Oculus Rift and HTC Vive by Valve
they require powerful PC gaming hardware. Not sure if your PC can handle it? Both Oculus and Valve provide tools that will quickly check if your PC is up to the task.
As a general rule, unless you have recently built or purchased a high-end gaming PC, chances are high that your PC is not ready for VR. Be sure to buy or build new PCs with these hardware requirements in mind if you plan to get into virtual reality.
Check if your PC can handle Oculus Rift
RELATE:
Oculus Rift vs.HTC Vive: Which virtual reality viewer is right for you?
To test if your PC is Oculus Rift ready, download the
Oculus Rift compatibility tool
and execute him. The tool will check your PC’s hardware to make sure it has a graphics processor, CPU, RAM, and number of USB ports sufficient to support the hardware. The tool will also test whether your motherboard’s USB driver is good enough, as there seem to be issues between some older motherboards and the Rift.
If your PC fails, the tool will tell you what the problem is; maybe you just need to update your graphics card, if you are lucky. If you need to upgrade your hardware, see the last section of this article for minimum requirements.
Check if your PC is ready for HTC Vive and SteamVR
If you are more interested in HTC Vive, download the
SteamVR performance test
application via Steam. While the Oculus tool only compares your PC’s hardware to a database, the SteamVR Performance Test tool will actually run a benchmark to see if your PC can render virtual reality content at 90 frames per second, and if it can render it at the recommended level of graphics. quality.
This tool is useful even if you pass the Oculus test as it will give you an idea of the graphic quality you can expect with smooth performance in VR games.
Minimum hardware requirements for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive
If your PC passes the above tests, you don’t need to worry about hardware requirements. But you might want to see the exact system requirements if you plan to buy or build a PC that can handle virtual reality.
The hardware required is largely identical between the two headphones. These are the minimum requirements, so faster hardware is always better. But you’ll need at least:
-
Graphics
: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon R9 290 -
UPC
: Intel i5 – 4590 for Oculus Rift, Intel i5 – 4590 or AMD FX 8350 for HTC Vive (this AMD CPU can work with the Rift anyway, but Oculus does not officially include any AMD CPUs as compatible). -
RAM
: 8GB for Oculus Rift, 4GB for HTC Vive -
Video output
: HDMI 1.3 video output for Oculus Rift, HDMI 1.4 or DisplayPort 1.2 for HTC Vive -
USB Ports
: 3 USB 3.0 ports and 1 USB 2.0 port for Oculus Rift, only 1 USB 2.0 port is required for HTC Vive (although USB 3.0 is compatible and can provide better experience) -
Operating system
: Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 is required for both headsets. Oculus Rift requires
the 64-bit version
.
Watch the laptops. Due to NVIDIA’s confusing marketing, a laptop with ” GTX 970M “or even” GTX 980M “isn’t fast enough for VR; that” M ” means it’s a lower-powered laptop card. Some laptops include desktop class graphics, such as MSI
Virtual reality ready laptop
with GTX 980 graphics inside. Just make sure it’s a GTX 970 or 980, not a 970M or a 980M.
If you want to have a PC with virtual reality in mind and don’t want to build it yourself, Oculus is advertising ”
Oculus ready PCs
“And HTC is boosting”
PC optimized for Vive
“You can purchase from brands like Alienware, Asus, Dell, Falcon Northwest, HP and MSI. They are guaranteed to work well with the associated headphones. NVIDIA also provides a list of
Virtual reality-ready PCs with NVIDIA graphics.
Unfortunately, neither Rift nor Vive are compatible with Mac OS X or Linux. Even though Valve manufactures its own Linux-based SteamOS gaming operating system, Valve hasn’t even bothered to announce a timeline for
Steamers
and Linux support. These headphones are only for Windows for the foreseeable future.
Image credit:
Mr. Liuhuabing
