Pimax 5K+ spotted after a 16 month hiberation.... First impressions

Well, it's here. The Pimax 5K+ headset I backed on Kickstarter in October 2017 has finally made it from the depths of hell and everywhere else in between to my house in Australia. What a ride it's been.

To start, the box is fairly nice, nothing too fancy but definitely of Rift quality, nothing flimsy or cheap. The smell is actually like a brand new paid of shoes! I'd say that's the padding. Anyway who cares about the box, hey?

Upon fitting the strap, I was horrified at the comfort. Only after I messed around with it a little bit did I feel I could actually make it work. It's not as intuitive as the Rift but it's workable for me at least. One thing that's immediately struck me is I've nearly got my nose poking through the lenses from the inside out. My face is literally ON the lenses. We are going to have to order custom cushions. It's insane that they've left this unaddressed. I think additional face cushions are a stretch goal reward but I've not see them being any different to the standard one. We need thicker pads, Pimax. I have a small face and a not so overly large nose and I'm struggling. If it turns out my IPD is able to have the lenses moved to the outside of the headset I might just get away with it.

The strap does tighten on your face pretty well. I did not expect that based on other feedback. It's not ski mask type like the Rift but it does have the ability to stick to my face and feel pressure so there's some modular possibilities there especially for larger faces that won't need to tighten the straps as much. Between the side and top strap you should be able to get the HMD sitting nice and flat on your face without any tilting at least while sitting down.

I've yet to power it on so I'll go and do that now. One thing you'll notice is you need an additional power point for this. It comes with an external power source that plugs into the PC side of the cable. It isn't recognised by the PC unless you power it on.
 
According to the Pimax website they have 5K+ headsets in stock and can deliver them in a week's time for those getting itchy. So after all this waiting, there is now instant gratification available :)

I'm waiting for the announcements by StarVR and Valve before making any decisions. They all share base stations and having the Valve Index controllers available heavily weighs into my considering any of them, so that pretty well means I wait until at least June and maybe longer.
 
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I'm running the same CPU but with a 1080Ti. With the amount of options available I'd hazard a guess that the 980Ti would work well enough to make you want to upgrade to a later Ti variant.
 
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Just a few more things before I forget. I didn't think to check the smoothing performance of the 2 lower hz modes after the latest PiTool update where they targeted improving the smoothing frame buffer. Apparently they've added an additional frame or two to make the overall experience smoother. I just ran 15 laps with a smoothed 72hz mode (36 actual frames being drawn) in rFactor 2 and didn't really want to jump out of the car straight away. Especially with PP being forced on by this title I was surprised at the outcome. Definitely playable and I had the SteamVR slider at like 370% (roughly 20M pixels per eye). The drive was smooth however the image blurs JUST a little bit too much for my liking. I'd suggest that 90hz smoothed with a slightly lower SS % would give a sharper image with a comparable smoothness. PP affects the image as well as the performance so it's worse in rF2 than say AC, which I will test tomorrow. I'd expect 72hz smoothed in AC to be a better experience than rF2 with the same settings.

Also, parallel projections has seen a performance increase. In my earlier notes, I've written that enabling PP costs roughly 50% more pixels to be rendered, some of which you don't even see. This number has been nearly halved in the latest build to around 25 - 30%. This is a great move forward for games that must have it enabled. Whilst I would much rather not need it at all (again it affects image quality just by being on, check written text with it on and off and you will notice a difference, the text is harder to read with it on) the improved smoothing at lower hz combined with the lower performance impact of PP means that once again there are more options for workarounds in certain games. PiTool really is getting shockingly good and I have been super impressed with the software improvements the headset is seeing.
 
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This is a concern for me about the StarVR system which is basically the same resolution as the Pimax 5K with a bit more FOV in both directions. It's optics are fantastic. It's known to be very comfortable and high quality, but that is only hardware. A big question will be whether it can run straight off SteamVR or whether it will need a chunk of software to tweak settings to get it to perform at anything approaching good. They may effectively release a headset being half a year or more behind in software.

FYI, the current "rumor" is that the Valve Index will have 135 degree FOV.
 
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The guys from TESTED mentioned in a recent video that the new HP had the best image quality so far. I think a lot of people will want to wait and see how it and the Valve Index compare to what we currently have before either jumping on the VR bandwagon or upgrading from CV1/Vive.

See 13:28
 
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@RCHeliguy you are aware that if they ever do release the StarVR it will be in the order of 3-5 times more expensive than the Pimax right?

In my view the leaks around the Valve Index are most compelling at the moment. I could potentially live with 135deg they are the most likely to drop a game changer headset, particularly if they have some new innovative lens design or other groundbreaking tech inside.

@anton_Chez based on your description of blurriness and losing resolution using parallel projections have you edited the steamvr file to change the rendering limit? Because you hit that limit VERY quickly at default setting of 4000 something (I have edited mine to 8000). I find parallel projection nice and sharp but even small increases bite into performance hard when you boost that cap up since it is actually increasing the resolution instead of hitting the rendering limit.
 
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So higher FOV of Odyssey comparing to Rift is not a placebo after all. Great reference, thanks for posting.
 
