The teardown specialists at iFixit were able to get their hands on a developer version of the Oculus Rift, the virtual reality visor that came to fruition after an incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign last summer. It’s worth pointing out that the unit is still in its early stages and doesn’t represent what will eventually go on sale to the general public.
The unit was easy enough to get into, requiring only a Philips #1 bit and a plastic opening tool. A few clips and some sticky foam adhesive later and the team is inside with a full view of the Innolux HJ070IA-02D 7" LCD unit. A Himax HX8851 timing controller is found on the rear of the LCD display while a custom designed Tracker V2 board with 1000Hz refresh rate is the only thing left in the headset.
The control box used to connect the device to a computer has connections for HDMI, DVI, Mini USB and DC-in. Inside is a Realtek RTD2486AD display interface controller, Winbond W25X20CL 256 KB serial flash and a Techcode TD1484A synchronous rectified step-down converter.
The company behind the Oculus Rift hasn’t released a ton of information with regards to specifications but here’s what we know thus far. The display operates at 1,280 x 800 pixels (640 x 800 per eye) and features a horizontal field of view higher than 90 degrees with a diagonal field of view surpassing 110 degrees. Head tracking is accomplished using a 1000Hz absolute 9DOF orientation sensor which includes gyroscope, accelerometer and magnetometer.
Overall, iFixit awarded the Oculus Rift a repairability score of nine out of 10 (10 is the best possible score) as the entire device can be taken apart in less than 10 minutes. Keep in mind once again that this is a preliminary score and may or may not reflect how easy the device is to access once the final production model arrives.
