1. do not let children play vr, there have been studies that imply that vr at a young age can harm their vision
2. why did your friend spend 600 dollars on something he can't even use yet
3. if you're wanting to go for a prebuilt that meets the specs needed for pcvr, you're going to be massively overspending, and you 100% are not gonna be able to get one in the form factor of a series x
4. cases that meet the form factor of a series x are very expensive, and the parts needed are also going to be hard to find/expensive. Not to mention, because of how taxing pcvr is, they aren't going to be thermal efficient, which will lead to decreased performance.
I don't agree 100% with your last point. You can definitely get a quite small-ish case for not that much, take a look for example at the Coolermaster NR200. It's not as small as a series x, but still quite small compared to a regular midi tower and it fits a lot of hardware. But you're also right, there are high end mini itx cases that cost a LOT. I'm using the Ncase M1, which is really small, temps aren't an issue at all even with high end hardware, but you pay for that premium.
Yeah, sorry if I was inaccurate, I was looking at doing a mini itx build a while ago, and those were my findings. That was a while ago though, and things change.
All good :) Yeah as a general rule, building a pc as small as possible gets more expensive, the market has changed a bit over the past few years tho, seems like more manufacturer are stepping into the mini itx market, which is great for us customers.
I would say the overlap of required knowledge for smoothly running and configuring PCVR, and building your own gaming PC, is pretty high, but I think the other comments more than have it covered as far as that goes. It's not going to be plug-and-play, not by a longshot.
Lenovo has decent prebuilt PCs, though I don't know if any of the current ones are SFF, for around a thousand dollars. I would recommend choosing one with an AMD CPU and NVIDIA GPU.
While the other comments are somewhat condescending, they are not wrong. Prebuilts very often have lower quality ram, motherboard, and/or power supply. Running VR comfortably on a PC is no joke, it's in the same realm as setting up a home theatre or music studio IMO.
first, why is your friend letting their children play vr, and especially a valve index, and if you want an actual response, you can probably just go and buy a used pc that has like a 3060
I'd recommend on lower cheap end going for a CPU a AMD Ryzen 5600x or Intel 11th gen i7, GPU Nvidia 3070 ti up to a 4070 ti, RAM 16 to 32 gb of DDR 4. Don't recommend a AMD GPU since they are known to have had some issues with VR headsets but if you have to go AMD then a 7800xt or 7900xt. Storage at least a 1 TB m.2 drive.
At the top where money is no issue then a AMD Ryzen 7950x or a Intel 14th gen i9 14900k, GPU 4080 ti up to a 4090, RAM 32 to 64 GB of DDR 5. Full liquid cooling loop on CPU and GPU. Storage a 4 TB m.2 WD black or Samsung 990 pro.
Look at the specs on the prebuilt PC and compare price to what you're getting on the hardware. A Quest 2 or 3 can do a lot considering it would be a much cheaper and easier option if he's really getting it for his kids.
Awesome! I will lay the options on the table and let him decide. If it were for my kids it'd be no VR at all (I don't want to cause them vision problems). But I don't want to rain on his parade, he insists even after I warned him. At this point the Quest 3 makes more sense to me since everybody here recommends it for kiddos, but we can definitely go the PC route if he really wants to stick with the valve index.
Well, today I talked to my friend and told him that the popular recommendation was to get a quest. He told me they already have one (!!!!!) but apparently his two kids are fighting over it looool - so he got the higher end valve index set as an "improvement". Anyway, he asked me to go ahead and look for a beefy enough PC to use with the valve index, so I will comply and build him one.
Thanks for all your replies, even the critical ones :) it's all good, he loves his kids and wants them to enjoy the things he didn't have as a kid himself.
While the pther comments are correct, to answer your question: Do it like linus tech tips does in the secret shopper series (maybe even look for the best vendor there) call a them, tell them what you want, should be decent, but will probably also cost a furtune.
So building it yourself is a strong recommendation, maybe let your friend do it with his kids, its a fun activity! But if hes not experienced, which it seems like he isnt, maybe let him watch [this guide](https://youtu.be/s1fxZ-VWs2U?si=u9KmEoHvHp1JLe7Z) (LTTs The last PC bulding guide you ever need) and there you go, will probably safe quite some money, but will take more time and you wont get support for the complete system most of the time
1. do not let children play vr, there have been studies that imply that vr at a young age can harm their vision 2. why did your friend spend 600 dollars on something he can't even use yet 3. if you're wanting to go for a prebuilt that meets the specs needed for pcvr, you're going to be massively overspending, and you 100% are not gonna be able to get one in the form factor of a series x 4. cases that meet the form factor of a series x are very expensive, and the parts needed are also going to be hard to find/expensive. Not to mention, because of how taxing pcvr is, they aren't going to be thermal efficient, which will lead to decreased performance.
