Check if Your PC is VR Ready (Specs for Oculus, Valve, HTC)
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With a growing number of affordable next-gen PC-compatible headsets like Quest 2 and HP Reverb G2, there’s more reason than ever to finally jump into VR. For the gamers out there who are beginning to consider purchasing a PC VR headset, one major question marks the starting point on their journey to a decision: can my PC handle it? Here’s how to find out.
Updated – December 3rd, 2021
VR gaming is much more resource intensive than monitor gaming. In short, that’s because the render resolution is much higher than the 1080p displays used by most PC users today. Not to mention, VR games must also be rendered in 3D and anywhere from 72 to 144 FPS depending on the headset.
Before we dive in, you’ll want to know a few things about your computer. First and foremost, PC VR headsets are not supported by MacOS. Next up, you’ll need to know your PC’s specs. Expand the section below if you don’t already know where to find that info.
How to Find Your PC’s Specs
To determine if your PC can handle VR, there’s four core things you’ll need to know:
- Video Card
- CPU
- RAM
- Video Output
GPU
- Press the Start button and type ‘device manager’, select it from the list
- In Device Manager, expand Display Adapters, your video card is listed beneath
CPU & RAM
- Press the Start button and type ‘about your PC’, select it from the list
- In the About window, scroll down to find ‘Processor’ (also known as CPU) and ‘Installed RAM’
Video Output
For this you’ll need to look at the back of your computer and see which ports are available on the back, specifically on your GPU (which is usually lower):
Image courtesy Alienware
The ports can look very similar, so look closely at the shapes of each.
Remember that you will need a free port to plug your headset into.
Image courtesy Alienware
Many headset makers provide what they call a ‘recommended’ hardware configuration for virtual reality gaming. This gives VR developers a baseline hardware target so that they can ensure the consistent FPS requirement is met. If your hardware does not meet the recommended specification, you risk dropping under framerate which can result in a choppy and potentially uncomfortable VR experience.
The recommended specs provided by each company are relatively similar but there are some key differences worth looking at in detail:
Meta
Image courtesy Oculus
Oculus Rift S Recommended VR Specifications:
- Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1060 / AMD Radeon RX 480 or greater
- CPU: Intel i5-4590 / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X or greater
- Memory: 8GB RAM or greater
- Video Output: DisplayPort
- USB Ports: 1x USB 3.
0 port - OS: Windows 10
Oculus Rift CV1 Recommended VR Specifications:
- Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1060 / AMD Radeon RX 480 or greater
- CPU: Intel i5-4590 / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X or greater
- Memory: 8GB RAM or greater
- Video Output: Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output
- USB Ports: 3x USB 3.0 ports plus 1x USB 2.0 port
- OS: Windows 10 (Windows 7/8.1 no longer recommended)
Meta Quest & Quest 2 with Oculus Link
Meta Quest & Quest 2 can also play PC VR games via Oculus Link. See this article for the most up to date info on Meta Quest recommended specs and supported graphics cards.
Valve
Image courtesy Valve
Valve Index Recommended VR Specifications:
- Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1070 / AMD equivalent or greater
- CPU: Quad Core+
- Memory: 8GB RAM
- Video Output: DisplayPort 1.
2 - USB Ports: 1x USB 2.0 port (USB 3.0 required for camera passthrough), 1x DisplayPort v1.2
- OS: Windows 10, SteamOS, Linux
Check your PC: You can automatically check that you meet these specifications with the ‘Are you ready for Valve Index’ app on Steam.
HTC
Image courtesy HTC
Vive Cosmos Recommended VR Specifications
- Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1070 / AMD Radeon Vega 56 or greater
- CPU: Intel Core i5-4590/AMD FX 8350 equivalent or greater
- Memory: 8GB RAM
- Video Output: DisplayPort 1.2
- USB Ports: 1x USB 3.0 port
- OS: Windows 10
Vive Cosmos Elite Recommended VR Specifications
- Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1070 / AMD Radeon Vega 56 or greater
- CPU: Intel Core i5-4590/AMD FX 8350 equivalent or greater
- Memory: 8GB RAM
- Video Output: DisplayPort 1.
2 - USB Ports: 1x USB 3.0 port
- OS: Windows 10
Vive Pro 2 Recommended VR Specifications
- Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1060 / Quadro P5000 / AMD Radeon Vega 56 or greater
- CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 / AMD FX 8350 equivalent or greater
- Memory: 8GB RAM
- Video Output: DisplayPort 1.2 or newer
- USB Ports: 1x USB 3.0 port or newer
- OS: Windows 10
Vive Focus 3 Minimum VR Specifications
- Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1060 / AMD Radeon RX 480 or greater
- CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 / AMD FX 8350 or greater
- Memory: 8GB RAM or more
- Video Output: HDMI 1.4 / DisplayPort 1.2
- USB Ports: 1x USB 2.0 port
- Wired Streaming: 1x USB Type-C 3.0 cable (5 Gbps)
- Wireless Streaming (routers): Wi-Fi 802.
