My HP G2 VR experience with 7950x3D + 4090

[FlyIce 354]

I just upgraded from 10850K/4090 to 7950x3D/4090/32GB DDR5 and want to give you guys some quick observations regarding the VR experiences.

I fly with HP G2. I use DLSS quality and OpenXR scale = 225%. At this setting the image quality in G2 is *very* good. I feel it's nearly 95% of G2's max quality and panels are crystal clear with not a single hint of pixelation. However, there is no cure to the small sweetspot of G2, very annoying.

Performance wise. I now set nearly everything to the ultra/max with 7950x3D. Terrain LOD=400, object quality=200, nearly everything ultra, except windshield effect = medium, ambient occlusion = low, cockpit display refresh rate = medium. Not sure what differences will be if I set all these three to max. All traffic at 100%, except those settings at airport to 75%. Settings like LOD=400 was not possible with 10850k, as it will almost half the fps. 

Overall, I got between 30-45 fps in most areas, more around 35 fps, and likely I'm mostly GPU-limited. Flying the helicopter roof-top low at NYC (that discovery flight) made me CPU limited at 25fps. Once I'm above 1000' high I got rather smooth 30-35fps even over NYC. I cruised in F-18 over Australia with real weather and overall the experience was breathtaking at ~40fps, making me feel that the future of perfect VR is finally over the horizon (not within the reach yet!).

I don't fly big jets in and out busy airports, so don't know how that would perform. I also only fly VR so can't comment on the 2D performance. 

During flight the video card routinely draws >400W, CPU around 70W. MSFS does run exclusively on CCD0 (cores#0-7) that has the 3D V-cache. It apparently uses mostly core0 and core4, run them max to 20W each, twice than the rest of cores at 10W each.  

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with what I have. But for that perfect VR at 60fps and great image quality, we're probably still two generations away for both CPU and GPU.

Edited March 7, 2023 by FlyIce

[FlyIce 354]

Just to add, with 10850K/4090 I also got around 35fps with DLSS+OpenXR=225%. The biggest difference is that to maintain >30fps I can only set LOD=150-200 and the LOD ring is clearly visible once I'm in the air.

With 7950x3D, I got the same fps with LOD=400, and no more visible LOD ring. This is probably the biggest improvement made by 7950x3D for me.   

Edited March 7, 2023 by FlyIce

[turbomax 3,285]

4 hours ago, FlyIce said:

I just upgraded from 10850K/4090 to 7950x3D

Congratulations to your new system, currently the most powerful configuration available. 

did you make sure to install the latest 7000x3D chipset drivers and x-box game bar?

https://www.amd.com/en/support/apu/amd-ryzen-processors/amd-ryzen-9-processors/amd-ryzen-9-7950x3d

https://www.igorslab.de/en/amd-chipset-drivers-offer-special-games-optimizations-for-ryzen-9-7000x3d-cpus/

https://www.hardwaretimes.com/amd-enable-the-xbox-game-bar-on-the-ryzen-9-7900x3d-7950x3d-processors-for-better-performance/

[FlyIce 354]

Thanks! Yes I did install the chipset drivers and turn on windows game mode to make sure MSFS runs on core#0-7. Overall not too bad, but hopefully such extra steps won't be needed in the future. 

I also used hardwaremonitor to confirm that when running MSFS nearly all cpu activities were on core#0-7. 

[Swe_Richard 1,172]

Yeah, I am probably getting about the same stuff for my next build. However, I've been quite happy with my lowly 5900x and 3080ti.

Really nice not having to buy new stuff all the time. 

[peloto 213]

There is something wrong when doubling the approximately 7k 3152x3xxx HMD resolution needed is necessitated, or tripling it if we account the G2 real resolution of about 4k 2160x2160 or 4320x2160 totally... almost ¡14k resolution monitor overall is what are you running in your GPU!? in a 4k-7k VR HMD? ¿be careful with placebos maybe?. G2 has its pixel physic limitations and you are not going to duplicate them, and never it is gonna be a "retina resolution" and the small grill effect and saw teeth are going to be there even at 28k resolution if you seek it or pay attention to it.

Whit that CPU+GPU try with 100% in OXR (¿maybe 120% would have more sense?), try TAA not DLSS, maybe that CPU is a VR game changer in TAA after watching this video

TAA has better quality images in VR, but is a VR stutter fest nowadays, and for that reason nowadays DLSS in better in VR by the moment in smoothness and performance, TAA in the VC screens has its major quality difference, in other place TAA is almost the same than DLSS Quality-Balanced+CAS in OXR toolkit. Maybe the DLSS quality algorithm changes in the future and offer the same quality than TAA? and tell us the testing results please thanks.

Or try DLSS Quality yes with the OXR toolkit with CAS=("magical" resolution increaser without losing performance) at your preference at around 60%, and 3800x3xxx override resolution in toolkit, or 120% in OPXR maybe is the same.

