Very few PCs will be capable of powering the Oculus Rift, Nvidia says

Shawn Knight

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2016 is expected to be the year of virtual reality (although in actuality, it'll likely be a few more years before the technology really takes root among general consumers). Regardless, some VR systems will arrive this year including the granddaddy of them all, the Oculus Rift.

That's great news for enthusiasts, assuming of course that you have a system powerful enough to run the rig. According to Nvidia, most machines won't be up to the task.

The graphics chip maker estimates that only 13 million PCs worldwide will be powerful enough to push the Rift and other serious VR headsets. Research firm Gartner notes that Rift-capable machines will account for less than one percent of the 1.43 billion computers expected to be in use this year.

Last May, the Facebook-owned company revealed recommended hardware specifications needed for the best experience with its VR headset. Those specs included an Intel Core i5-4590 or better, an AMD 290 / Nvidia GTX 970 or equivalent and at least 8GB of RAM in addition to an HDMI 1.3 video output, two USB 3.0 ports and Windows 7 SP1 or newer.

We'll likely learn a lot more about the Rift and other products later this week at CES. As Bloomberg points out, there will be more than 40 exhibitors demonstrating virtual reality products across 2.4 million square feet of show floor. That may not sound like many considering over 3,600 companies are expected to showcase their products but it represents a 77 percent increase compared to 2015 (the figure also doesn't account for companies that won't have a presence on the show floor but rather host meetings in private hotel suites).

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Specs quoted are a MEDIUM-HIGH end gaming pc (high being i7 with 980 or better) valued around 1000 dollars-> http://pcpartpicker.com/p/FyTfqs into which the majority of GAMING systems fall into. These are the people that are going to be the ones interested in this tech initially, so the percentage given here ( less than one percent of the 1.43 billion computers expected to be in use this year) is completely irrelevant and stupid, but a nice way to get people to click on your article, kudos.
 
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No, this article is wrong in every way. Nothing it says is correct. Try maybe a little bit harder for money?
 
There's probably also a reasonable number of people who have been holding out for Pascal/Arctic Islands to hit later this year. Will be interesting to see how a new architecture and HBM2 sits with the Rift's requirements.
 
Provided I get the right graphics card my PC is sufficient for Oculus Rift. Only thing is I have better things to do than spends hours gaming.
 
I think the specs quoted are fairly accurate. Considering this headset is going to be running above 1080p, it's going to require allot of horsepower.

I doubt that Sony will be able to capture any of the VR market if it's headset has to rely on the PS4's hardware. 30 fps at 1080p and high latency are all factors that will cause issues.

If VR is going to take off at all it will be on the platform where it's advantages can shine, on the PC.
 
Specs quoted are a MEDIUM-HIGH end gaming pc (high being i7 with 980 or better) valued around 1000 dollars-> http://pcpartpicker.com/p/FyTfqs into which the majority of GAMING systems fall into. These are the people that are going to be the ones interested in this tech initially, so the percentage given here ( less than one percent of the 1.43 billion computers expected to be in use this year) is completely irrelevant and stupid, but a nice way to get people to click on your article, kudos.

Yes! Exactly. "Journalism" is in an absolutely deplorable state these days. Get an ad-blocker. **** these people.
 
I'm honored to know I'm one of the 13 million who has a VR capable PC, apart from having HDMI 3.1, although in in the same boat as those 13 million others, so it's status quo but I won't bother with VR for some time yet.
 
This will cause a surge in the PC market for new builds and components. If VR devices come out with high system specs and everyone runs out buying a bunch of new parts, the people making the parts will take notice and we could very well see a ramp up in new parts coming out. The tech field is always looking for the next big thing... I bet a lot of folks are chomping at the bit to sell us new hardware.
 
DK2 works fine on a 670gtx which isn't exactly high end. And that was playing games like Skyrim which isn't exactly a low end title. I don't recall having to drop down the graphics settings either to get a playable frame rate. Also other games like HL2, Minecraft and every demo I played were also fine. Oh and this was all on HDMI 1.2, and USB2. Now way does it need the bandwidth of usb 3 to or the power for this thing.
 
Nice, I'm part of Nvidia's one percent! Oh wait, no HDMI 3.1, drats, maybe next time.

On another note, if the USB 3.0 ports in my system are part of an expansion card will this still work?
 
Just get a Samsung latest phone and their Gear VR. The Gear VR is mind blowing experience. I'm watching a movie on my phone and I'm inside a giant imax theatre and watch youtube with others Gear VR users in the room....so many cool VR stuff you can do. Throw away the iPhone people and get a Gear VR it's the future.
 
Does anyone ever consider the author may have planted an egg for the comments? These comments are killing me (Maybe that's the author's plan). :D
 
Does anyone ever consider the author may have planted an egg for the comments? These comments are killing me (Maybe that's the author's plan). :D
You can spot these articles easily usually - they often say 'Shawn Knight' under the headline.

To his defense... sure, plenty of gaming PCs will be able to use VR. But the vast majority of PCs aren't gaming PCs, they're business PCs. And if you want to use VR for your work there's a 99% chance you'll need an upgrade.

However, for the consumer market, who will be the first people to go out and buy one of these? Probably the exact same people who own nice gaming PCs. regardless of the fact that they're the ones who can use the VR without an upgrade. Gaming will be one of the first big applications. Well... gaming and p0rn- which many gamers are also fond of. ;)
 
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