11ac or Wi-Fi 802.11ax (5GHz) - OS: Windows 10
WMR & HP
Image courtesy HP
General Windows Mixed Reality Recommended VR Specifications
- Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1060 / AMD RX 470/570 or greater
- CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 / AMD Ryzen 5 1400 or greater
- Memory: 8GB
- Video Output: HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort 1.2 (may vary based on specific headset)
- USB Port: 1x USB 3.0
- OS: Windows 10 (Note: Not supported on N versions or Windows 10 Pro in S Mode)
- Bluetooth Some headsets require Bluetooth 4.0 for controller connectivity
HP Reverb G1 and G2 Windows Mixed Reality Recommended VR Specifications
- Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1080 / AMD RX 5700 or greater
- CPU: Intel Core i5, i7 / AMD Ryzen 5 or greater
- Memory: 8GB
- Video Output: DisplayPort 1.
3 - USB Port: 1x USB 3.0
- OS: Windows 10 (may require latest updates)
Pimax
Image courtesy Pimax
Pimax 8K X Recommended VR Specifications
- Video Card
- Upscale Mode: NVIDIA RTX 2060
- Native Mode: NVIDIA RTX 2080
- CPU: Intel Core i5-9400 equivalent or greater
- Memory: 8GB
- Video Output: DisplayPort 1.2
- USB Port: USB 2.0 or greater
- OS: Windows 10
Pimax 8K Plus Recommended VR Specifications
- Video Card: NVIDIA RTX 2060
- CPU: Intel Core i5-9400 equivalent or greater
- Memory: 8GB
- Video Output: DisplayPort 1.2
- USB Port: USB 2.0 or greater
- OS: Windows 10
Pimax 5K Super Recommended VR Specifications
- Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1080 Ti
- CPU: Intel Core i5-9400 equivalent or greater
- Memory: 8GB
- Video Output: DisplayPort 1.
2 - USB Port: USB 2.0 or greater
- OS: Windows 10
Pimax 5K Plus Recommended VR Specifications
- Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1070
- CPU: Intel Core i5-9400 equivalent or greater
- Memory: 8GB
- Video Output: DisplayPort 1.4
- USB Port: USB 2.0 or greater
- OS: Windows 10, Windows 8.1
Pimax Artisan Recommended VR Specifications
- Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti
- CPU: Intel Core i5-9400 equivalent or greater
- Memory: 8GB
- Video Output: DisplayPort 1.4
- USB Port: USB 2.0 or greater
- OS: Windows 10, Windows 8.1
Latest Headlines
Features & Reviews
Tools To Check If Your PC Is Ready For Virtual Reality Games
Virtual reality games have won over even people who were not very keen on video or PC games.
The success of these games can be explained not only by the realistic and fully immersive experience, but because they require players to move about and make things happen just like in a real-life game.
Ever since the first virtual reality games have hit the market, a lot of people have purchased VR headsets and tried the experience. Unfortunately, they realized only after investing a lot of money in VR gear that their computers are not powerful enough to support virtual reality.
In truth, since virtual reality is a new technology, it requires the latest generation computer models, with sufficient CPU and RAM memory and with an advanced video card. In order to help potential customers make an informed choice, VR headset manufacturers have created a series of free tools to test whether a PC is VR ready.
We will show you how they work below:
1. Oculus Rift Compatibility Tool
Start by downloading the tool from here (direct link).
You do not have to register or be an Oculus Rift customer to use it.
Once you double click on the icon, you will see this screen:
Author’s test – screenshot
After clicking on the Start button, the tool will check your computer and display the result, indicating each component needed to play virtual reality games:
Author’s test – screenshot
All the components must be compatible in order to be able to use Oculus Rift with the respective computer. If most of the components are compatible, you could simply upgrade the ones which do not meet the basic requirements and then repeat the test.
2. HTC VIVE Test Tool
Download the tool from the official HTC VIVE website by clicking here (the tool download window will appear automatically). When you double click on it, you will get this welcome screen:
Author’s test – screenshot
As you can see, this tool already gives you a list of minimum specifications for a VR-ready PC for virtual reality games.
If you have an older PC, it is likely that it does not meet these requirements. Once you run the test, you will get the results detailed as follows:
Author’s test – screenshot
The test result also prompts you to try the SteamVR Performance Test. By clicking on the button, you will be taken to the SteamVR Shop.
