They go by Silent and Radar. The two transgender friends spend most of their time on the virtual reality platform where they met: VRChat. This growing community of about 70,000 people is a space where they can explore their identities and overcome boundaries — whether it’s borders or language. Inside the 10-year-old software, they have created an environment of limitless, fast-paced creative expression. I spent several months working with Silent and Radar, their chosen avatar names, to uncover the intricacies of their peculiar digital lives.

More details are on the forums: https://ask.vrchat.com/t/an-email-from-our-ceo/25060

• Golden Week Features: Celebrate with Japanese-themed worlds until May 13.
• Input Update: Enhancements to cross-platform hand tracking and SteamVR Input 2.0, including better gesture input, full controller remapping, and more intuitive menu navigation.
• Localization: Launch of full UI localization in open beta, expanding language support.
• SDK Roadmap: Overview of future plans for VRChat's SDK, suggesting more user-friendly updates ahead.
• Content Management: Fixes to the content-refresh websocket event and automatic iOS avatar conversion.
• VRChat Constraints: New, more optimized constraints for avatars are being developed.
• Web Enhancements: Improvements to the VRChat website, including faster loading times and better user interface.
• API Changes: Notification about changes to instance creation via APIs, moving towards more secure and functional instance management.
• New Home World: Introduction of a new default home world, inviting feedback on usability.

I have been urging to try out VRChat for ages, but I don't have a headset yet, since I'm waiting for the Deckard or a cheaper PCVR headset that is up-to-date.

How many non-VR people do you see in VRChat? I kinda fear of being left out / discriminated against because of the lack of a headset.

Is it something you aim for, or is it something you completely disregard?

I've had an interest in playing VRChat for a couple years now but never went through. There's been so many conflicting that been said about it ever since the Easy Anti-Cheat Update. So I want to know about your personal experience with the community and where to start.

Also I've been looking to upgrade my headset from a Valve Index and looking for recommendations. No Meta headsets since I don't trust Facebook.

Sooo... I'm wanting to give vrchat a shot, but I haven't upgraded my PC in a long time since I haven't needed to. And I mean, I guess if it can't be done then it can't be done.

So here's what I have now: ryzen 1700x w/16gb of ram and a b450 mb. I can go to 32gb if needed, it has 4 ram slots. The GPU is a rx 570 4gb. PSU: uh... I'll have to look. it was ok at the time, it's like a 550w psu.

So clearly that isn't going to give a very good PC VR experience. I mean I'm sure it would run vrchat on desktop just fine but that isn't what I want.

So here's what I WAS thinking:

5700/xt - $150 ish used - unfortunately the power consumption on this is kinda 
high and makes me think a new psu would be in order. but throwing it out there anyway.
5600/x - 130 ish used
extra 16gb of ram if I need it - $30-40
Oculus quest 2 - preowned(I'm fine with preowned for everything).  $150-$200
AX router or usb adapter in ad-hoc dedicated to airlink - $30-60(adapter -> basic router)

So that comes out to be about $550 ish usd. Really, not terrible.

But after more research I can already see some issues with this. For one, I've heard about lots of issues with pc VR and amd cards. 1. HEVC encoding performance. 2. driver issues. Secondly, just simply issues with VR chat and amd cards. 3. vram issues. I've been reading that 12gb is the bare bare minimum for an ok-ish vrchat experience. And I guess it isn't such a big deal but it seems like the ordering for performance and CPUs goes - 1. AMD x3d cpu 2. intel 12th gen or better 3. AMD non-x3d cpus well behind

So... making adjustments for all that.

the lowest cost alternatives
12gb GTX 2060 - $160-200 or 12gb 3060 - $280
Titan X pascal 12gb - $170-200
The soon to come 5600 x3d - $230

So the main issue with the titan x pascal is that it uses 250w+ and will likely require a better psu. Also, it is very old at this point and But to be fair so would the 5700, although I could go with a vanilla 5700 instead of the xt.

I guess what is disappointing in all of this is that for about $250 used I could get a 6700xt 12gb and that would blow all of that stuff out of the water in most games. Yeah, I would need a better psu but at least I'd be getting something out of it.

so what is the budget? I mean, the truth is I could technically afford to spend up to$1000 upgrading my pc, but personally I don't think that is worth it just for vrchat. So I'm trying to walk this tightrope of get stuff as cheaply as I can without being too cheap.

And here's the thing. Let's say I get the 3060, the 5600 x3d and 16gb of ram. Now we're looking at nearly $800 and the resulting pc upgrade is rather paltry. Like, a 12gb 3060 is just a terrible value. But hey, I can be reasonably assured that it will work.

If I managed to find a good deal on a 2060 12gb - and just went with the 5600 then not much changes for the price, I just lose a bit of the performance, but I'm not sure the 2060 12gb is going to cut the mustard either? Also, if things have changed and an amd card will work well then I might as well do that.

Anyway this has gotten rather long winded, not to mention I might also want to spend a bit on a better harness, some facepads, etc things like that which I haven't even gotten into. and virtual desktop is $20, not sure how needed that is anymore.

i make poast