vr VR Rig Help

[mr_bres]

Hi all, long time lurker first time poster but I REALLY need some help with a VR build, okay so settle in for a long winded situation followed by a question.

Recently in Australia the HTC Vive came down in price and I will pick on up in the next week or two (when i decide what to run it on), I live in a share house with one big computer room however there is not enough room for a VR setup, we do however have a spare bedroom that guests occasionally stay in that I plan to use when we dont have guests, so using my current rig is not really viable.

I want to build a PC for the sole purpose of VR, I dont have a budget but i also dont have a lot of cash on hand especially after I get a Vive, i plan to build the best value for money rig i can, at first i thought i would upgrade my (Heavily overclocked) 4690k, mobo and 16gb of DDR3 to the latest gen but that adds up too fast when i will need GPU and storage and so on, however im not above doing that its just last resort, I then started looking on Gumtree (Australian craigslist basically) for used CPU's i was looking at used i7 7700/6700 and i5 7600/7500 or i5 6600/6500 but people are asking a little to much for them to be worth it and the used motherboards are also hard to come by. 

Then i noticed that for the same price as a used i5 6500/6600 i could buy a NEW i3 8100 and with the release of the new h310 Motherboards in Aus i could have a CPU and Mobo for $250 (AUD new) as opposed to spending $350 (AUD) on a used 6600 and mobo. I will use 16gb or ram whether it be DDR3 or 4, DDR4 prices are reasonably good secondhand around my area, i will also be paring everything with either a GTX 970 or a GTX 1060 6gb, whatever GPU I get ill overclock as far as it can handle!

 

So finally the question, at the time of writing this the i3 8100, ASRock H310M, 16gb DDR4 (used), GTX 1060 6gb (used) is the most cost effective rig BUT will it be enough, will the 8100 fall behind or is CPU less important in vr and the 1060 going to limit me, am i prehaps better saving money on the GPU by getting a used GTX 970 and looking for a used 6600, maybe you think a locked i7 7700 is better than my 4690k @ 4.5ghz and i should use that for VR instead or just wait till i can afford the 8700k.

[RedAV8R]

Just an idea... what if you put your current rig in that spare room, and then got a steam link for the shared room. Ex. I've got my computer in my room, but I've got a desk in a shared space with a steam link that connects to my main pc to drive that monitor.

[DocSwag]

No point in getting an 8100 when an OCed 4690k is better, IMO. Just keep your CPU/mobo/ram and get a GPU

[mr_bres]

@RedAV8R I had not considered this and now will look into it thanks.

 

@DocSwag  That is true but its about being cost effective so if an 8100 can run vr then that seems like a good buy to me.

[DocSwag]

55 minutes ago, mr_bres said:

That is true but its about being cost effective so if an 8100 can run vr then that seems like a good buy to me.

But why buy an 8100 when you can reuse your better, 4690k, for free?

[mr_bres]

@DocSwag I want to build another pc just for VR so if i use my 4690k ill need to replace it, id probably only replace it if i upgraded to a 8600k or 8700k

[DragonTamer1]

Look into second or third gen i5s and i7s that are overclockable. If you can get a good overclock out of them you can save a bit of money on the RAM and the overall platform if you hunt around.

 

The only thing you would really need to spend more on is the GPU, I wouldn't recommend going lower than something like a GTX 960 or R9 380. I would suggest a GTX 1060 3GB as the minimum or RX 480/580 4GB. While you can technically run the game on lower graphics cards, it's not enjoyable at all and actually has a considerable amount of tracking issues.

[DocSwag]

2 hours ago, mr_bres said:

@DocSwag I want to build another pc just for VR so if i use my 4690k ill need to replace it, id probably only replace it if i upgraded to a 8600k or 8700k

Your plan seems ok then. Just remember that a 4690k will probably be better than an 8100. Use the 4690k in the system that needs more horsepower.

[mr_bres]

I know this thread is old now but I thought I would update it for any one who gets curious.

I bought myself a HTC Vive second hand because i was trying to save money, at the start I DID move my main rig around to the vr room and as I expected it was a massive pain in the ass, so i was determined to build another pc to run on.

 

What I ended up with, I was very happy with. most parts I waited and watched Gumtree (Australian Craigslist) until I could build.

 

CPU: Intel I3 8100, I scored this second hand off a bloke that bought it thinking it would fit his 7th gen motherboard and I got it for $90 aud ($70 usd) thats $70 bellow RRP.

Motherboard: ASRock B360M ITX/ac, this was purchased new for $159 aud ($120 usd).

RAM: 16gb DDR4 G.skill 2400mhz, this cost me $140 aud ($107 usd) used (Ram prices were VERY high at this time).

GPU: GTX 1060 6gb MSI Gaming X picked up for $240 aud ($184 usd) and it overclocked to 1984mhz on the Core and +235 on the memory.

SSD: Intel 540 512gb used $50 aud ($38 usd).

Case: SilverStone Milo ML08 with Handle SFF Chassis also picked up used for $60 aud ($45 usd).

PSU: Corsair SF450 450W SFX 80 Plus Gold Power Supply, used for $60 aud ($45 usd) got it with the case as part of a deal.

 

Total cost is $799 aud or $610 usd and im very happy with how it turned out, especially for the small form factor, makes taking to friends very easy.