Pimax 5K+ and 8K VR

Hardware & Tech Questions
61

Flyers -

I picked up a Pimax 5k+ over Christmas, and while I do think it’s a step above the Rift I had a year or two back, my initial impression is just not that grand.

I think I need some help with optimization, and I wonder if anyone else in here has a Pimax or similar setup that may be able to give me a hand.

I have two PC setups, one at my house (poor internet), and one at a house with stronger internet. I haven’t been able to try the Pimax at the house in town, but I have to wonder if the setups are similar.

Here’s the system:

  • AMD 2700X, GeForce 1080, 32g ddr4 ram, built as an ‘all-in-one’ where I later cracked the curved screen when moving, so I built it up as a box. It has 3 screens as well as the Pimax setup.

  • AMD 3900X, AMD 5700XT, 32g ddr4 ram, again with 3 screens.

(Please - no comments about the systems or their cost. I love simming, and I used to use the PC’s for heavy video rendering as well as my cycling coaching, and medical record reviews.)

Basically, I’m not able to see the dashboard as well as I’d like - it’s too granular. I can’t see radar very well at all, and I can’t see the MFD for the litening pod very well at all.

Dogfighting IS awesome. It’s a big step up from my TrackIR for sure.

But the other aircraft just aren’t all that crisp, and while I’m well above 45fps, I still have to rely on joystick and HOTAS intuition - I can’t really see HUD details or radar details at all in the F-15, 16, or 18.

May I buy an hour of Zoom Videochat over a weekend day to review my setup and possibly help optimize the Pimax?

Thanks in advance. Any help would be appreciated.

1 Like
62

One free piece of captain obvious advice: Your Pimax is connected to the wrong PC. High resolution needs memory bandwidth and power in general.

Sorry, I can‘t be of much help other than that. Guess you know this already :salute:

Edit: I think I overestimated the performance of a 5700xt. It‘s not too far from a 1080. My bad!

1 Like
63

Interesting, because they both have high memory speeds and throughput, though one is two years old, and one is less than 6 months old.

I should have mentioned - the Pimax is on the 2700X/1080 at this time. I’ll see if I can upgrade the GPU to a 1080ti or one of the 2000 series, but the motherboard may be too limited.

1 Like
64

You could just try to use the other PC with the HMD and see what happens. All theory is grey…

65

What are your PiTools settings?

66
  • Firmware (latest).
  • Lighthouse Tracking is OFF.
  • Backlight Brightness (HIGH)
  • Refresh Rate @90hz
  • IPD offset at “ZERO”
  • Vertical offset values at “ZERO”
  • Motion Compensation at “NONE”

“Smart Sth” is ‘Inactive’, and below that, ‘90 hz’ is in blue.

1 Like
67

iirc there should be a rendering quality setting somewhere in there as well. what is that set to?

68

Wish I could help…there was another user here @haukka81 I think that has a Pimax too…maybe he will chime in…

69

Hello.I’m using a Pimax 5k+ also…Try bumping up “Super Sampling” in your Steam “Settings” menu…try finding your “sweet spot” for your hardware…mine is…
Pitool PD-1.25
Steam SS-+30%
DCS PD-1.5
Also…What GHz are you running your processor at?
I’m running a 8700k @ 4.8 GHz with a GTX 2080ti

2 Likes
70

OK - update:

I ended up reducing the pixel density to 1.0 in DCS, and that brought FPS up to about 45. SSAA is at 2.0, preload is below 50k, and cockpit in the F-15C is down to 512.

I’ll fly some Hollo Pointe in the F-16 and see if that is viable. I never could find SS in the Pitools or Steam VR settings…

2 Likes
71

Try without SSAA and a little MSAA instead. SSAA is too expensive for VR.

3 Likes
72

Yea,that;s probably an issue as DCS is still going through some VR optimization growing pains and does NOT play nice with SSAA or MSAA

73

Hey - I tried it this way and ended up with some flicker. I went back to the low SSAA and no MSAA and it was okay.

I’m going to try to fly today with the faster PC and 5700XT. I’ll let y’all know how it goes. I may hop on to Hollo Pointe so if you see me, I will be on Discord.

2 Likes