GPU suggestions for VR system

[Mattcrowston]

Budget (including currency): 1000 CAD including tax

Country: Canada

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: VR, Half-life Alyx, etc

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): I have a 5600x system with 32 gigs of ram. I recently bought a Meta Quest 3 and my current 3070 is not capable enough with only 8gb of vram. I am looking for suggestions for a new gpu with more vram and performance. My budget is 1000 CAD, tax included. Thanks.

 

[Hinjima]

12 minutes ago, Mattcrowston said:

Budget (including currency): 1000 CAD including tax

Country: Canada

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: VR, Half-life Alyx, etc

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): I have a 5600x system with 32 gigs of ram. I recently bought a Meta Quest 3 and my current 3070 is not capable enough with only 8gb of vram. I am looking for suggestions for a new gpu with more vram and performance. My budget is 1000 CAD, tax included. Thanks.

 

A 7900 GRE with 16GB of VRAM would be a good upgrade. 

7900 XT would also be a good upgrade but this is more expensive than the GRE.

 

If you want to stay with Nvidia then the 4070Ti is a good card.

Unfortunately the 4070 Ti Super is juuuuuuust out budget by 50 bucks.

[TetraSky]

Wait, your 3070 is not capable enough ??
I have a 6750x (more or less comparable) and I can play Half Life Alyx with no issues wirelessly.

My roommate also has a 3070 and he plays VR games all the time also. He even mod non VR games to play in VR. Like, what? How is a 3070 not enough...

 

Does the game simply not run properly at sub 20 fps or something ?

What are you using to play the game through your Quest 3 ? If you're not using Virtual Desktop, I would highly suggest you use it (the version on the Quest store, NOT the Steam version) instead Air Link. I was getting a ton of lag when using that while Virtual Desktop is buttery smooth.

[Mattcrowston]

2 hours ago, TetraSky said:

Wait, your 3070 is not capable enough ??
I have a 6750x (more or less comparable) and I can play Half Life Alyx with no issues wirelessly.

My roommate also has a 3070 and he plays VR games all the time also. He even mod non VR games to play in VR. Like, what? How is a 3070 not enough...

 

Does the game simply not run properly at sub 20 fps or something ?

What are you using to play the game through your Quest 3 ? If you're not using Virtual Desktop, I would highly suggest you use it (the version on the Quest store, NOT the Steam version) instead Air Link. I was getting a ton of lag when using that while Virtual Desktop is buttery smooth.

The game Half-life Alyx performance wise runs fine. But when I start the game it has an error for "low texture memory available". I am about half way through the game and there is major textures missing. It looks totally washed out. I have not been using airlink. I have been playing over Quest link with a cable connected. I thought a gpu upgrade would help with the texture memory limits and increase performance.

[TetraSky]

What you're describing seems to be a software bug that even affect a 24GB VRAM 3090FE

https://steamcommunity.com/app/546560/discussions/0/3005556719754166285/

 

Everyone I find having this issue, are using Nvidia GPUs. Even 4090s. When was the last time you updated your GPU drivers ? 

 

Found a few potential solutions for this.

-Could be as simple as updating the GPU drivers.

-Minimizing the game window in Windows while you're playing on your headset (weird, I know).

-Something about having enabled workshop DLC. Disable that.

-This seemingly complicated post

-This whole thread. Don't use Vulkan.

-If the boot drive/drive that has the game on it is too full, it could cause the issue as well. 

-Go to steam vr settings>video>per application video settings. Make sure you are changing the settings for half life alyx. Now turn the slider all the way to the left.

-Some settings to change. Add -nowindow as a launch option in the Properties of Alyx on Steam

 

 

Overall, a lot of people are having this issue with Nvidia GPUs and no one solution is good for everyone. I have not seen a single mention of AMD GPUs on my quick search. Sooooo if you want a new GPU, consider those. lol.

[Mattcrowston]

6 hours ago, TetraSky said:

What you're describing seems to be a software bug that even affect a 24GB VRAM 3090FE

https://steamcommunity.com/app/546560/discussions/0/3005556719754166285/

 

Everyone I find having this issue, are using Nvidia GPUs. Even 4090s. When was the last time you updated your GPU drivers ? 

 

Found a few potential solutions for this.

-Could be as simple as updating the GPU drivers.

-Minimizing the game window in Windows while you're playing on your headset (weird, I know).

-Something about having enabled workshop DLC. Disable that.

-This seemingly complicated post

-This whole thread. Don't use Vulkan.

-If the boot drive/drive that has the game on it is too full, it could cause the issue as well. 

-Go to steam vr settings>video>per application video settings. Make sure you are changing the settings for half life alyx. Now turn the slider all the way to the left.

-Some settings to change. Add -nowindow as a launch option in the Properties of Alyx on Steam

 

 

Overall, a lot of people are having this issue with Nvidia GPUs and no one solution is good for everyone. I have not seen a single mention of AMD GPUs on my quick search. Sooooo if you want a new GPU, consider those. lol.

Thank you very much. I greatly appreciate the input. I will check out these work around.