The Pimax Super Experience.

[Oboe]

On 8/6/2025 at 1:04 PM, Varibraun said:

 

Hi Oboe - If it helps, while your 4080 Super certainly meets the specs, I am currently running at 4090, 13900K, 64Gb DDR5 6400 and am still planning on eventually moving to a 9800X3D with a 5090 system mostly driven by trying to the get the most I can out of the Super.  I received the OG crystal $399 discount on the Super which made it an easier decision for me to preorder the Super.  Based on what I am seeing on my numbers, I think the GPU is probably the limiting factor for it, not the CPU.  (FWIW I get that same CPU-limited message in DCS with my system).

 

So, while I am not trying to talk you out of the Super, I think your instinct to go with the CL is probably the right one from a cost/benefit view because the price difference is pretty substantial and you will probably get similar visuals (other than FOV) since you will have to turn down the Super and can probably run the CL at 1.0.  While it will be an adjustment from the Q3 (I have one for non-sim games), if you go with the StudioForm kit, I think the size/weight of the Pimax will become a non-issue for you after a few hours of flight sim time. 

 

Finally, regarding Pimax and customer service, I have found through my OG and now my Super, if you are patient, polite and persistent, they will come through for you.  It took me 3 tries to get a "correct" Super, but the 1st 2 were very early batches and came through without a QA checklist, and when the 3rd showed up with the signed checklist, it was superb (so hopefully, they have figured that part out).  Customer support always responded within 2 business days and never pushed back on the RMA request when I was able to describe the problem I was seeing.  Plus, you have the 14 day return window to try it out (whichever one you decide), so I never felt "trapped" when I saw a problem because, if they hadn't given me a satisfactory response, I would have just refunded it.  Finally, to me at least, Pimax is the one company really continuing to develop the software side of PCVR with Pimax Play adding new features fairly often.

Thanks for the reply and advice.  Still watching and waiting.   You know what I think would be a better option for me, and perhaps for many others - if Pimax would create a Crystal Light-spec'd slide in optical engine for the Super.  I think I'd be OK with 2880x2880 per eye, no eye-tracking, and manual IPD adjustment.   Keep the cost below the current Crystal Light but use the Super's housing and head strap.    

Edited August 17 by Oboe

[Charlo-VR]

On 8/6/2025 at 8:19 PM, DBCOOPER011 said:

 

Pimax Play 1.41.1 is out and it has a really good built in upscaling/sharpening feature. It looks much better thenthe openxr toolkit IMO.

I tried that new sharpening option in my Pimax Crystal Light but did not notice a difference. Perhaps it only works on the Super?

 

I also use SteamVr

[[CPT]Crunch]

Try turning off the in game sharpening, also make sure your using a specific IL-2 profile and using it to start the game.  The baseline universal profile is wonky and doesn't allow some settings to actually be changed.  And if you start IL-2 without its own profile the default settings are active.

[spreckair]

@Charlo-VR I tried it on my LIght and it made a noticeable difference for me.  But the weather also seems to make a difference with it.  When it is hazy, not so much, but when it is clear and sunny, much more so.  I can ID aircraft better, but still not good enough compared to a monitor.  This is still new for me, so I plan to keep experimenting around.

Edited August 18 by spreckair

[Charlo-VR]

On 8/18/2025 at 9:08 AM, [CPT]Crunch said:

Try turning off the in game sharpening, also make sure your using a specific IL-2 profile and using it to start the game.  The baseline universal profile is wonky and doesn't allow some settings to actually be changed.  And if you start IL-2 without its own profile the default settings are active.

 

On 8/18/2025 at 11:58 AM, spreckair said:

@Charlo-VR I tried it on my LIght and it made a noticeable difference for me.  But the weather also seems to make a difference with it.  When it is hazy, not so much, but when it is clear and sunny, much more so.  I can ID aircraft better, but still not good enough compared to a monitor.  This is still new for me, so I plan to keep experimenting around.

 

Great advice, @[CPT]Crunch, thank you! I was able to try Pimax' new sharpening feature, and it looks better than the in-game sharpening. 

