Quest 3 PC VR Setup for Incredible Clarity

In this Quest 3 PC VR Setup tutorial I will show you the three methods of connecting your Quest 3 to your PC and what settings you should make to ensure you get the best possible quality for PCVR Gaming on Quest 3.
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[@VRManCave]

🤯 I've built the only hub that helps you EASILY find VR Deals and Discounts, and it's 100% FREE!😍 🔥 Check it out here: vrdeals.io 👈🏻 🔗 LINKS FROM THE VIDEO 👇🏻👇🏻 Quest 3 Link Cables: amzn.to/3Qoiqea / amzn.to/3QB6BBL Wi-Fi 6/6E Routers: amzn.to/3s2VesG (Wi-Fi 6E - Best Choice) amzn.to/3Sg7wZc (Wi-Fi 6) Stormforce VR-Ready Gaming PCs: tidd.ly/3PBnZGh

[@BoltRM]

Thanks for the video! What head strap are you using? Looks perfect

[@hlee633]

Very informative! Are the VR wave lenses magnetic? Or do they have to be pushed/clicked in like other brands?

[@VRManCave]

@@BoltRM It's just the official Elite Strap. Got the new Bobo M3 yesterday and have been now testing that as well and it feels way comfier, but it's out of stock everywhere sadly.

[@VRManCave]

@@hlee633 Thank you so much! Yes the lenses are magnetic. They come with a circle that attaches to the existing lenses and then the prescription lenses just click into place magnetically on those circles.

[@BoltRM]

@@VRManCave Ok i was hoping that was some cheap & practical headstrap alternative to the expensive elite strap.. Bobo ftw!

[@ZpeedTube]

When I first bought my GTX 1070 for VR it was considered pretty high end. And now it's low end, time flies.. 😅

[@VRManCave]

Yeah tell me about it... I'm glad that Nvidia has started to release new cards every 2 years, at least it gives us a bit more time to enjoy our purchases 😁

[@OceanCrasher]

Youre lucky not to be in the late 90s. Literally when you bought a 400Mhz CPU PC, 6 months later the 800MHz was out for the same price.

[@ZentessadesignStudio]

@@OceanCrasher haha

[@sdfghgtrew]

​@@OceanCrasherThose were the days my friend, those were the days

[@OnionBun]

I tested this last night. I changed my codec to A1. Everything is at least twice as sharp! Thank you so much for the clear and concise video!

[@VRManCave]

So happy to hear that, you’re very welcome and thanks for the support!

[@PuppetMasterdaath144]

Lol I KNEW, that the entirety of this lengthy video could be summarized into 1 short segmented element of constitutes of data points rdy to be assimilated into the prefrontal cortex.

[@VRManCave]

@@PuppetMasterdaath144 If you're strictly talking about the AV1 codec, then yes, but it's a 5 minute video, didn't drag on with anything just for higher watch time and not everyone uses Virtual Desktop, so I tried to give tips regarding any choice for using the Quest 3 as a PCVR headset.

[@PuppetMasterdaath144]

@@VRManCave I AM SORRY. BECAUSE YOU LOVE ME, I LOVE BACK TOGHETER WE WILL FORGE A NEW WORLD FULL OF PEACE AND HAPPINESS. [This message is FDA approved]

[@ji3200]

​@@VRManCaveVirtual Drsktop with av1 with super resolution, visual are better than link cable

[@CuddliiBug]

A small addition to the Virtual Desktop preferred codec, AV1 will not be an option if your PC does not have an Nvidia GeForce 40 series or AMD 7000 series GPU. In that case, I would recommend to choose HEVC or HEVC 10bit, as h264 is mostly going to make color muddy when mixed with others. It might be different if you can handle the higher bitrate settings, but that's just from my experience.

[@VRManCave]

Very good addition, thank you for that!❤️ I kept reminding myself to mention that when making the video and then I obviously forgot 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@Swaves_Gaming]

i have an rx 6650 xt and i use av1-10 bit on VD. so my question is does that make it default to hevc? Its weird because it seems to also look a lot better than using the hevc codec. I've read amd 6000 series is capable of av1 but idk if that has anything to do with virtual desktop

[@CuddliiBug]

@@Swaves_Gaming That is interesting, seeing from Guy himself saying it's only for the 7000 series. Said in another Reddit thread that it falls back to the HEVC encoder when trying it with a non-7000 card, but if it works for you, more power to you

[@VRManCave]

@@Swaves_Gaming I'm honestly not sure, I've never tried an AMD GPU personally, but I'd think the AV1 support is not necessarily related to what the card can do, but rather what Virtual Desktop itself is configured for, but I might be wrong. We need someone smarter to chime in 😁

[@dowie500]

I believe its whether your card can encode in av1 - for example rtx3080 can decode but not encode. I have a 3000 series and still able to choose av1 as an option on VD streamer but then checking in performance panel in quest 3 headset its defaulted back to HEVC

[@Arthiem]

Virtual desktop was made by a wizard in his basement and Valve's entire VR dev team can't compete with him.

[@VRManCave]

Haha well said!

[@The_Moony_Loony]

What is so good about it over others? I purchased it and genuinely want to know

[@Arthiem]

@@The_Moony_Loony it uses a lot less bandwidth than the valve one an streams much smoother. So it usually gives wired connection quality from anywhere in my house.

[@joshuam4993]

@@Arthiem Are you hooked up directly to ethernet? Sadly I cannot. Even with wifi 6 and 1gb fiber. Anything about 50 mpbs bitrate causes stutter.

