Advice on VR headset for an old system

[Mahoney]

Hi,

 

I've got a rather aged system from nearly 7 years ago - Intel Core i9-9900K, RTX 2070 8G, and only 8GB memory (though it's in one stick so I presume I could change that fairly easily). I'm guessing the graphics card is the major bottleneck, but I haven't yet researched what quality of card would be an improvement and work in my system without the CPU becoming the bottleneck.

 

I've been using a Quest 2 with it, but I just find it a pain; whenever I want to play, either it or the controllers need to be charged.

 

I'd quite like to get a dedicated VR headset for Il-2 - so no need to work wireless & have batteries. No need for controllers for that matter.

My tolerance for stuff needing lots of tweaking and setting up, and periodically not working, is really, really low.

 

Any thoughts? I'm assuming that the Pimax Crystal Light for instance is a bad idea, given the relatively low specs of my system.

[Aapje]

We've found that the Quest 3 requires less GPU power for the same level of quality than the Pimax, but the Crystal Light has a higher ceiling. But given your hardware, the Quest is probably the better choice. I found a very big quality improvement with the 3 over the 2 (ignore the 3S, as it has poor lenses).

 

Also keep in mind that the Quest is quite a bit cheaper and there tends to be good supply of very lightly used 2nd hand headsets, so you may be able to reduce the cost even more that way.

 

And I would definitely look into getting at least 16 GB of RAM.

 

No sure why you have the Quest 2 run out of batteries so soon. Do you regularly use it or do you leave it for a long time?

[Mahoney]

Hmm... I wish there were something of similar price & quality to the Quest 3 but tethered, then.

 

Quote

No sure why you have the Quest 2 run out of batteries so soon. Do you regularly use it or do you leave it for a long time?

 

I leave it for a very long time. Months. One of the things I struggle with with simming in general and with the Quest 2 in particular is that the friction to actually start playing is (for me) very high; I haven't turned the computer on in 2 months, the Quest 2 is out of battery, one of the controllers is no longer pairing, Windows, graphics drivers and Il-2 are all requiring updates, for whatever reason SteamVR isn't recognising the Quest 2 properly... an hour later and I've lost interest and put it all away again.

 

I should probably look into a way to persuade the computer to turn itself on and update itself overnight to at least remove that friction.

[Aapje]

I use the Quest 3 with a powered USB 3 hub, which means that the battery is less of an issue.

 

But if you play that little, you are always going to have high overhead. It's not even specific to gaming. Back during Covid-times, I had nowhere to go, so taking the car to the garage was almost all of the driving I did.

 

Anyway, no headset is going to solve this issue for you. Perhaps you can organize your life in a way where you set aside time to play weekly, then the overhead will be less.

[chiliwili69]

On 10/5/2025 at 12:03 AM, Mahoney said:

Hmm... I wish there were something of similar price & quality to the Quest 3 but tethered, then.

 

I understand you very well, I also like simplicity.

Your requirements are quite challenging:

- PC: 9900K, 8GBRAM, RTX 2070 (with option to upgrade GPU)

- Price: along Quest3 (550€)

- No bateries: So, no standalone, so with DP cable.

 

So the only extra question is: Do you have basestations or it is mandatory inside-out tracking?

 

If you want inside-out tracking you have the DPVR E4 which has the same panel resolution than Quest2 (but better image quality since image is not compressed via Wifi since uses DP cable) for 599$. The 2070 should be suficient for that:

https://www.dpvr.com/en/product/dpvr-e4-pc-virtual-reality-headset/

 

If have or don´t main to use base station (with one is enough), then you have the VivePro2 which has 2448x2448 resolution and also uses DP cable for 710€.

With the VP2 you will need to upgrade your GPU to a second hand 3080 (300€) or similar.

https://www.vive.com/eu/product/vive-pro2/overview/

 

If budget is extended, next one to consider is Crystal Light with inside-out tracking. But the problem is that a 3080 is not engouh to run it properly, so you will need to invest more in the GPU.

[Mahoney]

Cheers, that's helpful.

I'm actually a little less fussed about budget, it's frustrating when you have to pay significantly over the odds for similar quality with less built into it, but I can imagine doing it...

I don't have it yet but am interested in base station tracking as I'm planning on buying a fixed cockpit style thing and mounting a tracking unit on it, which I hope would remove the issues I used to have with fiddling with tracking stations on the old Oculus Rift as it will all be fixed in place.

