Pimax Crystal BMS experience
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My hardware review:
Next video I will do a in game and through the lens footage.
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@Archer Does it still need SteamVR to work with BMS?
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@Atlas I tried to getting working last night using a Pimax crystal and once I got into the pit everything went crazy. GPU and CPU spiked like no other game before, I have quite an extensive VR library and dabble in DCS VR as well. 100% utilization on both the GPU and CPU. As you can imagine, it was absolutely unplayable.
It runs through SteamVR, which usually works well enough out of the box. There doesn’t seem to be OpenXR support yet, although I could be wrong.
I just updated to the SteamVR Beta to see if it solves this issue, but wont be able to test it until this evening unfortunately.
PC spec aren’t the best but this is the only VR game that I’ve struggled with.
EDIT:
After installing the SteamVR beta I was able to get things running quite nicely. I’d like a little more clarity but that’s an issue with my pc hardware and not the BMS VR implementation most likely. I’m getting 60-70fps while running a Pimax Crystal on a 10700k cpu and 3070 gpu. I have the rendering in Pitool at balanced and the SteamVR render resolution at like 86-90%.All fps numbers were taken during an instant action flight using fpsvr
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@crunchberries Try to lower the render quality from 1 to .75 in the Pimax software.
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@Archer crystal doesn’t have that option. they made a change to the software, you basically get predetermined render options at the moment. The 8k that I have allows for that adjustment by number value. I’ve found that it works best for me to leave the Pimax software on 1 or balanced in the case of the crystal, then adjust the steam render value down.
Adjusting that way also makes it easy to tailor each game specifically. For example, I may be able to have steam a 100% for Ghosts of Tabor but need to lower it to 86 for BMS. Although you can make that change in the Pimax software you then have to launch games through their launcher for it to take effect. Steam handles the launching of games better in my opinion since my library is a mix of standalone stuff like BMS, Viveport games and Steam games.
I’m pretty content with 60fps in all honesty, I’m impressed the rtx3070 can even do that as it is. I have an a full PC upgrade planned for in the next few months to really be able to push this Crystal to the max!
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@crunchberries curious to know, what is the actual resolution (pixels x pixels) that you are achieving 60 FPS on?
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@spotdott Render resolution in Pimax software is 1. Everything in BMS is on default and steam VR is 100% resolution.
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@crunchberries said in Pimax Crystal BMS experience:
@Archer crystal doesn’t have that option. they made a change to the software, you basically get predetermined render options at the moment.
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@Archer envy, the opposite of pity. Much opposite of pity is felt right now
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I’ve had my Crystal for a few days and I am very impressed! The clarity and colors are so good! Very near monitor level with it’s PPD. So far I’m very happy with it.
As reported, the DMAS audio upgrade is probably worth it, but I have had a habit of putting my headphones on over my headset for a long time. This was hard at first but then I removed the standard speakers and can fit my G635s over the headband now. But I will probably look at ordering the DMAS soon.
I do have the general pancake lens “night fog” issue. I have played around with the local dimming setting and for me I found that the “highlight” setting seems to be the best. “Extreme” will get darker areas but the transition from lighted to darks makes the fogging even more noticeable because of the contrast and the stars are lost altogether, “balanced” seems just a hair lighter and foggier than “highlight.”
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@gonk What I did was to do the Steam VR room setup again and define in it where I will be sitting. Also there is re-center option on the little window in your desktop that you can click… but make sure your headset is in the right place before clicking it.
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@Snake122 Hey my friend, happy you got one! How would you compare the FOV to the 8K? Currently the maximum FOV isn’t useable in BMS anyway, so I wonder how much difference is left? Is it substantial, did you try it, which level of FOV on the 8K would come closest to the one of the Crystal?
