Quest 3 New User - Please advise settings

[Grindathotte 47]

I don't bother with a battery, I just use a high power 3 metre USB C to C charging lead connected to the Quest 3 charger and then connect with virtual Desktop.  I'm not bothered about tethering with MSFS as you don't move around much.  This still charges the battery, albeit slowly, whilst MSFS is running.

[hangar 661]

54 minutes ago, Grindathotte said:

I don't bother with a battery, I just use a high power 3 metre USB C to C charging lead connected to the Quest 3 charger and then connect with virtual Desktop.  I'm not bothered about tethering with MSFS as you don't move around much.  This still charges the battery, albeit slowly, whilst MSFS is running.

I guess I'm confused...sounds like you're saying that you use a Link Cable (or similar cable + the Meta Link software). From what I know about VD it is only a wifi app. So how do you use VD if you are not using a wifi connection?

By the way, how long are you able to fly while plugged into the pc before the Q3 battery gets too low...just curious?

[Donka 653]

38 minutes ago, hangar said:

I guess I'm confused...sounds like you're saying that you use a Link Cable (or similar cable + the Meta Link software). From what I know about VD it is only a wifi app. So how do you use VD if you are not using a wifi connection?

By the way, how long are you able to fly while plugged into the pc before the Q3 battery gets too low...just curious?

No, he is still using WiFi, just using the USB c cable for charging. 

[Grindathotte 47]

On 4/23/2024 at 8:46 PM, Donka said:

No, he is still using WiFi, just using the USB c cable for charging. 

Precisely, and I can fly forever (not that I have tried) as the battery charge goes up rather than down.

[Dermot McClusky 506]

15 hours ago, Grindathotte said:

Precisely, and I can fly forever (not that I have tried) as the battery charge goes up rather than down.

I'm also setting up a Quest3 and this confuses me. I'm on a link cable, not using wifi on purpose because I assumed quality would be better. Are you saying going with Virtual Desktop (and using the link cable only to charge) is better quality?

[dogmanbird 269]

Link cable configured right (in oculus debug tool) gives me slightly better quality image and slightly less latency, than the best settings I can achieve with VD

[hangar 661]

...and I found the opposite.

Using the Debug Tool caused me nothing but troubles (of course it took awhile for me to realize it since the stem of VR issues are not typically so readily apparent ...but in the end it seemed to be outdated to me (ODT) and as soon as I quit using it and switched to VD everything began to improve pretty quickly for me.

But again - everyone's results in the end may vary with this stuff since it seems to be the nature of the beast we're dealing with. This is why it can take a couple weeks of play testing and fidgeting with tools & settings before you find what finally works best for you in the end, regardless of how much you read online here.

Online research will serve best as a place for different tools and ideas that you can try for testing on your own system.

[Dermot McClusky 506]

Question for those of you running VR with a 7800x3d: are you getting max temp on the cpu? I know the 7800x3d can run hot, but I have good cooling (great case w/ tons of airflow and a good aircooler), usually getting in the 70's C when playing 2d MSFS (only 2k, so not super taxing, but everything on ultra). Going to VR I've spiked as high as 95C, with the temps usually hovering in the mid-high 80s. I even had 2 shut downs of my computer, though I don't yet know if that was a CPU overheating issue or something else (like a hot or bad PSU, for instance). 

I also don't think I've been pushing my system (gpu is a 4090) too hard; I haven't really upped the resolution in toolkit, I'm playing at 72 Hz/FPS, I've lowered a bunch of settings in MSFS, etc. 

[Donka 653]

Worth running HW Monitor in the background to keep an eye on temps and utilisation to see what is being pushed the hardest. Graphic settings for 2D are separate from VR so also worth comparing both to make sure you don't have something cpu heavy turned up on the VR side. The 4090 could also be contributing to the increase in cpu temp as that is likely exhausting in the direction of the cpu.

I have the same cpu and gpu so will give it a check tomorrow.

