Over time, we have checked out many Pimax VR headsets. All of them provide related options, together with ultrawide shows, light-weight development and an adjustable rendering decision, area of view (FOV) and refresh charges. The Pimax Imaginative and prescient 8K X is the head of Pimax’s lineup. With twin 4K decision shows, a refresh fee as much as 90 Hz and SteamVR monitoring, the 8K X is, on paper, among the best VR headsets out there. Nonetheless, the value tag (begins at $1,299 as of writing) and the head-mounted show’s (HMD’s) advanced setup course of will scare away all however probably the most devoted VR followers.
The 8K X will go well with its area of interest viewers nicely, however except you have bought the endurance to tinker with the settings in each sport and are keen to place up with low body charges, this in all probability is not the headset for you.
Pimax Imaginative and prescient 8K X Specs
Per-eye Decision | 3840 x 2160 (native), 2560 x 1440 (upscaled) |
Show Expertise | Custom-made low persistence liquid (CLPL) |
Lens Expertise | Fresnel |
Refresh Fee | 60 Hz, 75 Hz (Native), 90 Hz (Native with RTX 3000 GPU) or 114 Hz (Upscaled) |
Horizontal FOV | As much as 170 levels |
Interpupillary Distance (IPD) | 2.2-3 inches / 55-75mm |
Sensors | 9-axis accelerometer |
Monitoring Expertise | SteamVR |
Cables | USB 2.0 (energy), USB 3.0 (information), 14.8 foot/ 4.5m DisplayPort 1.2 (video) |
I/O | Twin 3.5mm headphone jack, 1x USB Sort-C, microphone, audio system |
Dimensions | 11 x 4.3 x 5.4 inches / 280.1 x 108.2 x 135.9mm |
Weight | 2.2 kilos (997.9g) |
Meet the Pimax Imaginative and prescient 8K X
The Imaginative and prescient 8K X is Pimax’s top-of-the-line VR headset however shares many options with the remainder of Pimax’s headset lineup. The Imaginative and prescient 8K X adopts Pimax’s signature ultrawide headset shell with an angled entrance that enables the panels to wrap round your nostril. Having the shows at an angle permits for the additional vast 200-degree (170-degrees diagonal) FOV that Pimax headsets are recognized for.
The Imaginative and prescient 8K X appears to be like virtually equivalent to the cheaper Pimax Imaginative and prescient 8K Plus and Pimax Imaginative and prescient 5K Tremendous headsets. All three share the identical soft-touch, blue exterior shell with a chrome chevron on the entrance. The sunshine on the 8K X shines a vibrant inexperienced when the headset is on.
You may discover the facility button and a pair of quantity buttons on the highest proper. These buttons share the identical chrome end because the entrance chevron.
The rear cushion is a direct copy of the rear cushion on the HTC Vive Professional. It features a triangular part that cradles your neck and a cushion that enables the primary one to evolve to the contour of your head. The Imaginative and prescient 8K X comes outfitted with Pimax’s Consolation Equipment upgraded face cushion, which presents an prolonged brow cushion to assist stability the headset.
The big cushion feels comfy if you first put it on, however it’s not so nice as soon as it will get sweaty. You’ll be able to take the cushion off and clear it, however the foam absorbs moisture shortly, and it is not as straightforward to disinfect it later. A moisture-resistant leather-based cushion can be a welcome improve. Sadly, no different headset has such a big brow cushion, so you may’t use a unique model’s accent. So long as you are not breaking a sweat, your headset ought to be effective. However chances are you’ll need to keep away from health video games within the Imaginative and prescient 8K X.
You additionally get a USB Sort-C port on the underside of the headset, which is supposed for the Pimax hand monitoring accent. The port is strengthened with a sturdy metallic shroud, which ought to shield it from harm over time.