[@Arthiem]

@@joshuam4993 pc was. Now im using wifi on both pc and it does stutter a bit. I need to feed my Ethernet through the ceiling because i bought a house and stopped renting. Setting the pc's wifi card as the headset connection point does help quite a bit though

[@Dogboy73]

Super pleased with Quest 3 PCVR performance over Quest 2. I had some issues with Quest 2 PCVR. Took a bit of tweaking and fiddling. Quest 3 worked better for me out of the box, with defaults. And it looks a lot better than Quest 2. Draw distance clarity in HL Alyx is so much better. And this is before I've started tweaking! Running a medium system with an (now) ageing 3060ti. Was thinking about upgrading to a 4070 or 4070ti after getting Quest 3. Not sure I need it right now! Maybe if I start pushing settings in games. But, as I said, things look considerably better already.

[@nese1]

If you are upgrading for vr you definitely want a gpu with dual encoders, 4070ti and up will have it.

[@Dogboy73]

@@nese1As I said, It’s going fine for me on my 3060ti. With a distinct lack of triple A PCVR titles on the horizon, at this point if I upgrade my GPU it won’t be for VR!

[@nese1]

@@Dogboy73 Sure, do whatever you like, just wanted to point out so you don’t regret anything afterwards.

[@S-attp]

I went from a 3080 to a 4070ti and got a huge performance gain in pcvr.

[@squall6789]

I've only got a gtx1080 but I was running HL:Alyx on nearly max settings through my Index before it died. Wonder how I'll go if I use the quest 3 and if I'll have to dial back the settings for some reason. Maybe the resolution on the Quest 3 is just higher than the Index.... If only I didn't have to return the Index controllers to get my refund on the broken headset 😢

[@gogohoffman]

Can we all just appreciate that some nail to instant transition to the video?

[@VRManCave]

Haha thank you mate! 😄

[@MaxwellNewton]

Chapters 00:00 - Introduction: Using Quest 3 as a PCVR Headset 00:13 - Connecting with the Link Cable 00:40 - Setting Up Oculus App 01:23 - Adjusting Oculus App Settings 02:17 - Using Oculus Debug Tool for Advanced Settings 03:00 - Exploring Wireless PCVR Options 03:29 - AirLink: Meta's Native Option 03:57 - Virtual Desktop: A Favorite PCVR Method 04:40 - Choosing Preferred Codec in Virtual Desktop 05:09 - Configuring Virtual Desktop Settings for Wireless PCVR 05:49 - Conclusion and Video Review Information

[@PeteRobbo19]

Just looking at the amount of responses you’ve given in the comments. That alone deserves some credit… nice work

[@VRManCave]

Yeah I always do my best to reply to as many comments as possible. All of you are supporting my dream by watching these videos, so the least I can do is respond to you. Thanks so much for watching!

[@mattwarwick8135]

Day 2 of my Quest 3 and so happy to be back in VR land - thankyou for such an awesome post!

[@mikestate1]

It’s my understanding that the av1 codec on virtual desktop requires a 40 series card or equivalent amd card. Also, the creator of virtual desktop himself said av1 is experiencing high latency; This should be fixed in the future though.

[@VRManCave]

Yes the AV1 codec currently only works on 4000 series Nvidia cards and I believe 7000 series AMD ones. AV1 looks great to me and the added latency is not noticeable if you have a good networking setup.

[@golllluk]

Good to hear it's fixable. I found AV1 added at least 10ms more latency over NVENC.

[@Nico-s6s]

Is there a big quality difference between connecting quest 3 with airlink or usb cable to pc ?

[@adz951]

Yeah, Airlink is limited to about 100 Mbps IIRC, whereas with the cable you can put the bit rate up much higher (I've got mine at about 450 Mbps). I went the cable route early on as I found the compression artefacts too distracting with Airlink.

[@danielc04]

If you have a laptop with intel wifi 6e card, you can just create a hotspot from your laptop and connect to it from the quest, I've been doing this and it runs flawless. I didn't need to buy another router and my laptop doesn't even have ethernet connector

[@VRManCave]

Yes newer laptops with 6e can do that. I tried on my old laptop with a regular Wi-Fi 5 card and it was horrible 😄

[@shogotube]

I just noticed that my PC has a WIFI 6E card! Thanks for the tip : )

[@wingsta9613]

this is cool how do you connect your quest 3 to the laptop hotspot?

[@rocotoreda]

Great video- I just noted that upon connecting the headset the Oculus PC app shows the red icon indicating the Mic is not connected - I struggled with this myself and the solution is to go to Windows Virtual Reality setup click the Audio setting and disable the top 2 options related to Sound and Mic redirection - Worked for me ;-)

[@VRManCave]

Thanks so much for watching and the kind comment! And yeah I will definitely try that for fixing the mic issue, thanks for sharing! ❤️

[@metalceesie219]

For big open games like skyrim or big maps in the pavlov mode push i use the link cable at 1.5 in the oculus app sampling and 850bit in the oculus debug tool,90hz it looks amazing.. For a nice wireless session i use virtual desktop at av1 codec at 200bitrate for smaller indoor games or smaller maps like halflife alex etc that looks amazing too.. But larger maps need the link cable with the settings to avoid compression.. I had many highend pcvr headsets like the varjo vr3,pimax chrystal,star vr one.. but this quest 3 can do alot for its price..And a amazing sweetspot!(great lenses) Only a pitty that a link cable doesnt keep the quest 3 at full charge

[@VRManCave]

Thanks for sharing your experience, and yes I agree, the Quest 3 is amazing for the price point and I think it'll keep getting better with new features over time like the Quest 2 did.