 

https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

Edited Monday at 07:56 PM by Donka

[Dermot McClusky 506]

Just now, Donka said:

Worth running HW Monitor in the background to keep an eye on temps and utilisation to see what is being pushed the hardest. Graphic settings for 2D are separate from VR so also worth comparing both to make sure you don't have something cpu heavy turned up on the VR side. The 4090 could also be contributing to the increase in cpu temp as that is likely exhausting in the direction of the cpu.

I have the same cpu and gpu so will give it a check tomorrow.

Thanks for that, I'll be curious to see your results. HWmonitor is what I've been running; yesterday I was getting ~88-89 degrees through most of my flight, frames were steady at 72 FPS. I definitely turned my VR graphics settings way down compared to my 2d setup, so I've got that covered. I agree about the GPU adding heat, though I have a Fractal Torrent case running 3 x 140 mm fans and 2 x 180 mm fans (not set for quiet mode) as well as a Peerless Assassin cooler, so I don't think I'm undercooling. 

[Donka 653]

Worth doing a quick flight in 2D and take a screenshot of the limits reached in HW Monitor then restart it and do the same flight in VR and compare. If the CPU isn't being pushed much more but the gpu is then that could be part of the problem. If the CPU is being pushed then that would be the reason but it would be interesting to see what is happening around the time of a shutdown. The CPU should be throttle before that stage but may be worth checking the cooling solution is properly seated and thermal paste is in order.

What cooler are you using?

[Dermot McClusky 506]

I've actually watched my temps in 2d pretty extensively for the past few months and my CPU rarely goes over the 70s, so I think my cooling is ok. My cooler is a Thermalright PS120SE, which was a high achiever in benchmarks (just barely out-performed by a Noctua NH-D15). I considered whether or not it was well-seated, but I was pretty careful with my installation and, as mentioned above, it's really performed very well under heavy loads in 2D (there are times CPU is maxed in usage, but temps are still high 70s/low 80s). 

I'll do a side-by-side test, though, and see what happens. Maybe my confidence is misplaced or I'm missing something else. 

[odourboy 1,290]

15 minutes ago, Dermot McClusky said:

I've actually watched my temps in 2d pretty extensively for the past few months and my CPU rarely goes over the 70s, so I think my cooling is ok. My cooler is a Thermalright PS120SE, which was a high achiever in benchmarks (just barely out-performed by a Noctua NH-D15). I considered whether or not it was well-seated, but I was pretty careful with my installation and, as mentioned above, it's really performed very well under heavy loads in 2D (there are times CPU is maxed in usage, but temps are still high 70s/low 80s). 

I'll do a side-by-side test, though, and see what happens. Maybe my confidence is misplaced or I'm missing something else. 

So how do the CPU and GPU utilization compare in similar 2D and VR scenarios? Do you have fan profiles set up for your case or GPU fans? Could a profile be throttling maximum fan speed?

[Dermot McClusky 506]

7 minutes ago, odourboy said:

So how do the CPU and GPU utilization compare in similar 2D and VR scenarios? Do you have fan profiles set up for your case or GPU fans? Could a profile be throttling maximum fan speed?

I'll look at my bios tonight; the only thing I've changed on fan settings is to go from "quiet" to "standard" (or something like that) to keep fan speeds up a bit on the lower end, but I've never set custom limits or curves. My fans are definitely running high speed when I play either 2d or VR. 

[Dermot McClusky 506]

Well, oddly enough, I tested things out tonight and didn't have the same issues I'd had before. 

2D: temps ~mid-high 70's, CPU usage~30-60%, GPU usage~70-80%
VR: temps ~low-mid 80's (occasionally dipping into the 70's), CPU usage~30-60%, GPU usage ~70-80%

VR was pretty smooth going through Sydney and San Diego, mostly maintaining 72 FPS w/ a few small stutters. 

Maybe it's not actually an issue? I'll keep watching it w/ each session and see.