VR performance terrible on pretty recent machine

gaatjenunixaan

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My setup:
  • Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10875H CPU @ 2.30GHz 2.30 GHz
  • RAM 16,0 GB (15,8 GB beschikbaar)
  • Win10 pro x64
  • NVIDIA Geforce RTX 2060 (w/ Max-Q)
  • Oculus Quest 2 128GB, cabled connection w/ official Oculus USB-C cable
My results:
  • no more than 8 fps, even for the simple default scene on lowest quality setting
  • loading screen all over the place
  • "zigzagged" rendering / display artefacts / not keeping up with head movements; in short: unusable.
This is an Dell XPS17 9700, hooked up to AC power. I've set Direct Access to the Thunderbolt ports in the BIOS. I start VAM using the OpenVR bat file. What am I overlooking here?
 
VR needs incredible PC performance. VaM, too. Together it needs even more.
With PC performance comes heat. Laptops are always much worse in getting rid of the heat.
In my PC case there are seven 14" fans blowing out a lot of hot air while I am using VaM.
If the Laptop internals like GPU, CPU and the mainboard are getting hot, they are throttling down performance.
Therefore a Laptop is not comparable to a PC with similar specs, and a 2060 allready is not the strongest card for VR anymore.
You may allready know all of this.

Saying this, 8 fps in the standard scene with low details seems pretty low. I would expect maybe 20-30 fps.
Especially the artifacts and render errors are a bad sign.
Unfortunately it is not that simple to find the cause for issues like those, especially not remotely in a forum.
Usually there is a lot of software pre-installed on a Laptop, maybe it even uses a custom GPU driver.
Do you have this issues only in VaM, or in other VR games, too? (not those installed on your Quest).
Do you only have this issues with VaM in VR, or in desktop mode, too?
 
Usually there is a lot of software pre-installed on a Laptop, maybe it even uses a custom GPU driver.
Uses standard latest Nvidia driver. Also: I wipe new machines and do clean installs.
Do you have this issues only in VaM, or in other VR games, too? (not those installed on your Quest).
I will have to test some Rift games - haven't gotten to it yet.
Do you only have this issues with VaM in VR, or in desktop mode, too?
Desktop mode runs fine. Thanks.
 
Thank you for the quick answer.
I found this on a Dell support forum:

Your Laptop seems to have a special option for VR in the BIOS.
Have you used this?
The answer in the Dell forum points out the DisplayPort support... Your Quest uses USB streaming. Maybe this could be a hint. Do you had the chance to test the wireless streaming option of the Quest, too?
 
OK, forget my last posting. The BIOS setting is only to have native DisplayPort support through the Thunderbold, and you allready mentioned it in the first message.
This does not apply to a Quest, because Oculus VR link uses streaming instead.
I would suggest to do aGoogle search on your own for "Dell XPS17 9700 and Occulus Quest 2".
I got a lot of hits and can only repeat those back to you. Not very efficient. ;)
But until you say, other VR games than VaM have NO issues, I suspect this as the cause for at least the graphical artifacts and the tracking issues.
Please maybe re-install and double check the Oculus software, too!!
 
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sorry if this was already said but 16gb RAM is going to hold you back on bigger scenes / longer sessions as it will fill up too fast and cause freezing or crashes, i recommend at least 32gb for VAM
 
I took one look and my jaw dropped looking at your CPU speed. 2.3ghz?
That is TERRIBLE.
I had an old i5-2500 that was running faster than that. No wonder you are getting low frame rates. VaM is very "core locked" and single core speed is critical to good performance in VaM.
You want to be looking at a 3-4ghz CPU or the physics/cloth/hair sim stuff will drag you down to unusable fps.
 
I took one look and my jaw dropped looking at your CPU speed. 2.3ghz?
That is TERRIBLE.
I had an old i5-2500 that was running faster than that. No wonder you are getting low frame rates. VaM is very "core locked" and single core speed is critical to good performance in VaM.
You want to be looking at a 3-4ghz CPU or the physics/cloth/hair sim stuff will drag you down to unusable fps.
https://ark.intel.com/content/www/u...0875h-processor-16m-cache-up-to-5-10-ghz.html so, does over 5ghz when pushed ;-)
 
*phew* Well, assuming it's actually reaching those speeds correctly (all bios settings correct) then there is no reason for poor performance. The 2060 is a reasonable GPU and ~5ghz should be plenty for physics stuff.
Have you run the benchmark tests yet? Those should help you get a better view of where the problem is.