[@voltagemike4457]

That jawdropping moment totally killed me 🤣

[@VRManCave]

Glad you enjoyed it 🤣

[@salmonskinlover2365]

TL;DR: Virtual Desktop with AV1 codec if you have a 40 series GPU, otherwise use h264+ for outdoor scenes with high bitrate (250-350mbps+ can see things far away clearly like foliage and players), or HEVC 10 bit at a lower bitrate (100-150) for indoor games where you don't have to see as far, as it will have less color banding than h264+, but more latency. I pretty much exclusively use h264+ at 280mbps as I mostly play multiplayer FPS games and the reduced latency of h264+ paired with better visibility at distances is perfect.

[@VRManCave]

Great comment, thank you for the input and sharing your experience! Just curious, what are your PC specs?

[@salmonskinlover2365]

@@VRManCave 9900k 3080 32gb ram

[@VRManCave]

@@salmonskinlover2365 Thanks for the reply, that's an awesome system you have there!

[@Nico1a5]

You seem to have to mastered the art of visual clarity. Have you tried any displayport hmd yet?

[@salmonskinlover2365]

@@Nico1a5 yup. Best wired headset I have is the Pimax 8KX and quest 3 beats it in everything except for fov.

[@HectorYague]

Great video! One question: if you use Virtual Desktop as recommended at the end of the video, the suggested changes in the settings of the Oculus app and the Oculus Debug Tool file will not take effect anyway, correct?

[@VRManCave]

Thanks Hector! Yes that’s correct, the Oculus settings are just for Link/Airlink and not VD.

[@Flem100DK]

Thank you! This is the comment I was looking for!

[@Mmmmmmm_15]

That transition from the thumbnail was cleann

[@VRManCave]

@@Mmmmmmm_15 hahaha thanks for noticing, it took me way longer than I thought it would 😅

[@regisblaise5863]

I have a wifi 6, but my PC is not connected directly to router. I have a +500Mbps connectionPC wifi , so is it necessary to have an ethernet connection to the router ? thanks for your videos

[@VRManCave]

Sorry for the delay. It’s due to fluctuations in Wi-Fi vs wire. If someone is watching something on Netflix or if there’s any movement or interference between your PC and router, your VR experience will suffer because of it. It’s not mandatory to have it wired, but highly recommended. And generally allows for higher bitrates and more stability overall.Thanks for watching!

[@Chris-tu3xx]

Virtual Desktop is my favorite. I run a rtx4090 and a wifi6 system. SteamVR is at 150% SS even 70% SS runs fine. I maxed out all settings in steamVR 72fps is my favorite to reduce system hogging. It looks like 12k quality gaming. Thanks for the clarity. Just to add, I have a ps4vr2 and it is a complete blurr mess compared to this setup.

[@VRManCave]

Yup, totally agree! Thanks so much for watching and happy VR-ing! 😄

[@vipersnakegamer5081]

That intro transition was so fire

[@VRManCave]

THANK YOU for noticing, I recorded it like a billion times to get everything to align properly 🤣

[@vipersnakegamer5081]

@@VRManCave 😂 I loved it. Had to rewatch it a couple times

[@VRManCave]

@@vipersnakegamer5081 Haha glad to hear. I'm constantly trying new things and looking to improve, so it's great seeing your thoughts on it, thank you!

[@rohnshearer3544]

When I connect my Q3 via usb cable, & the link app says, it's connected, & when I start the Oculus software on my pc, it says that the openXR isn't set, do I want to set it. But when I go to settings & click the button, nothing happens. I read somewhere the Oculus app needs to be running with admin privelages to set this, so I run it as admin, but still no luck. Any suggestions?

[@VRManCave]

So sorry for the very late reply, just saw your comment. Not sure if you still need help, but no, Oculus software doesn’t need to run with any special admin privileges. Regarding OpenXR, it’s normal for nothing to happen when you click it since you’re just selecting which runtime OpenXR applications will use when opened. If you’re strictly using it via cable, then I recommend leaving Oculus as the default OpenXR runtime. If using Virtual Desktop for wireless PCVR, set their proprietary VDXR as the runtime.

[@Shadows_101]

i only see AV1 10bit (quest3) option.. and offcause H264 and H264+ and HEVC 10bit and normal HEVC .. why can i not see AV1 (Quest3) as you have ?

[@robertweekes5783]

Wi-Fi 6e doesn’t really improve the bandwidth or latency over 6, it’s just good if you have a lot of 5 GHz Wi-Fi signals around to contend with

[@VRManCave]

It does increase bandwidth, but indeed no VR headset uses the extra bandwidth yet. It’s about extra headroom more than anything else. I don’t live in a congested area at all and changing to 6E has been a massive improvement to how high I can push the bitrate on AirLink.

[@robosergTV]

do you have a tutorial for the desktop version of VD? YT is flooded with wireless VD, hard to find for the steam version with cable.

[@VRManCave]

Excuse my ignorance here, but why would you want to use the Steam version of VD? You can see your desktop directly in the Oculus Home or any other headset you might have. I’m genuinely curious.

[@nobbyfirefly57]

Is there a way to have pass through in rift mode?

[@VRManCave]

Well you can still double tap the side to enter passthrough, but if you mean having the menu, etc. in passthrough, then sadly no.

[@calfstad]

Anybody know what the game is at around 0:12sec? Looks like you are in a cockpit of a ship, flying through a city. Thank you .

[@sodapopinksi667]

Aircar. It's a free little tech demo.

[@Bober909]

On the sponsors note at 1:01, don't you calibrate the goggles themselves? Kinda like binoculars, shouldn't that fix any prescription issues, or am I mistaken?