3. SteamVR Performance Test
The main link for downloading the SteamVR performance test is this one. However, you will have to install the Steam desktop application before you run the test. This application is free and does not require any registration.
The SteamVR Performance Test offers its result in a color-coded bar. The bar has three colors: red (not compatible), yellow (capable), and green (VR ready).
The test results look like below:
Not Compatible
Source: Steam
Capable
Source: Steam
VR Ready
Source: Steam
Although the yellow color result indicates basic compatibility, your PC will only be capable of running basic virtual reality games with simple graphics.
4. Microsoft Mixed Reality PC Check
Microsoft has also created a special application to test if your PC is compatible with the HoloLens headset and with virtual reality games. The application can be downloaded here.
Author’s test – screenshot
However, the website will first check your version of Windows. If your PC does not run on Windows 10, the download link will not be activated and you will get the following message: “This app does not work on your device. May require certain hardware. See System Requirements for details.”
If your PC does run on Windows 10, once you run the test, you will get the results as shown below:
Author’s test – screenshot
How to test your PC for VR compatibility?
Content of the article (clickable)
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Important note
- 3 Video version of Article
- 4 System Requirements for PC for working with virtual reality
- 4.1 System requirements for Oculus CV1
9000 4.
2 System requirements for Oculus Rift S - 4.3 System requirements for Oculus Quest 2
- 4.4 System requirements for Vive
- 4.5 System requirements for WMR helmets
- 5.1 Testers from Okulusi
- 5.2 Testerer from Valve
- 5.3 Tester PC for compatibility with VR
- 6.1 SteamVR Performance Test — readiness for VR «in parrots»
- 6.2 MSI Afterburner — check the load on your PC when working with VR
- 6.3 Userbenchmark.com — Compare our PC with other
- 7 If the configuration is worse than necessary: My experience
- 7.1 Critical problems
- 8 Summing up
So, you have read the streams virtual reality, and are already ready to throw out ten-twenty-thirty …. pieces per VR helmet. But, do not rush! What if your computer is not ready for virtual reality? Right now, people on w3bsit3-dns.
com are buying new Oculus-s, which are S, without a DP port (display port) and then thinking how to connect them? And no, apparently.
In this article, I’ll show you how to test your computer for VR compatibility and what you can expect from it.
Important note
Even if all tests show that everything is OK and your technical requirements meet what the helmet developers want, hemorrhoids can always happen. What we are now seeing. Or, as was the case with the Oculus software in November 2018, when their current Hom began to require the mandatory presence of SSE 4.2 instructions in processors. As a result, for example, I had to update the entire platform: mother, processor, RAM — because these instructions did not exist in my phenomenon. And it was the best percentage on the AM3 platform.
I do not bear any responsibility if you test the computer, order a helmet, and then something will not work for you.
The good news is that, even if something doesn’t grow together with your future VR helmet, you can easily sell it on Avito and other sites, dropping, say, 20% of the cost. With hands torn off, I think. So, don’t be afraid.
Video version of the article
Available on my YouTube channel:
VR PC System Requirements
First-generation PC headsets like the Oculus Rift CV1 or Vive have roughly the same system requirements. Let’s start from them, since standard testers are guided by these helmets. For Pimax 8K, Reverb or Index, the requirements will be higher. Well, we believe that you are not a major, and you will take something from these helmets)
System requirements for Oculus CV1
Oculus Rift CV1 (there is a plate at the very bottom of the page):
Recommended:
Graphics : NVIDIA GTX 1060 / AMD Radeon RX 480 or higher / AMD Radeon R9 290 or higher
CPU : Intel i5-4590 / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X or better (CPU must support SSE 4.2 instructions)
Memory : 8GB+ RAM
Video outputs : Compatible video output 1.3
USB : 3x USB 3.0 + 1x USB 2.0 Port
Assis : Windows 10
Minimum:
graphics : NVIDIA GTX 10TX / AMD RADEON RX 470 or higher 960 / AMD Radeon R9 290 or higher
CPU : Intel i3-6100 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200, FX4350 or better (Processor must support SSE 4.2 instructions)
Memory : 8GB+ RAM
Video outputs 60 Compatible 60 1.3 video output
USB : 1x USB 3.0 port, plus 2x USB 2.0 ports
Axis : Windows 10
deuces worked together with the cameras. And just do, on the forums they write that there are fewer problems with deuces. But on the new one, he has already earned only in the top three, such things.
System requirements for Oculus Rift S
Same for Oculus Rift S, but you need DisplayPort 1.
2 / Mini DisplayPort instead of HDMI output (adapter included)
System requirements for Oculus Quest 2
Yes, everything is the same, here is a list of video cards for Link from the official website:
List of supported video cards from the Oculus website
Read more about Oculus Quest 2 here.
