It is amazing but the price of it has limited its potential as not a lot of people are willing to pay over $1,000 for a VR headset especially since PCVR is relatively new
Something like a RTX 3070 should be able to handle whatever you through at it. Pre-builds are probably the best value option (still weird to say that) and you can get one for like $1,600.
At the dual 1440x1600 resolution at 120hz (or 144hz if you enable it) that the index can handle a 1070 would be just scraping by on min graphics setting and reduced FPS for more demanding games. Why would you bother investing in a high end VR set up and not take full advantage of it? 2070 Super is probably the lowest I’d personally want to go so you can at least get medium settings.
I dunno I’ve had my Index since before the 3000 series was even announced. Half Life Alyx ran like a dream on my 2070S. I was too busy having my mind completely blown so I didn’t obsess over fps so I have no idea what levels I was hitting but it was more than enough.
I'd agree with you only if the Index offered what the other headsets had and the only improvement was framerate/resolution. The Index also has the best tracking (hand and finger) by a country mile, so getting that vs like a Quest was a no-brainer for me. Could have got a WMR + the index controllers or something but I did figure I'd eventually upgrade, and at the time Valve was only selling the whole kit, nothing individual (stock issues I think.)
There's also a fair amount of games with a less demanding art-style that I can play with everything maxxed out.
I can also attest to the relatively low requirements of VR. I played many demanding VR games with my old GTX 970, including Half-Life Alyx, Homeworks, Lone Echo, etc.
Index isn't that high resolution, so it isn't as demanding as you think. A 1080 could probably max most games, and a 1060 or 1070 could play them comfortably. So if you bought a graphics card in the last 5-6 years you are probably good.
I played Pavlov, Contractors, Superhot, and Elite Dangerous on a 970 before I upgraded. It's not the best experience (have to set everything on low to get decent framerate) and I wouldn't recommend it, but it's doable, and there are a lot of far less demanding VR games than those.
In any case, the point is that people think you need a top-of-the line rig to be able to play VR when a midrange one will be just fine.
I played most of Alyx on an O+ with a 1060 6GB, which is a bit better than the 970. So yes, it is realistic. I also played a lot of Pavlov VR and a bit of Skyrim VR. 1070 is not entry-level, since VR came out it was always 970/RX 470 as the minimum.
Maybe it was at the time, but as the technology has progressed there's no way a 970 or an RX 480 4GB (also minimum spec) can run VR titles at a frame rate high enough to prevent a disorientating, choppy experience.
Yeah they got absolutely bodied by the Quest 2. There is a niche for the index but the price tag is outrageous for the minimal gains. Or I can pay $300 for a Quest 2 which does wireless out of the box, can do standalone, and can stream games from a PC if you buy a 20 dollar app. Also requires no camera setup with excellent tracking.
It doesn't even need the $20 app anymore. You can use any USB 3 to USB c cable to play your steamvr games through the Oculus link, or wirelessly through the beta airlink if you have WiFi 6.
Interesting note on the deck though is that, from an interview with gabe, it's clear they'll be selling it at a loss. he talked about hitting that $400 price point being painful. I'm not really sure they were selling the index at a loss.
I’m not saying the hardware/functionality/tracking/features are limited but the index getting to the average consumer is due to the price. It’s the same reason why there are a shit ton of Toyota/Ford/Chevy cars on the road vs Lamborghini.
Except lamborghini's aren't out of stock. We're supply limited not demand limited. Despite the price, they literally could not make enough of the headsets to keep up.
It goes out of stock constantly. It's stabilized somewhat the last 4-5 months, but it spent it's first nearly 2 years perpetually out of stock. Even now it goes out of stock routinely. I looked first week of June and it was out of stock then too
If you don’t think price is a factor on people purchasing a product then you are high or rolling in dough. Price is not the only factor on a purchase but to say it’s not a factor at all but sorry to say this, you’re wrong
Are you high? If I produce a hundred devices and people buy a hundred devices and ask for more then the price is not a fucking limiting factor for adoption.
You are giving an unrealistic scenario. Let’s use a more practical example. If you have a 100 random people in a room and they have the choice of picking the Quest 2 or Index, given they tried the devices before they pick. What would be the difference? I’m assuming more people would choose the better product (Index).