 

I am currently using a configuration of 7 and the effect reminds me a bit of when I got my first pair of glasses in my early 20s - like IL-2 is suddenly clearer than I thought it could be. Cheers! 🤓

[von_Tom]

6 hours ago, Charlo-VR said:

 

 

Great advice, @[CPT]Crunch, thank you! I was able to try Pimax' new sharpening feature, and it looks better than the in-game sharpening. 

 

I am currently using a configuration of 7 and the effect reminds me a bit of when I got my first pair of glasses in my early 20s - like IL-2 is suddenly clearer than I thought it could be. Cheers! 🤓

 

I'm expecting my ultrawide in early September and it'd help to know what your total settings are i.e., in-game and in Pimax Play.  I believe in utilising the hard work that others have put in!

 

von Tom

 

[Panzerlang]

I've currently got the Pimax Play software on it's lowest Sharpening setting and it does make a pleasant improvement at 0.85 render (5090 card). I tried it at max also but there was a definite FPS hit.

[lawmachine79]

Are there any recommended settings for the Crystal Super (9800X3D, 5090)? I use the exchanged OpenVR-file for avoiding SteamVR. 

[Dennus]

RTX5090 / Ryzen 7 9800X3D

 

I upgraded from a Quest3 to the Crystal Super. Had the Q3 running like a charm using OpenXR Toolkit. With the Crystal Super I feel totally lost in a jungle of settings.

 

Could someone with comparable system specs please share their settings in PimaxPlay / IL-2 / OpenXR (if OpenXR is even still nescessary).

 

Thank you.

Edited September 1 by Dennus

[Panzerlang]

6 hours ago, Dennus said:

RTX5090 / Ryzen 7 9800X3D

 

I upgraded from a Quest3 to the Crystal Super. Had the Q3 running like a charm using OpenXR Toolkit. With the Crystal Super I feel totally lost in a jungle of settings.

 

Could someone with comparable system specs please share their settings in PimaxPlay / IL-2 / OpenXR (if OpenXR is even still nescessary).

 

Thank you.

I have everything running through Pimax software and all 'extra' settings off apart from a bit of sharpening. In PWCG I now have Air Density at "Medium" because the 9800X3D couldn't cope with "High" (the game went into half speed). With all that I see pretty much solid high 80s and 90FPS with extremely minimal occasional micro-stutter and ghosting. The 5090 is at 0.85 render.

I've messed around with 'extras' on, by themselves and in combos, and all have been detrimental (including NVidia Motion Smoothing, which tanked the FPS).

Edited September 2 by Panzerlang

[Dennus]

Thank you very much. Will give these a try.

[Varibraun]

On 9/1/2025 at 8:01 PM, Panzerlang said:

With all that I see pretty much solid high 80s and 90FPS with extremely minimal occasional micro-stutter and ghosting. The 5090 is at 0.85 render.

 

I appreciate your posts because I am also in the process of taking my Super to a similar 5090/9800x3d system.  What are your thoughts about running at 72 v 90 to potentially up the render?

[Panzerlang]

3 hours ago, Varibraun said:

 

I appreciate your posts because I am also in the process of taking my Super to a similar 5090/9800x3d system.  What are your thoughts about running at 72 v 90 to potentially up the render?

72hz has never worked for me (DCS and IL2), I'm cursed with being able to see the flicker.

[Varibraun]

1 hour ago, Panzerlang said:

72hz has never worked for me (DCS and IL2), I'm cursed with being able to see the flicker.

 

Ahh, understood.  I don't think my eyes can tell that much of a difference, but I will test both to see. 

[von_Tom]

On 8/21/2025 at 7:46 AM, Charlo-VR said:

 

I am currently using a configuration of 7 and the effect reminds me a bit of when I got my first pair of glasses in my early 20s - like IL-2 is suddenly clearer than I thought it could be. Cheers! 🤓

 

Did you have to create a Pimax profile for Il-2?  Does it mean you can disable AA in-game?

 

I still don't understand the interplay between Pimax Play, Steam, OXR and so on. Must you have Pimax Play running?  When you run the game, must you have SteamVR running?  What is the optimal way to get it all running (subject to tweaks etc)?