[@VRManCave]

They're two different things. Yes you need to set your IPD(distance between your eyes), but that won't magically fix your need for wearing glasses if you normally use those. If your eyes simply need help focusing at a certain distance, you will still need that with VR, and prescription lenses help avoid the need to wear your glasses in the headset.

[@noelsmithrgr]

Very helpful info for this new quest user, i can't thank you enough.....so i subbed!

[@VRManCave]

Thanks so much Noel, appreciate it and happy to hear you found it helpful!

[@kevinandtinawiller9122]

I bought those prescription lenses Coolest F’n thing ever. Freedom 😎

[@tristanbased-af2159]

great video man!

[@VRManCave]

Thank you so much man, appreciate that! ❤️

[@XeroCreator]

Well done video. I'm gonna try these as soon as i get home... Now if only they increased the passthrough res :)

[@VRManCave]

Thanks man, appreciate it! And yeah it would be great to make the passthrough better but I think that’s up to the cameras themselves. It does get way better if you’re in a well lit room but that’s about it 😄

[@nevillelongbottom8383]

Hi @VRManCave, if my usecase is only movies and no gaming would i still need AV1 encoding and VR graphic quality "Godlike"? I only use VD for sbs movies and i like the theater environment of VD compared to Skybox/Bigscreen/DeoVR/Whirligig/simpleVR. Im using a laptop with 3080 150w. Thank you

[@abakash9]

Can we please get an update on this? @vrmancave

[@VRManCave]

The encoder and graphic quality will still determine the clarity of the image, so it will definitely help when it comes to movies too. Obviously the quality of the movie itself will count too, since if you are using a 720p movie, no amount of settings will improve that by much.

[@abakash9]

@@VRManCave appreciate your reply, I use 1080p bluray 3D since 3D blurays are only limited to 1080 for now. Since my laptop is 3080 i guess I wont be able to use AV1 encoding sadly. What other codec would u recommend for my 3080 laptop? Thanks for your response, subscribed :)

[@fcf8269]

I have yet to find a video that explain why using wireless VR is better than wired. Having a USB connection to your headset shouldn't bring more stability and larger bandwidth? People barely have Wifi5, so Wifi6 is really out of the question unless you are shopping for a new router

[@VRManCave]

From a data transmission perspective you’re right, wireless is not better, though it is getting damn close if you have a good networking setup. The part where wireless is king is just the freedom of movement without a wire.

[@Fearl3ss234]

​@VRManCave agreed. Respectfully, it doesn't need a video to explain why free range of movement is better.😂

[@fcf8269]

@@VRManCave Agreed on the "freedom of movement " part; although from a technical standpoint the benefit is not matched yet, compared to the wired solution. I get that people have the desire to go wireless; or maybe I am just not that bothered by small things, because I don't jump on walls or turn around constantly in FPS games I guess, to feel the hassle of a wire.

[@adz951]

​​​​@@fcf8269Yeah, even with a new WiFi 6 router a few meters from me, and running Virtual Desktop, I still get a few hitches here and there when running wirelessly. Even with the bitrate turned down a little bit. I'll probably continue to experiment, but for now the cabled experience trumps the non-cabled experience (especially since Virtual Desktop uses SteamVR for games instead of the Oculus runtime).

[@gaigesmith9674]

The pass through quality of the quest 3 is horrible, I’m trying to do mixed realistic vr for a flight sim and it’s not attainable with the poor passthrough quality. Any fix???

[@VRManCave]

Better lighting is the only thing you can really do honestly.

[@sheLuvsManny]

Over exaggerating the quality I can literally play my piano with the passthrough

[@axeltestori]

Hey what is your face cover for the quest ? Thank you

[@VRManCave]

@@axeltestori i’ve switched to the globular cluster one since making this video, but the one shown here is just the official Quest 3 one in the blue colour.

[@AB-308]

I’ve been using only wired so far, hesitant to pull the trigger on a new wifi 6 router because it would only be for wireless pcvr. I run wired at 120hz, maxed res and 700 bitrate. Can I run anywhere near that with wifi6?

[@VRManCave]

Honestly if your primary use is iRacing, I don’t see the point since the wire is not a big deal while sim racing. You can get those figures with a good wi-fi router yes, but again, not sure if it’s worth it for your use case.

[@AB-308]

The draw would be for battery life/endurance races. I still get battery drain when connected and running full res etc. if I was wireless could plug in battery. There are the inline power cables but I read those impact bitrate. True?

[@zygas15]

Hey, I have a question. For the past few days, I've been struggling with settings, cables, and similar things to configure my Quest 3 properly. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get it to a point where the image is clear and pleasant to the eye. I'm connecting via the Link cable, but the issue persists. Objects up close look quite decent, but there's a significant amount of aliasing when looking at things in the distance. I find it hard to believe that this is normal, as I've read so many reviews praising the resolution and image quality. I used to use the HP Reverb G2 before, and despite having a very similar screen resolution, the quality was far better, both for standalone games and PCVR. Does anyone know why the resolution is so poor? Does the quality seem okay for you, and are you not experiencing such strong aliasing?

[@VRManCave]

The quality on Quest 3 is really good. Some aliasing in the distance is normal but overall it should be very sharp as long as your PC can handle it. Regarding the G2, I haven’t personally tried one, and not sure what you mean with standalone as it is only PCVR, but my understanding is that while it’s very clear, the sweet spot is tiny on the G2, and significantly bigger on Q3.

