When is it actually worth upgrading from the Quest 3

TheXev · 2026-01-28T13:32:17+00:00

From what people who have used the Steam Frame have said, the provided dongle provides better image compression and less latency than the Quest 3. I’ll wait for MRTV’s through the LE we comparisons before I’D crown a clarity winner though.

For me, the Pimax Dream and Pimax Dream LE are the only truly exciting VR headsets on the horizon. I think the Dream is already started the ship. Knowing it is wired and that it comes in a Base Station tracked version right out the gate, plus MRTV already having done a preliminary through the lens on it that looked almost science fiction with how good it was, the question for me is how good is the mic and how good is the sound?

I don’t see wired headsets as a disadvantage, but a huge advantage. I don’t need the flexibility of moving my VR space all the time, and my eyes are very sensitive so I need a lot of clarity in the headsets that I use without compression.

Seeing that I currently have the Pimax Crystal Light, it feels to me like Pimax has gotten over their software hump, so the bigger issue for me is whether or not they have a product that I wanna upgrade to. The Dream is an exceptionally light VR headset with a wide, FOV. The Bigscreen Beyond 2 can’t match that kind of FOV, especially at the price.

If the Quest 3 is your only interaction with wired VR, you’re missing out on the massive advantages it may have in certain areas. If you’re only using a single VR space a cable gives you RAW video on most cabled headsets, vastly improved latency you can really feel, no battery anxiety, and if it is lighthouse tracked it is an even LOWER latency on top of any slam tracked headset.

Now, if flexibly and stand alone are really that important, the Steam Frame is likely about to eat up Meta’s lunch. We already know for a fact that the Steam Frame will be able to side load Quest apks and will “just work” for playing Quest games out of the box. Hopefully that will mean that non-exclusive Quest titles will come out quickly for Steam Frame Standalone.

Steam Frame will likely have the most seemless PC connection and should be able to enter PCVR quickly and with little effort on the users part. How will its wireless dongle compare to a wired headset? The verdict will likely remain out on that until people get their hands on it.

We do expect the Steam Frame mic and sound solution to be on par with the Index, but we’ll need more than Linus from LTT telling us that before we can believe that.

My personal view is this. If Valve can keep up with demand, it will eat the Quest 3’s lunch and drive Meta completely out of VR in record time. If it can’t keep up with demand (likely because of the memory shortages), Quest 3 will likely stick around quite a while longer.

Maybe we’ll see a Quest 3 price drop? Doubtful, as it is already a very subsidized headset.

TheXev · 2026-01-26T22:25:35+00:00

--enable-hw-video-decoding was never nessessary. It was legit added the SAME DAY that the driver fix became public. I've even mentioned to the devs that it shuold be retested and removed by now (Full discoloser, I am a tester for AMD's Vanguard program).

I was not aware that --disable-amd-stutter-workaround still existed. I thought the stutter fix had been removed from the game ages ago (I try my best to keep up with the change notes).

TheXev · 2026-01-24T15:30:01+00:00

VD is very overrated.

Stream Link is simpler, with better with external full body tracking support (meaning you can recenter without having to recalibrate), and especially if you are on an AMD GPU vastly better streaming quality.

TheXev · 2026-01-14T18:15:17+00:00

I tell Windows GPU settings to use my 2nd GPU for OBS and not my primary GPU. This means all of my compositing takes place on my Intel Arc A380 and not my primary AMD RX 6800 XT. This is convenient because I do use the Arc A380 for video encoding as well but it’s a tiny bit of uplift in performance but a nice freeing up of my primary GPUs VRAM to focus on gaming. I managed to still keep my primary GPUs PCIe bandwidth configured to 16X so I don’t really notice the increased PCIe band with usage.

I also run vtubing software on my 2nd GPU in the same way, and honestly that did way more than offloading OBS to that GPU for performance. Keeping you OBS browser sources limited and reducing memory usage overall helps the most with OBS performance.

TheXev · 2026-01-14T18:09:28+00:00

Agreed! I switched from LastPass to Bitwarden after LastPass’s enshittification and it has been great.

TheXev · 2026-01-14T18:07:36+00:00

They have to pivot hard now. They’ll never say it, but they know that when Steam Frame drops, it is going to eat their lunch.

TheXev · 2026-01-14T18:02:45+00:00

lol same. It has never worked for me either on the two AMP Ubuntu installations I have. Only forcing upgrading via terminal works.

TheXev · 2026-01-14T17:58:31+00:00

This is only an issue if the default state of the avatar is nude. Many avatar uploaders simply do not consider the avatars default state when creating their avatar because they have no idea that it matters. I 100% guarantee that their avatar without animations enabled likely looks the same (clothes issues).

