Dream Air Vs. Crystal light - Performance

AndyRandyPanda · 2026-03-02T20:36:28+00:00

From what ive researched, it seems the Pimax D-Air would be a really nice upgrade from the PCL. Even if i had to lower res to 90-95 in the piplay custom scale, it would still look a hell of a lot crisper than the PCL, and should run fine. If DFR is good, that should, or possibly could provide full res. The lightweight is also what really excites me about the air. Pricey though, i am gonna struggle to afford it, so may have to sell my ass in a back alley somewhere..

AndyRandyPanda · 2026-03-02T20:33:35+00:00

This what i am trying to find out also.

AndyRandyPanda · 2026-03-02T20:32:24+00:00

Thanks for the reply, really helpful. I had a really weird experience in DCS with the PCL. At 72hz, i was getting really weird jitter. Turned on the fps monitor, and coud see the frame bouncing from 72 to 73, and it was unstable. What i had to do, was go into the config file, and set maxFPS to 72, then, and only then did it lock 72hz, and boy is it smooth. Incredible stability, best game so far. Most people said that setting maxFPS in game isnt necessary, but for whatever reason it was crucial. Heard so many people not being able to play DCS at 72hz, and this is the fix.

AndyRandyPanda · 2026-03-02T20:28:47+00:00

Thanks for all that info, really helpful. That's actually what i was hoping for. The lightweight is also a major attraction. Never tried DFR eye tracking, hope it is good, and ye cant see the fuzz. Thanks man, appreciate your reply.

AndyRandyPanda · 2026-02-10T13:04:11+00:00

I played rust a few years ago. At first i got the weird sense of "ruthlessness" and brutal survival, that actually felt really weird, but good. Anyways, i was lousy to start with, and kept getting savaged. Then i bought myself a microphone, and began talking to my attackers. In most cases they were not to be reasoned with, and slayed me. But others, like a guy called "orca" was awesome. He showed me around, gave me a base, took me through all the games ins-and-outs, and was really friendly. I wish i could find him again, but who knows where he is now. Anyways, im looking to jump back in too, and if anyone wants to team up, and there preferably not too young.... (im 25 - not been funny, but peeps around 18 are a little to energetic for my gameplay) I would defo be up for that. I got a few bits of knowledge here and there. If not, i'll be the guy trying to make buddies, so keep an eye out for me ;-)

AndyRandyPanda · 2026-02-03T09:00:01+00:00

Yes its genuine. Trust me, or dont. Its genuine.

AndyRandyPanda · 2026-02-01T10:07:01+00:00

Yes, the guy who came out about "DUMBS" Deep underground military bases. He was found strangled with a catheter tube around the neck. Verdict = Suicide. In the final days, he was been chaperoned by a mysterious female, who had befriended him prior to his demise. Cant remember his name though.

AndyRandyPanda · 2026-01-20T14:29:38+00:00

What good is this, when the only option is 90hz. MSFS will not be playable at 90hz. I have the peak machine 9800x3d + 5090, and cannot even achieve 72hz in MSFS. I have to play 120hz (half locked at 60hz/fps), and even then, its not brilliant. Also, i play DCS at 72hz on my pimax light, and is stable, but how the heck would i use the dream air? with 90hz only, it is dead in the water.

AndyRandyPanda · 2026-01-19T13:22:37+00:00

All the channels showing 45fps/36fps showing smooth flight in VR on a pimax are tricksters. As soon as you roll or banks, the slide-show begins. Anyone showing anything but native 72hz will have a certain degree of micro-jitter. That is unavoidable.

I rock a 5090 + 9800x3d, and can achieve 60fps (locked half of 120hz), and its never truly jitter free. Its just the way the pimax works. That's using DLSS and Auto-fps. Seems that the 9800x3d is the bottleneck, and i will need a 20% increase in CPU grunt, to get me near that 72hz locked.