Vive system requirements
Vive — first version (also scroll down the page):
GPU : NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060, AMD Radeon R9 290, equivalent or newer model0100 CPU : Intel Core i5-4590/AMD FX 8350 equivalent or newer
RAM : 4 GB or more
Video output : HDMI 1.4, DisplayPort 1.2 or newer
USB port : USB 2.0 or newer model
Operating system : Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1 or later, Windows 10
System requirements for WMR helmets
I think they will not differ much, besides — there is a checker.
Let’s talk about them further.
Don’t forget about PC outputs. Old helmets need 1 HDMI and 3 USB (helmet + cameras), new ones already need DP and USB. Carefully read about the connectors on the helmet that you will buy, so as not to mess with adapters later! The new models will just do a separate «virtual-link» port, special for VR.
Official testers for compatibility of your PC with VR
Even if you are sure that your configuration is super-duper, do not be too lazy to test it with the official tests given to you by helmet developers, so that later it will not be excruciatingly painful.
Tester from Oculus
You can download it here, the coolest thing is that I never launched it. Now let’s run …
We’ll get this window, by the way, they also added a check for Oculus Rift S, well done: For some reason, Oculus abandoned their testing tool. In fact, now the only way to make sure that the helmet will work for you (most likely) is to install their entire Oculus Home — it can be installed without a helmet.
It occupies 15 gigs and is installed only on the C drive (although, if desired, this can be changed through dancing with a tambourine). If the direct link does not work, look for it on the official site, right here. If the installer gives any errors, or they will be on startup, google, you may have problems.
Tester from Valve
Downloading here, I didn’t run it either, now let’s run it:
PC test for compatibility with Vive
They say that it will pull at the minimum. But, it seems to me that they are testing for the Vive Pro, and not for the regular Vive.
Tester for WMR
Download here, now let’s see what he writes to me … but no, first it will throw us at the store, then you will need to download the test there, then install it … and only then we will see such a wonderful picture:
Test for PC compatibility with WMR helmets
For WMR, you also need to remember that you need the latest version of «tens» and the installed «WMR-portal».
Ideally, test your computer with all checkers, after all, you are not going to buy a helmet for a mower. But that’s not all.
Other Useful Things to Check Your PC for VR Compatibility
SteamVR Performance Test — Parrot VR Readiness
e. she considers «parrots» for the first helmets, such as the Oculus Rift CV1 or Vive. For the new Valve Index or Oculus Quest 2 with much higher resolution, the picture will be sadder. But, it’s the best we have.
The above tools show only the fact that your PC is compatible with virtual reality (well, or incompatibility). And if you want to know how cool your computer for VR is, “in parrots”? This is where this thing will help you. Download from Steam, free and without SMS. It will test your system, run a simple graphical test, and at the end it will give both VR compatibility and approximate numbers:
Steam VR test for virtual reality compatibility
0065 average accuracy is , I have it 7.
8 which is quite comfortable for playing in VR.
MSI Afterburner — check the load on your PC when working with VR
It will not be superfluous if you find out how hard your PC processes even the above tests. The utility is free, and in addition to the load on the processor, the temperature of the processor and vidyuhi and other system parameters of your computer, it can also be used to “overclock” some of its components. Download from the site, install.
Next, we run the same Steam VR test that I wrote about above, and we can clearly see how our system boots + temperatures on the processor and video card, for example:
Combo: afterburner + Steam VR test. The test is still on the old process, but already on the new vidyuhi.
So we can immediately see what clogs with us in the first place, and how the system heats up. I now have two monitors installed, and in addition to the telegram, the Afteburner widget is placed on one of them, which is very convenient.
We launch a VR game or even a regular game and immediately see why the brakes start — if they just start. You can also watch the loading of the video card, depending on the graphics settings in the game, and so on. In general, do not be too lazy to deal with this wonderful program.
Userbenchmark.com — compare your PC with others
Yes, many will say that this service is outdated, but I haven’t found anything better yet, it’s suitable for an approximate analysis.
Here is the site, and here is the test itself, well, you can download it from the site. It weighs about five megabytes, download, run, after cutting down everything that can load the processor, otherwise the data will be inaccurate. Ideally, run it after starting the PC without running other programs.
At the end, we will open a browser — do not be surprised, it was intended)
We get something like this (there are general statistics first, and then we turn the page down, there will be data for each component):
Test of your PC
What is shown here? The test collects your data and sends it to the site itself, where it is compared with others.
