Hacker News Reader

Comment by Loughla | Hacker News Reader

So I'm trying to get into VR, but I'm not even sure where to start. Any forum posts regarding what direction to go for headsets and what-not always boil down to fanboy posts shilling for their favorite thing.

So I'll try here - I have an extremely high end gaming PC and am looking for VR options to tag along with it. What suggestions for systems/games do you have?

View on HN

I'd probably wait for the Meta Quest 3 to come out to use with your PC since it'll probably be the best bang for your buck. If you want an alternative to Meta or something more futuristic then the Big Screen Beyond is looking very interesting. You'll have to buy tracking base stations and controllers separately with the Big Screen Beyond so it'll be considerably more expensive. I'd also wait for some reviews although preliminary first impressions on YouTube are promising.

For PCVR, the wireless experience with Quest is fantastic and an extremely good value, provided you're not boycotting Meta and the wireless works perfectly.

If it doesn't (for example for me, there's interference from neighbors sometimes and the signal will drop) then it's infuriating. Then you need to look into a wired option. Quest can do wired but it doesn't do it as well as others (because it's USB and the signal is compressed).

Still, my recommendation to people looking to dip their toes into VR is to get the Quest, because it's very good and it's an unbeatable value. If nothing else, it will give you an excellent reference point to compare the other headers.

There's a Quest 3 coming out soonish, you'll probably want to wait for that.

What is your budget and desired ecosystem? The Valve Index is (imo) the highest quality VR headset right now in terms of fidelity and comfort and tracking, but is also one of the most expensive and hardest to set up. The Quest 2 on the other hand is exceedingly affordable, is portable, and can be run standalone, all of which are very very cool. But then you take the Meta plunge.

Budget is anywhere from $0-$700 (or so), and I would like to avoid anything with facebook.

These two requirements are basically incompatible. Buy a used vive on ebay and start there maybe.

Yeah that’s a really weird price range. I’d say go up and buy an Index if possible, or go down and buy a Quest with a fake facebook account. The pimax is an option but it’s above that range.

I picked an arbitrary number.

Let's say up to $1500. How about that?

Getting closer. Get really thrifty with a computer build (Buy a used 3600 processor for cheap and an old GPU, like a 5700xt or equivalent), buy a brand new Index, and enjoy.

If budget isn't an issue, get an Index. I personally prefer the Vive hands and lighthouses from 2016 and the Index headset from 2021, but if you're starting from scratch, you might as well just get the Index and go from there.

A full Vive set would also be fine for starting, but's aging (7 years old now), and you may appreciate the fidelity the Index has.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com