The Pimax Imaginative and prescient 8K X is likely one of the heaviest headsets we have examined, which is sort of a shock as a result of the 8K Plus that we examined final yr is likely one of the lightest (12.1 kilos). The KDMAS headstrap provides a big quantity of mass, for a complete weight of two.2 kilos for my evaluation unit. By comparability, the Valve Index, which looks like a dense machine if you decide it up, is simply 1.9 kilos (with out the cable). Curiously, the Imaginative and prescient 8K X, regardless of its unwieldy measurement and its substantial mass, feels gentle on the pinnacle and comfy to put on for prolonged intervals. The headstrap does job of distributing the burden evenly to restrict neck pressure.
Previous Pimax headsets required further energy to function. The 5K Plus and 8K Plus that we checked out final yr wanted an AC adapter to inject further energy into the system. With the 8K X, (in addition to the 5K Tremendous), Pimax did away with the AC energy. As a substitute, this headset pulls its energy via two USB cables. A USB 3.0 cable transfers information and delivers energy, whereas a USB 2.0 cable pulls further energy out of your PC. A DisplayPort 1.3 cable handles the video and audio indicators.
Twin 4K Shows
Just like the Imaginative and prescient 8K Plus, the 8K X options twin 4K panels for a mixed decision of 7680 x 2160, therefore the 8K title, (though true 8K can be 7680 x 4320). The 8K X we’re at the moment reviewing differs from the 8K Plus in that it presents native rendering that bypasses the upscaler. The headset helps 60 Hz and 75 Hz native rendering. And for those who’re fortunate sufficient to have an RTX 3000-series GPU, that are a number of the hardest to search out and greatest graphics playing cards, you may also allow 90 Hz native rendering with an experimental driver. 90 Hz mode would not work on GeForce 20-series playing cards, which is what we now have in our take a look at system, so we now have not examined the 90 Hz operation. Moreover, the 90 Hz mode is unique to RTX 3000 playing cards, and there at the moment isn’t an AMD equal really useful for operating the mode.
The Imaginative and prescient 8K X additionally helps Pimax’s Twin Engine Mode, which supplies you the choice to decrease the decision and implement upscaling to allow the next 114 Hz refresh mode setting. The decision tops out at 2560 x 1440 (1440p) per eye when upscaling is enabled, in comparison with 3840 x 2160 (4K) per eye in native decision.
The upscaled mode will increase the show’s response time, however the decrease decision enter washes out a number of the coloration and makes the screens a bit dimmer than when operating native decision. The PiTool software program’s brightness and coloration changes might help convey the vibrance again although. I used to be unable to dial within the colours to the identical stage as they’re within the full decision mode, however that does not imply somebody with extra time and endurance wouldn’t be capable of. You’ll be able to fine-tune every coloration individually in contrast and brightness, so you could possibly theoretically make it higher than manufacturing unit.
Subject of View Choices
Adjustable refresh fee has develop into a regular characteristic in lots of VR headsets, however Pimax has one key configuration choice that nobody else does: FOV. The Imaginative and prescient 8K X helps 4 totally different FOV choices: Giant, Regular, Small and Potato.
The Giant setting renders the complete 170 levels diagonally, giving the 8K X probably the most expansive view within the digital world of any headset in the marketplace.
Regular trims the width to 150 levels, which continues to be a wider view than competing gadgets and appears to be the perfect choice for a compromise between efficiency and FOV.
The Small setting brings the FOV all the way down to 120 levels, which is now not a class-leading show width. However it’s nonetheless as vast as competing headsets, such because the Valve Index and the upcoming HTC Vive Professional 2.
However the Potato FOV is ineffective. Certain, it reduces the workload of your graphics card, however the 90-degree diagonal render goal leaves so much to be desired. If you are going to spend the cash on an ultrawide headset, you need to have a pc that may drive the decision wanted to make use of the headset correctly.
A number of Headstrap Choices
Pimax presents its headsets in just a few totally different configurations. The bottom Imaginative and prescient 8K X headset options the Pimax modular audio headstrap (SMAS), which incorporates inner audio system that channel sound in direction of your ears just like the Oculus Rift S and Oculus Quest headsets do.
