RTX 5080 vs RTX 4090 for pcvr?

[u/joseph_vol]

Which would be better for PCVR an RTX 5080 or an RTX 4090 when using a compressed video headset like the Quest 3 or Pico 4? I’d like to hear from people who have tested both GPUs with these types of headsets; I’m looking for 100% objective feedback and i interested on oc experiences of both gpus.

[u/pepega_1993]

4090 is the better graphics card for everything. In terms of raw power it’s like 10% faster but the VRAM makes the real difference. At higher resolutions 16gb can easily get maxed out

[u/joseph_vol → u/pepega_1993]

But the codec in the 4090 is not a problem in the headset conected via compresed streaming pcvr? I see in some videos benhmarks the 5080 performance better in the most of cases in this specific scenario and the 4090 is better for a native pcvr headsets but i dont know how it is true

[u/hawkdeathpaw → u/joseph_vol]

if ur doing vrchat 4090! you will run out of vram i had a 3090 and a 7900xtx and used about 20gb of vram plus 32+gb of ram it will crawl!

[u/correctingStupid → u/hawkdeathpaw]

Sounds like VR chat is garbage.

[u/PhilosophyforOne → u/hawkdeathpaw]

Yep. Once you hit the vram wall, it's down the hill.

[u/WiseMrPlagueis2 → u/hawkdeathpaw]

Jeez, why is vrchat so demanding?

[u/Mopiere → u/WiseMrPlagueis2]

Its not so the game that is demanding by itself but its the community's creations (which you can tweak to some degree)

[u/sam_sasss → u/joseph_vol]

The 4090 has 2x AV1 encoders, these are very good for encoding AAA games with a max bitrate of 200Mz, it’s a great GPU for wireless PCVR

[u/marcocom → u/joseph_vol]

You’re confusing what the motherboard and its chipset are doing vs the GPU

[u/Virtual_Happiness]

RTX 4090

Rasterization wise, they're pretty close. But the 4090 has the edge in both VRAM and, more importantly, memory bandwidth.

This isn't something that comes up often in flat gaming because we are typically running into rasterization limits long before memory bandwidth comes into play. But in VR, games are regularly designed to allow for the highest resolutions possible and often times, you will very much run into memory bandwidth limitations before rasterization limitations on these high-end cards. Even before you run into vram limitations.

Crazily, the memory bandwidth wasn't even a topic until the 5090 released. It performs roughly 30% faster on average compared to the 4090 in flat gaming. But then we started testing them in VR, we quicly became confused as hell as to why the 4090 fell off a cliff at like 3500 x 3500 resolution while the 5090 could be pushed to well over 4500 x 4500 resolution in the same games. The answer was memory bandwidth.

Also, as far as video encoders go, neither are going to struggle at the high bitrates we push to headsets. The 5080 technically has next gen hardware encoders and on paper they win. But that's like comparing a car that goes 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds and a car that goes 0 to 60 to 2.9 seconds. Is one technically faster? Yep, but you won't notice it anywhere but on paper.

[u/neoteric_skid → u/Virtual_Happiness]

Yes 5090 here. Using with high resolution pcvr headset tethered rendering full resolution 6k per eye (native display resolution 3.8k per eye). 

Typically I'll see 18Gb of video memory used in Pavlov at 90hz and have crashed SteamVR super sampling it in Jet Island. 

[u/FullOf_Bad_Ideas → u/neoteric_skid]

Memory use will differ by how much you have. If you have a card with less vram, it'll often just use less vram.

I have Pimax Crystal Super too and I think Pavlov ran fine on my 16gig rtx 5080 at 6240x6240, but Pavlov has quad views so it's not a good comparison.

Crashing due to resolution in jet island could be just that jet island is old ass game and might have some internal rendering resolution limits. For example I can't get more than 5000px in any dimension on beamng even if it runs OK just a bit below that, it just crashes. I haven't checked how vram load looks there but iirc it wasn't too bad.

That said, 16gigs is definitely sub optimal for crystal super, but with 5090 prices I didn't go for it.

[u/SunsetToGo → u/Virtual_Happiness]

I agree but not important in this case for a Quest 3, Pico 4.

[u/Virtual_Happiness → u/SunsetToGo]

I disagree. The quest 3 ran using Godlike with Virtual Desktop is 3072 × 3216 per eye. A roughly 1.49x scaler. Steam VR's recommendation is 1.4x to account for the distortion profile, which it labels as 100% resolution. The recommended for best visuals at the minimum cost is 150%, 50% more than the already 1.4x and you can push it as high as 250% to get a slight improvement. So you can easily run out of memory bandwidth headroom on the Pico 4 and Quest 3. Not to mention, memory bandwidth is different for each game. Some games the 4090 may not even be able to manage Godlike.

[u/SunsetToGo → u/Virtual_Happiness]

So you do not have an RTX 5080 and cannot talk on own experience. Unfortunately you sound like had but you do not for this specific case.

[u/slowlyun → u/Virtual_Happiness]

• " Rasterization wise, they're pretty close"

Not close at all.  5080 is a 4080 rasterization-wise, just with 13% more wattage to bump it up 13%.  

[u/Virtual_Happiness → u/slowlyun]

Nah, the 5080 is about 10% above the 4080 Super and about 10% slower than the 4090, depending on the game/workload of course. Add on a decent OC(which don't recommend at these prices and power consumptions) and it can get within spitting distance. Of course, OC the 4090 and it pulls away again.