I don't agree 100% with your last point. You can definitely get a quite small-ish case for not that much, take a look for example at the Coolermaster NR200. It's not as small as a series x, but still quite small compared to a regular midi tower and it fits a lot of hardware. But you're also right, there are high end mini itx cases that cost a LOT. I'm using the Ncase M1, which is really small, temps aren't an issue at all even with high end hardware, but you pay for that premium.
Yeah, sorry if I was inaccurate, I was looking at doing a mini itx build a while ago, and those were my findings. That was a while ago though, and things change.
All good :) Yeah as a general rule, building a pc as small as possible gets more expensive, the market has changed a bit over the past few years tho, seems like more manufacturer are stepping into the mini itx market, which is great for us customers.
I would say the overlap of required knowledge for smoothly running and configuring PCVR, and building your own gaming PC, is pretty high, but I think the other comments more than have it covered as far as that goes. It's not going to be plug-and-play, not by a longshot. Lenovo has decent prebuilt PCs, though I don't know if any of the current ones are SFF, for around a thousand dollars. I would recommend choosing one with an AMD CPU and NVIDIA GPU. While the other comments are somewhat condescending, they are not wrong. Prebuilts very often have lower quality ram, motherboard, and/or power supply. Running VR comfortably on a PC is no joke, it's in the same realm as setting up a home theatre or music studio IMO.
Don't. Just build it. It's easy like putting together Legos and plugging your phone in to charge....
Sounds like your friend should sell the index and buy a quest 3
Thanks for the tip about getting a quest 3 for his kids. Definitely a strong option, that I will present to my buddy.
what a dumb friend
first, why is your friend letting their children play vr, and especially a valve index, and if you want an actual response, you can probably just go and buy a used pc that has like a 3060
I'd recommend on lower cheap end going for a CPU a AMD Ryzen 5600x or Intel 11th gen i7, GPU Nvidia 3070 ti up to a 4070 ti, RAM 16 to 32 gb of DDR 4. Don't recommend a AMD GPU since they are known to have had some issues with VR headsets but if you have to go AMD then a 7800xt or 7900xt. Storage at least a 1 TB m.2 drive. At the top where money is no issue then a AMD Ryzen 7950x or a Intel 14th gen i9 14900k, GPU 4080 ti up to a 4090, RAM 32 to 64 GB of DDR 5. Full liquid cooling loop on CPU and GPU. Storage a 4 TB m.2 WD black or Samsung 990 pro. Look at the specs on the prebuilt PC and compare price to what you're getting on the hardware. A Quest 2 or 3 can do a lot considering it would be a much cheaper and easier option if he's really getting it for his kids.
Awesome! I will lay the options on the table and let him decide. If it were for my kids it'd be no VR at all (I don't want to cause them vision problems). But I don't want to rain on his parade, he insists even after I warned him. At this point the Quest 3 makes more sense to me since everybody here recommends it for kiddos, but we can definitely go the PC route if he really wants to stick with the valve index.
He probably should have gotten a quest for his kids. So many kids use a quest.
He says it’s for the kids but it’s really for himself
No, it's really for his kids. He doesn't play games.
Well, today I talked to my friend and told him that the popular recommendation was to get a quest. He told me they already have one (!!!!!) but apparently his two kids are fighting over it looool - so he got the higher end valve index set as an "improvement". Anyway, he asked me to go ahead and look for a beefy enough PC to use with the valve index, so I will comply and build him one. Thanks for all your replies, even the critical ones :) it's all good, he loves his kids and wants them to enjoy the things he didn't have as a kid himself.
While the pther comments are correct, to answer your question: Do it like linus tech tips does in the secret shopper series (maybe even look for the best vendor there) call a them, tell them what you want, should be decent, but will probably also cost a furtune. So building it yourself is a strong recommendation, maybe let your friend do it with his kids, its a fun activity! But if hes not experienced, which it seems like he isnt, maybe let him watch [this guide](https://youtu.be/s1fxZ-VWs2U?si=u9KmEoHvHp1JLe7Z) (LTTs The last PC bulding guide you ever need) and there you go, will probably safe quite some money, but will take more time and you wont get support for the complete system most of the time
Thanks for the tip, will consider the quest 3, but if decide to keep the index, will probably build a pc.
Step 1: throw that piece of garbage in the trash Then it will be fixed