For $100 extra, Pimax will finally provide the headset with the deluxe audio strap (DMAS), which provides built-in adjustable headphones. The Pimax DMAS continues to be in growth, however the firm included a Kickstarter-edition DMAS (KDMAS) audio headstrap with our Imaginative and prescient 8K X evaluation pattern. The KDMAS consists of headphones and appears just like the upcoming DMAS, Pimax instructed us the audio system are totally different. Plus, the KDMAS headphones require cups to contact your ears, whereas the DMAS will will let you function them with out the cups, mimicking the Valve Index’s speaker configuration.
The KDMAS strap that Pimax included with our Imaginative and prescient 8K X seems to share the identical kind because the SMAS strap that got here with the Imaginative and prescient 5K Tremendous we just lately evaluated. The strap features a dial on the again for adjusting the strap size. The dial has a pleasant satisfying click on if you tighten it. Underneath stress, the dial locks into the place and provides you gentle resistance loosening it. With no stress, the mechanism is clean.
We examined the KDMAS with out the cups, and it labored effective however sounded a little bit hole. Utilizing the cups improved the audio system’ quantity and bass ranges.
Picture High quality
The Pimax Imaginative and prescient 8K X has the very best decision panels of any VR headset we have examined, so we anticipated unimaginable picture readability coming into this evaluation. For probably the most half, Pimax delivered on that entrance.
After we ran the headset at native decision with SteamVR set for 100% render high quality, picture readability was impeccable, with vibrant colours, sharp edges and never a touch of display screen door impact. We observed particulars in video games that we had by no means observed earlier than. Nonetheless, to attain a workable body fee, we needed to decrease the rendering scale, which negatively impacted the sharpness of the objects on the display screen. At lower than 100%, edges begin to mix in with the environment.
When not operating the headset at native decision picture high quality suffered considerably. Colours seemed a little bit bit washed out, the picture was now not sharp and the display screen appeared dimmer than when set to native decision. In comparison with different HMDs, the picture readability right here continues to be comparatively excessive, however the upscaled mode doesn’t look nearly as good because the native decision.
The Pimax Imaginative and prescient 8K X screens are a customized low persistence liquid LED design, which suggests they do not produce OLED-like black ranges. That stated, these shows carried out nicely in darkish areas and made surprisingly darkish blacks for a backlit display screen.
Incoherent Decision Settings
One of the confounding issues in regards to the Imaginative and prescient 8K X is SteamVR’s lack of ability to select a constant decision and facet ratio for the panels. Each time we modified the refresh fee, the panel decision would change together with it. The one sample we may discern is that the decrease the refresh fee, the upper the decision.
We suspect that the Pimax is pushing the bandwidth limits of a part of the headset, which is why the decision modifications with the refresh fee adjustment. SteamVR appears to be compensating for the upper refresh fee by reducing the rendered decision.
The incoherent decision configurations made it very tough to guage the efficiency. We could not take a look at 60 Hz versus 75 Hz straight with the precise decision as a result of SteamVR renders in a different way for every one.
Pimax Imaginative and prescient 8K X Really helpful Specs
Working System | Home windows 10 |
GPU | GeForce RTX 2080 or higher (native), GeForce RTX 3060 or higher (90 Hz native), GeForce RTX 2060 or higher (upscaled) |
CPU | Intel i5-9400 or higher |
RAM | 8GB or extra |
Output | USB 2.0/3.0, DisplayPort 1.2 |
Efficiency Checks
As traditional, we carried out our analysis on our commonplace take a look at bench, which incorporates an Intel Core i7-8700K, a GeForce RTX 2080 Founders Version and 16GB of G.Ability Ripjaws DDR4-3600 RAM.
We used Nvidia driver 466.27 for these checks, together with PiTool model V1.0.1.270 and headset firmware V2.1.255.296.
The Pimax 8K X is the primary VR headset that we have examined that we will categorically say that an RTX 2080 is just not highly effective sufficient to run accurately. Pimax says you may run the Imaginative and prescient 8K X off an RTX 2060, however primarily based on our testing, you’ll not get to expertise the 8K X correctly with a GPU like that.