Have been over the buy button with my mouse several times already, but always hesitatet and reminded myself, that there will be a 12k down the road, for which I can trade in my 8K but not the Crystal…
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@Korbi much lower in horizontal, but similar to the 8K X in vertical. We’ll see what the large FOV lenses bring, but even then the 8K X will still win. As I said a little more in this post, I miss the FOV of the 8K X, but I had switched to the Reverb G2 because the extra 8K X FOV was pretty much unusable in BMS and the increased sweet spot clarity over the 8K X impressed me. But if it came down to the Reverb G2 and a fully BMS supported 8K X on “large FOV” setting, I would take the slight clarity hit to get the amazing FOV of the 8K X. But as you know, that’s not really a viable option.
But now with the Crystal’s clarity, BMS VR is mesmerizing!
I too was in a similar boat to you until @Archer’s thread here and then being able to sell my 8k X sealed it (and I’m working on selling my Reverb G2). I don’t know what the 12k will actually bring to BMS. Yes, it looks amazing and I too had long term plans of the trade in program for it. But then I started watching more and more reviews like @Archer’s and realized what I was missing and right now is probably the best headset for BMS if you have the hardware to run it since it has none of the goofy issues that the 8k X has in BMS with the wide FOV. As a former triple monitor guy, I miss the FOV of the 8K X, but I know that with Pimax’s history, the 12K is probably even further out than they say, possibly more expensive, will take another video card upgrade probably to pump those pixels to (unless BMS supports DFR) and I need to get off the bleeding edge of video card upgrades, and BMS still may not work with the large FOV at that point. I couldn’t wait for the unknowns of the 12k and right now I’ve very happy that I did. The Crystal just works with BMS like the other VR headsets
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@Snake122 Thanks! These are some good points you´re bringing up there. Thanks for your conclusion.
Yea Pimax being Pimax… though they have drastically increased in terms of customer service and reliability.
I hope they will support mixed reality very soon with the swappable faceplates they offer. -
@Korbi not sure if you get the Pimax emails, but they did just open up the 12K trade in program for Crystal at $800USD. Now, the skeptical of Pimax releases side of me thinks this also could mean that the are starting to think the 12K will be delayed per Pimax normal and may need the cash flow now. But their reasoning in the email is that a lot of customers in surveys say they are waiting for the 12k is why they aren’t buying the Crystal, which I said pretty much the same thing in a survey they sent me until I watched the reviews and changed my mind as I described here.
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@Snake122 Yeah I just saw the email too. Not sure why would you want a 12K after using the Crystal. Before the DFR/Eye tracking update I could only run BMS in 90FPS. DCS was more like 45-50 range. Now with DFR/Eye tracking ON it’s 90 FPS for me.
Also I am not sure which GPU can push that much resolution on any title. Not to mention the Crystal resolution is like a 4K monitor.
I’d bet that 12K won’t see the light of day before the end of 2024 and customers will get it by early 2025.
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@Archer as a former Pimax 5k and 8k X and a triple screen user, it would be the best of both worlds: the clarity of the Crystal with the FOV of those other two, albeit that BMS is doesn’t support that FOV well yet.
Yes, video card is a concern, but maybe BMS will also support OpenXR and DFR by then because the 12k has eye tracking too. Basically, if the Crystal is a 4k monitor, the 12k is a triple screen monitor setup. Those of us that like triple screen/original Pimax headsets know it is a pay to play kinda thing, but I don’t know if I’ll be in the market for a video card then. I’d like for my 4090 to still be in use as long as its 12vhpwr doesn’t melt I’ve had to pump 8336x3948 with the 3090 to the 8k X because the parallel projections issue. We’ll see what the 12k’s both SteamVR 100% (usually more than native) and DFR OpenXR will be.
I only have tried DCS one session, didn’t do everything to turn on DFR yet. It was 40-50 FPS with the VR graphics preset option. Still reminded of why I BMS pretty much exclusively…
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@Snake122 I was considering upgrading to the Crystal from my G2 v2, and JUST got a notice that the Varjo Aero has officially dropped to €990 (€1189 w/ Base Station)! Any pluses in going with the Pimax?