Windows 10 to Become Minimum Supported OS on Rift When Core 2.0 Goes Live

Rift owners still running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, beware. Oculus is changing both its recommended and minimum supported OS to Windows 10 on Rift, something the company says will come when Rift Core 2.0 is pushed out to the stable branch sometime later this year.

Oculus says in a blogpost that Windows 7 and 8.1 aren’t losing support entirely, but users “may not be able to use many new and upcoming features and apps. We encourage everyone who isn’t already running Windows 10 to upgrade now to avoid missing out on what’s next.”

There is some pretty salient reasoning behind this: the company reports that 95% of “most active Rift owners” currently run Windows 10. Not only that, Microsoft has phased out mainstream support for both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 now, with 8.1 losing mainstream support as of January 9th, 2018.

Rift Core 2.0 is currently an opt-in beta which puts a few important quality-of-life issues at its core; a customizable Home experience with collectibles, app and window multitasking via Oculus Dash, and Oculus Desktop’s mirror monitors.

Here’s the company’s general warning to users still running Windows 7 and 8.1:

Rift owners whose PCs aren’t running Windows 10 may find their systems are incompatible with some new apps and games. You’ll still be able to get the same VR features and functions you have today, including things like responding to platform notifications, interacting with friends on the platform, managing your device, and running VR apps that don’t require Windows 10. You can still use Windows 7 and Windows 8 with most of Rift Core 2.0’s core functionality, but things like Oculus Desktop require Windows 10, as does the ability to run Dash as an overlay.

Windows 10 has always been a minimum OS for the full functionality of Rift Core 2.0 while in beta, so it makes sense that Oculus would officially have to pull the band-aid off of Windows 7 and 8.1 users eventually.

Oculus hasn’t changed its minimum or recommended hardware specs, which you can see below. If you’re worried your system doesn’t reach the minimum, you can always use Oculus’ compatibility check tool for extra assurance.

Oculus Rift Recommended Specs

• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 1060 / AMD Radeon RX 480 or greater
• Alternative Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD Radeon R9 290 or greater
• CPU: Intel i5-4590 / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X or greater
• Memory: 8GB+ RAM
• Video Output: Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output
• USB Ports: 3x USB 3.0 ports plus 1x USB 2.0 port
• OS: Windows 10 operating system

Oculus Rift Minimum Specs

• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 1050Ti / AMD Radeon RX 470 or greater
• Alternative Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 960 / AMD Radeon R9 290 or greater
• CPU: Intel i3-6100 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200, FX4350 or greater
• Memory: 8GB+ RAM
• Video Output: Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output
• USB Ports: 1x USB 3.0 port, plus 2x USB 2.0 ports
• OS: Windows 10 operating system

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