A certain “piece of iron” (percent, vidyukha, screw, etc.) is taken as the standard (100%), relative to which yours are considered. Here are the arrows on the red-yellow-green stripes — this is how many points you scored relative to the standard. The more right the arrow, the better. But that’s not all.
See the bars? These are indicators of how much other people scored on the same pieces of iron. In the case of my ryzen, it can be seen that it can be overclocked a little more so that it hits just in the middle bars, but it works at 4 GHz, but it is stable)
something is wrong.
For example, when my SSD drive was connected via the old sata interface, the test showed this:
service
There’s just a good service that allows you to compare selected hardware or just do — build a new computer and already know its performance ahead of schedule. Play, in general)
If the configuration is worse than necessary: my experience
What to do? Is everything gone and VR never try? Not really.
I had three PC helmets: Pimax 4K, DK2 and now Oculus Rift CV1. (In fact, there are already over a dozen of them) Actually, you can also read a separate note about the configuration. I started to «hype» on the 620th athlone, and the R9 card270. Even on these antiquities, I managed to play some simple VR games on DK2 (I quickly returned Pimax back, everything is described in detail in the article). But, games with more or less decent graphics, of course, were stupid.
Next, I bought a GeForce GTX 1060 AERO ITX 6G and it greatly improved the VR experience. Even despite the fact that Athlone did not fully disclose this video. Further, I changed it to the 965th Fenom, things went better, but still — there were games that were already stupid because of the processor. For example, VR chat or Helblade or BAM.
Here is a test with Phenom and a new video camera. You can compare with your config.
Critical issues
That hit me in November 2018 when Oculus wanted the processor to support SSE 4.
2 instructions. Unfortunately, my hair dryer didn’t know how to do this, and the AM3 couldn’t do anything at all. The choice was simple — either give up on VR and sell the Oculus Rift CV1, or upgrade the entire platform. As a result, updated, here is the current test.
Current config
Summing up
What is the result?
If your PC passes all the tests and meets the stated requirements, most likely everything will be ok. But, carefully monitor any presence of instructions, as well as the presence of the necessary exits. If in doubt, go to w3bsit3-dns.com, there are topics on each of the popular existing helmets. You can also add yourself to our VR chat in telegram, there are also experienced users there, they will help and prompt.
If the configuration is significantly different from the desired one, then there is a high probability that either you will not start anything at all (for example, there are no instructions, or there is no necessary exit), or it will be stupid in some games. In any case, you should not give up, because, as you can see, I just started playing wild game, and it somehow worked)
That’s all, @Pavel419 was with you, until new posts.
PC choice for VR. Why such high requirements for iron?
For most PC gamers, the main headsets of interest are PCVR variants from HTC, Valve, Oculus and Microsoft.
This guide is for those who want to build or upgrade their own PC to play the most advanced VR games. In this article, we will primarily focus on the hardware requirements of major headsets such as the Valve Index, WMR, Oculus Quest, and HTC Vive.
First, we’ll look at some examples of how to build a VR gaming PC. Second, we’ll take a closer look at the VR hardware requirements. After that, we will discuss optimization and look at the key components.
Examples of VR assembly
Minimum characteristics
Processor: AMD R3 3300X
Video Card: GTX 1650 Super
Motherboard: MSI B450-A PRO550: 500 GB Seagate Sata HDD SATDA SATDI
RAM: 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400
Chassis: Thermaltake Versa h31
CPU Cooler: Stock
Operating System: Windows 10
This is the lowest budget build we can recommend and will be able to run most VR headsets on the minimum requirements.
But be aware that this PC will not be able to deliver 90 FPS in all available VR games, even on a VR device with the lowest resolution and lowest game settings.
Recommended Specs
CPU: AMD R3 3300X
Graphics Card: RTX 2060
Motherboard: ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4
Storage: 1TB Team SATA SSD
x 4 GB) DDR4-2400
Case: Fractal Design Focus G
CPU cooler: be quiet! Pure Rock Slim
Operating System: Windows 10
This build uses recommended specs from Oculus, HTC and Valve. According to the VR developers, it is these characteristics that are optimized in games in order to guarantee stable operation.
We are skeptical that a PC built to these specifications will support 90 FPS in the most demanding VR games, at maximum settings. This usually requires slightly more powerful machines on which developers showcase their games. However, this is the lowest level build that can guarantee stable operation with most VR applications.
On the plus side, this system will run almost any game at max settings on a standard 1080p monitor, making it a versatile gaming PC.
Balanced Specs
CPU: Intel i5-11400
Graphics Card: RTX 3060 Ti
Motherboard: ASRock B560M PRO4/AC
Storage: 2TB Team SATA SSD
PSU: Cooler Master Master5 60Watt10 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2666
Case: Corsair 275R
CPU cooler: be quiet! Pure Rock
Operating System: Windows 10
This build is for those who want to experience full virtual reality without spending crazy money, but still play games with good resolution and high frame rates.
