The Oculus Rift is now available for pre-order at $599, but there’s been some confusion about what else you’ll need to plug it in and getting going once it hits your doorstep.
Wait just a minute. You need a Windows PC to run Oculus Rift. https://t.co/jxq0qsAPHn
— Steve Garfield (@stevegarfield) January 6, 2016
https://twitter.com/RealBenGilbert/status/684800306023108609
Yes, you need a PC. Yes, that PC needs to be pretty heavy-duty.
In their pre-order post today, the company shared a link to a “compatibility tool” that will tell you whether your computer is able to run the new Rift or not. Gamers, who are probably the early adopters lining up for a Rift, are probably well prepared.
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Here are the recommendations from Oculus for the “full Rift experience”:
graphics card: NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD R9 290 equivalent or greater
processor: Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater
memory: 8GB+ RAM
output: Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output
input: 3x USB 3.0 ports plus 1x USB 2.0 port
operating system: Windows 7 SP1 64 bit or newer
Try using the tool on your current setup. If you don’t meet the recommendations, you’ll see something like this:
If you don’t currently have a PC, there is the option to get a full kit with the Rift and a PC that will handle it smoothly, which you can pre-order in February. The cost is $1,499. Since the first wave of deliveries will hit in March, you have time to get your current rig set up, or hey…build one yourself, it’s fun!
So yes, this is a surprise to some, but most knew ahead of time that this was a requirement. Why the surprise for some folks? It’s a new technology with a fair bit of hype, but a lot of ins and outs.
Now you get why Oculus partnered with Samsung on the $99 Gear VR. It got virtual reality experiences to people faster, and all you need is a phone to run it. And it’s mobile.
