Computers & Electronics

Help me pick parts for my VR PC

  • Last Updated:
  • Apr 27th, 2017 10:29 pm
Tags:
Newbie
Apr 24, 2013
32 posts
2 upvotes
Coquitlam

Help me pick parts for my VR PC

I am building my first PC to be VR ready, I have a rough shortlist of parts but I wanted to see if more experienced people pick out the same parts list as me. I want: 16gb of ram, 128 SSD, and at least an i5-6500 cpu and GTX 1060 3gb video card. My confusion with video cards especially is that there seems to be dozens of variations of the same model. I'm generally trying to stay close to the $1000 mark, and using only ncix.
23 replies
Deal Expert
User avatar
May 22, 2005
21223 posts
6991 upvotes
GTA
For VR, the graphic is the most important part, the gtx1060 will do fine right now but will struggle fairly quickly. I'd aim for at least a 8gb gtx1070.
Newbie
Apr 24, 2013
32 posts
2 upvotes
Coquitlam
For video cards though, every model has a few dozen variations, how do you narrow it down?
Deal Expert
Aug 2, 2004
38395 posts
12019 upvotes
East Gwillimbury
markussd wrote: For video cards though, every model has a few dozen variations, how do you narrow it down?
The variations are usually speed (over clocking), or coolers (heatsinks and fans)
Deal Addict
User avatar
Nov 15, 2011
2221 posts
1083 upvotes
Saint John
The 1060 3GB is the bare minimum for a VR PC right now. As Coriolis said, it will soon be insufficient. You should try to get a 1070 in there for sure.

I did give you a very detailed parts list (two of them actually) in your previous thread - not sure why you're posting a new thread for this.

advice-building-my-first-pc-2095591/2/#p27713905

But I'll try to shave it down as close to $1000 as I can, using parts available at NCIX.
FEEDBACK: RFD HWC Heat
Member
Sep 9, 2015
316 posts
125 upvotes
Scarborough, ON
Gee wrote: The variations are usually speed (over clocking), or coolers (heatsinks and fans)
You look for the cooler and available after market parts and the amount of video ram. A 1 gb video ram card can cost anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 the price of a 2gb video ram card.

That being said, most card for gaming come at 4 gb vram. Anything less and you run the risk of framerate instabilities in the future. This means that for the average RFDer, you'd want to get the best bang for your buck and get something more than 4gb of vram with your graphics card. It's more important for high-resolution gaming than VR but if you're doing more than just VR it's a worthwhile investment when looking at the price and what you're getting in the long run.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Nov 15, 2011
2221 posts
1083 upvotes
Saint John
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-7500 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($269.99 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: MSI B250M PRO-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($92.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($93.49 @ NCIX)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($129.99 @ NCIX)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card ($449.99)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H22 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: EVGA 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($36.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $1123.43
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-25 07:59 EDT-0400

If you use Price Match at NCIX, you can get the price down to less than $1100.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-7500 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($259.85 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: MSI B250M PRO-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($84.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($79.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($123.98 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card ($449.99)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H22 ATX Mid Tower Case ($48.75 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: EVGA 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($36.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $1084.54
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-25 07:59 EDT-0400

Link to GPU on Newegg eBay - http://www.ebay.ca/itm/MSI-GeForce-GTX- ... 2a7d089f3f
FEEDBACK: RFD HWC Heat
Newbie
Apr 24, 2013
32 posts
2 upvotes
Coquitlam
birthdaymonkey wrote: PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-7500 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($269.99 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: MSI B250M PRO-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($92.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($93.49 @ NCIX)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($129.99 @ NCIX)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card ($449.99)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H22 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: EVGA 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($36.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $1123.43
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-25 07:59 EDT-0400

If you use Price Match at NCIX, you can get the price down to less than $1100.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-7500 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($259.85 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: MSI B250M PRO-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($84.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($79.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($123.98 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card ($449.99)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H22 ATX Mid Tower Case ($48.75 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: EVGA 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($36.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $1084.54
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-25 07:59 EDT-0400

Link to GPU on Newegg eBay - http://www.ebay.ca/itm/MSI-GeForce-GTX- ... 2a7d089f3f

Thanks for the build, looks good! Just a couple questions, if I wanted to get an i5-7600K CPU, would I still be able to use the same motherboard?
Also I noticed you left out a CPU cooler, are you assuming they come in box?
Deal Guru
User avatar
Nov 27, 2005
12603 posts
3028 upvotes
Richmond Hill
Don't waste your time with VR. The hardware and software ecosystems are not ready. By the time they're ready, anything you bought today will be obsolete anyway.
Member
User avatar
Apr 12, 2017
299 posts
199 upvotes
markussd wrote: Also I noticed you left out a CPU cooler, are you assuming they come in box?
The i5-7500 does come with a CPU fan. The i5-7600K doesn't. When there is a K at the end there won't be a stock fan because it is assumed that you will over-clock the CPU, in which case you will need something better than a stock fan to cool it.
Banned
Sep 16, 2006
1010 posts
236 upvotes
Barrie, ON
birthdaymonkey wrote: PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-7500 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($269.99 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: MSI B250M PRO-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($92.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($93.49 @ NCIX)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($129.99 @ NCIX)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card ($449.99)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H22 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: EVGA 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($36.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $1123.43
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-25 07:59 EDT-0400