 

von Tom

 

 

[Panzerlang]

1 hour ago, von_Tom said:

 

Did you have to create a Pimax profile for Il-2?  Does it mean you can disable AA in-game?

 

I still don't understand the interplay between Pimax Play, Steam, OXR and so on. Must you have Pimax Play running?  When you run the game, must you have SteamVR running?  What is the optimal way to get it all running (subject to tweaks etc)?

 

von Tom

 

 

Are you running the Steam version of IL2 (not that I know if that would make a difference)?

[von_Tom]

57 minutes ago, Panzerlang said:

Are you running the Steam version of IL2 (not that I know if that would make a difference)?

 

No.

 

At present with my Index I start SteamVR, then the game, and that's it.  Lovely and simple.

 

von Tom

[Charlo-VR]

4 hours ago, von_Tom said:

 

Did you have to create a Pimax profile for Il-2?  Does it mean you can disable AA in-game?

 

I still don't understand the interplay between Pimax Play, Steam, OXR and so on. Must you have Pimax Play running?  When you run the game, must you have SteamVR running?  What is the optimal way to get it all running (subject to tweaks etc)?

 

von Tom

 

Yes,  I had to create an IL-2 profile within the Pimax software, and must start IL-2 from within it. I have the Pimax software running and must also have SteamVr running before I start IL-2 from within the Pimax software.
 

In IL-2 I now have sharpening unchecked, as I now much prefer Pimax sharpening, and apparently Pimax sharpening won’t override IL-2 sharpening if it is enabled in IL-2.
 

I have a 13700k and a 4090 and a Crystal Light, and I haven’t used any AA in more than a year. I use SteamVr and also use VRNeckSafer.  I know there is a non-Steam option built into the Pimax software and a non-Steam version of VRNeckSafer called XR NeckSafer, but I’ve been happy with using SteamVr.

 

I fly almost exclusively in MP

[Dennus]

On 9/2/2025 at 2:01 AM, Panzerlang said:

I have everything running through Pimax software and all 'extra' settings off apart from a bit of sharpening. In PWCG I now have Air Density at "Medium" because the 9800X3D couldn't cope with "High" (the game went into half speed). With all that I see pretty much solid high 80s and 90FPS with extremely minimal occasional micro-stutter and ghosting. The 5090 is at 0.85 render.

I've messed around with 'extras' on, by themselves and in combos, and all have been detrimental (including NVidia Motion Smoothing, which tanked the FPS).

These settings work excellent for me. No jagged edges or shimmering in the distance and enough GPU headway to prevent stuttering. Cannot commend these enough, also because of the simplicity to only have to account for settings in Pimax Play and IL-2.

[Dagwoodyt]

What percentage of your cpu is being utilized when Pimax software runs in the background? When Varjo software is NOT running in background my cpu usage is ~:

 

 

If I start Varjo and run it in background the cpu usage increases from ~26W to 40W and cpu use increases to ~10-12%. Even if I close Varjo this usage stays elevated unless I end all Varjo processes using Task Manager. Does Pimax software have similar impact on cpu resources or impose a greater system burden?

Edited September 9 by Dagwoodyt

[Calvin_Pimax]

On 9/10/2025 at 12:06 AM, Dagwoodyt said:

Does Pimax software have similar impact on cpu resources or impose a greater system burden?

The team is optimizing this, since both tracking and Pimax Play are processed by the CPU. We’re working on ways to reduce CPU utilization.

[Dagwoodyt]

11 hours ago, Calvin_Pimax said:

The team is optimizing this, since both tracking and Pimax Play are processed by the CPU. We’re working on ways to reduce CPU utilization.

Thanks!

I knew something must be up because whenever I've mentioned this utilization topic everyone seems to disappear. With Varjo I can just go to the taskbar, highlight the Varjo icon, click Quit and my cpu utilization goes back down from 7-10% to 1-2%. Further, I have never had to make a Defender exclusion for Varjo Base and Pimax users don't seem inclined to give information on that issue either. The lack of response from users to seemingly easy questions is concerning🙁

[von_Tom]

Plugged in my Super. Installed Pimax Play. Went through setup etc. All ok. Rebooted etc all ok.  Swapped out the DLL and fired up IL2.  All running fine. 
 

