Holiday Gifts for PC Simmers/Gamers

[Wingman]

Hi All,

Just wondering... what's on everyone's wishlist this holiday season? Is there something going on sale this shopping season that you've had your eye on? Know of any great deals coming up?

I've been contemplating this myself and ending up less focused than when I started; there's nothing I need, yet a million things I'd want: new GFX card, monitors, CPU, heck--is it time for a totally new build? (yeah, probably), a complete saitek (or other) cockpit, a real VR setup (not the pretty-cool-but-not-quite-there-yet GearVR headset I have for my Samsung Galaxy).

So, what are you "asking Santa for" this Christmas?

[Splithorse]

Yeah......A new GFX card is on top of the list.....but I would settle for a completed house. Still waiting for it to be completely painted. How you been Mr. Tingly?

[Coast]

Nice to hear from both of you. It's been awhile.

It seems many of us (including myself) have found new interests and/or situations that take up much of our time.

-Coast

[Travis]

I would like to find a new higher quality yoke than my CH yoke, and higher quality throttle quadrant than my saitek ones for less than 500 each. Probably not going to happen this year, but would be cool. I have heard of some new stuff that has been put out the last year or 2, but not sure of all the details. Redbird is getting into the home simulation market which is interesting. Also, Spliffy has gotten that GPS 430 thing for a pretty decent price. On another note, someone could probably figure out how to hook up this piece of tech, https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/514383.html It is probably out of most of our price ranges for things we want to throw money at, but it would be a good project for someone and not a terrible price for OEM parts. I wonder?

[Bluejay]

I want to buy and modify a chair from which I can mount my yoke rather than attach the yoke to a table. I fly VR and often need to reach switches near the yoke but my desk gets in the way. A free standing chair in the middle of my room that had a central plank coming out of it to support the yoke would be perfect. Time. Planning. Wood. And my tools. Maybe after Christmas.

[Wingman]

Got into discussing it with my wife... it looks like I'm about to dive into VR this Christmas! I have a baaaaaaad feeling it's going to be a gateway drug, though. I'm still running a SandyBridge i7-2600K (overclocked) and GTX970. Both are pretty low-end when it comes to VR-readiness, as I read. Excited nonetheless!

Split -- I've been probably about the same as you... We're both likely coming to the realization that a house is never completely "completed." It just goes through alternating phases of done-ness from "almost" to "here we go again."

Coast -- Nothing beats those days way-back-when when I wasn't working. Well, I suppose working, itself, beats not working. Also, retirement... but not any time soon, unfortunately.

Travis -- Nice little piece of tech, that Garmin is, but I see it has a max altitude of +30,000 ... so it's a no-go for the "I just want to strap into an SR-71 and practice space force formation flying" flights. Small aside, space force formation flying in FSX/P3D/XP11 sounds like a lot of fun (and challenging)!

Blue -- I recall you having posted some VR-related news in the forums... I'll have to look back and see what's relevant when I open my "surprise" Rift under the tree next month.

[Kalo]

Congrats on the marriage Wingman! (forgive me if I'm quite late, this is the first I have heard of it ) I don't really need anything, but my computer is aging a bit. I would love to get one of those 1tb M.2 SSD sticks at some point (less wires in the case the better). Although to use a M.2 ssd I would have to upgrade my old mobo as well , so looks like I am due for a ground up rebuild sometime soon.

About VR I would be slightly cautious. I got the Occulus Rift about a year ago, and while it is amazing for a while I'm not sure it was worth it. After the initial coolness wears off it got kind of boring, and I have found I don't actually use it that much anymore. Also a lot of the games are not that great. If the game is not designed well for VR it can make you feel queasy (like minecraft or some racing games). Elite Dangerous is amazing with VR, probably my favorite so far. You can actually stand up and walk around your cockpit if your room is large enough (one complaint is that the orange menu's are kind of hard to read because of VR's low resolution). On the downside Elite Dangerous can get boring pretty quick from the limited activities and repetition. Robo Recall is another great must have VR game. Star Trek bridge crew is pretty fun and reminds me of that Artemis game we played for a bit.

You need a large room to take advantage of VR, if you have a small space you will be constantly running into the boundary and hitting stuff (and you won't beable to walk across the complete area of a large ship cockpit in Elite Dangerous). The wires attached to the headset are VERY annoying. I see the VIVE Pro has a wireless option but it adds $300 to the $800 vive pro.

If you have plenty of spending money I would say go for it but if you are on a tight budget I would say wait for the next generation. I don't think the Oculus Rift 2 is that far into the future. In fact I'm planning on selling my Oculus Rift on ebay sometime soon while they are still worth something. I'll probably get the Rift 2, or maybe the Vive Pro if they can bring the cost down.

[Splithorse]

"

Congrats on the marriage Wingman!"...………...and now we know why he isn't on very much any more. Ya...Ya....what's my excuse.

[ROBERT DUNN 2]

I add my belated congratulations on your marriage also, Wingman. I hadn't commented on that before as I thought that maybe everybody knew you had wed except me. Now I see by posts above that such is not the case so... we all wish you the best in married life. I've enjoyed 47 years of marital bliss with my wife, Susan (and three really sucky ones, total 50).

I have had to engineer around the Oculus shortcomings Kalo enumerates. Living room had to be rearranged to provide a 12 by 15 foot area free of furniture. The headset cabling had to be extended 10 feet with the proper high performance HDMI and USB 3, bound together into a cable wrap. We added a third sensor 'cause Oculus said we should for full 360 degree whole room experience. I never did find enough time to actually enjoy it but that is on my list of things I want to do when I get all other projects and life in order. I can relate to Splithorse's life and projects and I envy Split his machinery and workshop. I have had much the same VR experience as Kalo and eventually I intend to upgrade the VR setup but I am in no hurry. Granddaughter has been the main user of our Oculus.

I am happy with the hardware (flight control system, car racing setup, VR) that I have now and I certainly have all the sim software that I need to keep me busy for a long while. I just need life to settle down a bit where I don't have critical to-do lists that get longer instead of shorter. Me-time is what I want most this holiday season (or any time, for that matter).

Thanks for asking, Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah, Delightful Kwanzaa and Splendid Festivus to all.

[Wingman]

Thanks for the congratulations! My apologies for being so distant as to not have made mention of it earlier.

I appreciate the feedback on your VR experiences... even if they confirm my suspicion that I shouldn't let myself get overly excited. Nonetheless, I am.

The upgrades you mentioned, Kalo, also sound like they're going to end up on my 12-month upgrade path: M.2, thus new Mobo, and while at it, new CPU to match new Mobo. Plus, my GTX970 will most likely leave me craving more FPS in VR, so add it to the list. Hey, I'm still happy to say my Sandy Bridge i7-2600K build has lasted this long.

Happy holidays everyone (and of course, Happy Flying)!

[Pops0]

Just stopping in to say congrats to Wingman and t

o all in the MSFlights community and all who see this

Happy holidays!

---

[Karl]

I appreciate the feedback on your VR experiences... even if they confirm my suspicion that I shouldn't let myself get overly excited. Nonetheless, I am.

My first VR experience came with a GTX 770 and a I7-4770k cpu. It worked well. Not great. But well enough to enjoy. Since then I upgraded from the original Oculus to the second version. I also am running a GTX 1080 now. VR is definitely better. 99% of the time I use the VR for flight sims (P3D, X-Plane & DCS).

Don't let your specs hold you back. It should work.