Tuesday, November 19, 2019

How to Tell if Your PC is VR Ready

With content for headsets like Rift, Index, Vive and Windows ‘Mixed Reality’ maturing since their respective launches, there’s more reason than ever to finally jump into VR—especially now that headsets have come down in price. For the gamers out there who are beginning to consider purchasing a 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 – November 19th, 2019

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 80 to 144 FPS depending on the headset.

Many headset makes provided what they call a “recommended” hardware configuration for virtual reality gaming. This gives 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 results in a very uncomfortable VR experience.

The recommended specs provided by each company are relatively similar but there are some key differences worth looking at in detail:

Oculus Recommended VR Specifications

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)

Oculus Quest with Oculus Link

Oculus Quest can also play PC VR games via Oculus Link. Oculus Link is still in beta and its requirements are still in flux. See this article for the most up to date info on Oculus Quest recommended specs and supported graphics cards.

Valve Recommended VR Specifications

Image courtesy Valve

Index on SteamVR

  • 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)
  • OS: Windows 10

Check your PC: Run Valve’s SteamVR Performance Test to benchmark your PC’s VR performance capabilities.

HTC Recommended VR Specifications

Image courtesy HTC

Vive Cosmos Recommended Specifications

  • Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD Radeon R9 290 or greater
  • CPU: Intel Core i5-4590/AMD FX 8350 equivalent or greater
  • Memory: 4GB RAM
  • Video Output: DisplayPort 1.2
  • USB Ports: 1x USB 3.0 port
  • OS: Windows 10

Vive Pro Recommended Specifications

  • Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1070 / Quadro P5000 / AMD Radeon Vega 56 or greater
  • CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 / AMD FX 8350 or greater
  • Memory: 4GB RAM
  • Video Output: DisplayPort 1.2
  • USB Ports: 1x USB 3.0 port
  • OS: Windows 10

Vive Recommended Specifications

  • Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1060 / AMD Radeon RX 480 or greater
  • CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 / AMD FX 8350 or greater
  • Memory: 4GB RAM
  • Video Output: HDMI 1.4 / DisplayPort 1.2
  • USB Ports: 1x USB 2.0 port
  • OS: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10

Check your PC: HTC recommends running the SteamVR Performance Test to benchmark your PC’s VR performance capabilities.

WMR / Windows VR Recommended Specifications:

Image courtesy Samsung

Windows Mixed Reality Recommended 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

Check your PC: Microsoft offers the Windows Mixed Reality PC Check app which actually benchmarks your machine to which category your machine fits into.

Pimax VR Recommended Specifications

Image courtesy Pimax

Pimax 8K Recommended Specifications

  • Video Card:
    • Upscale mode: NVIDIA RTX 2060 / AMD equivalent or greater
    • Native mode: NVIDIA RTX 2080 / AMD equivalent or greater
  • CPU: Intel Core i5-9400 or greater
  • Memory: 8GB RAM
  • Video Output: DisplayPort 1.2
  • USB Ports: 1x USB 2.0 port
  • OS: Windows 10

Pimax 8K Plus

  • Video Card: NVIDIA RTX 2060 / AMD equivalent or greaterr
  • CPU: Intel Core i5-9400 or greater
  • Memory: 8GB RAM
  • Video Output: DisplayPort 1.2
  • USB Ports: 1x USB 2.0 port
  • OS: Windows 10

Pimax 5K Plus

  • Video Card: NVIDIA RTX 1070 / AMD equivalent or greater
  • CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 / AMD FX8350 or greater
  • Memory: 8GB RAM
  • Video Output: DisplayPort 1.4
  • USB Ports: 1x USB 2.0 port
  • OS: Windows 8.1 / Windows 10

Pimax 5K XR

  • Video Card: NVIDIA RTX 1070 / AMD equivalent or greater
  • CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 / AMD FX8350 or greater
  • Memory: 8GB RAM
  • Video Output: DisplayPort 1.4
  • USB Ports: 1x USB 2.0 port
  • OS: Windows 8.1 / Windows 10

Looking for a PC that goes above and beyond the baseline specs? We partnered with AVA Direct to create the Exemplar 2, our high-end VR hardware reference point against which we perform our tests and reviews. Exemplar 2 is designed to push virtual reality experiences above and beyond what’s possible with systems built to lesser recommended VR specifications.

The post How to Tell if Your PC is VR Ready appeared first on Road to VR.



Ream more: https://www.roadtovr.com/how-to-tell-pc-virtual-reality-vr-oculus-rift-htc-vive-steam-vr-compatibility-tool/

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