Portable VR build

For work I'm assembling a VR capable build that's also portable enough to take to shows and do demos etc. When not on the road, it would be at the office for people to use. I don't think it would get used heavily for developing, just running demos and games. So tons of storage isn't a big item on the list, just form factor and running games on HTC Vive.

Here's my parts list, do you all see and huge n00b choices?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($344.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H75 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z170I PRO GAMING Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($159.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($79.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Mushkin ECO2 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($135.79 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Founders Edition Video Card ($698.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Tower Case ($42.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($95.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($129.88 @ OutletPC) SUBJECT TO CHANGE
Total: $1753.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-28 16:47 EDT-0400

A couple of little things:
Where are you planning to mount that radiator? Just double-check that it is compatible and will work. Sometimes PCPartPicker can't tell.
Also, You can get Windows for a LOT cheaper at Kinguin. Check out Paul's video for more info on that.

Other than that, I just feel like you could bring the price down by compromising on a couple of the parts. But if this is for work and to use as a demo machine for clients and customers, it might be better to keep the higher end stuff in there. If your boss is willing to make a show piece out of it, then might I recommend Dominator RAM? I just like the way it looks.

Again, overall, you seemed to do ok. Just double check that rad and get Windows on the cheap.

1 Like

You should buy an elite 110 with a R9 nano for true portability, not sure a smaller case exists

possibly even just get the 6700 because it has a lower 65W TDP

Also go for the newer Mushkin ECO3, or just spend the money for an 850 EVO

The nano should hit $400 on sales soon, the Fury X is already that low at times

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/qV2zNN
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/qV2zNN/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($298.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI B150I GAMING PRO AC Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($109.69 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($58.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($143.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: VisionTek Radeon R9 Nano 4GB Video Card ($474.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 110 Mini ITX Tower Case ($38.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($73.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $1198.63
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-28 22:51 EDT-0400

Hmm yeah I've seen that Cooler Master case at a few shows. I really like AMD and I use one on my personal machine, but overall judging from what I've read, nVidia gives a better VR experience. But I don't have like facts or anything to back that up lol, just a general sense from reading through r/oculus and r/vive.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll tinker with this build a little more I think.

No, NVidia does not give better VR experience, outside of raw performance of a 1070, NVidia holds a disadvantage against DX12/Vulkan (not that it counts for everything, the 1060 still edges out the 480), they don't have native Async (they basically want to emulate it), for VR, I would probably go with AMD, if only AMD cards besides the 480 and the Fury cards did better with heat.

are you talking about ASYNC timewarp?

If you want something small and portable I would suggest checking out the Magnus EN980 from Zotac. Has a i5 6400 and gtx 980 watercooled in a really tiny package. when it comes out.

Do you know of a retailer that has that in stock? Thought the release date on that was back in June but I'm not seeing it on any of the retail websites.

Got no idea when it comes out but seems pretty nice for a portable VR rig

Yeah it looks great! The only other thing I've seen close to that is using an Intel Skull Canyon NUC with a Razer Core + GPU.

Pascal has the single pass rendering stuff, and multi-projection

but I don't think any VR games outside of maybe NVIDIA Fun house which seemingly a tech demo for that stuff uses their apis

a nano is going to be fine for VR, was "Steam VR Ready" along with a lot of other 3xx series and the other Fury cards

Main thing is it lets you use the super tiny elite 110 case with ease

This is the final setup....

Went with the Cooler Master Elite 130 case, it is pretty well thought out although cable routing is tough. In the picture, there are some cables between the GPU back plate and the PSU, I ended up taking things apart and rerouting that to make the space behind the GPU as clear as possible. Also, the Corsair H75 fit pretty well but that might have been because I only put one SSD in, and that mounted on the side (not shown).

The idea is to go on the road and do some VR demos at events, go to hackathons etc.

Only using a 20" monitor, for a hackathon I think I would being my 27" monitors separately.

Then I also packed up a Vive.

1 Like

Very cool. Maybe the DAN case would have been interesting for that? But no optical in it...
But that looks like a very usable kit. What do you use for lighthouses?

I got these light stands and these adapters. For shipping, I have not solved that yet. Need to look through more Pelican case options.

For optical, I was on the fence really. But I have another computer with no optical and it seems like periodically I find myself in a situation where it makes life significantly easier. So for this, where I don't know if I'll always be on hand to support, I figured having options is a good idea.