If you use Price Match at NCIX, you can get the price down to less than $1100.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-7500 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($259.85 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: MSI B250M PRO-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($84.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($79.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($123.98 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card ($449.99)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H22 ATX Mid Tower Case ($48.75 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: EVGA 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($36.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $1084.54
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-25 07:59 EDT-0400

Link to GPU on Newegg eBay - http://www.ebay.ca/itm/MSI-GeForce-GTX- ... 2a7d089f3f
Not a good part list. No disrespect.

1X8GB of RAM? Why would you purposely gimp the guy's memory bandwidth? Sure, you can install another 8GB stick later this way, but in the meantime, which could be a long time, the guy only has half the available memory bandwidth that he would have with a matched pair of sticks. I frown upon this way of thinking and disagree with it wholeheartedly.
Speaking of RAM, now is a HORRIBLE time to buy RAM as prices have more than doubled in the past 8 months or so. I bought a 2X8GB 2400Mhz kit (16GB) for $89.99 (and there were even some 1600Mhz DDR3 kits going for $64.99 at the time) back in August of 2016. The prices now are a joke. RAM prices fluctuate like mad.

Also, that powersupply is HORRIBLE. And I do mean horrible. The EVGA B/B1 and W/W1 powersupplies are absolute gutter grade trash. Go read up on them at Jonny Guru (the PSU god of the internet). They are horrible. The bare minimum quality of powersupply you should be putting into any gaming machine is a Corsair CX, which is decent, but still not terrific. It is, however, miles and miles better than those entry level EVGA units.

By the way I find the concept of combining an 8GB GPU with a machine that only has 8GB of RAM (in single channel mode at that) to be a little flawed.

Also, as Board123 said:

Don't waste your time with VR. The hardware and software ecosystems are not ready. By the time they're ready, anything you bought today will be obsolete anyway.


^That deserves to be bolded because its true. VR in any form has failed every single time it has been attempted. I'm not sure if people just don't WANT this technology or it's been marketed badly. I don't know what the problem is.
All I know is that it always fizzles out like a bad fart.

Remember 3D movies in the 1950s and 60s? That was the first attempt at adding depth, at VR, if you will. Didn't last.

Remember the second coming of VR back in the 90s? Virtual boy? VR games at arcades? How long were those popular? A month? Fizzled out again.

Now we are in the third age of VR. It started with movie theaters having almost every single show in 3D, forcing it on people who didn't like it or found it annoying, like me. Most people didn't like it. It's fizzling out.
Then occulus and Vive and others came to market. People thought it was cool for a bit, then they changed their minds. There is almost zero support out there for VR software wise, and people have almost completely stopped caring AGAIN.

Also, I would warn you by saying this: You buy content consumption devices (ipads, gaming consoles, gaming PCs) because you want to consume CONTENT (ie, great games). Somebody has to CREATE that content. That is an expensive proposition, with modern AAA games costing tens (sometimes hundreds) of millions of dollars to make.

When developers MAKE games, they say "Ok this game is going to cost $100 million dollars to make so we need to release it on platforms that have a large install base to let us reach the most possible customers. PS4 has 40 million units in the wild, lets go with that. XB1 has 25 million, lets get on that platform too. And PC has like a billion+ users, so let's definitely release on PC."

Then Mike, the new guy, says "But what about VR?" and the other developers laugh at him and say "There are like seven people in the world who own VR headsets, so we are not going to release games for it"

This always happens. Why isn't there more great Linux software? Why isn't there a larger MAC Gaming library? Because people who have those platforms don't give a crap about that stuff for the most part, and there's no market for it. Or in the case of Linux, there's no money to be made whatsoever period.

Buying a VR headset now is sort of like buying a really cool looking car, driving it for a month, then finding out that the special gasoline it needs is no longer available in your country, so you are forced to sell it to a Croatian guy on Ebay at a huge loss.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Nov 15, 2011
2221 posts
1083 upvotes
Saint John
Mistersprinkles wrote: Not a good part list. No disrespect.

1X8GB of RAM? Why would you purposely gimp the guy's memory bandwidth? Sure, you can install another 8GB stick later this way, but in the meantime, which could be a long time, the guy only has half the available memory bandwidth that he would have with a matched pair of sticks. I frown upon this way of thinking and disagree with it wholeheartedly.
Speaking of RAM, now is a HORRIBLE time to buy RAM as prices have more than doubled in the past 8 months or so. I bought a 2X8GB 2400Mhz kit (16GB) for $89.99 (and there were even some 1600Mhz DDR3 kits going for $64.99 at the time) back in August of 2016. The prices now are a joke. RAM prices fluctuate like mad.