And you free GPU resources with the same results, for increase settings in other graphic options?

Thanks for you review and sharing it.

Edited March 7, 2023 by peloto

[BufordTX 50]

I know it may be blasphemy, but I’ve found HAGS on is better on my new 4090.

[dbw1 445]

My 7950x3d should arrive shortly. it will be teamed with the 20 gig 7900xt & 6000 ram, 670 mb.

FlyIce, thanks for your info.

[MauBen 82]

You can put lipstick on a G2, it’s still a G2. 😂🤣.

No matter how you try to push the resolution, you can never improve the small sweet spot and the biggest reasons for any lack of clarity are the fresnel lenses that are used instead of clear glass.

Even with twice or 3 times the performance of your current system, it will never look like what you see in a 4K monitor. 

I tried the VARJO Aero and the clarity was definitely better, even with my older system, but I had to return it because I have some eye issues which made it hard for me to focus properly. So I went back to the G2 and resigned myself to waiting for the perfect headset with crystal clarity and a very wide field of vision. 😂

[FlyIce 354]

2 hours ago, peloto said:

There is something wrong when doubling the approximately 7k 3152x3xxx HMD resolution needed is necessitated, or tripling it if we account the G2 real resolution of about 4k 2160x2160 or 4320x2160 totally... almost ¡14k resolution monitor overall is what are you running in your GPU!? in a 4k-7k VR HMD?

I know it's insane. I heard this has to do with the optical flaw of G2 - it has to compensate some huge image distortions due to its bad lens therefore really needs super high rendering resolution to look good. I experimented a lot and in general I found that G2 only looks good once OXR is over 150%. I tried TAA 100% + OXR 100% and it's no match to DLSS Quality + OXR 225%. Further increase OXR still improves the quality, but the benefit is very small and not worth the performance penalty. So far OXR 225% (i.e. 1.5x G2 resolution) is a sweet spot for my hardware. 

1 hour ago, MauBen said:

No matter how you try to push the resolution, you can never improve the small sweet spot and the biggest reasons for any lack of clarity are the fresnel lenses that are used instead of clear glass.

Totally agree. If Aero is priced like $600-$1000 I'd have bought it already. But at $2000 plus $500 extra is just too much to swallow. I want at least to wait for its second generation just to make sure that much money is well spent. Right now I'm ok with G2 as except for Aero it appears nothing else is truly better than G2 all around.  

 

[turbomax 3,285]

24 minutes ago, FlyIce said:

except for Aero it appears nothing else is truly better than G2 all around.  

lets see what the first responders have to say about the new Pimax Crystal. $ 400 less than Varjo aero, plus it includes headphones, inside-out-tracking, glass lenses, dynamic foveated rendering, both same resolution of 2880*2880 pixel. small sweet spot shouldn't be an issue anymore with dynamic foveated rendering. it's always maximum resolution wherever your fovea is currently looking at.

Left image: varjo aero    Right: HP Reverb G2

Edited March 7, 2023 by turbomax

[peloto 213]

@FlyIce  try CAS selected in Oxr toolkit https://mbucchia.github.io/OpenXR-Toolkit/ at around 60% for clarity and in foveated option in Quality-Wide for more performance. Resolution override 3800x3xxx in Toolkit too, maybe equivalent to 120% in OXR Tools, not Toolkit.

I have a G2 12900k+4900 and the G2 clarity is really really good, excellent, if you have the lenses or you glasses clean of course haha, I have a magnetic lenses inserted since a pair of months too. G2 are really crispy crystal clear in the middle and excellent resolution at its max expression possible in the G2. MSFS has something too that is not so clear without CAS like other games, maybe other games in 110-120%, I do not notice more clearness above that in the G2.

 

The problem are the game resolutions and its AA etc., not the G2 lenses, that are not perfect like the small sweetspot, yes.

Edited March 7, 2023 by peloto

[turbomax 3,285]

2 minutes ago, peloto said:

I have a magnetic lenses inserted since a pair of months too.

fresnel or glass, have a link please? I was not aware of magnetic lenses except for the Pimax Crystal, only snap on like these:

https://vroptician.com/

[peloto 213]

31 minutes ago, turbomax said:

fresnel or glass, have a link please? I was not aware of magnetic lenses except for the Pimax Crystal, only snap on like these:

https://vroptician.com/

These, https://vr-lens-lab.com/prescription-lens-inserts/hp-reverb-g2/ with the maximized field of view option, without the relax set option.

[turbomax 3,285]

19 minutes ago, peloto said:

These, https://vr-lens-lab.com/prescription-lens-inserts/hp-reverb-g2/

where does it say "magnetic"? and those are not the primary lenses, but on-top clip-on reading glasses, made not of glass but plastic. I was referring to the primary lenses, non-fresnel but glass lenses. they are supposed to offer superior clarity.

Edited March 7, 2023 by turbomax