[SOLVED] What graphics card should I pair my i3-9100F with for least bottlenecking in VR games?

[Pistro]

Hi, I spent the last couple of days trying to figure out which GPU will be the best match for i3-9100F for the purpose of gaming in VR that would result in a fairly even utilization between the two, but I can't come to any decisive conclusions. Based on recommended VR specs for WMR headsets and some benchmarking that I did using VR compatibility tests there is a fairly big spread and anything from GTX 770 up to GTX 1660 could be a good match. My budget allows for the GTX 1660, but I would hate to buy it
only to find out that the 9100F can't keep up with it, hence why I'm making this thread.

Before you ask, I can't buy the headset before buying the GPU to test it out for myself, because I need to sell my current GPU first to be able to afford the headset later on.

Can some experienced PC builder or someone with a similar CPU who went from a single
monitor to VR help me out with this?

My current specs:
i3-9100F
GTX 1050
8GB DDR4 2400Mhz

 

[WildCard999]

You could try the various VR test and see what comes back for performance. Steam has one, Oculus has one and I think HTC Vive has another.

If anything I think the GPU is going to be the limiting factor, not the CPU.

 

[geofelt]

One rule of thumb for a balanced gamer is to budget 2x the cost of the processor for the graphics card.
By that metric, a GTX1660 would be appropriate.

Since your budget allows for a GTX1660, I suggest you buy one.
If you buy anything less, you will always wonder if you made a mistake.
The price hurts only for a little while,
Regrets last much longer.

 

[Pistro]

You could try the various VR test and see what comes back for performance. Steam has one, Oculus has one and I think HTC Vive has another.

If anything I think the GPU is going to be the limiting factor, not the CPU.

I did try both of them and my current GPU (GTX 1050) is at ~95% utilization while my CPU (i3-9100F) is at ~65% so according to userbenchmark.com I don't have to go higher than something like GTX 770 in order to equalize it (unless my calculations are wrong). What confuses me though is that recommended VR specs for WMR headsets are i5-4590, which is 20% slower than 9100F, paired with GTX 1060 so either they are suggesting a very unbalanced combo or those VR compatibility tests, when run on single monitor, are far less taxing on the GPU than actually running VR is and I can't figure out which one is it.

 

[WildCard999]

Disregard Userbenchmark or utilizations right now. VR is a bit different from normal gaming in that if you dip a bit on a normal monitor your usually fine, with VR you can get really bad motion sickness.

As for that combo it's actually correct, rule of thumb is you spend double on the GPU that you spent on the CPU so ideally the GPU you'd want is the 1060 6gb or better.

If the test shows that your system can run VR then you can try it but I wouldn't recommend it unless your running something like a RX 570 or better for a smooth experience.

I'm picking up an Oculus S after work today to pair with my Ryzen 2600/16gb & RX 580, not sure if it will help but I can tell you roughly how well it performs on different settings which can give you an idea of which card your going to want to get.

 

[digitalgriffin]

You could try the various VR test and see what comes back for performance. Steam has one, Oculus has one and I think HTC Vive has another.

If anything I think the GPU is going to be the limiting factor, not the CPU.

The limit is the GPU due to the sheer number of pixels that has to be rendered.

Buy the fastest NVIDIA you can. 2080/2080ti if possible. NVIDIA has the indisputably lead here, even compared to similarly priced AMD cards. If you were playing standard games only, I would favor AMD as they give you better performance for the same price. But since you are going VR, NVIDIA without a doubt.

 

[Pistro]

I'm picking up an Oculus S after work today to pair with my Ryzen 2600/16gb & RX 580, not sure if it will help but I can tell you roughly how well it performs on different settings which can give you an idea of which card your going to want to get.

That would be very kind of you. I guess what I'm most interested in is not necessarily whether you will be able to maintain 90 fps, but rather what will be the difference, if any, in gpu/cpu utilization ratio between single monitor (preferably 1080p) and VR in aforementioned compatibility tests or some game.

I keep going back to utilization because I'm not trying to figure out whether 9100F is enough for stable 90 fps as I can't upgrade it anyway. I'm trying to figure out which GPU will be the best match for it in VR.

If it doesn't narrow down the possibilities I will go by the double value rule that you and geofelt mentioned.

Buy the fastest NVIDIA you can. 2080/2080ti if possible. NVIDIA has the indisputably lead here, even compared to similarly priced AMD cards. If you were playing standard games only, I would favor AMD as they give you better performance for the same price. But since you are going VR, NVIDIA without a doubt.

Wouldn't pairing 2080ti with 9100F result in the 2080ti not being fully utilized?

 

[WildCard999]

Still really can't compare it to a normal monitor, the resolution is 1,280 × 1,440 per eye at least for the Oculus S.

 

[digitalgriffin]

That would be very kind of you. I guess what I'm most interested in is not necessarily whether you will be able to maintain 90 fps, but rather what will be the difference, if any, in gpu/cpu utilization ratio between single monitor (preferably 1080p) and VR in aforementioned compatibility tests or some game.

I keep going back to utilization because I'm not trying to figure out whether 9100F is enough for stable 90 fps as I can't upgrade it anyway. I'm trying to figure out which GPU will be the best match for it in VR.

If it doesn't narrow down the possibilities I will go by the double value rule that you and geofelt mentioned.



Wouldn't pairing 2080ti with 9100F result in the 2080ti not being fully utilized?

Sorry I misread. I assumed you had a 9700. Eyes are playing tricks on me again. Yes you will be somewhat bottle-necked there. I would at least go i5 9600K and OC it if you were going to get a 2080ti.

I would lean towards a 2060 Super/2070 Super or 1070 and a lower res HMD like Rift S. You'll likely have to lower the render scale a bit. As you can see the recommend is an I5

https://www.oculus.com/rift-s/#rift-s-pc-requirements

As you are at the bottom end of the VR scale, I wouldn't be surprised if you have to upgrade your system again in one or two years to play games.

 

[Pistro]

Still really can't compare it to a normal monitor, the resolution is 1,280 × 1,440 per eye at least for the Oculus S.

I am aware of that and my suspicion is that this is one of the reasons why my results from those VR compatibility tests, which were done on a monitor, suggest a different upgrade path than recommended VR specs suggest. I mean, I trust them when it comes to FPS, but I don't trust them when it comes to utilization, hence why I need some external confirmation.

I would lean towards a 2060 Super/2070 Super or 1070 and a lower res HMD like Rift S. You'll likely have to lower the render scale a bit. As you can see the recommend is an I5

As you are at the bottom end of the VR scale, I wouldn't be surprised if you have to upgrade your system again in one or two years to play games.

That's reassuring because initially, I thought that even 1660 might be too fast.

Yes, I will have to most probably. I just can't afford anything better atm but want to try VR badly.

 

[WildCard999]

Did a bit of testing. With Oculus/Steam games you'd probably be fine with something like the RX 580 however for me I wanted to play games via Bigscreen (Steam) and the RX 580 is nowhere close enough to run it smoothly with games (movies/online content would probably be fine). I remember when I had my 1080 ti I had to lower the same settings from Ultra to Medium (Division 1) just so that it was smooth.

Bestbuy had one Nvidia RTX 2060 Super in stock so I think I'm going to return this and get that for now.

 

[Pistro]

Thanks for letting me know. This prompted me to do some more digging and after watching a couple of benchmarks on yt I managed to figure out that my conclusions from compatibility tests were wrong because I was comparing "effective speed" on userbenchmark.com and what I should be comparing is FPS. Now it's pretty clear that anything from RX 580 up to GTX 1660 will be a good match for the 9100F.

Thanks for all your help guys.