Decided to reboot to start playing with settings - won’t reboot without headset unplugged and even then it takes 10x as long. Unplugged device and problem persists. 
 

Boot device priority is the M2 with W11 on.   No other hardware issues. System restore to several days ago doesn’t help. I’m really puzzled at the sudden change. 
 

Any ideas anyone?

 

von Tom

 

Edit:  The pc will boot up eventually if the Super power is unplugged. Is that a feature?

 

Edit 2:  Pimax Play would no longer recognise the headset, saying neither usb or DP connections were attached, when previously it saw it.  Then the pc bricked so a W11 re-install is needed, except MS won't let me get the files needed...

Edited October 14 by von_Tom

[[CPT]Crunch]

Did you do hard power off, the physical PSU switch?  Sounds like a stuck driver is first thought.

 

Do that with the HMD disconnected, than try it if things come back on a normal boot.

[von_Tom]

2 hours ago, [CPT]Crunch said:

Did you do hard power off, the physical PSU switch?  Sounds like a stuck driver is first thought.

 

 

Yes and that's how I could get it to boot up.  Uninstalled everything and started again, with the result that my W11 install died, i couldn't repair even from a USB and I'm just finishing a reinstall of W11 then trying again.

 

It's bizarre how badly it turned out.

 

von Tom

[DBCOOPER011]

So I took the plunge and bought a 50ppd Crystal Super from Walmart online. Price wasn't too bad at $799 upfront with $936 for the prime subscription fee. I should be able to deduct $399 from the prime fee since I already own the OG Crystal. The setup came with the DMAS speakers, Top Strap, and extra face cushion that I wasn't expecting.   

 

Everything is operational, but it has slight mura when looking at very light/white scenes, although not noticeable in games I've played so far. The screen at it's recommended render resolution of 6240x6280 is very sharp, but not manageable for me to maintain a 72Mhz frametime in Il2 with my 5090/9800X3D. Using Opencomposite and the OhneSpeed OpenXR Toolkit mod, I was able to get and maintain a 10-11ms frametime in Il2 by cutting the upper vertical resolution 30% and the bottom %10. I wasn't able to view this area anyways in the headset and the final resolution was 6240x4568.

 

I tested my OG Crystal and Super in Wimfov and seen the horizontal/vertical increase below. This was measured with optical inserts installed. I think I'll probably keep this one.. 

 

Edited October 18 by DBCOOPER011

[TCW_Brzi_Joe]

@DBCOOPER011 I barely see 1 pixel spotting longer then 10km with OG Crystal (my friends spot that pixel better in flat screen or lower resolution vr). 

I am afraid with Crystal Super I may spot less then og crystal... 

Of course close contacts would be better in super.

What is your experience? Do you ever see furball in a distance more as 10km?

[DBCOOPER011]

1 hour ago, TCW_Brzi_Joe said:

@DBCOOPER011 I barely see 1 pixel spotting longer then 10km with OG Crystal (my friends spot that pixel better in flat screen or lower resolution vr). 

I am afraid with Crystal Super I may spot less then og crystal... 

Of course close contacts would be better in super.

What is your experience? Do you ever see furball in a distance more as 10km?

 

Doing a QMB test co-alt at 10k I see 2 pixels per plane at an aside start. Zoomed in I can make out the plane shapes. Head to head start is a single pixel..

[chiliwili69]

13 hours ago, DBCOOPER011 said:

I was able to get and maintain a 10-11ms frametime in Il2 by cutting the upper vertical resolution 30% and the bottom %10. I wasn't able to view this area anyways in the headset and the final resolution was 6240x4568.

At 72Hz the treshold frametime is 1000/72=13.88 ms, so you still has a good margin of 3-4 ms.

 

It is incredible that those pixels in the top and bottom area are hidden to the eye!  it means that every Super user is wasting GPU resources by rendering pixels that can not be viewed? 

