VR has been a long time coming, with early development kits fueling tens of thousands of YouTube videos showing off what could very well become the next BIG thing in PC gaming. At the forefront of this virtual reality wave is the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive so we’re going to give you a quick run down on the differences, the similarities and what it actually takes in terms of a gaming PC to get up and running.
First off, how are they the same?
- Contain 2 OLED panels that combine at a resolution of 2160×1200
- 90 Hz Refresh Rate
- 110 Degree Field of View
- Tethered to a PC, not wireless.
How do they differ?
- Oculus includes headphones
- Oculus weighs 85 grams less
- Vive has Bluetooth connectivity for smart-phone interfacing
- Vive is notably larger than the Oculus
- Vive has ‘Chaperone’ casting a blue outline of walls and objects for user safety once they get too close.
- Oculus’s controller is smaller in form factor with a thumb-stick instead of a touch-pad.
- Vive’s controller is much larger with a touch-pad instead of a thumb-stick.
- The Vive has 50 games set for release within the launch window of 2016 while Oculus has an estimated 100 with several exclusives.
Minimum System Requirements
- Both have very similar minimum requirements which are basically
- Current generation i5 CPU
- 8GB of DDR3 / DDR4 Memory
- GTX 1060 or better GPU
- Meanwhile the Oculus requires 2 USB 3.0 ports and HDMI 1.3 or higher while the Vive only requires 1 USB port and can use either DisplayPort 1.2 or HDMI 1.4
What we would actually recommend.
Jumping in to an emerging exciting new technology like virtual reality on a tight budget is almost an oxymoron. To run a 2160×1200 display at 90Hz (90FPS) you need some serious GPU horsepower and while the GTX 1060 is a great value desktop gaming card for 1080P monitors, we find it hard to believe there isn’t games on the very near horizon that you’re going to want to play in VR that will demand a lot more. If you’re at all serious about jumping on the early VR train and getting in on the first generation of games whether it be for the Vive or Oculus, a GTX 1080 with an i5 8400 CPU or equivalent is our recommendation.
If your gaming PC isn’t up to spec, well you now know all you need to know to order one. Jump on over to the Custom Gaming PC page at Evatech.com.au and get an instant quote on a VR ready system today.