Very tempting, but...
I have been keeping an eye on Vision 3D kit for a while now, and have been very tempted by it, although there are still some reservations which I hope some of you might be able to clear up for me.

1. Game support - After some research, it became apparent that non of the current popular game has "flawless" support for 3D vision, even for games that have been rated as excellent. Are there any plans for co-development or 3D certification process by nvidia?

2. Price - Games for me are pretty much a social event, I don't mind forking out £250 for the monitor, a maybe a kit for £150, but for me, I would have to pay another £250 just for another 2 set of glasses, is a bit too much commitment for a "experimental" product, shutter glasses itself isn't exactly cutting edge, and u can certainlly aquire them for afraction of the price at the moment. While on the topic of price, its obvious with the current price schemes, you are targeting the top tier of customers, is the product ever planning to become mainstream?

3. Longivity of the product - with so many minor issues surrounding the glasses, I am wondering the current line of 3D vision kits is more experimental and will be replaced in the short future. Are there any significant hardware upgrades planned in the near future?

4. Whats the best way of taking advantage of the product? I am currently running Radeon 4870x2 (I won't deny it, but it has more buck performance ratio), I understand I will have to switch to an nvidia counter part, although I am currently crossed between 285 in SLI or a 295(I don't mind the costs, for graphics card as it'll work even without 3d Vision). What should I be looking at to get the smoothest performance? Is the glasses more CPU or GPU dependent?
I have been keeping an eye on Vision 3D kit for a while now, and have been very tempted by it, although there are still some reservations which I hope some of you might be able to clear up for me.



1. Game support - After some research, it became apparent that non of the current popular game has "flawless" support for 3D vision, even for games that have been rated as excellent. Are there any plans for co-development or 3D certification process by nvidia?



2. Price - Games for me are pretty much a social event, I don't mind forking out £250 for the monitor, a maybe a kit for £150, but for me, I would have to pay another £250 just for another 2 set of glasses, is a bit too much commitment for a "experimental" product, shutter glasses itself isn't exactly cutting edge, and u can certainlly aquire them for afraction of the price at the moment. While on the topic of price, its obvious with the current price schemes, you are targeting the top tier of customers, is the product ever planning to become mainstream?



3. Longivity of the product - with so many minor issues surrounding the glasses, I am wondering the current line of 3D vision kits is more experimental and will be replaced in the short future. Are there any significant hardware upgrades planned in the near future?



4. Whats the best way of taking advantage of the product? I am currently running Radeon 4870x2 (I won't deny it, but it has more buck performance ratio), I understand I will have to switch to an nvidia counter part, although I am currently crossed between 285 in SLI or a 295(I don't mind the costs, for graphics card as it'll work even without 3d Vision). What should I be looking at to get the smoothest performance? Is the glasses more CPU or GPU dependent?

#1
Posted 06/05/2009 02:00 PM   
Its very GPU intensive. It will esentially be rendering the game twice. Once for each eye view.

If you are looking for cheap flawless 3d gaming than you will probably be waiting a few years.
You have to balance the cost and the flaws against how much enjoyment you think you will get.
For me 3d gaming is something I couldnt have even imagined when I was a kid. I was busy loading my 48k ZX spectrum games into a tape player dreaming of the day that games didnt take 15mins to load. (if they even worked)
Now I have a monster pc (several 100thousand times faster than my 48k) that plays games and movies in 3d.

It might not be perfect, it might get superseded by something better but right here and right now its rocking my world.
Its very GPU intensive. It will esentially be rendering the game twice. Once for each eye view.



If you are looking for cheap flawless 3d gaming than you will probably be waiting a few years.

You have to balance the cost and the flaws against how much enjoyment you think you will get.

For me 3d gaming is something I couldnt have even imagined when I was a kid. I was busy loading my 48k ZX spectrum games into a tape player dreaming of the day that games didnt take 15mins to load. (if they even worked)

Now I have a monster pc (several 100thousand times faster than my 48k) that plays games and movies in 3d.



It might not be perfect, it might get superseded by something better but right here and right now its rocking my world.

#2
Posted 06/05/2009 03:54 PM   
You know Spiritdreams if you want to play with 3d and ATI try iz3d. At least you would get red/blue and the drivers are free.
You know Spiritdreams if you want to play with 3d and ATI try iz3d. At least you would get red/blue and the drivers are free.

#3
Posted 06/05/2009 04:07 PM   
[quote name='Spiritdreams' post='549235' date='Jun 5 2009, 10:00 AM']I have been keeping an eye on Vision 3D kit for a while now, and have been very tempted by it, although there are still some reservations which I hope some of you might be able to clear up for me.

1. Game support - After some research, it became apparent that non of the current popular game has "flawless" support for 3D vision, even for games that have been rated as excellent. Are there any plans for co-development or 3D certification process by nvidia?[/quote]

Actually, almost all modern games work great with 3d Vision already, and more driver tweaks are done and more games are added to the official compatibility list with every driver update.

Just because it's not on the list doesn't mean it doesn't work. LOTRO is nowhere to be found on nvidia's official compatibility list, but I can assure you it is 100% compatible, even in DX10 mode. As a matter of fact, it works so well it should practically be the poster-child for 3d Vision.

And yes, nvidia has previously stated that they'll be working directly with game manufacturers on future releases to ensure full stereo 3d compatibility and even specific "pop-out" animations made especially for stereo 3d.


[quote name='Spiritdreams' post='549235' date='Jun 5 2009, 10:00 AM']2. Price - Games for me are pretty much a social event, I don't mind forking out £250 for the monitor, a maybe a kit for £150, but for me, I would have to pay another £250 just for another 2 set of glasses, is a bit too much commitment for a "experimental" product, shutter glasses itself isn't exactly cutting edge, and u can certainlly aquire them for afraction of the price at the moment. While on the topic of price, its obvious with the current price schemes, you are targeting the top tier of customers, is the product ever planning to become mainstream?[/quote]

Yeah, it's not cheap. The 3d Vision kit itself isn't that bad at $200; and additional glasses can be had for $100 each (without the IR transmitter kit). It's the 120Hz monitor that really stings.

No getting around that. For now, 3d Vision is not for the "budget minded". You know what they say [i]"if you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it."[/i] ;)


[quote name='Spiritdreams' post='549235' date='Jun 5 2009, 10:00 AM']3. Longivity of the product - with so many minor issues surrounding the glasses, I am wondering the current line of 3D vision kits is more experimental and will be replaced in the short future. Are there any significant hardware upgrades planned in the near future?[/quote]

Your guess is as good as ours. nvidia is definitely keeping 3D on the table to go mainstream, though. Nvidia just announced that going forward ALL graphics cards will be packaged with blue&red anaglyph glasses and all driver releases will include stereo 3d, so for now it appears they're on-track to keep supporting 3d Vision and pushing to bring it to the mainstream.


[quote name='Spiritdreams' post='549235' date='Jun 5 2009, 10:00 AM']4. Whats the best way of taking advantage of the product? I am currently running Radeon 4870x2 (I won't deny it, but it has more buck performance ratio), I understand I will have to switch to an nvidia counter part, although I am currently crossed between 285 in SLI or a 295(I don't mind the costs, for graphics card as it'll work even without 3d Vision). What should I be looking at to get the smoothest performance? Is the glasses more CPU or GPU dependent?[/quote]

It's very gpu dependent. You'll need a nvidia gpu (of course), and I'd recommend at least a GTX260 or higher. It takes quite a bit of graphics power and eats quite a bit of fps to render in stereo mode, although you can turn down your detail settings and still play pretty comfortably on less gpu power.

I can confirm that it works beautifully on 2xSLI 285s even at any game's max settings.


All of that aside, though, once you've played your favorite game in stereo 3D there's no going back. :)
[quote name='Spiritdreams' post='549235' date='Jun 5 2009, 10:00 AM']I have been keeping an eye on Vision 3D kit for a while now, and have been very tempted by it, although there are still some reservations which I hope some of you might be able to clear up for me.



1. Game support - After some research, it became apparent that non of the current popular game has "flawless" support for 3D vision, even for games that have been rated as excellent. Are there any plans for co-development or 3D certification process by nvidia?



Actually, almost all modern games work great with 3d Vision already, and more driver tweaks are done and more games are added to the official compatibility list with every driver update.



Just because it's not on the list doesn't mean it doesn't work. LOTRO is nowhere to be found on nvidia's official compatibility list, but I can assure you it is 100% compatible, even in DX10 mode. As a matter of fact, it works so well it should practically be the poster-child for 3d Vision.



And yes, nvidia has previously stated that they'll be working directly with game manufacturers on future releases to ensure full stereo 3d compatibility and even specific "pop-out" animations made especially for stereo 3d.





[quote name='Spiritdreams' post='549235' date='Jun 5 2009, 10:00 AM']2. Price - Games for me are pretty much a social event, I don't mind forking out £250 for the monitor, a maybe a kit for £150, but for me, I would have to pay another £250 just for another 2 set of glasses, is a bit too much commitment for a "experimental" product, shutter glasses itself isn't exactly cutting edge, and u can certainlly aquire them for afraction of the price at the moment. While on the topic of price, its obvious with the current price schemes, you are targeting the top tier of customers, is the product ever planning to become mainstream?



Yeah, it's not cheap. The 3d Vision kit itself isn't that bad at $200; and additional glasses can be had for $100 each (without the IR transmitter kit). It's the 120Hz monitor that really stings.



No getting around that. For now, 3d Vision is not for the "budget minded". You know what they say "if you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it." ;)





[quote name='Spiritdreams' post='549235' date='Jun 5 2009, 10:00 AM']3. Longivity of the product - with so many minor issues surrounding the glasses, I am wondering the current line of 3D vision kits is more experimental and will be replaced in the short future. Are there any significant hardware upgrades planned in the near future?



Your guess is as good as ours. nvidia is definitely keeping 3D on the table to go mainstream, though. Nvidia just announced that going forward ALL graphics cards will be packaged with blue&red anaglyph glasses and all driver releases will include stereo 3d, so for now it appears they're on-track to keep supporting 3d Vision and pushing to bring it to the mainstream.





[quote name='Spiritdreams' post='549235' date='Jun 5 2009, 10:00 AM']4. Whats the best way of taking advantage of the product? I am currently running Radeon 4870x2 (I won't deny it, but it has more buck performance ratio), I understand I will have to switch to an nvidia counter part, although I am currently crossed between 285 in SLI or a 295(I don't mind the costs, for graphics card as it'll work even without 3d Vision). What should I be looking at to get the smoothest performance? Is the glasses more CPU or GPU dependent?



It's very gpu dependent. You'll need a nvidia gpu (of course), and I'd recommend at least a GTX260 or higher. It takes quite a bit of graphics power and eats quite a bit of fps to render in stereo mode, although you can turn down your detail settings and still play pretty comfortably on less gpu power.



I can confirm that it works beautifully on 2xSLI 285s even at any game's max settings.





All of that aside, though, once you've played your favorite game in stereo 3D there's no going back. :)

Asus RIVBE • i7 4930K @ 4.7ghz • 8gb Corsair Dominator Platinum 2133 C8
2xSLI EVGA GTX 770 SC • Creative X-Fi Titanium • 2x 840 SSD + 1TB Seagate Hybrid
EVGA Supernova 1300W• Asus VG278H & nVidia 3d Vision
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#4
Posted 06/05/2009 05:10 PM   
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