[@SHMlKE]

Is it dramatically different between wired and wireless? On the line between staying wireless or doing cable with asseto corsa

[@VRManCave]

If you have a powerful PC and a good dedicated router and can crank up everything to max, then no, there’s not that big of a difference. But for situations where you need to keep settings lower or your wireless connection isn’t great, then yeah the stability and clarity over wire is superior. Hope that helps!

[@SHMlKE]

@@VRManCave perfect thanks!

[@Andy55420]

AV-10 should actually be superior than AV-1 according to the Virtual Desktop dev, and indeed I believe he plans to remove the AC-1 option to avoid confusion, the difference being 8 bit vs 10 bit. This of course is limited to the Quest 3 with a RTX 40 series GPU.

[@VRManCave]

AV1-10bit is now the only option that shows up in VD, no more AV-1, just the 10-bit one, so he did remove it. Thanks for the comment though, and of course for watching the video!

[@Killcycle]

Which game is this SciFi flight in the end of the video? 😮

[@VRManCave]

It's AirCar :)

[@Grainsauce]

Why didn't he mention steamvr render resolution, is it better to keep that at 100% like most people suggest?

[@VRManCave]

Any resolution you set before opening SteamVR will become SteamVR’s 100% equivalent. I didn’t mention SteamVR resolution because I generally don’t touch that and set it up at the source, aka Oculus App or Virtual Desktop.

[@chichyiphone4]

Do you have to change the settings in the Oculus Debug Tool if using virtual desktop? Also, what is the difference between avi1 and Avi1 10 bit for quest 3 on VD. Have a 4090 btw.

[@VRManCave]

No Virtual Desktop will not be able to use the settings from the Debug Tool, those are just for Link/Airlink. The 10-bit allows for a higher number of colors to be displayed, so in games with dark environments or lots of colors, the 10-bit codecs will likely look better, but might also add a bit of extra latency. Also everyone’s eyes perceive things a bit differently so it’s worth trying all of them and seeing which one you prefer.

[@battschack]

i can only use av1 10bit av1 i dont have why?@@VRManCave

[@ates8129]

where should we buy virtual desktop ? quest store or steam

[@VRManCave]

Quest Store.

[@patrickyoungsaoeduhk8640]

Thanks for the tips in your video! May I know if any of the settiing in your video will reduce the life of the headset?

[@VRManCave]

Glad you found it helpful! Everything I showed is absolutely safe. I’ve been doing it from day one after Quest 2 launched and continued on Quest 3 with zero issues so far.

[@moiCode429]

what a wonderful music on the background

[@VRManCave]

I am so happy to hear you liked it, thanks for watching! ❤️

[@ianlieberman5262]

Hey there! I have a question. I have a dedicated wifi 6 router and a highend pc with a 4090. I am using your third option, but I only get the option for AV 1 with 10 bit color. I didn't get the simple AV1 option. Also, when I am playing walkabout minigolf I am getting some weird blur effect. Just was wondering if you knew what that could be.

[@VRManCave]

Sorry for the late reply, I’m currently on vacation :). Virtual Desktop updated the options and AV1 is gone, only the AV1 with 10bit is available now. Regarding the blur, try playing around with the settings, but you definitely should not be getting that. Is it happening in any other game or just Walkabout?

[@unlimitedslash]

I think PCVR will increase in quality a lot once AV1 hardware encoding becomes the norm and Vr games start using technologies like FSR3 with frame generation, far from the ideal native resolution and native high frame rate, but should be a good midpoint until GPU's get powerful enough to run those resolutions at 90/120 fps stable, that or maybe a new tech appears that allows for better performance even with actual hardware.

[@VRManCave]

I agree, but realistically AV1 and any other encoding/decoding only happens on 2in1 headsets like the Meta ones. On any native VR headset it will look great by default since it does not have to compress the signal and then decode it.

[@unlimitedslash]

@@VRManCave Well, that's not entirely true, even high end 4k monitors (specially those that go into high refresh rates above 90Hz) compress image because HDMI nor DP support such massive data transfers, it's reduced to the point of barely noticable/nonexistent in terms perception but the compression is there, usually all done on a hardware level, so yeah, better ways to encode/decode image actually benefit all headsets in the end.

[@mertgorates3330]

Great video, thank you. I have some questions. If we are using Steam for PCVR, will this resolution change at Oculus app apply for SteamVR as well? I am asking this because I saw SteamVR has its own resolution and its not same with Quest 3 values.

[@VRManCave]

Thanks so much for watching! So basically anything you set in the Oculus App/Virtual Desktop will count as 100% resolution in Steam, and if your PC can handle it, you can upsample even more from Steam, though I’d generally recommend sticking to only one layer when setting resolution. So just change it in the Quest app or Virtual Desktop and leave the Steam setting alone.

[@losslessthoughts]

Is Virtual Desktop still worth it now that SteamLink is available?

[@VRManCave]

I’d love to give you a straight answer, but it depends. For some it seems SteamLink works better, others say the quality is still waaay better in VD or AirLink. Personally I’m still testing.

[@bawgdan]

Very cool edit bruh

[@VRManCave]

Thank you bruh, it was a lot of work especially for the intro but I love the way it turned out! 😁

[@aboveaveragedadgaming1258]

100% trying this when I get home! Thanks for the video!!

[@haffijr]

just ordered a link cable from kiwi design! gonna check on this vid again once it arrives.

[@VRManCave]

Awesome, it's a great choice. Let me know in case you have questions, but maybe just leave a new comment instead of replying to this one because KZbin doesn't notify me of replies to existing comments for some reason.

