VR Bodysuit PC -

[Xineas]

@LinusTech @Slick While watching the recently released WAN show Linus was talking about an idea where he would strap a computer to his body and power it by batteries for an untethered VR experience. The idea kept me thinking and it's actually not that unthinkable with the currently available hardware. There is plenty of stuff out there that doesn't draw kilowatts of power. Let's break it down and see how feasible this actually is.

 

1. Some sort of jacket/vest/bag to put all components on to

2. Motherboard/CPU/RAM/cooling solution + VR capable graphics card

3. Power solution for PC and VR headset

4. Peripherals

 

 

1. Gathering the base

All the gear together will weigh quite a bit, so it has to be solid. After a bit of searching I ended up at http://bigpocketsvest.com/. This has many pockets and uniquely features a bit 14 inch wide, 8 inch deep back pocket. The front pocket where you see an iPad sticking out is about 7 inches wide. Plenty of space for all types of battery banks and what not.

 

As far as an actual case, I kept on coming back to the SilverStone Raven series RVZ01. That'll hold the GPU as well. Since that doesn't fit in the jacket, I looked for a vented backpack that it does fit in and ended up with one from JanSport. You can position the case in such a way that the ports and cables stick out at 1 end and you just leave the zipper open a bit. It would of course be much cooler (hence why this topic is in case modding and not in general discussion) if it would be possible to custom fit the parts inside of a jacket. I guess it should be possible with a custom tiny motherboard tray and some interesting cabling, but it just seems awfully complicated.

 

 

2. "The guts"

A quick gathering of necessary components, there's a lot out there and plenty room to swap things out. Went with a GTX1060 instead of a RX480 for power consumption reasons.

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700T 2.8GHz Quad-Core Processor 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i 33.8 CFM CPU Cooler <= I don't think we need it, but who knows.
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard <= Has wireless built in for our portable wifi needs.
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB GAMING Video Card

 

And an HTC Vive.
 

3. Gimme power

Going from AC - to a battery bank - back to AC - only to have an SFX sized PSU put it back to DC seems awfully stupid, but I can't find any power banks that can output the required amperage/wattage needed. So SFX power supply it is, 250W will be enough to run this all. We should be able to squeeze one of Anker's new PowerHouse 400Wh portable chargers into the massive back pocket of the jacket, this'll give plenty of power to run the PC.

 

We also need a seperate power bank to power the Vive, but that shouldn't be an issue, there are plenty of power banks out there that can power it for a good while.

 

4. When you're not 'viving'

You do need some sort of screen and keyboard for when you're booting up and gettin' ready. The Logitech K400 is nice and easy and fits in the big front pocket of the jacket so it's nicely tucked away. But we don't want to be tethered to a display somewhere. We can however use one of the IOGEAR Wireless HDMI kits to get an image across the room to a display. I suppose it can go into the mobo's HDMI port, so we keep the 1060s HDMI port free for the Vive. Otherwise get a DisplayPort to HDMI converter and stick that in.

 

 

Thanks for still reading, if you made it this far. If I had the money I'd give this a try, but alas. We'll have to convince Linus and Luke to follow it through. Thoughts anyone? Improvements? Comments?

 

[iLoiter]

I dunno man, that looks really heavy and tiresome to use. I would just stick with the recent laptops with gtx (1060-1080) and strap it on your back(planning on doing this myself).

[Enderman]

The only point of sticking a PC on your back for VR would be to eliminate the tether.

Which you cannot do with a regular PC because it needs 120V power.

 

So this would be entirely pointless unless you also ran a battery pack to power the PC, which is basically called a laptop.