more important to me personally, and even 2080ti cannot run this headset at full Supersampling levels (I can see image improving up to 400%, but I run at 80%-120%, imagine the visual potential). You also need to consider you will need:
    * bases (Vive lighthouse) careful with ebay, I bought 2 bad ones. You can use headset with just one base, or with no bases at all. However, 2 bases improve tracking, and baseless tracking drifted last time I tried, but it works.
    * you may need to experiment with different face padding. I use thick Velour VRCover for CV1.
    * Possibly, DAS, although I would not say it is a must.

    PS: one note on cracks - apparently, Pimax will announce something next week, there's expectation one of the things will be improved housing, so you may want to wait this week. I am gonna RMA mine for an improved housing most likely.
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2019
  4. lagg

    lagg Registered

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    Thank you very much to both. Very interesting.
    @juanchioooo i'll tell you if i finally buy the Pimax (Juan, ya te iré informando de lo que haga)
    @The Iron Wolf i've read your review in the Pimax forum. Very interesting, because my use of VR is the same as you.
    Is it possible to get 90fps? Do you need to use the ASW? Is it smooth nowadays?
    How is your CPU load? Do you think that i have to change my I7 7700?

    Thanks.
     
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  5. The Iron Wolf

    The Iron Wolf Registered

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    If your goal is 90FPS, you can achieve that by lowering settings. In addition to the usual tools at your disposal (visible cars, shadows), you can lower the resolution and FOV (small/med/large).

    Pimax's ASW is unusable to me, and I doubt Pimax will ever get good implementation, because solving that problem requires world class highly paid programmers. But as I said earlier, even without ASW, it is pretty smooth even at 60FPS.

    I do not think you need new CPU - the difference between your CPU and the newer ones is very small. Maybe what really needs to happen is rF2 needs to implement VRWorks Single Pass Stereo/Multi-View Rendering, and VR will no longer be so CPU bound. But I doubt upgrade will solve the problem of being CPU bound in VR in some situations. There are situations where my 8700K@5.0Ghz can only crank out 65-70FPS, no matter how low the resolution is. However, to be fair, mostly Pimax is bound by the GPU, not CPU. So we need 4080Ti, yesterday.

    Let me know if you have any more questions, will gladly help.
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2019
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  6. lagg

    lagg Registered

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    Thank you very much. Your info is really useful for me.
    I already know that is needed to reduce the settings (visible cars, circuit details, textures, etc).
    My goal aren't the 90 FPS. I want to have a smooth and nice experience. If it's with 60 FPS, it's ok for me.
    I currently use the cv1 and the resolution is not very good, there is SDE, etc, but the whole experience is very good.
    I think that none of the current headsets is perfect and we have to look for the best option.
    I've been watching the Rift S, Index, Reverb, Index, Odyssey plus but none convinces me and i've thougt about the Pimax (why not?)
    We'll see.
     
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  7. The Iron Wolf

    The Iron Wolf Registered

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    While Pimax does not offer highest resolution, step up from CV1 is significant (for example, when I switched from CV1 to Odyssey, I could barely notice the difference, not so with Pimax, step up is significant). At times I am still surprised at clarity of the image. Speaking of clarity, I really like that image is almost always in focus with Pimax.

    But it is hard to tell if you will like it, no OLED, SDE to me is worse than CV1, but my main problem VR from day one was low FOV (binocular view essentially), and Pimax solves that for me. If you do not miss higher FOV, I'd say Pimax is not the best choice.

    Now, one more thing about resolution:with CV1, every time I saw game on 2D screen, it made me sad (image was so much better). With Pimax, it no longer looks like I am missing much compared to 2D screen, and it will only look better with future GPUs :) But if you like CV1 experience, not sure if Pimax compares (I did not like CV1 experience at all).
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2019
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  8. juanchioooo

    juanchioooo Registered

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    the i7 7700 is a very good team I would not change it, but I do not understand that with a 1070 it goes very smoothly, and you with a 2080ti have problems?... that is a perfect pc, there is no need for more

    as long as VR glasses are not much higher, I think I will not change my CV1
     
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  9. lagg

    lagg Registered

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    @The Iron Wolf your conclusions have surprised me a lot. I can't figure out how there is worse SDE with the resolution of the Pimax.
    I don't know a lot about panels.
    Is it because the use of the LCD panel?
    Generally speaking are the OLED panels better than the LCD in terms of SDE?
    I'm a bit lost in these aspects.
    Thanks
     
  10. The Iron Wolf

    The Iron Wolf Registered

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    @lagg,

    Sorry for causing the confusion. To be honest, I am not 100% sure what people mean by SDE, and I did not research much.

    I imagine, if there's SDE, one should see some net. So, I never seen any net on CV1.

    With Pimax 5K+, I see some net, the horizontal lines are more visible. Overall, it is most visible while looking at light blue, light gray colors. I cannot see them while racing though. I do not know why those are visible considering higher resolution. I also seen people praising 5K+ SDE (but many of them are coming from Vive, which I heard has more SDE compared to CV1), but I am sharing what I noticed.

    Funny thing is, I believe on Odyssey grid was more visible to me too (compared to CV1), that's despite higher resolution.

    Hopefully someone who is concerned with SDE will respond to this thread, that effect does not bother me much.
     
  11. lagg

    lagg Registered

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    OK. Thank you very much.
     
  12. lagg

    lagg Registered

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    Here there is a thread speaking about this.
     
  13. juanchioooo

    juanchioooo Registered

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  14. juanchioooo

    juanchioooo Registered

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  15. lagg

    lagg Registered

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    Alguna de esas es la OLED?
     
  16. juanchioooo

    juanchioooo Registered

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    I don't think, ... OLEDs are even better, but since they go from SDE I don't know, I think jumping from cv1 that cost me € 300 to jump to pimax 5k plus that cost 806,65 euros in amazon, I don't know if it compensates, maybe better wait
     
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2019
  17. juanchioooo

    juanchioooo Registered

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  18. The Iron Wolf

    The Iron Wolf Registered

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    Don't forget Vive bases, and possibly DAS, it will be extra expense.
     
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  19. lagg

    lagg Registered

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    Yes i think that both are right.
    I think that now the best option could be the Samsung Odyssey Plus. It's possible to buy by 380€ (shipping and taxes included)
    What do you think?
     
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  20. The Iron Wolf

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    My 2 cents - if not Pimax, my second choice would be Index, but you need bases and it is more expensive. The reason: it only has SteamVR (no extra software needed) and offers a bit higher FOV.
     
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