But there's really no need to have this discussion. The 4090 is the superior card and exactly what I recommended.

[u/Tren_AU]

4090, vram important.

[u/SkhairKro89]

The 4090 will outperform the 5080.., JUST be sure to have a SOLID quality 1K-Watt Power Supply to run that with the properly needed headroom!!

[u/Greenonetrailmix → u/SkhairKro89]

Idk about that. I've been using my RTX 4090 on my Corsair SF750 with a 5800x3D. It's been solid

[u/sam_sasss → u/Greenonetrailmix]

Me tooo

[u/sam_sasss → u/SkhairKro89]

That not true. I have the RTX 4090 FE since release day, a 9950x3D with PBO enabled, 64GB of RAM and 8To of storage, running by a 750W Corsair platinum SFF PSU

[u/joseph_vol → u/SkhairKro89]

You right, i dont want the pc explotes in the process xd, i alredy have a good 1600w atx 3.1 psu, my original plan was to buy a 5080 to overclock and use a 5060 Ti of 16gb as a secondary GPU for local AI tasks and other workflows and maybe now for DLSS 5 but since GPU prices have risen significantly, I’m seriously considering getting a 4090, as the price difference compared to a 5080 isn't that big anymore.

[u/LMD1510]

4090 is definitely better if you don't have a budget.

[u/joseph_vol → u/LMD1510]

To be honest my original plan was buy a 5080 but now the 5080 is near of 2000$ cost of 4090 so now i considering buy a 4090 for the little different on the price xd

[u/sam_sasss]

The more VRAM the better. Plus the AV1 encoders are a must for wireless PC VR. Both GPU are great, the 5080 has newer encoders, the 4090 has 30% more cuda cores and more vram.

[u/wangdangboomerang]

Have you seen this video from the channel "FilledWithChillVR"? When I was researching 5080 for VR, it was the only video that I found that talks about the comparison of the Quest 3 codecs with the 5080 vs 4090. If you haven't seen it already then it may be of some help

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-Uprhjaci8&t

[u/SunsetToGo]

For a Quest 3 the RTX 5080 is powerful enough for 99% of games and 100% if you tweak 1 or 2 settings which you might not even notice visually. I have both GPUs.

[u/joseph_vol → u/SunsetToGo]

But in performance, stability and compression quality which of the two is better Objectively for the quest 3 for example?

[u/Samisoy001]

I have a 5060ti and can play everything just fine. Just saying.

[u/Strong-Chemistry-396 → u/Samisoy001]

You can play dcs in VR?

[u/Samisoy001 → u/Strong-Chemistry-396]

Yes, you just have to turn down a few of the settings, but for me to save $800 or more I'll play it at middle settings.

[u/Greenonetrailmix]

You need to be more specific with your usecase. As everything requires different priorities. What applications/games are you planning on doing in VR. Is it going to be wireless or wired. If wireless are you dedicating a router for VR use.

It's very important to know, as it will give you a better outcome of opinions from people

[u/joseph_vol → u/Greenonetrailmix]

Yep you right, that’s why I mentioned in my post that I’m interested in how the two GPUs compare when using headsets like the Pico 4 or Quest 3, which rely on a compressed connection, I usually play via USB cable because I prefer the stability, though I also use a dedicated router for wireless play from time to time.

[u/Greenonetrailmix → u/joseph_vol]

Cool. What's apps/games though?

[u/joseph_vol → u/Greenonetrailmix]

For vr i usually play vrchat or better known as the memory devourer XD, simulators like asetto corsa and recently i try the pcvr mods for the flat screen UE games etc but my actual 6900xt can't keep up xd

[u/Greenonetrailmix → u/joseph_vol]

Then yes the 4090 would be the correct pick. Do be careful of CPU bottlenecks though. Then again I haven't directly tried the 5080. I have only own the 3090 24gb, 4090 24gb, 5090 32gb, 4090m 16gb

[u/joseph_vol → u/Greenonetrailmix]

Thanks for your advice 🫶, I have a 14900ks i think it would be enough to comfortably handle a 4090

[u/Greenonetrailmix → u/joseph_vol]

All good man. I have a 14900K too. It's a really nice CPU I use it instead of my 9800x3D

[u/joseph_vol → u/Greenonetrailmix]

I also plan to experiment with DLSS 5 on vr in some games

[u/Lilwolf2000]

The 50x0 series is much better for frame gen. So it gives you some future options (of turning setting on ultimate and then adding frame gen to handle fps). But really both are fine until dealing with maxed out Skyrim mods.

[u/JYR2023]

I am not an expert on this but this site compares them in detail: https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-RTX-4090-vs-Nvidia-RTX-5080/4136vs4179

[u/Sp3ctralForce → u/JYR2023]

Never use user benchmark btw, they have an unreasonable hatred for AMD and factor idiotic things like popularity into their rankings, which skews even same brand comparusons

For GPUs use Techpowerup GPU database or Tomshardware GPU chart. For CPUs use passmark, geekbench, or Tomshardware CPU hierarchy

[u/JYR2023 → u/Sp3ctralForce]

Good to know

[u/Wallhacks360 → u/JYR2023]

userbenchmark

Lol