I would say, try without the wired Link cable... A lot of people had issues with it and the USB drivers (especially for USB3) and introduce a lot of trouble on some systems. Not saying it's the case for you but certainly something to try removing from the problem.
Try Airlink and ALVR (github) to see how they go.
I use virtual desktop which is a paid app and get very good results with it. Anyway, my point is don't assume the link cable is "good" or not the cause of problems.
 
  • loading screen all over the place
  • "zigzagged" rendering / display artefacts / not keeping up with head movements; in short: unusable.

I think this are still some severe issues that may indicate underlying problems with the VR setup.
I am not using Oculus VR, but I don't think this is a normal behavior?
If this is solved IMHO, we can try to get some more fps out of the Laptop.
But remember, a Laptop CPU/GPU can't neccessarily be compared to the similar PC components.
It is very likely that they won't reach high clock rates on high load.
This can be monitored with some free tools like maybe GPUz and CPUz.
I think it's important to know how well the Laptop performs on other SteamVR (!) games, to see if it is eighter the system or SteamVR/Oculus or maybe VaM. There are some free VR games to try in Steam.

no more than 8 fps, even for the simple default scene on lowest quality setting
This makes me doubt the Benchmark would run very well. Otherwise, it is always a good idea to run the Benchmark for diagnosis.

Please make sure to not have set the SuperSampling sliders in VaM and/or SteamVR and/or Oculus software(?). They should be at 1 or 100% and would otherwisely multiply each other up to insane render resolutions.
 
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Also note that it's important to make sure that you are using the right GPU. A lot of gaming laptops have 2, an integrated GPU that is low power used for normal operation and a more powerful "game" GPU used for, well, gaming.
There is always the possibility that for whatever reason it's trying to render on the low power GPU.
 
@gaatjenunixaan
Since you wiped the laptop from standard Dell-bloat and fiddled around in the BIOS you seem to be a IT savvy person, but to be sure:

Have you checked in VR mode whether your laptop is rendering on the faster RTX 2060 and not the Intel UHD Graphics?
Check the utilization of the two graphic cards in TaskManager.
(or MSIAfterburner if TaskManager fails to show detailed info)

If it's rendering on the RTX 2060 ...
  • Do other VR games run normal?
  • with low FPS in VAM go to [User Preferences] > enable [Performace Monitor], post a screenshot or write down the average numbers in the left column, based on these it is easy to see whether the GPU or CPU is the problem
  • what resolution are you using in VR? With only 6 GB VRAM it is very likely that the framebuffer plus textures is filled up fast and the card has to swap textures into the slower RAM, that should not happen in the standard scene with only one character though, again TaskManager should show how much "Dedicated GPU Memory" is being used, if full - performance could suffer from VRAM swapping to RAM
  • you could run MacGrubers Benchmark in desktop mode 1080p, then post and compare results >here< to get an idea how 'capable' your hardware is, I'd guess around 40-50 FPS avg. in the official V3 benchmark run
  • maybe check the USB connection by transferring files from the Quest 2? (from Quest 2 because potentially slow flash memory write speeds, better try by reading a large file from Quest 2)
 
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whether your laptop is rendering on the faster RTX 2060 and not the Intel UHD Graphics?

That's an legitimate question. There are several (older) Laptops with additional GPU, which needs an special customized GPU driver. Though, I hadn't a Dell Laptop for many years.
 
That's an legitimate question. There are several (older) Laptops with additional GPU, which needs an special customized GPU driver. Though, I hadn't a Dell Laptop for many years.
Literally what I said in the post before Sally's post.
 
Sorry guys, have been really busy w/ non-Vam stuff but will def test your recommendations. FWIW: at least Vam uses the proper videocard. Will update once I know more.
 
mine wit i7 12650H+RTX4060, still perform like shit when soft body physic turned on:cry:
 
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