Oculus Quest 2.. its not what you think.

[Mr. Grim]

Hi everyone! I bought the oculus quest 2 today ready to get into the quest 2! After all of the amazing youtube videos and Oculus' amazing marketing strategy I NEEDED to get this product on launch day.. and so I did....

I am switching from my nice, conferrable RIFT 2 with over 300 US dollars worth of games... but when I put this thing on it was SUPER uncomfortable ... and I would need to buy all my games again.. now you might be saying just use link or virtual desktop... well games that have co-op like beat saber is impossible to use without buying the game on the oculus AGAIN... and to be honest both link and vd is not too great.. 

I do got to say hand tracking is AMAZING.. but is in very early stages of developing..

 

 

My verdict 

Dont buy this new oculus quest, and get the year old rift 2 IF you have a good computer...

[techies_9001]

Your underestimating Oculus link and Virtual desktop. Also the enhancements of beat saber @ 90 hz with sideload makes the desktop version not necessary. I would just play that natively on the Quest and other games with eye candy with the link.

Also most people using the link haven't touched the Oculus Debug tool, which has a nice little surprise in terms of a very significant clarity upgrade.

Think a future update will auto adjust those settings based on the hardware of the user, but before than you have to enter the values manually to get the true sense of how much an upgrade the screen is.

 

[Great_Big_abyss]

I'm going to get in on this topic, because I'm considering buying 2 Oculus headsets.  

 

Here's my situation.  Both my son's and my machines are on the older side.  My son has an Asus M5A97 with an FX8350 and an RX570 GPU.  My computer has an MSI Z77A-G45, 3770K, and a GTX 1070.  Neither machines have USB type C, but rather have USB-A 3.0 headers (mine on the case, my son's, on the rear I.O. panel.  

 

When we buy our VR headsets, we definitely want to plug them into our PC's and use their power to play some good VR games.  I also like the idea of the Quest 2 as a standalone headset that we can take different places and still play basic VR games.  My question is with regards to Oculus LINK.  So the LINK cable uses a USB-C cable to plug the headset to the computer.  What I'm confused about is, how on earth can a signal from a discrete GPU make it from the GPU, through the motherboard, to a USB header?

 

Also, since I don't have a USB-C header, if I just use an adapter to go from USB-A 3.0 to USB-C, then connect the cable to that, will it work?

 

 

Or, should I just get two of the Rift S's which use DisplayPort, and just be done with it?  I'm so confused.

[Warin]

Oculus link uses your GPU to do the heavy lifting of the rendering and gameplay, and then streams the result to the headset.  Only the video signal and control inputs run down the USB cable as an encoded video stream.  It is pretty slick, actually.  And you can absolutely use an A to C USB 3 cable. I am using the Anker Powerlink II cable with a Quest and it works like a hot damn.  My son does the same with the Quest 2 and it works great for him. 

I would skip the Rift-S.  It really isn't a great comparison with the Quest 2. The quest 2 gets the Rift's 90hz refresh rate, but is higher resolution, offers some physical IPD adjustment, and has an entire stand alone system to use.  And stand alone is great for Beat Saber and other light VR applications.

[Howie Doodat]

15 hours ago, Great_Big_abyss said:

I'm going to get in on this topic, because I'm considering buying 2 Oculus headsets.  

 

Here's my situation.  Both my son's and my machines are on the older side.  My son has an Asus M5A97 with an FX8350 and an RX570 GPU.  My computer has an MSI Z77A-G45, 3770K, and a GTX 1070.  Neither machines have USB type C, but rather have USB-A 3.0 headers (mine on the case, my son's, on the rear I.O. panel.  

 

When we buy our VR headsets, we definitely want to plug them into our PC's and use their power to play some good VR games.  I also like the idea of the Quest 2 as a standalone headset that we can take different places and still play basic VR games.  My question is with regards to Oculus LINK.  So the LINK cable uses a USB-C cable to plug the headset to the computer.  What I'm confused about is, how on earth can a signal from a discrete GPU make it from the GPU, through the motherboard, to a USB header?

 

Also, since I don't have a USB-C header, if I just use an adapter to go from USB-A 3.0 to USB-C, then connect the cable to that, will it work?

 

 

Or, should I just get two of the Rift S's which use DisplayPort, and just be done with it?  I'm so confused.