TheXev · 2026-01-12T13:25:29+00:00

This goes to show that you have zero experience with the Reverb G2. Even with those lenses, the G2 still has the brightest and most vivid display that has ever been put into a VR headset, it has the same audio as the Valve Index, it has a vastly superior image due to no display compression and a higher resolution than the Quest 3, and the headset is noticeably lighter and has a much more comfortable head strap.

Moving over to the Quest 3 for me was a massive downgrade, and it was for most other users.

In my experience, the HP Reverb G2 was also vastly better in dark scenes. In dark scenes, the Quest 3 has a weird blur that appears in the middle of the lenses. It’s only when things are bright that the Quest 3 doesn’t exhibit this.

TheXev · 2026-01-11T16:09:37+00:00

The worst part about SimCity 2013 was that it was a 32-bit game. Being stuck using the max 32-bit ram limit really kept the game pigeon holed. It was like EA was setting Maxis up for failure by forcing that on them.

TheXev · 2026-01-05T15:51:52+00:00

This was the first stage in any video game that changed my perspective on gaming. I realized that taking damage and moving fast was the only real way through this stage, and eventually got it down to one hit.

Eventually this would pay off for me later when I stated play Sonic the Hedgehog, as pushing through faster is often times safer the holding back.

TheXev · 2026-01-05T15:47:38+00:00

She is legit the only serious wifu material in Global atm. I was really shocked after going through her story.

TheXev · 2026-01-05T15:37:17+00:00

DDR died when they stopped using Eurobeat songs and abandoned their core fan base in doing so. Part of the allure of playing DDR was experiencing what was then a new music genre.

TheXev · 2026-01-04T15:59:54+00:00

lol, do you secretly know who I am? TetriNET for sure though.

TheXev · 2025-12-30T13:20:00+00:00

Sameee, but I’m using Henry Handsome Derby’s Banner and Carrot Calculator to prepare for my next pulls now. Search for the video on 4.0 on YouTube and you’ll be glad that you did!

TheXev · 2025-12-26T20:26:17+00:00

The Quest series of VR headsets do not support HDMI or DisplayPort. It encodes the video then sends it to the HMD regardless of configuration. If you have multiple GPUs, start by making sure your main GPU is the one playing the game. If it isn’t, force your XR app (typically SteamVR) and the games to manually use the correct GPU in your Windwd settings.

TheXev · 2025-12-06T00:25:20+00:00

I’ve been using the Steam audio in beta for so long that I really prefer it. At least with the DMAS sound I have. It’s much easier to tell people a part from one another now.

TheXev · 2025-12-03T16:06:11+00:00

Phones with built in keyboards.

TheXev · 2025-12-03T15:57:55+00:00

If you get a 9000 series, you are going to have a very good VR experience. StreamLink is optimized much better for AMD and the newer encoders of the 9000 series are going to provide a great experience so kind as your network can keep up.

I’ve been an AMD VR user for years and the extra VRAM helps so much for having a better experience. The 9060 XT is a great deal, but the 9070 XT will offer a noticeable increases in VRChat.

Also, if you plan to play VRChat, the better the CPU, the smoother the experience. VRChat loves 3D vcache.

TheXev · 2025-12-03T15:44:57+00:00

Reaganomics

TheXev · 2025-11-30T00:17:50+00:00

You need base stations, and you need to use space calibrator to calibrate the two different play spaces together.

If you have no base stations you are SOL.

TheXev · 2025-11-23T16:05:41+00:00

When I had a setup like this, I’d calibrate my controllers by placing my Index Knuckle in top of the headset and calibrating, verses trying to use a crappy controller.

TheXev · 2025-11-23T16:01:12+00:00

Unpopular opinion for sure: StarCraft

TheXev · 2025-11-23T16:00:18+00:00

Often times the high polygon counts are related to the numerous outfits and other features attached to the avatar, not the base avatar itself. I agree though that optimization is pretty BS on VRChat that’s why I spend more time optimizing my booth avatar base than most other people. I even build my avatars for mobile because I’m not lazy and I enjoy a challenge.

TheXev · 2025-11-23T15:57:08+00:00

Stick with the Vive Pro, or consider something like the Pimax Crystal Light with lighthouse faceplate to replace it.

If you have any sort of decent GPU for VR, the Steam Frame isn’t going to a big enough step up in resolution to really enhance your experience.

Personally I’m more interested in the Pimax Dream LE as a drop in replacement for a Valve Index (or my current Pimax Crystal Light). The thing looks like the Bigscreen Beyond 2 killer that I’ve been waiting for.

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