How to Tell if Your PC is VR Ready

With content for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows ‘Mixed Reality’ VR headsets maturing since their respective launches, there’s more reason than ever to finally jump into VR—especially now that the Rift + Touch is on sale for $380. 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.

Update 12/26/17: included updated recommended specs for Windows VR headsets, and new price info for Rift + Touch.

VR gaming is much more resource intensive than monitor gaming. In short, that’s because the render resolution (2560×1200 for first-gen headsets) 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 first-gen VR headsets require a constant demanding 90 FPS, otherwise the image insider will stutter uncomfortably.

Both Oculus and Valve/SteamVR/HTC have 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 90 FPS requirement is met. If your hardware does not meet the recommended specification, you risk dropping under 90 FPS which generally results in a very uncomfortable VR experience.

Both specs are nearly identical, but let’s take at each one and the tool each company provides to check to see if your computer is VR ready:

Oculus Rift Recommended VR Specifications (2017):

• Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1060 / AMD Radeon RX 480 or greater
• CPU: Intel i5-4590 equivalent 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 7 SP1 64 bit or newer

Check your PC: Oculus offers the Oculus Compatibility Check app to automatically check your computer’s specs against their recommendation.

Valve / SteamVR / HTC Vive Recommended VR Specifications (2017):

• Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 480, equivalent or better
• CPU: Intel i5-4590 / AMD FX 8350 equivalent or greater
• Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Video Output: – HDMI 1.4 or DisplayPort 1.2 or newer
• USB Port: – 1x USB 2.0 or greater port
• OS: Windows 7 SP1 64 bit or newer

Check your PC: Valve offers the SteamVR Performance Test app which actually benchmarks your machine to see if it can handle VR games built to their spec in practice. Since the Oculus and Steam VR specs are so similar, running this app may be helpful to identify bottlenecks for either.

Windows VR Recommended VR Specifications (2017):

Windows Mixed Reality Ultra PCs (graphics intensive)

• Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 960/1050 (or greater) DX12-capable discrete GPU AMD RX 460/560 (or greater) DX12-capable discrete GPU
• CPU: Intel Core i5 4590 (4th generation), quad-core (or better) AMD Ryzen 5 1400 3.4Ghz (desktop), quad-core (or better)
• Expected Frame Rate: 90 fps
• Memory: 8GB DDR3 (or better)
• Video Output: – HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort 1.2
• USB Port: – USB 3.0 Type-A or Type-C
• OS: Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (RS3) – Home, Pro, Business, Education

Windows Mixed Reality PCs (non-intensive apps)

• Video Card: Integrated Intel HD Graphics 620 (or greater) DX12-capable integrated GPU, NVIDIA MX150/965M (or greater) DX12-capable discrete GPU
• CPU: Intel Core i5 7200U (7th generation mobile), dual-core with Intel Hyper-Threading Technology enabled (or better)
• Expected Frame Rate: 60 fps
• Memory: 8GB DDR3 dual channel (or better)
• Video Output: – HDMI 1.4 or DisplayPort 1.2
• USB Port: – USB 3.0 Type-A or Type-C
• OS: Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (RS3) – Home, Pro, Business, Education

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

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.