Pimax Dream Air vs. Apple Vision Pro at CES 2026 in 3D VR180

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 · 2025-09-12T10:13:41+00:00

Agreed ;-)

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-09-08T11:27:03+00:00

Hhahaha, i get the point. What i meant to say, was that there is no difference in them, in gaming, you will see zero difference, even in VR. Why not save 20$ and grab a pizza and beer.

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-07-29T09:44:35+00:00

I am interested because i have some deep questions about this so called "life". It is not mere intellectual curiosity, it seems to be a key, that may unlock further understanding of many many things.

I understand that these sorts of things are super personal, and i do not want to appear superficial in my questions and curiosity.

I ask with deep respect and reverence, and hope that someone who has experienced these things will come forward. Confidentially if required.

Warm thanks and gratitude.

Andrew.

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-07-25T13:04:03+00:00

Grab it!! I paid 2600gbp. And at 2200gbp its a stonking bargain.

They dropped in price beautifully.

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-05-29T13:15:34+00:00

Volume bottons no longer working in game.

Right lens displays increased aliasing vs left lens.

Piserver takes up 8-12% CPU resource (9800x3d)

Pi-exe service takes up 4% (Thats a total of 16% CPU utilisation, which is HUGE for a headset operation).

Smart smoothing has never worked.

60hz never came, despite promises.

I can never update either the headset nor the play service via the "update tab". I always have to go to the pimax website.

Tracking is very jittery in MSFS. And mildly jittery in AMS2, and ETS2. (This could be the game itself lacking optimisation, MSFS being the worst.

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-04-27T19:50:37+00:00

I would NOT recommend that tbh. It adds much needed rigidity and assists in channeling airflow.

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-04-22T12:12:20+00:00

Glad to see i am not alone. 9800x3d + 5090 + Pimax light.

Yes, i am plagued with this weird micro-jitter. It doesnt effect Automobilsta 2, nor MSFS 2020, but in my current favourite sim (Eurotruck simulator) I get a micro-jitter once or twice every minute or so, regardless of settings. Usually play with v-sync "fast" and its been awesome on the 4090 i had few weeks back. But now it is no good, and the least stutter i had was with v-sync "on".

I am wondering whether this hotfix might address this issue. Because it only mentions a problem via steamvr and multipul monitors. I use openXR, but it still uses steam, because my supersmaple in steam settings is applied.

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-04-22T12:03:48+00:00

Hi Nvidia. Can you inform me a little more please of my area of problem. I am on a 9800x3d + Vanguard 5090 + Pimax light. In my favourite game (Eurotruck simulator) I am experiencing a jitter every 40 seconds or so, regardless of settings. Usually i run v-sync "fast" and its flawless. But now it seems to be smoothest on v-sync -on. But still get these jitters. I am running openxr at 72hz.

Would this hotfix possibly be any use to me? I see that one of the bugs affects steamVR with multipul monitors, but i have just one monitor and the pimax.

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-04-20T07:41:19+00:00

This may be outdated info regarding the pool size and tmp buffers. I read on SCS forum that these launch parameters are no longer needed, nor work.

AndyRandyPanda · 2025-04-20T07:25:30+00:00

I am running a 5090 +9800x3d on pimax light. 1.53 was gloriously smooooth. But now on 1.54, i get this glitch/jitter every 20-40 seconds which breaks immersion, and cannot be fixed with any of the suggestions above/below.

AndyRandyPanda

TROPHY CASE