I, also was worried about the “graphics card over random USB port” concept, but I got my quest a few days ago and I just spent yesterday patching up/nodding Fallout 4 VR and man it is FOR SURE using my graphics card over a usb C to A. I can’t even believe what I’m experiencing. I ordered the recommended C to C (I needed a long cable, and at that length you definitely want an active, not passive). For the record, I have an RTX 2060 in my computer and have been screwed time and time again that the USB C port (also has a Mini DisplayPort more) ISN’T hard wired to my graphics card. So no G Sync (with my acer predator)  and, until now no none HDMI VR. But it’s working and it’s killer. 
 

Sorry^ that was a bit much but I just took the headset off after my first solid night of playing and..wow

 

Edit: you can also just buy a USB C to A cable. I guess adapters should work too though? (Don’t quote me there)

 

Edited October 20, 2020 by Howie Doodat
Clarification

[Great_Big_abyss]

Wow, so it's pretty mind-blowing that Oculus manages to get a GPU signal through the USB ports.  I spoke to our IT guy here at work, and he didn't realize it was possible.  That's some software magic that they're doing there.

[Zindokar]

 

14 hours ago, Great_Big_abyss said:

Wow, so it's pretty mind-blowing that Oculus manages to get a GPU signal through the USB ports.  I spoke to our IT guy here at work, and he didn't realize it was possible.  That's some software magic that they're doing there.

USB protocol can handle many types of transfers throught its cable. I studied USB 2.0 and 3.0 protocols in my IT university. You have several type of transfers like Audio, Video, Mass Storage, Comms/Networking, Printer, HID, Media Transfer Protocol, Smart Card, Still Image Capture,Monitor Device... And most important Bulk Transfers which you can program your software/hardware communication.

[Chionele]

On 10/28/2020 at 2:12 AM, Great_Big_abyss said:

Wow, so it's pretty mind-blowing that Oculus manages to get a GPU signal through the USB ports.  I spoke to our IT guy here at work, and he didn't realize it was possible.  That's some software magic that they're doing there.

He probably didn't because you made it sound like it's magic - in reality it's just transferring compressed video, for which in this instance even USB 2 is enough because the headset can't handle higher speeds decoding. Talking about "GPU signals over USB" makes it sound confusing.

[RmBruce]

I use the Quest 2 with Virtural Desktop to play Steam games like Alyx, with a GTX 1070 + Ryzen 2600 and works pretty much flawlessly for me.

[WoodJames]

On 10/19/2020 at 10:21 PM, Warin said:

Oculus link uses your GPU to do the heavy lifting of the rendering and gameplay, and then streams the result to the headset.  Only the video signal and control inputs run down the USB cable as an encoded video stream.  It is pretty slick, actually.  And you can absolutely use an A to C USB 3 cable. I am using the Anker Powerlink II cable with a Quest and it works like a hot damn.  My son does the same with the Quest 2 and it works great for him. 

I would skip the Rift-S.  It really isn't a great comparison with the Quest 2. The quest 2 gets the Rift's 90hz refresh rate, but is higher resolution, offers some physical IPD adjustment, and has an entire stand alone system to use.  And stand alone is great for Beat Saber and other light VR applications.

How is it that an affordable battery powered device can for the most part keep up a high end desktop with expensive GPU that draws hundreds of watts?

[Warin]

Because the HMD is not doing any of the heavy lifting when tethered.  That all falls to the system GPU.  When using untethered, the internal SoC does a pretty good job, but it isn't really comparable to the full tethered experience.  the textures are not as rich, the level of detail isn't anywhere near as high.  It is really good for basic stuff though.  Robo Recall looks way better when played tethered, but it is just a lot more fun to not worry about the cable and accept the lower fidelity.  I use FitXR a lot and it is great to not have to worry about a cable.  There are certainly trade offs, but not as many as you would think.

[i_build_nanosuits]

I'M still using my Rift S, the screens on the Quest 2 are amazing but playing it on a computer is not great.

[miagisan]

11 hours ago, i_build_nanosuits said:

I'M still using my Rift S, the screens on the Quest 2 are amazing but playing it on a computer is not great.

How so? Just got done with a 2 hour play session in cars 2.   Works flawlessly.   Even wireless, using beat saber, I couldn't even tell I was playing untethered.   Granted, I am coming from an old acer wmr, but the quest 2 is a very viable headset, if you are up for some side loading.