The Intel i5 processor has 6 cores and 12 threads to help maintain frame rates in CPU-optimized games. The RTX 3060 Ti is a very powerful mid-range graphics card that allows you to maintain consistently high FPS in most games. Including virtual reality games with maximum graphics. We also updated the case, motherboard, power supply and SSD.
This assembly offers the best value between price and quality. Here, high performance, build quality, reliability and upgradeability.
Maximum specs
CPU: Intel i5-11600K
Graphics: RX 6800
Motherboard: ASRock Z590 Phantom
Storage 1: Samsung NVM0 2 TB SSD10 2 TB Storage M.2 SATA SSD
Power supply: Cooler Master Master Watt 750
RAM: 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200
Chassis: Corsair 750D
CPU cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 4
Operating system: Windows 10
This assembly is oversized. It is suitable for those who want to know that a PC will be able to run VR games that will be released in a year or two without any problems. It will be able to provide 90 FPS in almost any future VR game within a couple of years.
Compared to balanced specs, this build delivers overkill for high FPS at max settings. At the same time, the overall build quality has also increased: it is cooler, quieter, more beautiful, more stable and more reliable.
Extreme specs
CPU: Intel i9-11900K
Graphics: RTX 3080 Ti
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z590 UD
Storage 1: Samsung Pro NVMe M.2 SSD 2TB X
Team2 SATA SSD
Power supply: EVGA 850 B5
RAM: 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200
Chassis: be quiet! Dark Base 700
CPU cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4
Operating System: Windows 10
We recommend this build for people who want the ultimate VR experience. In addition, in our opinion, these are the minimum characteristics for the Valve Index in 120 Hz / 144 Hz modes in all games at maximum graphics settings.
The 8-core i9-11900K offers tremendous single-threaded and multi-threaded performance, and the RTX 3080 Ti is one of the fastest mainstream graphics cards (however, if funds allow, get the RTX 3090 instead). In this build, we added a serious CPU cooler and an 850W modular power supply to provide enough power for overclocking or adding a second graphics card in the future.
No compromise
Processor: TR 3970X
Graphics Card: RTX 3090
Motherboard: ASRock TRX40 Taichi
Storage 1: 1TB Samsung Pro NVMe M.2 SSD
Storage 2: 2TB Samsung NVMe M.2 SSD
Power Supply: SeaSonic Prime PX-1000
RAM: 64 GB (4 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Primo
CPU Cooler: Fractal Design S24
Operating System: Windows 10
If you want to play VR games, stream, edit 4K videos and do 3D modeling and animation, this PC is for you. It features an incredible processor core count and one of the most powerful graphics cards available. In addition, this build includes very fast SSDs, 64GB of RAM for multitasking, and a very stable, reliable, and efficient power supply.
This true monster will not have better VR gaming performance than the previous build, except in rare situations that are very graphics card dependent. The changes made will help more with video streaming, content creation, and other CPU-intensive work.
Basic knowledge of VR platforms
Oculus, Valve, HTC and Windows Mixed Reality certainly have differences in terms of the features they offer. Vive has partnered with SteamVR to provide built-in support for many older Valve games with an open API for developers.
Good headsets now range in price from $300 to $1,000. Some of them can work without a PC at all (such as the Oculus Quest series), while most of them require a PC or console to run applications on.
Building a PC for VR gaming is not that difficult. However, in order to make the assembly optimal in terms of price / quality ratio, it is useful to understand the requirements of the virtual reality platform.
Reasons why VR requires more PC power than traditional games.
Almost all modern headsets use 2 display technology: 1 for each eye. Each such display has a resolution comparable to that of a typical desktop monitor (or higher) and a refresh rate of at least 90 Hz. These numbers are very important, so when choosing a headset, be sure to look at the exact specifications of each one.
Resolution and frame rate aren’t everything, though. Most headsets also render «eye buffer» (eye buffer) increasing the original resolution by 1.4 times. This results in a higher rendering resolution for each eye, relying on subpixels to create more accurate images as the head moves. This technology is designed to compensate for the distortion of headset lenses and allows you to increase the rendering resolution to 3024×1680 at a refresh rate of 9 on almost any headset.0 Hz.
In addition, headsets must display two slightly different scenes per frame to ensure correct parallax and depth. This is called «stereo rendering» and it further increases the CPU and GPU requirements for rendering compared to rendering on a familiar monitor.
