Pimax 5K+ M2 Pre-Production Headset: Eating GPUs for Breakfast

computerguy72

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Sep 22, 2011
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Carbotte waaay underestimates the visual impact of wide FOV. He seems to just be one of those people who are so used to the binocular effect that it's just an accepted drawback.

I *tried the StarVR and the Pimax and the wide FOV effect is just dramatic. How this guy thinks that only constitutes VR 1.5 is just beyond me. Immersion is literally what VR is all about.

Another item he really under describes is the huge sweet spot these new HMD's have. The sweet spot on these things I saw is literally bigger than the *entire view on my vive. On my Vive the sweet spot is just a small circle in my central vision.
 

lepermessiah

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Is the IPD 55mm to 76mm or 60mm to 73mm?

Zero mention of distortion, which itself is a bizarre omission given how much concern there is around the issue.

Very little description of image clarity and optics in general.
 
Sep 30, 2018
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This reviewer hardly said anything positive.
Wide fow and way better clarity make Pimax the number one VR equipment.
More positive reviews are on Youtube.
 
Sep 30, 2018
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Terrible review. Obviously have no idea about Pimax...saying it's gen 1.5 because it doesn't have headphone or strap shows the lack of understand of what is to come. Should never test on 1070....only a fool would do that.
 
Sep 30, 2018
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This is Gen 2 VR. Also 8k is Gen 2 because it has the same rendering 2560 x 1440 for eye. 5K+ is better. No distorsion, clarity. I think 8K+ takes the place of 8K with a new panel with the same pattern of 5K+ . And then there is 8K X with native rendering at 3840 x 2160 for eye. It will be in 2019 three years before Oculus
 

Specter0420

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Please do a test round for simulators too. I am most interested in DCS World and you will need to use the best platform with the fastest CPU, RAM, and SSD available. Even then it will require reduced, possibly minimum, graphics settings. Other flight sims to check would be IL2, X-Plane 11, P3D, and MSFSX. I am sure there are some racing sims guys out there that can chime in with some titles. Simulators, especially DCS, provide unique challenges.
 
Sep 30, 2018
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You're last comments about supersampling on the 8k to reach max potential are incorrect. If you watch the youtube previewers you can see that even supersampling doesn't help the blur of the 8k model due to the upscaler. Also you made it sound like the Vive pro is better, which it is not.
 
Sep 30, 2018
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No talk of how the Lack of an Asyncronous Spacewarp equivalent from Valve would resolve any of these problems. Please get on this Valve, we need it more than ever.
 

Heliosurge

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Folks really? This is a decent preliminary review. One if reviewing anything should check out the minimal spec.

Testing on the 1070 vs a 2080 gives a decent range for results from low to med-hi. This is the only review using an establish recognized tool to test with. It's not clouded with zoomed confusing lense shots.

The only detail missing is the Nvidia VR Control Panel settings. Which some of these can help with performance.

Comparing what came in the package as it might be the basic headset sku (no earphones or deluxe head mount) as I said in regards to Oscar's review was not wrong to include.

Wide FoV is the future of VR. But it doesn't necessarily fit completely with everyone's opinion of what makes something completely gen2 VR.

Instead of mainly impressions we now have Hard Data that a publication like Tom's Hardware & other sites like Eurogamer & Real'o'Virtual can give vs our good Youtube testers.

This is a good fair review Kevin!
 
Oct 1, 2018
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Aaaah, so 3/5 for being too powerful for current GPUs? Wide FOV and high resolution not next gen enough, you demand foveated rendering now?

So compared to the competition, can you say anything but benchmarks? What the hell is the point of this piece? Comfort? Visuals? Distortion? Colors?
Nope, a 1080 would need to drop settings to med-low. Guess all your reviews of 4k up to this point were colors and brightness amazing, price unbelievable but you have to set 970gtx gpu on low-med settings. Two stars! Doesn't even have integrated coffee machine!
 
Oct 1, 2018
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Did you see the performance tests from the the Pimax testers? they are getting way better performance on the Pimax VR systems with a 1080ti than you guys was with a 2080......why was that?
 
Oct 1, 2018
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What misleading headline!
Of course the Pimax 5k + is hungry for performance, but even without 100% SS on Steam it delivers a better SDE than the extremely expensive Vive Pro.
 
Oct 1, 2018
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Kevin, I think your benchmarks are misleading.... The 100% render target in SteamVR is not accurate for Pimax and is actually supersampling by a pretty insane amount.

See: https://youtu.be/bcZ0CXP0qgU?t=6417

100% is actually choosing a render target of 4814x2557 per eye (varies slightly depending on which version of PiTools you use) which is about 180% larger (on each axis) over the native input of the displays.

So while your figures are accurate I think they might be terribly misleading to users who assume 100% is the suggested default target resolution (the real resolution has not been finalized yet) determined by Pimax. Your benchmarks at drastically lower % indicate you are doing significant subsampling/quality reduction which is not really true.... In fact those values are probably much closer to the intended default render target than 100%. Performance is not so much a lost cause as some users might initially think based on your "100%" benchmarks.

Also, while it's true Pimax is not currently shipping with the better ergonomic strap and integrated audio those features are coming soon. As is an eye tracking module which all Kickstarter backers are receiving free.... I think you really should include that detail as without it in seems to imply Pimax has no desire to provide a polished VR experience like it's competitors.
 

jonathantate

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Oct 1, 2018
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I think what's happening with the average framerate is it's going into reprojection when the framerate dips below 90, so the average framerate is pulled down because of spending time at 45 fps instead of 90. I think the reviewer needs to be more clear that this is what's happening, because he says things like "We achieved a 55.73 fps average with the fancy new card, which still falls far short of the desired 90 fps", but in reality, it could only be a few frames short of the required 90 and the average is just pulled down because of reprojection pulling it to 45. It looks like we're going to have to do a lot of tweaking with the steamvr and pimax SS values, but based on the unconstrained framerate, it doesn't look like we're far away from the full 90 with a powerful enough card.
 
Oct 1, 2018
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@SPECTER0420 Its as though flight simmers don't exist, if you want to see a review of this using flight sims check out sweviver on youtube, however he is awaiting delivery of his 2080ti but has done an extensive review or MRTV also on youtube.
 

hdmark

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Id have to agree that this is more vr1.5 than vr2.0. At least imo... vr2.0 has the increased FOV, better clarity, higher res, but then ALSO adds something new such as built in wireless, or full body tracking, or built in eye tracking. something in addition to just improving the current generation.

regardless... still would love to get one of these (although i guess id need to trade up my 1070)
 
Oct 1, 2018
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I don't understand how your evaluation of the headset can be so different from the other reviewers (search youtube for sweviver, vodooDE VT and MRTV). They have been using the Pimax 5K+ for weeks, and I don't think any of them would prefer the HTC Vive Pro. And the videos also clearly demonstrate that you can get reasonable framerates with a high end gaming PC.