With the massive amounts of overtime coming in these past 3 weeks, it seems like it’s finally time to build a VR capable rig. This will be a scratch build, maybe only reusing the same beige giant full tower case I’ve had various machines in since '99.
I’m not wedded to AMD, Intel, etc. Generally the most hardware intensive titles I run are DCS and probably MS FS2020 moving forward. Possibly whatever the latest Total War title with the eye candy turned up as well. I’m not an overclocker, so pretty much whatever is says on the side of the box is what it’s going to run at. At the moment 2K/4K isn’t really a concern, but I will probably upgrade my monitor at some point as prices drop.
Total budget not counting VR hardware or a monitor, I’m thinking about $1500. Certainly not going to complain if I can do under that, and I do have room to go over that as well.
I am also totally fine with buying a built system. I have built enough rigs in my younger years to not feel the need to have do it all myself. If a turn key options works I’m not going to complain.
Tentatively:
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
No clue on a MB
32gb RAM
RTX 2070 Super
2TB SSD
2-4GB hdd (I have to see what I have laying around)
850W power supply
The single most important aspect is going to be the video card IMO. The 2070 will be absolutely fine for VR, but if you are wanting to play VR sims with maximum fidelity, its just not going to cut it. The rest of the system looks great. The AMD vs Intel thing can be debated, but I doubt it would make much of a difference in actual game play.
As far as motherboard recommendations, do some research and find one that has the features you need. Bluetooth, WiFi, M2 slots, etc. If you aren’t doing crazy overclocking, the expensive boards will be kind of a waste.
I made a post about the 2080 super a few months ago, its been a great card. If you can fit it in to the budget, I would highly recommend. You can play any VR game comfortably without making much compromise in visual quality.
WITH ALL THAT SAID:
The 3070/3080 is around the corner. The 3070 will probably be about the cost of a decent 2070, and will likely have more VRAM and a faster chip (most likely comparable performance to a 2080S). This waiting game is always a problem because the next best thing is always around the corner (Ryzen 4 series also), but I have a feeling Nvidia is about to drop the hammer on gaming performance. Not like the 1070-2070 jump. Looking like lots more and faster VRAM.
That was kind of my thinking on going with the 2070. It will handle anything I throw at it that’s not VR without too much trouble, and the sunk cost when the next gen of cards rolls out won’t be as high as going with a 2080 out of the gate.
I’m thinking of doing that. Maybe get a new bigger case and some new fans now, then replace mobo, CPU and RAM later in the year but keep going with my 1080Ti for a bit longer…smooth out the outlay over time a bit.
I have the 2070 Super and it does pretty well in VR in most games, including DCS unless you choose very high graphics settings.
Not really well in X-plane though.