Oculus Rift: Is your PC ready for it? (Hint: It probably isn't)
Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets are now available for pre-order, but before you put $600 down for this new gadget, you need to make sure that your PC can handle it, because if it can't, you'll be spending a lot more than $600.
The following are the recommended PC spec for running Oculus Rift:
- Graphics card: NVIDIA GTX 970 or AMD R9 290 equivalent or greater
- CPU: Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater
- RAM: 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
Not sure what's inside your PC? Download the official compatibility checker.
If your PC doesn't have this spec -- and chances are that even if you have a high-end gaming system, you might need to hang new parts on it -- be prepared to spend money. Remember, with high-end gaming PCs, it's not a case of how fast you want the system to be, but how fast you want to spend money.
Want to just buy a new PC to go with the Oculus Rift headset? Oculus-ready systems from Asus, Dell, and Alienware start at around $1,000.
See also: