Valve Index Announced

I've been really impressed with Steam Support and have been pleasantly surprised. Requests typically take 2 - 3 days to get an answer but they are always detailed, specific and thorough in their response. I was experiencing a random and temporary black screen during racing and we had some diagnostic exchanges between us. I sorted it in the end by other methods and reported back that everything appeared stable and the problem was resolved. However on the basis that the HMD cable may have been a contributory factor, they offered to send me a replacement anyway, which arrived in the UK a couple of days later. No fuss and no complicated RMA procedure either. Clearly they want their users to be up and running and enjoying their Index with minimum downtime and 'red tape' and that's certainly to be commended.

As you said, they got back to me with a very specific suggestion to fix or verify the problem area and told me that if this didn't resolve the issue to let them know and they would start the RMA process.

The good news is that my issue is resolved. They simply asked me to remove the headphones, clean the brass contacts and rotate the left and right sides to see if the issue followed the headphone or was in the HMD band.

Apparently my left headphone contacts had gotten knocked slightly out of alignment.

My only comment is that I'm not sure everyone just happens to have a 1.5mm ( T6 ) torqx driver handy. Fortunately I have a small set of Wiha torx drivers.

Given that I had to remove and clean or seat my Oculus Rift headphones a few times, I would suggest that Index owners preemptively get a small set of metric torx drivers that go down to at least 1.5mm ( F6).

Here is a cheap set.
https://www.amazon.com/Kingsdun-Screwdriver-Screwdrivers-Stainless-Repairing/dp/B00MUJU33S
Here is a nice set.
https://www.amazon.com/Wiha-26790-Torx-Screwdriver-Piece/dp/B00018AO52
 
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It appears not all tracks have the same render load in iRacing. The Daytona 2007 Dirt track will not support 120 fps for me and I had to back it down to 90. I spent some time on it today and it didn't matter if I was in Test, Time Trial or Race.

After getting used to running everything at 120 fps, 90 fps suddenly doesn't feel very good.

Then I jumped back to Skip Barber with the open wheeler at 120fps. That instrument cluster renders amazingly. It looks photo realistic. The dial gauges just look beautiful.
 
It looks like the audio issue I was experiencing has been resolved.

The issue was that I used to have to go into Settings sound options to get the Index headphones to show up after starting SteamVR. Now they appear to recognize as soon as it SteamVR comes up.

In addition it appears that Crew Chief has no issues with SimHub anymore.

That just eliminated a couple of my startup steps :)

I also learned the iRacing requires you have all the cars downloaded that could take part in a race with you even if you don't own them, but rather than telling you in a nice way they just give you an error 23 when you try to connect to a race.
 
Now I have an i9-9900K w/ 3200MHz DRAM and a 2080Ti driving my Index.

In iRacing I can now get a smooth 90fps in the Rally stages. It was already handling 120fps with 160% SS on all the paved tracks very well, but the dirt tracks for some reason are much more intensive. I'm only running 110% SS, but it is now smooth :) The 2080Ti is running around 92-96% with this setting. The highest CPU core is running at about 60%.

Verdict: iRacing is only GPU limited only in Rally Stages.

In Dirt Rally 2.0 I can now run 90fps very smoothly in all weather conditions, however in DR2 there is one CPU running in the high 90's and the GPU is running in the high 90's. So it at least seems balanced.

In Dirt Rally 1.0 I can also run 90fps very smoothly with similar loads.

Verdict: Dirt Rally Single core CPU & GPU limited but at least they both seem linearly matched.

Was the 2080Ti worth it over my 1080Ti?

I can now enjoy iRacing Rallies on Dirt Tracks :) and the both Dirt Rally titles run better. Past that it buys me very little.

My hope is that NVidia will unleash more of the power of the 2080Ti for games, but I'm not holding my breath.

This is a large heavy card.
2080Ti-installed.jpg
 
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I was running Ultra in DR 2.0. I will spend more time playing with it and continue there. Yesterday I had very little going on. My 2080Ti arrives at the end of day yesterday and today I'm am covered up with work. Go figure!

For me the big difference is that I can do the Rally Cross tracks in iRacing now :)

I think I'll be able to get DR 2.0 to look much better than DR 1.0 runs in ReVive. Time will tell.
 
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Now I have an i9-9900K w/ 3200MHz DRAM and a 2080Ti driving my Index.

