VaM 1.x Valve Index → next-gen HMD for Virt-a-Mate: Steam Frame vs Bigscreen Beyond (1 / 2) — will I feel the “wow” again?

[Mikye666]

Hi everyone,
I’m a long-time Virt-a-Mate user and VR enthusiast, currently on Valve Index, and I’m seriously considering upgrading my headset mainly for visual quality improvements in VaM.
Right now I’m torn between two headsets:
Steam Frame
Bigscreen Beyond (1 or 2)
I’d like to describe my setup, expectations, and concerns — and hear from people who already went through a similar upgrade.
My current setup
GPU: RTX 5090
CPU: Ryzen 7 5800X3D
RAM: 64 GB DDR4
Storage: NVMe SSD
HMD: Valve Index
Use case: Virt-a-Mate (primary), close-up interactions, realistic characters
VaM content:
8K skin textures
custom ultra-detailed eye textures (visible iris fibers, color noise, subtle patterns)
realistic lighting
high-quality hair with physics
On my monitors (OLED and IPS), those characters often look borderline photorealistic even on the ips one.
In VR on Index, the gap is still very noticeable.
What I see now on Valve Index
Even with good SteamVR tuning:
Skin looks softer and flatter than on monitor
Fine skin details get lost
Eye textures lose a lot of micro-detail up close
Iris patterns that are razor-sharp on monitor become blurred together in VR
Overall image feels slightly filtered / smeared alos the farther the charcter or object in scene is the worst it looks
I know this is mainly due to:
Index resolution by today’s standards
Fresnel lenses
limited pixel density
What I hope to gain from upgrading
My expectations are realistic, but specific:
Much higher clarity and pixel density
8K skins and detailed eyes finally making sense in VR
Better close-up inspection of faces
Less blur, glare and edge softness
Image closer to what I see on my OLED monitor, just scaled to VR
Stronger sense of presence — that “wow” feeling again
Why Steam Frame vs Bigscreen Beyond
I currently have ~1000 USD Steam balance from selling CS:GO skins, so Steam Frame is especially tempting if it’s “good enough” for my use case.
My main dilemma:
Is Steam Frame enough to be a real game-changer coming from Index?
Or is the jump too small to truly restore the “wow” factor?
On the other hand, Bigscreen Beyond is often described in two completely opposite ways, which is confusing.
Bigscreen Beyond concerns
I’ve heard very mixed opinions, especially about:
questionable quality control
dead / stuck pixels
lens inconsistencies
glare sometimes worse than Index
blurry or unclear edges
very small sweet spot
Some people say:
“One of the best VR headsets ever made”
Others say:
“Overpriced mess with compromises everywhere”
So I’d really like to know:
Did anyone here use Bigscreen Beyond 1 or 2 extensively with VaM?
Are the QC issues (dead pixels, glare, edge clarity) real or exaggerated?
How does Beyond actually compare to Index and to newer pancake-lens headsets?
Main questions
Coming from Index — which upgrade felt more impactful for VaM?
Will Steam Frame deliver enough clarity to justify upgrading without Beyond?
Are high-res skin and eye textures finally worth it on these newer headsets?
How much of the improvement comes from:
resolution
lenses
panel quality
For close-up VaM scenes: which headset feels the most “natural”?
Final thoughts
I’m not chasing specs or hype — I care about what my eyes actually see inside Virt-a-Mate.
If the upgrade means:
“You finally understand why those 8K textures and custom eyes exist”
then it’s absolutely worth it for me.
I’d really appreciate input from people who:
used Valve Index for a long time
upgraded to Quest 3 (wich I think is simmular to Steam Frame) or Bigscreen Beyond
use VaM with realistic characters and close-up scenes
Thanks in advance

 

[random_user_9000]

Don't know why you write post like a poem

But bruh with those specs, don't know why you haven't already bought some new VR headset. Index is so old at this point, but I haven't used it personally so can't give you direct comparison.
Best one currently available for budget price is Quest 3. Good resolution, wireless, ok FoV, and amazing pancake lenses. The new lenses alone were worth my upgrade from Quest 2 to Quest 3, it makes almost whole lens view sharp instead of just small center area. Upto 120hz is nice and resolution is good enough for VaM. Steam Frame is pretty much same as Quest in major specs, just no Meta bullshit updates and some minor improvements. Use Virtual Desktop with highest resolution and 120hz, you'll be amazed with Quest 3. Or if you ok with waiting, get Steam Frame for similar experience.
Also I can't imagine using VaM wired to PC, wireless so much more immersive with freedom of movement. So Bigscreen, Pimax etc haven't been in my consideration.

