Budget gpus aren't going to cut it for me anymore. VR needs as much horsepower as it can get, especially in my primary sim, DCS World. P3d with Orbx makes VR unplayable and even loads down my system with higher graphics settings in 2d. My 1080 is at best adequate. My HD 7970 GHz edition is still a great gpu... but way too slow for what I am doing right now. I hope cpu's, motherboard chipsets, RAM, and gpu's all make a huge leap forward so that VR can have both a higher pixel density AND wider field of view. If VR just had the pixel density (pixels per degree of field of view) of my 46-inch 1080p LCD TV that I use for flight simming and it could run at full frame rate while doing so, I would never fly without VR. But the present effect of taking a lower resolution and spreading it over a wider field of view is to remind me of what gaming looked like on an old 640 x 480 monitor, though with really good anti-aliasing, it looks more like 800x600. For the time being, I alternate between VR and 2-d monitor depending on what level of graphics I need. It is painful to switch back-and-forth as it brings out the flaws in both approaches. When I go back to a conventional monitor, TrackIR doesn't even come close to replicating the smoothness, accuracy, and 1:1 ratio of VR. But the improvement in graphics is so dramatic, it almost hurts my eyes to go back to VR.
While I really want and need high end hardware like never before, I don't think the ends justifies the means. Having paid $470 already tested my limits, though the results in VR made it worth it. But more than that is out of the question unless my paycheck doubles to match the inflation in gpu prices.