[@rodrigobraz2]

I am curious how this works under the hood. Virtual Desktop essentially replaces the Oculus app? Does it communicate with StreamVR?

[@zhugzug]

You should also put the link to the Oculus software cause that's not mentioned here.

[@VRManCave]

It's literally just the base official Meta Quest Link app that everyone would already have installed if they're using the Quest for PCVR.

[@zhugzug]

@@VRManCave Never installed it.

[@jankosek7537]

hi I don't really know anything about it. please recommend a wifi router for meta quest 3 around 110 euro, ty

[@CBAPT13]

check the video description

[@VRManCave]

Yup I have options in the description :)

[@bigchild3147]

I am using the Meta Quest 3 with a link cable for simracing games on Steam (AMD GPU). Right now, I do not want to use the OpenXRtool kit and OpenComposite. In most games, I have the option to start in Steam VR or oculus mode. I am uncertain which one is better performance wise. Even when I get the message in oculus mode your HMD is not supported. Is this still better? If so, should the game be started within the Meta environment or in Steam itself? Does anyone have a recommendation and maybe an explanation why? Thank you very much in advance.

[@VRManCave]

Doesn’t matter where you start the game, but yeah generally it’s better to go with Oculus mode if it’s available. When using a cable, the Oculus runtime runs anyway, and if you go with SteamVR mode for games, then both Oculus and SteamVR will be running in the background, instead of just Oculus. Hope that makes sense!

[@bigchild3147]

@@VRManCave Thanks this helped a lot.

[@Belgarath777]

Very helpful video, thank you.

[@VRManCave]

Thanks for watching! ❤️

[@CrownedFigure]

W thumbnail transition

[@VRManCave]

Thanks for noticing 😄

[@dusthart8303]

Noon question but if the oculus can do 800 bit rate and vd only 200 wouldn't the oculus work better? I know I missed something important but I've watched this 3 times now lol

[@VRManCave]

No worries at all for asking. VD is more flexible and also has the AV1 codec available, which Airlink doesn't. That codec makes even lower bitrates look better. Overall I'd say yes, 800 bitrate looks fantastic, but some users just don't have the setup to back that up. If you have a high end PC and high end router with an ideal setup, then 800 will give you better visuals. If not, VD is a great middle ground between performance, latency and visuals. Hope that makes sense!

[@dusthart8303]

@VRManCave that makes sense Thank you! 4070ti + mq3 first time pc gamer lol

[@VRManCave]

@@dusthart8303 You should have a great experience with a 4070ti, enjoy the world of PCVR man!

[@Snack.Dragon]

Yes, yes, XR2 gen 2 is super power, I want more... soon to see next gen XR2 gen 2 Tier 2 coming ...

[@VRManCave]

Yeah for sure a big jump. Even on stand-alone going in and out of games is sooo much quicker, and for PCVR it just feels much smoother.

[@TheGarondorf]

Hi ManCave, i just recently purchased a n acer nitro 5 i7 rtx 3050 laptop and bought the kiwi link cable to play games from my oculus library, but every time i start a game like robo recall it freezes and goes back to the large white room with games menu. Can you please help?

[@VRManCave]

I’m happy to try and help but it’s nearly impossible to diagnose just based on that info. Are you starting the games from Steam or directly within Oculus home? If you have any VR games on Steam, it’s worth trying to launch one from there and see if that works. Reinstalling the Oculus software on your laptop is always worth trying too.

[@TheGarondorf]

@VRManCave Yes just the way you explained in your video. When I plug in the cable, it shows the panel to launch rift and takes me to the Oculus home ( white room) then I choose robo recall and it starts the game but freezes after about ten seconds,then sends me back to the white room?

[@tattoodude8946]

You say you are running "a beast of a PC" - but what is it? It would be helpful to know that way I can compare my machine to yours and get an idea of where I can land. I have a pretty beefy machine too - 3090 and i9 9900 so I can probably run pretty high settings, but your specs would give an idea of where we can go.

[@VRManCave]

I have a full video on the channel about it. It’s a 7950x3D, 32gb of RAM and RTX4090.

[@Crusaderae]

My specs are, RTX 3080 Ryzen-7 16GB ram. Is this a good spec for quality vr ?

[@VRManCave]

It’s an excellent spec, you should have a great experience. My old PC is a Ryzen 5800x and RTX 3070 and it already was pretty good but with a 3080 you should be even better!

[@Crusaderae]

@@VRManCave Thank you! Also I'm a person who loves to fully capture the essence and immerse in every game so would you recommend me to get a quest 3 with 128GB,256GB or 512GB?

[@dra6o0n]

Change the encoder type to H.264 so that for Air Link (Wireless) you can choose higher Bitrate level. Do note that even if your network can support send or recieving over 800-1000 Mbps, latency and visual glitching can still occur, so start at 500 (max Encode Bitrate), and play a heavy VR game to see if it starts hitching.

[@ATY676]

how do you change encoder type

[@SniperUnknownVR]

Hi, what game is in this video flying around a city ?

[@VRManCave]

It’s called AirCar, it’s free on Steam. Not much to do in the game besides fly around but it looks gorgeous, great for testing clarity in VR.

[@SniperUnknownVR]

@@VRManCave thanks ! yes I've heard of that, I didn't realise it looks that good !

[@netmothsah]

I found ur video from 2 years ago with my search(as u even said in that video xD), but i was smart enought to click ur name and it got me here.

[@VRManCave]

Haha that's awesome, thanks for the support!

[@IvanFamanni]

I bought cable lenses and a comfortable helmet but do I have to download something before connecting? app oculus ? only

[@VRManCave]

Yes you'll need to download the Oculus App on your PC.