SteamVR advised operating the headset at considerably decrease resolutions with our {hardware} configuration, irrespective of which refresh fee we tried. At 60 Hz, SteamVR really useful 56%. At 75 Hz, it advised 46%. Even the upscaled choice, which runs the panels at 2560 x 1440, recommends simply 68% of that decision to maintain up with the 114 Hz refresh fee.
Half-Life: Alyx
Taking part in Half-Life: Alyx on the Imaginative and prescient 8K X was a visible deal with, particularly at native decision. Valve’s textures are actually unimaginable, and with the 8K X, the main points actually got here to life. We observed small particulars for the primary time, although we have performed the identical scene within the sport tons of of occasions. For those who recognize excessive picture high quality, that is positively one of many high video games to play on this headset.
The Imaginative and prescient 8K X’s upscaling mode is useful when larger body fee issues, however within the case of Half-Life: Alyx, the visible degradation from the decreased decision is just not definitely worth the trade-off except your system is de facto having a tough time delivering frames.
Our RTX 2080 fared nicely by way of efficiency however got here up brief attempting to drive the twin 4K panels within the Imaginative and prescient 8K X. If you set SteamVR to 100% render scale, it renders every eye at 4624 x 3948 pixels. At 60 Hz, our RTX 2080 stored up with the body fee necessities; nevertheless, the i7-8700K struggled to maintain the body occasions steady at this tempo. The CPU did effective after we pushed the refresh fee to 75 Hz, however the GPU fell a bit brief with a mean body fee of 69.93. Even after we ran the upscaled 114 Hz mode, the GPU had a troublesome time, managing solely a mean of 110.86 frames per second (fps).
We don’t advocate enjoying the sport at 60 Hz as a result of it makes all the things really feel laggy within the headset. This affected our skill to goal and goal objects appropriately. We additionally observed weird efficiency anomalies with CPU body occasions spiking in each the native and adjusted resolutions.
Working the headset at 75 Hz improved the lagged feeling considerably, and with SteamVR’s really useful decision, it struck an affordable stability between visible readability and efficiency.
Beat Saber
Beat Saber is not the kind of sport that basically wants the ultra-high constancy picture high quality that the Pimax 8K X is able to however is the kind of sport that may profit tremendously from the next body fee.
Taking part in Beat Saber at 60 Hz was not an ideal expertise. It made the notes really feel like they had been coming at us very quickly, and like we had much less time to organize for our subsequent transfer between swings. We additionally skilled occasional massive CPU and GPU body time spikes, which additional interfered with our skill to play at a excessive stage.
75 Hz provided an improved expertise with no important CPU frametime points; though, the GPU struggled much more at this refresh fee. The Imaginative and prescient 8K X’s upscaling mode that runs at 114 Hz is healthier suited to fast-paced video games like Beat Saber. The additional fps give your thoughts extra data to answer, making it simpler to get the proper timing in your swings.
Pistol Whip: 2089
Pistol Whip: 2089 is one other a type of video games that’s higher with the next body fee. This sport combines a rhythm sport and a shooter, and the enemies seem on display screen in sync of the background soundtrack. Like in Beat Saber, when the body fee is larger, you get extra time to course of your subsequent transfer, making it simpler and fewer anxious to make your shot.
Check after take a look at, we persistently noticed higher scores when the refresh fee was set larger. Moreover, we observed the sport felt extra relaxed at 114 Hz in comparison with 60 Hz. We felt like we had been continuously attempting to maintain up on the decrease setting, which frequently allowed enemies to shoot at us earlier than we may get them. With the headset operating at 114 Hz, we commonly had time to organize for the following enemy to spawn.
We additionally observed that our accuracy improved after we ran 114 Hz in comparison with 60 Hz or 75 Hz. We’d moderately endure the decreased picture high quality than the decrease refresh fee on this occasion.
Shadow Legend VR
Shadow Legend VR is a first-person VR RPG set in an in depth medieval-era world.
