HTC VIVE Wireless Adapter

EDITED: I've invested a lot of time and dollar to make sure I have the best VR experience possible. I started VR with OG Vive and TPCast which wasted so much of my time troubleshooting than enjoying. Then upgraded to Vive Pro as soon as Wireless Adapter became available. Tethered was never an option for me. I've never played tethered but tested tethered and wireless thoroughly for image comparison and functional consistency. I'm happy to report it works PERFECTLY with Vive Pro. There's absolutely ZERO difference in image quality, lag, tracking, camera and mic. I edited my review here after tons of testing. With my system specs my system performance isn't much changed but lower end systems and CPUs may be affected. Lots of people are reporting various issues. Majority of those issues arise from motherboard and CPU limitations as well as people not following proper installation, so I'll include my system specs for comparison and some of the steps I took in order to make sure it works flawlessly.Specs:Asus Rampage VI Extreme X299 moboCore X i7 7820X 3.6 GHz (not overclocked)Corsair H115i CPU coolerAsus Strix GTX 1080ti OC editionEVGA 1200watt PSU32GB DDR4 3200 Corsair Vengeance RGBSamsung 960 Pro SSD 1TBVive Pro with 1.0 base stations and controllersWindows 10 Pro, build 1709First of all, the set up is extremely easy. You just insert the WiGig card in a free PCI-E slot, mount the wireless link box somewhere above, attach wireless adapter to headset, plug battery, and install wireless software, pair the headset and it's ready to go.The following are some of my findings and some of the steps I took in order to make the experience as great as possible:Wireless adapter is CPU heavy so make sure you have a CPU that is no more than 2 years old. Also never go cheap on motherboard which is like foundation of your system. Do yourself a favor and buy the best motherboard anytime you build a system. Majority of reported issues are due to motherboard limitations such as PCI-E lanes available, lane sharing with GPU, lane gen etc. Going wireless does affect overall system performance and frame rates depending on everyone's specs. While image quality stays same, the amount of supersampling you can apply may vary. I found Fallout 4 VR to be the most system heavy game with ini supersampling of 1.8 and reprojections but quiet sharp and playable. Wireless doesn't tax my system much but your mileage may vary.Some people report that wireless adapter crashes if camera rate is below 60 Hz or enabled at all. This is not in my case as my camera rate is 40 Hz and works exactly as wiredMake sure you apply proper changes to your BIOS to ensure you're using PCI-E Gen 3.0 bus speed. People are reporting issues with Gen 2.0. Definitely refer to your mobo manual to ensure slots and PCI-E lanes and limitations are sorted out. Don't just leave things at "Auto" setting.Base stations can wake up, powered off and updated via blue tooth like before, but make sure to have the wired link box connected and turned on. VERY IMPORTANT disconnect the displayport cable from wired link box to GPU (leave only USB and power cables connected).Manual says mount the wireless link box on monitor, but I have it mounted much higher above. It always has direct line of sight with wireless adapter no matter what direction I turn. It's about 2.5 meters from ground as my PC is sitting on table. Wireless link box cable is really short, only 6 feetMake sure you update Steam, SteamVR, headset firmware, controller firmware and base stations before installing wireless adapterIf you have Wifi, switch it to 5G only and turn off 2.4G. I changed mine before installing wireless adapter. The adapter itself uses 60G but blue tooth etc can have interferenceYou can use Anker batteries and there are quite a few that have the exact same specs. IMPORTANT - Make sure to check specs. Not all QC 3.0 compatible batteries have the exact same output specs. IMPORTANT - Keep in mind that playing long sessions with larger capacity batteries can create heating issues and may damage your adapter. Take a break after 2.5 hrs of playtime. For reference HTC power bank specs are:10050mahOutput - USB 5-6VDC/3A, 6-9VDC/2A, 9-12VDC/1.5AIt's overall an excellent add-on. The freedom of wireless is definitely worth giving up some performance if you're on lower end of specs. Image quality is same as wired with similar performance and still plays smooth. You just need to tinker with it according to your system specs. Hope it helps anyone thinking of going wireless and freaking out about some many reports of issues.

I'm going to give this five stars and despite it's challenge to get working good. Why? Because when it works, it's amazing! Freedom from the wires just puts your right in the game.You will need to have good knowledge of your computer, what you need for minimum requirements and how to get into your BIOS if you need too. Some of these reviews here really leave me scratching my head. Yes, you need a free PCIe slot! You shouldn't even be leaving a 1 or 2 star review because you failed to read that you need that. That's your fault. If you don't read at least some of what is listed, you will clearly fail getting this to work.Ok I own the Vive Original and not the Pro. The first PCIe 1x slot I put it in had horrible performance. I tried one of my PCIe 16X slots but that put the video card down to 8x. I ended up putting this WiGig card into the 3 PCIe 1x slot. From what I read, putting it closest the the video card and the CPU works best but not in my case. It may depend. It make take a few tries finding the best slot. Also going into the BIOS and forcing Generation3 (Gen3) PCI express may help. Gen2 is ok but if your motherboard supports Gen3, that will be better. Speaking of BIOS, make sure it's up to date!CPU is also important. An i7 is best. 2 years old at most. AMD processors apparently have issues. Mine is a Intel i7-6700K with a small overclock. The vive wireless definitely is CPU intensive.I didn't fix my issues with the wireless until I fixed my STEAMVr software. I opted out of the Beta and things improved. I think. I made a lot of changes but it was after that, I was able to enjoy the wireless the best. It's as if it's still wired as far as performance goes, but nothing to trip on anymore. Performance isn't perfect. Occasionally lags. I'm sure latency will never be as good as wired but I'm not a high fps gamer. If you game at 60fps then it's fine. You will be interacting with the world around you and forgetting about pixels and fps.The battery last 2 1/2 hours. It has a nice clip that fits really well in your pocket. Pajamas won't work. I read that the HTC extra battery is really expensive compared to the other brand. Do your research and if you're comfortable by the other brand and spend half as much.Lastly, I hear adapter on your head gets hot for some. It felt nice and comfortably warm to me. I wonder if that's just some headsets, or there was an update that helped. I do not know. I run this in a cool basement in the winter atm.List of things you need to know summary:-How to update your BIOS-How to change settings in your BIOS-How to install cards into to your computer PCIe slots.-Your motherboard information-Your CPU brand name/model number. Is it fast enough? AMD processors have issues.-GPU should be ok if you've run wired already and it works good.-How to make adjustments in STEAMVR.-Basic computer troubleshootingEdit: Still working good. I've read that using the sync cable for the base stations helps the lag on the wireless adapter.2nd Edit: A year later, I added a fan mod to keep my adapter cooler, some m2 standoffs to keep it off the head by a quarter inch and a new USB cable. The one that came with the adapter is just plain cheap. I also upgraded my PC from an i7-6700K to a Ryzen 3800x and little did I know the old processor must have been compressing more. The image quality is greatly improved and more consistent. With all these updates combined, I can say this adater is amazing and much better than being wired. Don't give up. Wireless is worth it. Suck that we need to do all these mods for comfort, but at least for me, it cost little to nothing.