Does VR headsets always this expensive?

[irfankamil]

So I started looking for VR headset for PC because of Alyx. Hell I didnt realize how expensive it was. I can build a whole budget gaming PC with that price, atleast in my country (Malaysia). Any tips on buying and choosing would be nice.

[Acid Panda]

well its brand new tech.

for buying advice look at the recommended specs

[porina]

I don't recall the exact requirements I saw in a video somewhere, but it had a fairly long supported VR device list. You can go through it to see what each ones are available at what price. You might be able to find an older generation set used for a more easy to swallow price. I have the original Vive for example, and that is still holding up even if there are better options now.

 

However, beware going too slow spec. If you decide you like VR, you don't want something that may limit what you can do in the future.

[irfankamil]

3 minutes ago, porina said:

However, beware going too slow spec. If you decide you like VR, you don't want something that may limit what you can do in the future.

What kind of specs should I consider when looking for VR? 

[jaslion]

3 minutes ago, irfankamil said:

What kind of specs should I consider when looking for VR? 

First you decide what vr headset you are buying. Then you build around the one you got as certain ones are a lot harder to drive than others.

[Kilrah]

I'm playing Alyx on a Quest. Pretty affordable. 

 

...with a 2080 Super though. VR needs all the GPU performance you can throw at it...

[irfankamil]

3 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

I'm playing Alyx on a Quest. Pretty affordable. 

 

...with a 2080 Super though. VR needs all the GPU performance you can throw at it...

I have 1080 ti right now. Is it enough though?

[porina]

33 minutes ago, irfankamil said:

What kind of specs should I consider when looking for VR? 

At the end of the day it is more about the support than the specs IMO. The oldest ones I would consider would be the original consumer releases of the Vive or Rift (CV1?). These will be widely supported by games. I'm not sure the same could be said of the Windows Mixed Reality models out there. It also depends in part on the game of course. There is still the odd title that will only work on one or other.

[porina]

1 minute ago, irfankamil said:

I have 1080 ti right now. Is it enough though?

That's still a decent amount of GPU power so don't worry about it. I'm using a 1070 on my VR system, although more power never hurt.

[Kilrah]

15 minutes ago, irfankamil said:

I have 1080 ti right now. Is it enough though?

Yep perfectly fine, about same as 2080 other than ray-tracing.

 

I wouldn't really recommend a gen1 headset unless you can get a really good deal on one. Had a Vive, then bought the Quest for the standalone usage but once it got tether support I compared a couple of games between both and sold the Vive. 

 

I sold the 3+ year old Vive for more than I bought the new Quest for, so price wise they tend to not be that interesting.

[SolarNova]

2 hours ago, irfankamil said:

So I started looking for VR headset for PC because of Alyx. Hell I didnt realize how expensive it was. I can build a whole budget gaming PC with that price, atleast in my country (Malaysia). Any tips on buying and choosing would be nice.

Generally speaking yes, they are expensive, at least the 'good' ones are.

 

IMO they are still not good enough for the price. The screendoor effect still exists and wont be fixed until resolutions increase and ofc that means more powerful PC hardware required.

Additional the FoV of nearly all major VR sets is still limited

Finally, the use of LCD panels still results in grey blacks and in some cases poor pixel response times.

 

The StarVR is the most promising headset imo, but as far as im aware its hard to get ahold of due to its more commercial orientated use.

It has however a 210 FOV and uses AMOLED panels at 90hz. The 210 fov means u can literally look to the left and right corners of ur eyes and still see an image unlike the limited 110 FoV or there about, of more common headsets. It really looks like an amazing product, but its hella expensive at around $3700 last i heard.