 

[Mikye666]

Don't know why you write post like a poem

But bruh with those specs, don't know why you haven't already bought some new VR headset. Index is so old at this point, but I haven't used it personally so can't give you direct comparison.
Best one currently available for budget price is Quest 3. Good resolution, wireless, ok FoV, and amazing pancake lenses. The new lenses alone were worth my upgrade from Quest 2 to Quest 3, it makes almost whole lens view sharp instead of just small center area. Upto 120hz is nice and resolution is good enough for VaM. Steam Frame is pretty much same as Quest in major specs, just no Meta bullshit updates and some minor improvements. Use Virtual Desktop with highest resolution and 120hz, you'll be amazed with Quest 3. Or if you ok with waiting, get Steam Frame for similar experience.
Also I can't imagine using VaM wired to PC, wireless so much more immersive with freedom of movement. So Bigscreen, Pimax etc haven't been in my consideration.

Just wanted to dump everything into one post so everyone gets the full picture Thanks mate — and yeah, you’re totally right. The cable is driving me crazy, and the Index is heavy as hell. I could’ve picked up a Quest 3 a while ago, but then I heard Valve was cooking up some new VR stuff, so I decided to wait. In the meantime I stumbled across Bigscreen and was like: damn… 2.5k × 2.5k per eye, OLED, 107 g — sounds awesome. But yeah… still wired, which is kind of a deal breaker for me :/ Oh bdw did switching from quest 2 to 3 fix the characters being pixelated from farther away or is it just a vam thing ?

 

[hazmhox]

I have a Vive first gen. I tested most recent headsets, I litterally have no "wow" effect.

You can throw me as much contrast you want, we're still on somewhat the same FOVs and somewhat the same limitations 10 years in the making. I won't say there is no improvement, it's quite visible that screens and lenses got better... but for me moving to a new headset would be as a "wow effect" as it is from moving from Android 11 to Android 13.

The only wow effect you'll have is the probable satisfaction to buy something new and enjoy it, which is gonna fade quite fast.

This is my approach and feeling (but I think I'm not far from the truth), VR is great and immersive, but until we can produce headsets with a perfect vertical and horizontal FOV for humans ( 130° and 200° ) with a guaranteed 90fps without reprojection, it's unlikely to get any wow effect as we had when first trying a VR experience.

I will probably not buy a headset until we get there. And the only consideration that would make me buy another one would be miniaturization. So it's more like a QoL than anything remotely impressive for the overall experience.

 

[Mikye666]

I have a Vive first gen. I tested most recent headsets, I litterally have no "wow" effect.

You can throw me as much contrast you want, we're still on somewhat the same FOVs and somewhat the same limitations 10 years in the making. I won't say there is no improvement, it's quite visible that screens and lenses got better... but for me moving to a new headset would be as a "wow effect" as it is from moving from Android 11 to Android 13.

The only wow effect you'll have is the probable satisfaction to buy something new and enjoy it, which is gonna fade quite fast.

This is my approach and feeling (but I think I'm not far from the truth), VR is great and immersive, but until we can produce headsets with a perfect vertical and horizontal FOV for humans ( 130° and 200° ) with a guaranteed 90fps without reprojection, it's unlikely to get any wow effect as we had when first trying a VR experience.

I will probably not buy a headset until we get there. And the only consideration that would make me buy another one would be miniaturization. So it's more like a QoL than anything remotely impressive for the overall experience.

Thats alos true but I think we will be able to test these kind of headsets with vam2 when it releses vr scene is kinda dead rn aside from pimaxes u cant get huge fov plus u gona be running with 2kg headset on your head I just want to get quick uppgrade because it might be my last high end PC looking at prices of well everything (thx AI)

 

[random_user_9000]

Just wanted to dump everything into one post so everyone gets the full picture Thanks mate — and yeah, you’re totally right. The cable is driving me crazy, and the Index is heavy as hell. I could’ve picked up a Quest 3 a while ago, but then I heard Valve was cooking up some new VR stuff, so I decided to wait. In the meantime I stumbled across Bigscreen and was like: damn… 2.5k × 2.5k per eye, OLED, 107 g — sounds awesome. But yeah… still wired, which is kind of a deal breaker for me :/ Oh bdw did switching from quest 2 to 3 fix the characters being pixelated from farther away or is it just a vam thing ?

Pixelated characters far way is more a rendering resolution issue. If you increase resolution in game, and headset has high display resolution of 2K-2.5K characters are very clear. Both quest 2 and 3 have similar resolution but with new lenses, whole character appears clear in Quest 3. If you see pixelated issue on Index, it maybe coz of low resolution. I use quest 3 with Virtual Desktop resolution of Godlike - 3072x3216, it's very clear.
As hazmhox mentioned, the wow factor maybe limited apart from clarity and wireless freedom as fov isn't much different between Index and Quest 3 and refresh rate is also similar upto 120hz. My fov workaround is using dark black scene backgrounds and environments so the headset edges fade away in your view
I was hoping Steam Frame has OLED screens and higher Fov but sadly no, current headsets with that are very expensive and mostly wired right now. With all the AI related component pricing madness, who know what Steam Frame will end up at. If they don't announce something in a month or two and you want something quick, I'd highly recommend Quest 3. It's only $500 anyways