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I still get loss of frames when putting the slider up, so that SHOULD be a sign that the render quality is indeed going higher. I don't see how I'd pass the threshold yet frames still decrease even with no increase in pixels being rendered. It's a combination of settings that give you the blur. When standing still, the image looks pretty good. But text even looks difference with PP on so there is something inherent in the setting that's contributing for sure. I've tried unlocking the 4000 to 8000 and all it did was allow me to set higher res, which at that point, is unusable. I went from normal 100% ish slider value to having to run at like 20%, because that 20% is the old 100% when you unlock it.

Long story short, there's no free image quality to be gained here. If you're maxing out the slider and STILL need it to go higher, then unlocking that cap will help you. Otherwise, it's pretty much useless.
 
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Hi guys, completely new to sim racing on a PC....have everything on order, just waiting for it to all arrive.

Hoping for a couple of answers to some questions, first one.....is the Pimax a worthy upgrade on the Rift? And secondly, I think I know the answer but will my PC be ok with the Pimax, spec is:

2080ti 11gb ASUS ROG Strix Graphics Card
i9 -9900 processor
ASUS ROG Strix z390-e gaming motherboard

Thanks for any advice/help! :)
 
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Hi guys, completely new to sim racing on a PC....have everything on order, just waiting for it to all arrive.

Hoping for a couple of answers to some questions, first one.....is the Pimax a worthy upgrade on the Rift? And secondly, I think I know the answer but will my PC be ok with the Pimax, spec is:

2080ti 11gb ASUS ROG Strix Graphics Card
i9 -9900 processor
ASUS ROG Strix z390-e gaming motherboard

Thanks for any advice/help! :)

rift = 370z
pimax 5k+ = 911 GT3

That should sum up the differences well.

You're fine with a 9900k/2080ti in AC and iRacing. I only just got rf2 so will see but so far it's not great.
 
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Hi guys, completely new to sim racing on a PC....have everything on order, just waiting for it to all arrive.

Hoping for a couple of answers to some questions, first one.....is the Pimax a worthy upgrade on the Rift? And secondly, I think I know the answer but will my PC be ok with the Pimax, spec is:

2080ti 11gb ASUS ROG Strix Graphics Card
i9 -9900 processor
ASUS ROG Strix z390-e gaming motherboard

Thanks for any advice/help! :)

Perhaps do a little more research on the Piimax before jumping in. It's not for everyone. It makes some people, even VR veterans, very incomfortable and there are display issues with it for some.

Look carefully into the returns policy.

It doesn't come with any sensors so for any kind of depth tracking you're going to need to buy SteamVR lightouses too, I believe.

It might be worth hanging fire and seeing what the Valve Index HMD is going to offer.
 
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Perhaps do a little more research on the Piimax before jumping in. It's not for everyone. It makes some people, even VR veterans, very incomfortable and there are display issues with it for some.

Look carefully into the returns policy.

It doesn't come with any sensors so for any kind of depth tracking you're going to need to buy SteamVR lightouses too, I believe.

It might be worth hanging fire and seeing what the Valve Index HMD is going to offer.

I’m far too impatient to wait....got one coming this week :geek:

In all seriousness, I bought one off here second hand, I’ve also got a rift coming as well (again second hand) so can do back to back comparisons. I can then sell the one I’m least happy with and recoup what I paid for it.

Upon reading in here though, I’m pretty sure the rift will be the one going on sale.

Regarding the motion tracking, I’ll only be using it for sim racing, so hopefully should be fine without the base station.
 
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I’m far too impatient to wait....got one coming this week :geek:

In all seriousness, I bought one off here second hand, I’ve also got a rift coming as well (again second hand) so can do back to back comparisons. I can then sell the one I’m least happy with and recoup what I paid for it.

Upon reading in here though, I’m pretty sure the rift will be the one going on sale.

Regarding the motion tracking, I’ll only be using it for sim racing, so hopefully should be fine without the base station.

I MAY be wrong here, but without a base station, I don't believe the Pimax will have depth tracking. So you won't be able to lean in / out. Someone with more knowledge may correct me on this. But that's quite a big thing.
 
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I’m far too impatient to wait....got one coming this week :geek:

In all seriousness, I bought one off here second hand, I’ve also got a rift coming as well (again second hand) so can do back to back comparisons. I can then sell the one I’m least happy with and recoup what I paid for it.

Upon reading in here though, I’m pretty sure the rift will be the one going on sale.

Regarding the motion tracking, I’ll only be using it for sim racing, so hopefully should be fine without the base station.

From what I've been told and read, without base stations for the Pimax you will only have 3DOF which may impact your experience.

https://packet39.com/blog/2018/02/25/3dof-6dof-roomscale-vr-360-video-and-everything-in-between/

I've not yet experienced just how that would feel so perhaps others can elaborate.
 
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I MAY be wrong here, but without a base station, I don't believe the Pimax will have depth tracking. So you won't be able to lean in / out. Someone with more knowledge may correct me on this. But that's quite a big thing.

From what I've been told and read, without base stations for the Pimax you will only have 3DOF which may impact your experience.

https://packet39.com/blog/2018/02/25/3dof-6dof-roomscale-vr-360-video-and-everything-in-between/

I've not yet experienced just how that would feel so perhaps others can elaborate.

I believe you can run it fine unless you have motion on the rig. Worst case, they are around £100 on eBay if it does need one.
 
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