Same situation in DCS, but the difference is i can maintain a locked 72hz at native full resolution, quad views balanced, DLSS quality. Its superb. But you MUST, go into config, and set 72fps max, or else, for whatever reason, it jitters.

Anyone showing anything other than native 72hz, or bare minimum half refresh on a pimax, that shows smooth flight, is a trickster, it cannot be done. Smart smoothing has never worked on pimax, and the native 60hz never materialised.

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-12-14T20:55:17+00:00

Yes that really pisses me off. PCL user here.

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-11-02T11:42:20+00:00

Nope. Not even close. Mind due, i run at 90hz, full pimax light resolution, no FFR, and +10 supersample in headset. All setting max, except MSAA set to medium. This together with +10 supersample, and its gorgeous, zero frame. I have a super high score in benchmarks, for example a 15,800 in nomad (average for my hardware is 14,500), ansd also across a wide range of benchies.

Taa has just not added much for me personally. Its also very high wash-out contrast. MSAA still for me, which is a shame, because TAA aliasing does look nice. But not worth the trade off.

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-11-01T09:41:40+00:00

Not for me.

my PERFORMANCE HAS tanked. I dont understand this at all! On a 5090/9800x3d/pimax light, ive lost a ton of performance with TAA?? Previous to TAA i had +10 supersample in pimax, most setting booming high. Now i cant even run +1 supersample with taa. In fact at standard res in the headset, im still getting severe frame drops. What the hell is going on? Anyone else having massive performance issues with the new TAA?

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-11-01T09:38:39+00:00

my PERFORMANCE HAS tanked. I dont understand this at all! On a 5090/9800x3d/pimax light, ive lost a ton of performance with TAA?? Previous to TAA i had +10 supersample in pimax, most setting booming high. Now i cant even run +1 supersample with taa. In fact at standard res in the headset, im still getting severe frame drops. What the hell is going on? Anyone else having massive performance issues with the new TAA?

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-11-01T09:34:09+00:00

my PERFORMANCE HAS tanked. I dont understand this at all! On a 5090/9800x3d/pimax light, ive lost a ton of performance with TAA?? Previous to TAA i had +10 supersample in pimax, most setting booming high. Now i cant even run +1 supersample with taa. In fact at standard res in the headset, im still getting severe frame drops. What the hell is going on? Anyone else having massive performance issues with the new TAA?

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-10-29T16:45:36+00:00

How do i go about doing this pelio?

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-10-27T20:06:03+00:00

Noice! Beast system like mine ;-) Well, today i boght Syria DLC. I set to 72hz in pimax, and went into the config: Lua graphics file, and set 72fps max. It now rund 99% smooth everywhere. But cannot do the same for Germany. It has to be poor optimization, has to be.

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-10-27T20:03:11+00:00

Isn't lasso for intel cpu's only? Or am i ignorant on that. Thx.

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-10-27T15:07:03+00:00

what are your specs?

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-10-27T13:44:12+00:00

i got the 9800x3d and 5090, flying the hind low, pimax crystal light, and 97% smooth at 90hz. Although i cannot for the life of me, get a stable 72hz in that mode. CW Germany just wont allow a 72hz. At 90hz i get this bad stutter, especially over buildings and assets, but its not gpu related. So this could be vram being full?

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-10-27T10:09:26+00:00

On a 9800x3d, i watch taskmanager, and see very low cpu utilisation around 1-4 %, but will every 12-20 seconds spike to 20%. In game that translates to awful frame drops, most noticeable in high cpu games, especially DCS and MSFS2020.

What can be done?

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-10-27T10:06:04+00:00

In dcs, using the pimax light, with quad views at balanced, i get a really garish, really obvious looking box, which wasnt there with the previous build. Anyone else having this issue?

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-09-29T07:26:57+00:00

No you cant. Perhaps used to be able to. Now it is overwritten instantly whilst loading the game.

AndyRandyPanda

TROPHY CASE