[@spike-the-legend_stl7685]

Is i7 gen 11, rtx 3060 enough for 60 frames and high quality?

[@VRManCave]

It will depend on the game, same as with non-VR titles. Also, I would personally rather aim for 80-90fps and medium-high settings as it will be a better experience. 60 is way too low for most VR experiences besides flight sims.

[@fox0712]

With VD - is there a way to play modded games such as Skyrim VR using MO2? VD seems to break it for me...

[@charlescook2749]

Do you have a video for best nvidia control panel settings for VR?

[@VRManCave]

No because it would be a very short video. I only use Prefer maximum performance on thje Power Management Mode and Texture Filtering on Quality. Also for more powerful headsets I might do 2-3 under VR Pre-rendered frames.

[@Trucker-Belly]

Quest 3 had an update and now DCS crashes. Took me a year to finally get it right including upgrading from the quest 2, building an entire new PC and about 3-4 apps to adjust settings. Had to switch to steamVR and it runs like crap. Im gonna try the virtual desktop and hopefully I will be happy again. I literally just got a desk, chair and the new turtle beach flight deck HOTAS and now DCS has a new update with the new launcher as well as the new update from Meta which broke my setup!😂😂😂

[@VRManCave]

If using Virtual Desktop I’d highly recommend the VDXR runtime as it bypasses Oculus and Steam entirely and runs awesome!

[@Trucker-Belly]

@@VRManCave I will absolutely do that as soon as I can get my own router and internet. I share with 4 other people!!! Im on the standard modem wifi🤣🤣

[@Hood.Housekeeping]

I would like to run a type c cable for best quality, speed, battery, no WiFi so were not getting a lobotomy. I’m still trying to figure it out.

[@VRManCave]

Lobotomy?? What? 🤣 Anyway yeah you can go for a cable if that suits better.

[@rafaelmori8832]

Great video man

[@VRManCave]

Thanks dude, appreciate you taking the time to watch and leave such a nice comment! ❤️

[@saulrose]

I just read the Oculus Debug options is for Wired only, has 0 effect on Virtual Desktop.

[@VRManCave]

@@saulrose Oculus Debug is for both wired Link and wireless AirLink, since those use the Oculus runtime. Virtual Desktop is a separate application so yes, it has it’s own settings.

[@Infarlock]

I thought Q3 has 120hz? Or is that added later?

[@VRManCave]

It does on stand-alone and in Virtual Desktop, they still have to update it for Airlink and Link.

[@Infarlock]

@@VRManCave thanks

[@useful2021]

Super danke

[@VRManCave]

You're super welcome, thanks for watching!

[@DGomex19]

Do the Oculus& Debug settings effect the system when using the Virtual desktop method?

[@VRManCave]

Nope, those are just for Link/Airlink.

[@amorgan5844]

Any chance sidequest updates for quest3 and we can tweak passthrough settings?

[@VRManCave]

Not that I am aware of.

[@TandCEveryDay]

is that encode rate based off of hardware specs or router? I have a 6ghz router and can only set mine to about 200 before i start getting extreme lag over airlink.

[@VRManCave]

It’s a combination of both, but mostly the router.

[@KenzyKane]

Is 1.3x resolution the best option ?

[@VRManCave]

It depends on your setup and your preference for more fps or higher quality graphics. I run this on a 4090 PC and at 1.3x, everything maxxed out in game and 800mbps bitrate, I can't tell the difference if I up the resolution higher.

[@camelCased]

I'm wondering how the Airlink / VD resolution works together with SteamVR / in-game resolution? Does the headset automatically report the right resolution to the game itself and there is no need to change the resolution anywhere else?

[@VRManCave]

Yes whatever you set in VD/Link will be reported to SteamVR as being 100% resolution. You can supersample in SteamVR in addition to increase the resolution even more if your PC can handle it, but for the most part setting it in VD/Link should be enough.

[@sinfulwolf7571]

Can a regular laptop handle this setting?

[@dannymiester5825]

Unable to copy and paste in to encode bitrate box? Its driving me nuts

[@VRManCave]

@@dannymiester5825 you need to use CTRL+C and CTRL+V to do that as you can’t right click in that box :)

[@dannymiester5825]

@@VRManCave thankyou, I will give it a try :)

[@LaurenceGough]

Is paying for the Virtual Desktop app really needed vs the free built in Airlink?

[@VRManCave]

It offers more settings and customization, so I'd say it's worth the 20 bucks, but at the same time if you're happy with Airlink, that's all that really matters!

[@joe-5D]

whats that game with the helicopter ?

[@VRManCave]

AirCar

[@charlescook2749]

If I’m using VD, should I still make all the changes to my device in the oculus app like resolution increases and stuff?

[@VRManCave]

So, the Oculus App will still dictate things like resolution, but the refresh rate is set in VD. The Oculus Debug Tool settings will have no effect on VD and only work when using Link or Airlink.