According to NVIDIA programmer Nathan Reid, in the worst case, stereo rendering can nearly double the system requirements of VR games compared to a regular monitor of the same resolution. Some graphics operations, such as physics modeling and shadow map rendering, are not duplicated by the stereo renderer, but the overall rendering is still performed on a per-eye basis.
It turns out that rendering a 1512 x 1680 scene on a headset requires more graphics power than 3024 x 1680 on a computer monitor.
We hope that now it becomes clear to you how powerful hardware is needed to run VR games. Several simple comparisons can be made using benchmarks as an example. First, let’s forget about stereo rendering for a moment and focus on the number of pixels.
How many more pixels are drawn in VR.
1080p (1920×1080) at 60Hz is considered the standard minimum setting for modern games. This is only about a quarter of the display pixels of a first or second generation VR headset at 90 Hz. So you can imagine that the requirements for VR gaming at 90Hz are about 4 times higher than at 1080p/60Hz on a regular monitor.
Another simple comparison: about 90% of early VR games have a pixel count comparable to 4K resolution (3840×2160) at 60Hz. And later games surpass these figures. If you’re familiar with gaming benchmarks, you’ll know that hitting 60fps at 4K resolution is no easy task.
Very few gamers own a PC that can play Monster Hunter World or Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K/60 FPS.
Once again, before considering additional stereo rendering costs, let’s compare raw pixel rendering costs for each display:
- 124 million pixels per second: 1080p monitor at 60 Hz
- 457 megapixels per second: First generation Rift/Vive @ 90Hz
- 498 megapixels per second: 4K monitor at 60Hz
- 664 million pixels per second: Valve Index @ 144 Hz
Now it’s time to add stereo rendering, which in some scenes increases the load by 2 times. It becomes easy to assume that playing games using a VR headset requires more processing power than it takes to play the same game at 60fps at 4K resolution.
More about frames per second (FPS)
Don’t despair though. As we’ll see in the next section, Optimization and Official Recommended Specifications, there are reasons to believe that you’ll be able to immerse yourself in virtual reality without having to purchase a supercomputer.
Frame rate (frames per second or FPS) is the number of frames your computer can play every second. A higher frame rate makes the image smooth, while a lower frame rate makes it jerky. As you might guess, higher frame rates are better and require more processing power.
Screen refresh rate (measured in Hz) determines the maximum frame rate you can see. Most standard monitors have a refresh rate of 60Hz, meaning you can see a maximum frame rate of 60fps even if your computer is powerful enough to deliver higher framerates. For Rift and Vive, the maximum frame rate is 90fps. This is also frame rate, often referred to by the developers of Rift and Vive as the minimum or necessary frame rate to maintain a VR experience. If frame drops may not be too noticeable when playing on a monitor, then in VR they are simply unacceptable, as they completely spoil the immersion effect.
In its Best Practice guide, Oculus advises developers to aim for frames in excess of 90 frames per second to avoid this problem: “Your code must run at a frame rate equal to or greater than the refresh rate of the Rift display, vertically synced, and unbuffered.
Frame drops cause discomfort in VR.” In fact, while playing, the frame rate is almost never constant. It’s not uncommon for a game to experience framerate drops. Therefore, if you need a stable frequency of 90 fps, your PC must be able to average 100+ fps in the game you’re playing.
Optimization and official recommended specs
Looking at the specs gives you a rough idea of how well your computer will run games on a Valve Index, HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality device, or Oculus. It turns out that in order to play the most demanding modern PC VR games, you will need a huge amount of processing power. Especially when you consider the need to maintain a high frequency of 90 fps to maintain the immersive effect, and preferably 120 or 144 fps, available on some headsets. With the advent of VR, a high and stable frame rate has become very important.
Fortunately, there are several reasons to believe that you can comfortably play VR games without spending a fortune on a PC.
Oculus, HTC, Valve, and all Microsoft manufacturing partners have set «recommended specifications» for PCs, and they are about the same. The companies promise that the recommended hardware is sufficient to run games designed specifically for VR.
The two most important components for a VR build are an NVIDIA GTX 1070 equivalent graphics card and an i5-4590 equivalent processor.
The modern graphics card equivalent is the RTX 2060 or RX 5600 XT, and the modern Intel i5-4590 processor equivalent is the AMD R3 3200G.
In the VR Build Examples section, we’ve put together a complete build guide. Building a finished PC to the recommended Oculus or Vive specs costs around $1,000, but can be done for around $750 if you buy something on sale or save on other parts.
It is unlikely that all games will run at maximum settings and 90 fps with these recommended components, but a build with these specifications will provide 90 fps with at least an «acceptable» level of graphical detail in VR applications.
All this will depend on the specific game and its graphics. If the computer cannot run the game at a stable 90fps, you will need to lower your graphics settings until you reach that framerate.