In iRacing I can now get a smooth 90fps in the Rally stages. It was already handling 120fps with 160% SS on all the paved tracks very well, but the dirt tracks for some reason are much more intensive. I'm only running 110% SS, but it is now smooth :) The 2080Ti is running around 92-96% with this setting. The highest CPU is running at about 60%.

Verdict: iRacing is only GPU limited only in Rally Stages.

In Dirt Rally 2.0 I can now run 90fps very smoothly in all weather conditions, however in DR2 there is one CPU running in the high 90's and the GPU is running in the high 90's. So it at least seems balanced.

In Dirt Rally 1.0 I can also run 90fps very smoothly with similar loads.

Verdict: Dirt Rally Single core CPU & GPU limited but at least they both seem linearly matched.

Was the 2080Ti worth it over my 1080Ti?

I can now enjoy iRacing Rallies on Dirt Tracks :) and the both Dirt Rally titles run better. Past that it buys me very little.

My hope is that NVidia will unleash more of the power of the 2080Ti for games, but I'm not holding my breath.

This is a large heavy card.
View attachment 324069


Disable HT and max boost the 9900k with 8 cores for better performance. Silicon lottery determines the final output but can do between 5.0ghz and 5.3ghz all core with HT off on air cooling. Use Realbench and AIDA64 for stress testing.

RAM tuning helps a lot in VR as it boosts the low FPS.

2080ti. Download MSI afterburner. Got settings, unlock voltage sliders. Max out voltage and temp threshold (it's 100% safe to do so). Increase core +150 is an easy start. Mem is likely Samsung so +800 is an easy start. Run timespy extreme stress test in 3DMark to see if you pass. Adjust from there.

Doing above is an easy 20%-30%+ gain in overall performance.
 
The EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Ftw3 Ultra is supposed to be a good card to overclock and it has a massive heat sink with 3 fans. I'll mess with that next.

I hadn't tried turning off HT before. My understanding was that "overall" performance could drop doing that, but this is a specialty application isn't it :)
 
  • Deleted member 197115

Increase core +150 is an easy start.
RTX takes overclock that well? Quite impressive.
FTW3 should be already overclocked stock, I don't think it can take extra 150 without throttling but I am not expert on RTX.
 
I've just been playing with it the way it is. I was in iRacing at 120 fps and 165% SS with the GPU 68% on a paved track. CPU wasn't a concern. I think I may try 144 fps in iRacing just to see how it looks. It would appear I have plenty of room to do it.

I jacked PC2 up high enough to peg the CPU, but I really don't like how PC2 feels anymore after getting used to iRacing.

My black Delrin arrived!!! Now I get to make SC2 QR style wheel hangars.
 
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Going to give the Valve Index a go. I've got a 2080ti and i9 processor.

Recently been getting back into PC2 having finally got some decent FFB.

Any recommended settings starting settings?
 
You can run PC2 at either 90 fps or 120 fps depending on how far you have things cranked up.

You will find that you don't need much or any super sampling. The display is sharp without it and 120fps feels very fluid.
 
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You can run PC2 at either 90 fps or 120 fps depending on how far you have things cranked up.

You will find that you don't need much or any super sampling. The display is sharp without it and 120fps feels very fluid.

Can you notice any difference between 90 and 120fps?
 
Can you notice any difference between 90 and 120fps?

It is just smoother. It's also less fatiguing over longer periods of time.

To be fair it's a much bigger deal with shooting games where you are looking around and aiming at things. It feels more immediate.

If you get used to 120fps, 90 feels off for a little while. I've played some games in 144 fps.

Some people say they can't tell the difference and I believe that. In a seated driving game you are typically focused on the next turn and the cars around you. So you may love it or not notice anything.
 
I can run 120 fps in PC2 and in iRacing. I have to pull back a few settings but it works.

The exception in iRacing are the Rallycross tracks. For some reason, I can only get 90 fps on those. By comparison in iRacing in the normal tracks I can turn all of the graphics settings up all the way at 90 fps. I don't have to pull them back far for 120 fps.

With the recent update Dirt Rally 2.0 is rock solid at 90 fps without stuttering even in rain.

I think I can get 120 fps in KartCraft, but I've been waiting for the coming NLRv3 support for it. I have trouble simming without motion now that I'm used to it.

I'm pretty sure I can get 120fps in AC, but only 90 fps in ACC.
 
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