For probably the most half, Shadow Legend VR ran nicely on our Imaginative and prescient 8K X, even on the most demanding setting of 75 Hz with 100% render high quality. We noticed constant, if barely excessive, CPU body occasions that peaked at 10.3ms for the 114 Hz mode.
GPU body occasions suffered whereas operating the headset in native decision. Nonetheless, this sport would not demand exact, speedy actions like Beat Saber and Pistol Whip, so the sport is completely playable like that. On this case, the picture high quality discount is just not definitely worth the elevated body fee. Shadow Legend appears to be like attractive in native decision. 60 Hz gives you the most effective of each worlds, with few missed frames and full picture readability.
Pimax headsets have all the time required a companion app known as PiTool, which handles issues like firmware updates, SteamVR driver injection, rendering choices, FOV, refresh fee, coloration correction and lens place adjustment. PiTool is a considerably intimidating app with all of the attainable configurations it offers you. It is not a plug-n-play kind of setup course of.
Pimax developed a brand new companion app known as Pimax Expertise that’s out there via PiTool and makes issues much more user-friendly. The Pimax Expertise software program lets you management the headset’s settings whereas contained in the headset and robotically adjusts the configuration settings, from FOV to render high quality and refresh fee, for every sport primarily based on the system’s {hardware}.
Pimax Expertise additionally consists of cloud-hosted sport profiles that you should use to map probably the most environment friendly efficiency settings for any given sport
We ran our efficiency checks utilizing guide configuration settings to assist preserve each take a look at at a constant FOV and related decision to match efficiency in an apples-to-apples method. However in the actual world, apples-to-apples efficiency checks aren’t as sensible since you need the bottom variety of dropped frames with the most effective picture high quality on the finish of the day, and that is going to be totally different for every pc.
Pimax Expertise is not good, and for those who’ve bought the endurance to tinker, you could possibly doubtless dial in higher settings manually. Nonetheless, in our expertise, the software program works as marketed. The pre-set profiles stretched the bounds of our GPU to offer us a wonderful picture quality-to-performance ratio.
Remaining Ideas
The Pimax Imaginative and prescient 8K X is undoubtedly the most effective Pimax headset out there as we speak, and it is among the many greatest choices you could possibly decide for dwelling use. After years of close to misses, Pimax lastly hit it out of the park with this one.
The twin 4K panels within the headset present wonderful visible readability, and the ultrawide window into the digital world is all the time appreciated. The pixel density within the 8K X is not as spectacular because the panels discovered within the HP Reverb G2 and what will likely be out there within the upcoming HTC Vive Professional 2, however having your peripheral imaginative and prescient in VR makes the expertise a lot extra immersive.
The construct high quality of the {hardware} continues to be not good (our pattern has just a few unlucky panel gaps), however it’s fairly a bit higher than the unique Pimax 5K Plus that we reviewed in 2019. The headstrap is comfy and works nicely, and the audio system ship acceptable audio depth with ample quantity.
The few complaints that we now have are minor creator consolation points. We might prefer to see a tilt adjustment on the headphones so they might match a greater diversity of head sizes, and a moisture-resistant face cushion can be an enormous bonus.
Aside from that, the value tag is the most important hang-up. For those who thought the $799 price ticket for the brand new Vive Professional 2 was a troublesome capsule to swallow, brace your self for Pimax’s jagged little capsule. At $1,299 for the headset with the usual modular audio strap and $1,399 for the forthcoming deluxe model, the Pimax 8K X is the most costly consumer-focused headset that cash should buy.
For those who do not already personal a SteamVR headset with base stations and controllers, the complete package with base stations and Valve Index controllers will set you again a whopping $1,976. The Pimax Imaginative and prescient 8K X is a toy for individuals with cash to burn, however you positively get what you pay. Simply be sure you again it up with a pc that may actually stretch its legs. It might make a pleasant companion for an RTX 3090 for those who one way or the other have one.
Supply By https://www.tomshardware.com/evaluations/pimax-vision-8k-x-review-ultrawide-gaming-with-incredible-clarity