What this really means is that games specifically designed for VR have lower graphical quality than you would expect from today’s graphics-intensive games. To ensure that games run smoothly on affordable headsets and within the recommended PC specifications, VR game developers reduce the amount of detail and graphical sophistication, resulting in a smooth gaming experience with stable FPS.
However, keep in mind that the official stores of VR manufacturers such as Valve and Oculus are not the only way to play VR-compatible games. There are many other ways, such as games that were originally created as normal, with VR mods of many popular games. More and more developers are making VR compatible patches for games not originally designed for VR, and those games will not necessarily be optimized to run well on a PC built with the recommended specs.
To play these games, you’ll need a PC that’s more powerful than the recommended specs.
Also, keep in mind that software developers are constantly coming up with ways to reduce the graphic load on VR headsets. One of the most promising techniques being developed by NVIDIA is called Multi-resolution shading , which helps reduce the number of rendered «eye buffer» pixels that are not visible to the user. Such developments could lead to VR working well on more modest components in the future.
Now let’s move on to a discussion of the importance of each individual component of a computer.
Valve VR Benchmark
Valve has a VR Benchmark, which of course is a few years out of date, but it still automatically determines if your PC can deliver 90fps video for older content VR. According to Valve, the test takes 2 minutes and will tell you if the graphics card or CPU is underperforming.
To play new games, it is recommended to compare PC specifications with the official minimum and recommended requirements provided by the game developer.
Graphics card
The graphics card is the most important component to consider when building a PC for VR, as it is most important to maintain the recommended 90 frames per second. Atman Binstock, chief designer at Oculus, explains: “Traditionally, 3D graphics on a PC required maintaining 30-60 frames per second — that was enough. VR has different requirements, as literally every dropped frame is very noticeable. The constantly dropping frame rate is a nuisance. As a result, graphics card headroom becomes critical for dealing with unexpected PC or content performance issues.”
Processor
You can often get away with a cheap processor when playing on a regular monitor, but it’s important not to skimp on the processor when it comes to VR gaming. Although it is not as important as the GPU, it is certainly the second most important. CPU drawdowns are very likely to occur, especially in poorly optimized games.
If you have a quad-core Intel processor that was released within the last four years, and possibly six years, then you don’t need to do anything.
So far so good. Such a processor will cover the minimum requirements, at the same time, for an upgrade, it is worth looking at more modern models, starting from 6 cores and 12 threads.
RAM
The third most important thing to consider is RAM. The recommended amount of RAM for most games and VR headsets is still around 8GB. Public opinion online seems to align with the VR developers’ advice that 8GB would be enough for now. However, if you are planning to edit videos or render graphics on a PC, then it is better to purchase 16 GB. In addition, RAM is relatively cheap and easy to install, making it easy to upgrade if more is needed later.
Storage
There’s been a lot of controversy about the increased gaming performance that solid state drives (SSDs) provide over hard disk drives (HDDs). Using an SSD allows for faster read/write speeds and can be a real boon when dealing with large files or working with media. But it does not seriously affect the process of playing in VR.
However, having a built-in solid state drive will significantly speed up the computing process and may in some cases reduce boot times. Therefore, if possible, install an SSD, but you can also play without it.
Motherboard
There are many factors to consider when choosing a motherboard. The motherboard does not directly affect the operation of VR, but is the basis for all other components. Choose based not only on compatibility, but also do not forget about quality.
In addition, check that the motherboard supports all required peripherals (such as USB 3.1 or E-SATA) and all internal components (such as M.2 SSDs and the like).
Headsets can use a large number of USB ports. Make sure your motherboard has all the required ports, including three USB 3.0 ports and at least one USB 2.0 port available for headset and security cameras. Remember to check your specific headset needs if they differ from these general guidelines.
Power supply
There is not much to say about the power supply, since the quality of the power supply will not directly affect what happens in the headset.
However, if you’re building a PC for VR, it’s best to think ahead. You’ll be using power-hungry peripherals, and an efficient power supply ensures low fan noise that can ruin the immersive experience. Also, if you plan to add more graphics cards in the future, the power supply must be powerful enough to do so. Video cards are usually the main consumers of power supply headroom.
Conclusion / Tips
VR is a new gaming experience and we still have a lot to learn. However, we did manage to pick up a few general tips that we’d like to share:
Add a tactile surface to the important buttons on your gaming keyboard or controller with custom stickers. This will allow you to immediately know when your hands are in the correct position, without having to remove your VR headset or blindly search for the correct configuration.
Be careful. With the exception of a few very recent ones, most headsets come with plenty of cords and peripherals. This, combined with all the loose components and cords that come with the PC, means you have a lot to organize.
