Pimax Crystal BMS experience
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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?
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@Icer I don’t have any experience with the Varjo, but here are some of the comparison videos:
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@Icer Pimax is better.
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@Icer Yes I agree, but one on one Crystal has better FOV and now with wide lens it will be even better, it has audio solution also better resolution, inside out tracking and controllers. Local dimming is also a feature missing in the Aero.
Just think about it they drop the price to half of what it was a week ago why???
Crystal has it’s shortcomings too but still a better product then Aero. For the Price now Aero is the best option. But if you want more then Pimax Crystal is the top dog.
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@Archer said in Pimax Crystal BMS experience:
@Icer Yes I agree, but one on one Crystal has better FOV and now with wide lens it will be even better, it has audio solution also better resolution, inside out tracking and controllers. Local dimming is also a feature missing in the Aero.
Just think about it they drop the price to half of what it was a week ago why???
Crystal has it’s shortcomings too but still a better product then Aero. For the Price now Aero is the best option. But if you want more then Pimax Crystal is the top dog.
My guess is they dropped the price as they saw a decrease in sales once the Crystal and Bigscreen Beyond appeared and needed to adjust to competition, but it’s only a guess. I have been watching Pimax for some time, and their record for delivering on promises has been less than stellar, but i’m happy to see the Crystal has appeared to right some past wrongs. Its great we have two very good headsets now around the €1500 mark (Aero is €1,438.69 delivered with VAT and 1 Lighthouse) now, I’m sure, coming from a G2, I will be more than pleased with my choice (Aero). I also use a Sennheiser headset, so audio is not an issue. To be honest, I don’t even use VR in BMS as I prefer my Triples/ICP/TM MFDs but I love VR in IL-2 and iRacing/Assetta Corso…
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Hi @Archer,
I’m on the fence looking for the PIMAX Crystal, sorry if i skip the huge amount of texts here but would you be so kind to summarize the experience for me?
- Are MFD and DED readable? What about kneepad and cockpit labels.
- When it comes to performance, what are you able to achieve? What is your specs that allowed you to achieve it?
- What about tracking and room light?
Any further feedback will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance
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The MFD and DED is very clear and even better then on your 2d monitor
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For BMS I have no performance issues what so ever
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For tracking I had zero issues with a lit room or not
For now the Crystal has the best resolution offered on any consumer VR headset.
Other experiences that I had were positive the weight was a little issue but I got use to it. The comfort level is medium.
All in all it is a good headset, and now with the DFR and eye tracking I am even getting 80+ FPS in DCS world with everything on high and even with 8X AF and 2X AA.
Also please note that you will need a very beefy PC to push that resolution.
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@Snake122 Is that where you can see your hands and move them around to flip switches?
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@MailMan No. “Passthrough” is not supported right now. Pimax has said that they plan to do a faceplate that will support that, but not sure of if/when.
What I think we have talked about before on Discord is that I personally chop my facial interfaces on my sim VR headsets so I can look under. I haven’t done this with the Crystal yet, but it appears to use the same facial interface as the 5K/8K X. But the need for it isn’t as big since the Crystal is so clear, I see the MFDs just as clearly as a monitor now. I only miss it to locate physical buttons/switched in my cockpit. But I added more drawer bumpers to my MFD and ICP buttons and am now fine for the most part. It would be amazing if we could support OpenXR in BMS for things like DFR, but also PointCTRL so I wouldn’t need physical buttons/switches anymore besides some of the few that are often used without looking at them.
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@Archer Would you be so kind to share your specs?
Anyway i’m already preparing my battlestation which would consist of a 4090 for the GPU, when it comes to the GPU i’m in doubt between 13900k or 79503xd (supposing that i’m not overkilling with those CPU).
What is your suggestions?
A couple of questions, how would you rate spotting with PIMAX? What is your FPS in ground and ir air in BMS?
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@williang83 i7 13700K, MoBo Asus extreme Edition(might be little different I can’t remember) 64GB DDR 5 6000, 4090 OC couple of M.2 SSD
With the CPU I saw there was no difference between i7/i9 so I went with i7, Some one commented on my YouTube channel that i9 would’ve been better but I am yet to see any benchmark that would show me other wise when it comes to gaming.
Spotting with Pimax Crystal is a solid 10 for me. Actually in BMS it’s just feels like everything is magnified and spotting is like cheating.
FPS on the ground between 80-90 and in the air solid 90.