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Time To Build ?

a2jack

a2jack

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 5, 2013
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After searching the market it appears there is no "off the shelf" computer for VR and aVR to be had at around my budget of $1k +-. In fact, I found no dedicated VR machines at all. Lots of flashing boxes for games, but that's not my interest.

I'm looking at local builders now, and would like a machine with at least a 1070 card, but would prefer 1080 up. Machine would require a beefy PS as I do want to upgrade. I'll post my progress.

Any one here on MR building VR Machines ? a2
 
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Here are my "out for quote" base specs:

New build in roomy (plain), box. Wifi-- 1080 GPU-- 16g ram-- 600w PS, 1tb HDD. PORTS: UBS-3, TB-3, DP, C, HDMI and old USB-2. More the better.

CPU yet to be spec'ed ?? e AC plugs in back a bonus.

Not sure how to spec the pci slots or choose a CPU. Any thoughts here will be appreciated ? a2
 
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a2jack said:
Any one here on MR building VR Machines ? a2
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm looking for parts at the moment. Whilst the RX 580 in my Mac Pro is a good card, it really is at the bottom end for VR.

I'm holding off until the new processors from AMD make an appearance in July, I also understand we might see some price drops for the RTX cards from Nvidia in response to Navi "soonish". Was putting a list together based around at 2700X and a RTX 2070...but I'm happy to wait a few weeks to see what happens, it's too hot for gaming at the moment! :)
 
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BBB. That's Good info, and a reason for me to pause too. Thanks.

What do you think of the machine linked above for $999 ?
 
That listing has unfortunately been deleted, but if $999 is a fixed budget I think you should be able to build around a 2600X and a RTX 2060 and achieve respectable VR Gaming results. Obviously there's money to be saved in other component should you want to push for a better GPU.
 
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Thanks for getting back. Yep, he sold it. It had a 1080 GPU and i7 8700 CPU, but now I think about it, it was short on ports that I would need for Qculus.

There's a number of gaming machines on Craig's List right now, as the students are selling them off to move out. This is a big collage town, and we have a 30k-40k student turnover each season.

I think my build ambition may have exceeded my energy a bit. I'm thinking now, if I can find a good used machine all ready built up with the components you have suggested, maybe I should take a chance and go with it. Any down side here ? a2
 
BBB. I Looked into that 2060x CPU. That looks good for the price.

The 2600 rtx Looks a little low-ball. I see the guys are running 2070's and 80's off the 2060 cpu.

Man! I'm going back and forth here while I learn this VR Stuff. Now it's looking like your "U-Build EM" path is the way to go.

Also one must go big power supply and lots of ports if we plan upgrades, on down the line. The Oculus headset uses up 3 different ports at once. (if I'm reading the specs correctly ?) LOL Regards. a2
 
a2jack said:
After searching the market it appears there is no "off the shelf" computer for VR and aVR to be had at around my budget of $1k +-. In fact, I found no dedicated VR machines at all. Lots of flashing boxes for games, but that's not my interest.

I'm looking at local builders now, and would like a machine with at least a 1070 card, but would prefer 1080 up. Machine would require a beefy PS as I do want to upgrade. I'll post my progress.

Any one here on MR building VR Machines ? a2
Click to expand...
Things seem to be moving fast in the graphics card department, VR is on the leading edge. I would consider the Geforce 2070 if you can swing it.
 
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7/7

Except Threadripper and Epyc (off budget anyway).

Deals on the older stuff.

A 1700 is cheaper than a 2600X.

RTX uses a lot of silicon just for specialized stuff.
 
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- Power supplies are most efficient at around 50% load
- The best semi-passive PSUs can run fanless up to around 40% load
- At low loads a PSU will be quite inefficient, so if the system will fall here (eg:idle), aim for higher certification.
 
cube said:
7/7

Except Threadripper and Epyc (off budget anyway).

Deals on the older stuff.

A 1700 is cheaper than a 2600X.

RTX uses a lot of silicon just for specialized stuff.
Click to expand...
Ryzen first gen is not compatible with X570.

2600 is cheaper than 1700.
 
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It seems the PSU price sweet spot is 850W, so you want a silent running fan.
 
Vega 56 is looking very interesting. Undervolt, Radeon Chill (?).
 
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cube said:
Deals on the older stuff.
Click to expand...

This is certainly an idea that is worth keeping in the back of your mind. Was watching the reviews of the new RTX 2060 and 2070 Super cards, the 2070 Super is showing very similar performance to the GTX 1080 Ti. Pretty sure you could find a great deal on on of those on the second hand market. A beast of a card.
 
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I was looking at some B350 and X370 motherboards and they already got BIOS updates for Zen 2, so they are not a dead end if you buy them with a Zen+ (but you have to also check that they support Zen+ out of the box).

But AMD said there will be no PCIe 4.0 upgrades for first and second gen AM4 motherboards because it would create a mess.
 
Don't forget that Zen 2 is twice as powerful in FP as Zen+ and Zen.
 
RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT price drop before launch!

Vega 56 is still more enticing.
 
Compute is worse that I thought on the RX 5700 series.
 
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