Also, that powersupply is HORRIBLE. And I do mean horrible. The EVGA B/B1 and W/W1 powersupplies are absolute gutter grade trash. Go read up on them at Jonny Guru (the PSU god of the internet). They are horrible. The bare minimum quality of powersupply you should be putting into any gaming machine is a Corsair CX, which is decent, but still not terrific. It is, however, miles and miles better than those entry level EVGA units.

By the way I find the concept of combining an 8GB GPU with a machine that only has 8GB of RAM (in single channel mode at that) to be a little flawed.
The idea behind 1x8GB of RAM is to allow for the possibility of upgrading to 2x8GB once RAM prices are down. Memory bandwidth really doesn't matter very much for single GPU gaming with an i5. Compromises had to be made in getting a VR ready machine shoehorned into a $1000 budget. Sure, you could go down to a 1060 or RX 580, but then you're stuck with that mediocre GPU, whereas going with a single stick of RAM means you can easily upgrade for $60 to get double capacity and dual channel once the budget allows. As for 8GB GPU in a machine with 8GB RAM, think about whether a GTX 1070 vs a 1060 (30-40% performance improvement) or 16GB of RAM (0-1% improvement in most current games) is a better investment. As for dual channel RAM, you might see a few percent improvement in some games.

http://www.techspot.com/article/1043-8g ... page3.html

" 8GB should be the minimum standard, while 16GB is desirable but not needed. For general usage and gaming there is no advantage to be had by using 16GB or more RAM"

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/does-dua ... rformance/

"The fact is that, in the configuration we used an in the games we select, there was no advantage in using memories on dual-channel. This means that, in some cases, when an 8 GiB module is less expensive than two 4 GiB ones (for example), you can install only one memory module with no fear of losing performance."

As for "gutter trash" PSU - you mean this one that actually gets a decent review at Johnnyguru (8.4/10)? They don't seem to have a review of the 450B version, but I believe it's the same platform as the 500B. Should be a pretty decent PSU for the money ($37 AR). I agree that the Corsair CX are also a good option in the budget PSU segment.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?na ... y&reid=351

Anyways, feel free to show me some reviews or benches to back up your claims that my parts list is "not good". It seems to me that you don't really know what you're talking about. No disrespect.
FEEDBACK: RFD HWC Heat
Deal Addict
User avatar
Nov 15, 2011
2221 posts
1083 upvotes
Saint John
Sorry I got so defensive. You seem like a reasonable person with a good sense of humour.

It's just that I put a lot of thought and research into builds and I think it's a good compromise for a $1000 gaming PC.

I totally agree with your point about VR though - it remains to be seen whether it will really take off, and for now the software just isn't there yet. It's a cool novelty at the moment, not much beyond that.
Last edited by birthdaymonkey on Apr 26th, 2017 7:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
FEEDBACK: RFD HWC Heat
Deal Fanatic
Nov 17, 2004
7312 posts
1672 upvotes
Toronto
I have an i5-6500 + 1060 6GB + 24GB RAM + HTC vive. VR runs well, but it is very taxing on my eyes and all the stuff that gives me an andrenaline rush also makes me want to hurl. I also use my PC for work so that is why I have that much RAM. The best experience so far for me was google earth, the Hoover Dam is quite spectacular.
I workout to get big so I can pickup bricks and ****.
Deal Guru
User avatar
Nov 27, 2005
12603 posts
3028 upvotes
Richmond Hill
Let me just tell you that anyone who has tried VR will come to the realization that there is no good VR content today, and the current generation of headsets are not good enough to deliver practical content. The industry is kind of stuck in a catch-22 right now. Developers are in the business of making money, and there is no money to be made from VR content at the moment. At least not for consumers. There are some niche use cases where VR has the potential to thrive, but they're not things that any of you on RFD will care about.
Banned
Sep 16, 2006
1010 posts
236 upvotes
Barrie, ON
board123 wrote: Let me just tell you that anyone who has tried VR will come to the realization that there is no good VR content today, and the current generation of headsets are not good enough to deliver practical content. The industry is kind of stuck in a catch-22 right now. Developers are in the business of making money, and there is no money to be made from VR content at the moment. At least not for consumers. There are some niche use cases where VR has the potential to thrive, but they're not things that any of you on RFD will care about.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Image

YES! Exactly. Thank you. It's Virtual Boy all over again, with a much bigger up front consumer investment, better graphics and sound, and cooler looking headsets. It's going to fizzle out AGAIN. I honestly don't believe that human beings (en masse) WANT this kind of product right now. They don't even want 3D, let alone 3D that straps to your face. Part of me thinks that "Strap to yo' head" style immersive video and gaming will never be a thing that the population at large accepts or wants. I think that pre fabricated virtual experiences will become mainstream either

A) When it can be beamed into your brain without having to strap anything to yourself

or

B) When star-trek style holodecks become a reality

Top