[@deesee76]

I might be the odd one out but i have been a bit disappointed with my Q3. As a standalone headset - sure it’s a bit of fun, XR is good, pass through horrible and for PCVR, there is a lot of trial and error in terms of finding the right settings for your PC and for rendering, a few option to go for from OpenXR, Oculus to Steam VR to choose from and all have pros and cons. The Q3 display is very underwhelming compared to using OLED 2K or 4K monitor or TCL RayNeo NXTWEAR S+ XR Glasses despite the higher resolution. Finding the right cable is also trial and error, even when cables states it can handle 10Gbps and charging. PCVR is very demanding so you need a high end PC. Even my 4090 & 7800x3D struggles in some sim racing games when set to full fat graphical glory. DLSS, anti-aliasing and post processing all destroys the quality. i have spent more time in settings between Oculus App, SteamVR, OpenXR and in game than i used it for sim racing. for those new to VR, it’s not plug and play for PC gamers to get half decent frames and visual clarity. imagine watching a 900p video on 55 inch display, that’s rough what it looks like to my eye balls out of the box, despite the 2K+ per eye on the tech spec. same applies to some of the other headset i owned. right now, it’s too much mucking about to get it working nicely and you do get it perfect, don’t touch any of the settings!!!

[@VRManCave]

You’re making it more complicated than it needs to be. Firstly, the only headset that comes close to monitors is the Pimax Crystal, at least from the 10-11 ones I personally own. I have a 4090 and 7950x3D and do a lot of sim racing and have never had my PC struggle even with everything maxxed out, so not sure what settings you’re using or what’s happening but it shouldn’t be the case. Regarding cables, most do the job totally fine, the charging part is up to your PC to give enough power, not the cable, and even then you might still need a powered cable to ensure it charges the Q3 fast enough.

[@JAMAL-gf2fs]

Can you explain how to use pass through mode with the hard links or anything else?

[@VRManCave]

Not sure what you mean by “hard links”, but passthrough is not really used that much in PCVR.

[@JAMAL-gf2fs]

@@VRManCave oh sorry I meant thru the link cable. I’m trying to play 2d video games and looking for the best option. The link cable mode for meta 3 I guess removed a pass through mode in there last update. I like the cable cause it has lower latency for shooters like breakpoint. I guess what I’d like to see you do and I think other people would be interested in seeing is. What is the best option to play non vr games and how to do it (with wired mouse and keyboard, using the vr as your monitor). I’m trying the separate router and virtual desktop for my headset and going to see what the latency is and also going to try the link cable and try playing mouse and keyboard even though I can’t see anything in my peripherals because no pass thru mode

[@SimplyFrankiee]

I have an RTX 4090 and I only see AV1 10-bit (Quest 3). Why is there no AV1 (Quest 3) for me? - Also which will be the best looking settings with the lowest latency to play beat saber without any drops/lag?

[@VRManCave]

Yeah I believe they removed AV1 since I made this video. Lowest latency is still probably H.264 but it wouldn't necessarily be a noticeable difference between VD and AirLink. Lowest possible latency is still via wire.

[@dantiwolf]

Im confused because steam vr has quest quality settings and so does oculus and both have to b3 open at the same time. So do they conflict?

[@SumPixelz]

Wow thx bruh that really made a difference!

[@VRManCave]

Glad to hear man, and yeah the difference is crazy!

[@mikegc3816]

I noticed you have the no mic error, do you know why that is?

[@VRManCave]

Yes I’ve fixed it since recording this video. Just go to your audio devices in Windows and enable the Oculus microphone manually and it will fix it.

[@mikegc3816]

@@VRManCave i thought i'd tried that, I'll have another look this evening - cheers

[@IvanFamanni]

hi, I have a terrible wifi connection, can I use virtual desktop with the cable to the vr to the pc?

[@VRManCave]

Well you can just use Oculus Link. Virtual Desktop only works via wireless but if you’re using a cable Link is way better and allows for much higher bitrates and stability in most cases.

[@AlexM]

is 1.3x really the optimum? is higher useless?

[@VRManCave]

Well, I'm running it on a 4090 and if you want to max out the in-game settings too, I've found 1.3x to be the optimum for me if I want to run at a consistent 90hz. If you're okay with 72Hz, you can probably push it even higher.

[@chrisgrab7148]

IS Geforce RTX 4060Ti compatibile with Quest 3? It will not connect via cable. Worked fine with RX 6600.

[@VRManCave]

It’s definitely compatible, make sure you have the Oculus app installed and it should work fine. I have a 3070 PC and a 4090 one and it works perfect on both.

[@williamcousert]

Can anything be done to eliminate the warping in passthrough mode? That's the only reason I haven't bought one yet.

[@VRManCave]

I believe so, but it's on Meta to do that through software updates. The warping is actually not as bad as you'd think and only really shows up on things very close to the cameras for the most part.

[@HOTTESTHERE]

So this guide looks good but I just have one big question that buggs me. Why would anyone ever turn down the refresh rate? If your pc can´t do 90 fps having 90Hz is still positive and also does not hurt your performance in any way.

[@VRManCave]

That’s a solid question! If your PC can’t push a certain refresh rate, keeping it set to that does actually hurt your performance, since your computer “tries” to hit that, which leads to way more fluctuation in fps and consequently, stutters and lag. A rock solid 72hz will always feel smoother than setting it to 90 or 120 and having it constantly move up and down depending on the in-game scene.

[@kacarek2402]

The biggest thing is that the encoding framerate is static. If you set it to 120, but your pc only renders, for example, 76fps the encoding just duplicates the frames, but the bandwith stays the same. You are essentially wasting the bitrate, since you're not getting 120fps, but encoding at 120, so the image quality is lower (72 fps 500bitrate offers better quality than 120fps 500bitrate). You're essentially throwing away the quality for no reason if you're encoding at higher framerate than your PC can push.

[@shubhamjain8025]

Can i connect my quest 3 to wifi hotspot from my pc which is connected via ethernet? Will it affect the quality? Its cz the 5ghz signal doesnt reach my room.

[@VRManCave]

You should be able to do that without issues generally, yes. But as always with networking related things, the best thing to do is test and see how it performs.