 

I'm also prepared to upgrade my GPU, was contemplating even a 4080, though I'm not sure at what point it becomes a waste of money with my CPU... or whether with VR there's no real head limit to the GPU you buy beyond your wallet and the moment the cost for extra benefit becomes ridiculous?

 

Since making the OP I've been reading your threads, and from your posts I was vacillating between the Crystal Light, the BSB2 and hanging on to see what the Dream Air seems like. But perhaps it would be more sensible to consider a VivePro2... mind you at £625 it's not that much cheaper than the more modern ones.

[giftgruen]

What I can tell you at least: The Dardoo Cockpit you plan to buy is quite okay ( for the relatiively small money) -  I use the same since some weeks.

One small disadvantage is, that there are no threaded boreholes to mount office chair castors or something like this.   I mounted on some wooden boards therefore.

[C6_Geooorges_VR]

Hi

 

I'd seriously recommend you to look for a used oculus CV1 or S if you plan to use it one every two months.

 

You'll be able to enjoy IL2 with decent resolution and some eye candy without upgrades.

 

Wired, reliable, excellent controllers and motion capture if sensor(s) are placed accordingly.

 

I kept mine on my old rig (4790k + 1080GTX) for my son or friends passing by, it does the job.

 

You'll just have to setup Open XR + toolkit to enjoy it with optimum settings and fluidity.

 

S!

[chiliwili69]

On 10/9/2025 at 10:29 AM, Mahoney said:

I don't have it yet but am interested in base station tracking as I'm planning on buying a fixed cockpit style thing and mounting a tracking unit on it, which I hope would remove the issues I used to have with fiddling with tracking stations on the old Oculus Rift as it will all be fixed in place.

 

Fixed cockpits are always good to give you the feeling of being in the cockpit plane when you are in VR.

I was commenting about that when I built my own thing (also at the time of old Rift cameras):

But one important thing to comment here is the distance you need to respect for the tracking of the basestations.

With my previous Pimax5K+ (my first headset with basestation, just one V1 model) I discover that the initialization of SteamVR issue was solved when moving the basestation from 1.2 meters to 1.5 meters.

Here the post:

 

Later in the same thread I had a new issue (different) when moving it to 1.8 meters.

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/31215-pimax-8k-5k-vr-headsets-coming-to-kickstarter-this-month/page/12/#findComment-720798

 

I asked to chatGPT and it say that for 1 basestation and seated position the minimun is 0.5 meters, but the recommended is 1 to 2 meters.

My BSB2 is working well with 1.8 meters and allows me to turn my head up to 110 degres left and right without losing tracking (thanks to lateral sensors).

I think that the minimum distance will depend a bit on the model of headset.

 

[chiliwili69]

On 10/9/2025 at 10:29 AM, Mahoney said:

Since making the OP I've been reading your threads, and from your posts I was vacillating between the Crystal Light, the BSB2 and hanging on to see what the Dream Air seems like. But perhaps it would be more sensible to consider a VivePro2... mind you at £625 it's not that much cheaper than the more modern ones

 

If this would help you, about 4 years ago I compared the VivePro2 versus Index, but going to an Index from a Quest2 it is perhaps a downgrade in image quality.

 

 

It is true that there are several options on the table right now if you want DP cable:

this table can be found here (in "SS per device" tab)

 

In the second hand market: Rift-S, Index, G2, Aero, Pimax 8KX

 

In the market now:

PicoNeo3 Link: 360€ (it uses DP via USB with no compression)

PSVR2: 400$ using the adapter for PC. I tried this with the PS5 and the halo mount is super-uncomfortable. Look here.

DPVR E4: 600$

VivePro2: 710€

Focus Vision: 1200€ (it uses DP via USB with no compression), but having the VP2 there is no point to go to this one.

BSB2: 1000$ (but they are still dispatching orders of May, so perhaps waiting time is 2+ months)

Pimax AirDream: Here I would wait 4 months at least. (I am also waiting)

Crystal Light: 853€. Only issue is you need to render a lot of pixels (44 millions) for default resolution

SomniumVR1: It should be good but expensive (and front heavy). I had hopes in this one, but I have discarded it for myself.

Crystal Super: 1600€, three variants (ultra, 50PPD, 58PPD), but even a 5090 can not render at 100% resolution at 90fps for IL-2 for 50PPD variant.

Meganex8K: 1900€, suposed to ship late october. I am not conviced about halo mount.

 

In theory Valve is going to release something this year, but just rumours as in the last 5 years. It would be in the 1000$ range.

https://www.roadtovr.com/valve-decakrd-steam-frame-vr-headset-production-target/

 

Edited 11 hours ago by chiliwili69