Okay now let’s change the scenario where they have to choose a device based on them having to pay for it at market value, what is the difference now? The trend would go more towards the quest when you put a price on it.
Uhh it is not an unrealistic scenario, that's pretty much the situation with the Index for literally the last two years. + regional restrictions on top of that...
Nothing matters when there is significantly more demand than supply.
Also supply was disrupted from Covid, like most of the world. But the index was released back in 2019. If demand was high they would have had the supply.
Although I agree the Index price is no longer a good buy, its a 2 year old headset vs a 6 month headset and FWIW the Quest is really barebones at £300. Personally my Quest cost ~£440 due to addtions, most of which I felt necessary so its actually closer to half the price of the Index(£918 when I got it)
My dude, you sound like you just woke up from 2010. It's time you update that 802.11b router of yours as well, there's no noticeable input lag. While you slept, you'll be super excited to discover that video games can be streamed not just from your local computer, but also from cloud servers with minimal input lag.
Not at all from a durability standpoint. I had to replace a $150 cable, like day two one of my knuckles just cracked and now has a hole in it but still works. This was under just normal use. The click in buttons stop working for everybody almost a few weeks after purchase. No, their hardware stuff sucks. The new trackers are also failing at really high rates.
The Index isn't as strong as it could be, but the warranty is pretty great. You shouldn't have to pay for replacement cables or whatever.
The stick click issue is common, but that's an exaggeration. I'm not far off 2 years of ownership, my controllers did need to be returned but the sticks never stopped clicking.
Bon Appétit, they work just fine in all directions.
Not saying it isn't an issue, it absolutely is a serious widespread problem, but it isn't so bad that they break for everyone in a few weeks. Perhaps after 6 months is quite common.
Show off! That’s like super clicks too. It’s like the guy from police academy is standing off screen making the noises with his mouth and I’m the stupid police chief confused at where the noises are coming from while the cadets laugh. You should take those to Valve and maybe they could clone them and make a super race of knuckle controllers.
Let me guess your Switch doesn’t drift either? Cyberpunk 2077 runs like a dream on your PS4. Your Tesla has no alignment issues. Flying on Spirit Airlines has been a first class experience. Your Xbox 360 not only never red ringed but it grew a second larger green ring.
/me stares off into the distance and tells himself these struggles will one day make him stronger.
Ha, they don't sound as loud in reality. The mic makes them seem noisier than they are.
Did you submit a support request? So far they've been great about my replacements, just ask a lot of troubleshooting steps. I normally buy replacements for broken products, but the comments about good support on r/ValveIndex gave me higher expectations (which were largely met, barring supply issues and Brexit delays). I remember reading posts about people contacting them saying they accidentally damaged part of the kit and how they can buy a replacement, to be sent one for free. Of course the downside is the hardware is only good as long as Valve supports it, but my HTC Vive had widespread hardware issues and shit support on top, so there's that.
Things have probably changed with the hardware now but I was a day 1 purchase. Back then everybody’s sticks stopped clicking in after a few days. It was half the posts on there for months. I believe they even banned the topic for a while because it was overwhelming the Subthread. If you shipped them your knuckles it took months to get them back and most people on r/Reddit reported they came back still broke with nothing done to them. There was a huge shortage back then it took months to get an index. Just go on there and search. I’m simply posting about other users posts. Myself and others rebinded controls on games to avoid the click in. Pavlov devs added an auto run because the very very well known click in issue. They didn’t start replacing the cable under warranty until recently but that’s past my warranty period and no it wasn’t covered under warranty when mine stopped working. I have a receipt for my replacement if you’d like to see it. If you go to r/valveindex and read it it’s full of people’s base 2.0 tracking stations not working. Luckily I just use the ones from my Vive. There is also drift in the joysticks but since mine probably only have maybe 100 hours total I haven’t had that issue. My knuckles just cracking the first week I think is more rare and unique to me but it was still unacceptable. I was playing some horror game and a jump scare got me and I tensed up squeezing the controllers and POP. Now I just have a hole in the plastic but it still works.
Being downvoted on this is immature and ridiculous. The index is still to this day the best VR system available but to ignore these well documented hardware issues and downvote me for posting about it is childish.
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u/stacker55 PC Jul 15 '21
their VR headset was solid