6240x6280x2 is 78.4 million pixels

6240x4568x2 is 57 million pixels,

so 78.4/57 is 1.37, meaning that with no FOV adjustment, the GPU is +37%  load with pixels not seen??

 

In any case, the FOV of the Super is quite nice BTW!

[TCW_Brzi_Joe]

@chiliwili69 Not visible pixels are per user, per hmd issue. I do not see about 10% pixels in OG Crystal without prescription inserts (that is in OXR toolkit called "20% on top half"), and with them (and necessary thicker facepads) even less. That does not mean that Crystal OG is wasting anything, it is just in my case/face.

 

It is important to recognize your own limit, and disable the rest.

Edited October 18 by TCW_Brzi_Joe

[chiliwili69]

27 minutes ago, TCW_Brzi_Joe said:

Not visible pixels are per user, per hmd issue

 

Yes, fair point. All depends on the face/eye/inserts/facepads/etc.

 

But given the maximun geometrical HFOV and VFOV calculated by the geometry fustrum in the code of the driver

https://risa2000.github.io/hmdgdb/

The Super can give HFOV max: 127 and VFOV max:117, and DBCOOPER was seeing HFOV=124 and VFOV=109, So I believe many pixels will be still hidden for the best face/eye shape.

14 hours ago, DBCOOPER011 said:

50ppd Crystal Super

 

How things compare to the OG Crystal? visuals? weight? inertia? tracking?

You didn´t like the 58PPD lenses option?

[DBCOOPER011]

48 minutes ago, chiliwili69 said:

How things compare to the OG Crystal? visuals? weight? inertia? tracking?

You didn´t like the 58PPD lenses option?

 

I just received this thing yesterday so I'm still adjusting/tweaking the settings. The two big positives it has over my OG Crystal is a bigger FOV and sharper picture. However, I had my OG Crystal dialed in pretty good visually and comfort wise. The Supers weight is a little less then my OG, but not by much. I haven't had any real tracking issues for either, but only use them for sims. The inertia is about the same, but my OG Crystal seems more fluid for some odd reason. My Super does have slight mura, but its only noticeable if your looking for it in white backgrounds. I don't see it at all in games.

 

I chose the 50ppd since it appears to be the best balanced between the 57ppd and ultrawide. Another big consideration was that I was able to receive it in a week. Ordering anything directly from Pimax usually takes way too long for my liking. The 57ppd appears to have the same FOV as the OG Crystal, so it didn't appear to be much of an upgrade for me. Overall, the Super is not a huge upgrade from my OG Crystal by any means, but I consider it worth the price with the $399 discount.

 

Another benefit is being able to add the micro OLED module in the future...

 

Edited October 18 by DBCOOPER011

[Broadway]

Just to add to the thread, no exhaustive testing, but also coming from the OG, but with the ULTRAWIDE, most testing on line , Combat Box server

-  comfort - better for me than OG , less bulk and weight do  shine through
- FOV -  no scientific testing , it is better but nor a wow moment ,I feel it most in snap rear view in combat / dogfights , it helps 
- colour / brightness , - significantly better , been playing with spotting , and maybe the setting would have improved the OG , but dialled in quite nicely now , albeit with a few jaggered edges - again for spotting rather than looking for nicest picture 
- performance , not a scientific detailed analysis  , but coming from 90Hz on the. OG i ve gone 72Hz upscaled lab mode , as i ve found it (surprisingly) very good for me.  Approx settings are HIGH in game, no FXAA/MSAA , clouds. / shadows etc at one off top setting. Running. SteamVR, not changed anything in that so default, but in Pimax play 80pc, Sharpening 1 ie 100% , playing  with a little adjustment on brightness and contract , not settled on these yet   At 85% render i get 72 in combat , medium over towns etc, drops to 60 ultra low down, 80pc improves this, so this is what i m running for now

5090  x3d chip, 32RAM
 

[Youtch]

Has somebody figured out how to show IL2 icon in Pimax Play Assets after importing IL2? I have a generic picture with a gamepad instead.

 

Thank you very much in advance