External GPU for VR

[r00tuzr]

Hello 

This is my first post on this Forum i've been watching the channel for a while.

 

So i'm really into this whole VR craze i bought a google cardboard i think there can be a lot of potential. 

 

I currently own a macbook pro Retina mid 2014 its good for everything i need except playing games.

 

i've been searching online for a external GPU maybe via thunderbolt 2 only to hit a brick wall every time.

i know there are a lot of DIY projects but most of the time it almost pays to just build a full computer as the pricing on the thunderbolt casings are expensive.

 

 

I did find something called a vidock that uses a expresscard to thunderbolt but i think you get less read/write with that option

has anybody tried this?what are the benchmarks?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Firearm2112]

DO NOT USE VIDOCK! You will get terrible speeds. Instead, please refer to my guide! Feel free to ask any questions you may have, as I am happy to help on this subject!

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/277270-macbook-pro-with-a-gtx-980-setup-guide-benchmarks-egpu-setup-windows-81/

[Briggsy]

I have a colorcross (kinda like google cardboard) and have played around on my cellphone a bit, and tried a few games in VR, like vanishing of ethan carter, and some other unreal engine games, but I would recommend waiting until occulus or Vive launches, as the ghetto VR experience isn't nearly good enough to be of any practical use. It's a novelty that makes me really want VR now, but the ghetto experience is not that amazing.

[r00tuzr]

@ Firearm2112 thanx i'll check it out now.

 

@Briggsy i need to see what all the fuss was about so i needed to get cardboard.. i have a iphone and the VR apps on iphone stink! i am waiting for Oculus and Vive.

 

The thing is i'm not convinced it will hit the mass market due to the fact most people dont have a gaming PC good enough for these 2 products.

 

I think ps4 might actually win this battle even though there product might be less then oculus or vive

[r00tuzr]

@Firearm2112 great article helped a lot still not sure what i'm going to do. do you have a quad core or dual core?

[Firearm2112]

@Firearm2112 great article helped a lot still not sure what i'm going to do. do you have a quad core or dual core?

dual core. i recommend a quad core for this setup tho

[alfaomega]

I would advise to just wait it out until the end of this year when the Vive is expected to launch. There's no point in building anything right now as the devs have not disclosed any informations on what it will need to run. For all we know, sli/crossfire will be a better than single gpu's, or it might prefer faster clock speeds as opposed to more cores or visa versa, or if directx12 will change the game when it comes to VR.

This is actually what i'm doing right now and the reason I did not opt for a more powerful pc/higher res monitor/triple monitor set up. I'm just playing the waaiting game until they hit the market and the benchmarks are out on exactly what is best for them and how to go about shoppiing for the best possible experience.

Just keep in mind that more likely than not they will require some beastly pc's since their required refresh rates are all ove 60hz and they are basically running the equivalent two 1080 monitors.

I did try out Cardboard and I was actually so underwhelmed (mind you, not with the product itself, that's actually one of the most interesting products on the market) that I had actually decided NOT save up for VR but right after this, HTC unveiled their vive in partnership with valve and that brought me right back to saving up for the complete VR experience.

[Briggsy]

I would advise to just wait it out until the end of this year when the Vive is expected to launch. There's no point in building anything right now as the devs have not disclosed any informations on what it will need to run. For all we know, sli/crossfire will be a better than single gpu's, or it might prefer faster clock speeds as opposed to more cores or visa versa, or if directx12 will change the game when it comes to VR.

This is actually what i'm doing right now and the reason I did not opt for a more powerful pc/higher res monitor/triple monitor set up. I'm just playing the waaiting game until they hit the market and the benchmarks are out on exactly what is best for them and how to go about shoppiing for the best possible experience.

Just keep in mind that more likely than not they will require some beastly pc's since their required refresh rates are all ove 60hz and they are basically running the equivalent two 1080 monitors.

I did try out Cardboard and I was actually so underwhelmed (mind you, not with the product itself, that's actually one of the most interesting products on the market) that I had actually decided NOT save up for VR but right after this, HTC unveiled their vive in partnership with valve and that brought me right back to saving up for the complete VR experience.

 

I completely agree. there are two noticeable problems with cardboard VR. One is the field of view, where you can see the edge of each screen. Oculus and Vive have much wider fields of view, even in development versions. the second is that the UI for most games is positioned in the corners of the screen, which is bad for VR if you have to roll you eyes into your head to read something. One thing I really love though, is that subtitles and text on screen pop out at you like holograms.

[r00tuzr]

So i'm going to wait...

 

I think by e3 we should start seeing some directions from VR

Vive and oculus seem like they are going to be for PC only. i'm hoping both companies come out with some sort of standard for PCs.

 

Who will win the VR war???

 

project morpheus seems like they might sell more due to the fact that there are 20mil PS4 sold already.

 

For oculus to win:

Imagine some sort of cloud gaming system from oculus where you can play anything with a basic PC. Facebook has the servers only issue would be bandwidth.

 

 

what do you think?