How to pick out a VR graphics card

Because the early teasers for the Oculus Rift, the dream of a unbelievable digital actuality expertise felt prefer it was lastly coming true. Whereas nonetheless a comparatively new realm of know-how, the VR expertise varies throughout the board since each gamer has an virtually fully distinctive construct. That can assist you get the perfect expertise, we needed to point out you ways to pick a VR graphics card. 

Since VR gaming requires a fairly beefy PC, let’s begin by overlaying the minimal GPU necessities for well-liked VR headsets such because the Oculus Rift S, HTC VIVE, and Valve Index. 

Minimal VR graphics playing cards

For the Oculus Rift S, the corporate recommends a minimal Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 4GB, AMD Radeon R9 290, and AMD Radeon RX 470 or higher. With VIVE headsets, HTC recommends no less than an Nvidia GeForce GTX 970, AMD Radeon R9 290, or higher. Lastly, for the Index, Valve recommends an Nvidia GeForce GTX 970, AMD Radeon RX 480, or higher.

Whereas these minimal graphics playing cards can open the doorways to VR for a lot of players, they might not essentially get the anticipated expertise. Efficiency is at all times vital for the enjoyment of a sport, however efficiency is much more vital for a VR sport. For VR gaming, computer systems might want to supply very excessive body charges to make enjoying with a headset really feel smoother and assist decrease the prospect of inflicting movement illness.

Associated: Best VR-ready pre-built gaming PCs 

Fortunately, every headset producer and sport product web page affords really helpful {hardware} settings. 

Really helpful VR graphics playing cards

For the Oculus Rift S, the corporate recommends the Nvidia GeForce GTX 970, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060, AMD Radeon R9 290, and AMD Radeon RX 480 or higher. With VIVE headsets, HTC recommends an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060, AMD Radeon RX 480, or higher. Lastly, for the Valve Index, the corporate recommends an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 or higher.

Though these are the really helpful graphics playing cards straight from the respective producers, VR titles have continued to develop and evolve over time. The primary batch of VR video games acted as tech demos for the brand new {hardware} whereas sport builders had been getting used to creating titles with such releasing motion. Now, AAA video games are being constructed particularly for VR, corresponding to Valve’s Half-Life: Alyx, which requires no less than an Nvidia GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon 580 6GB.

To choose a graphics card for VR, begin with the headsets’ really helpful specs as your baseline after which store for a graphics card higher than that, corresponding to an Nvidia GTX 1080 or an equal card. For the best possible VR gaming expertise, you’ll be able to see our picks for the perfect graphics playing cards for VR here.