The first word about the PCs that will run with the Oculus Rift--and come with the Oculus Rift--are now on hand, and the news is not good for the budget conscious. The "Oculus Ready PCs", as they're known, will be available starting February 16, and versions will be on hand from Asus, Alienware, and Dell. Brace your wallet, because the early word about the thyroidal monsters required to run this system is both massive and pricey.
The bundles start at $1500, and will start shipping in April. Those who buy into the bundles not only get the PC in question, as well as the Oculus Rift, but also an Xbox One controller, though there's no indication as yet that the Oculus Rift will work with the Xbox One, except via complex and downright lunatic streaming scheme in which one streams from an Xbox One to a PC and views the output from the PC. Further, the system comes with the necessary sensor and remote, and two games: Lucky's Tale and EVE: Valkyrie.
The Alienware version will be somewhat unique, in that it will run on an Intel i7-5820K processor, while its counterparts at Dell and Asus will run on an i5-6400. The remaining specs will be substantial, including such high-end material as eight to 16 gigabytes of DDR4 RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or better, massive storage capability spread across hard drives, solid state drives or both, and more.
Interestingly, these systems will be optimized for Oculus, but they may not be the only ones capable of the task. Oculus offers a free tool that allows users to tell if a current PC is "Rift ready," and all users need do is download and run the tool from there to find out if the Oculus Rift will be a comparatively cheap upgrade, or a total pricey teardown.
It's also worth remembering that computer tech moves at a pretty rapid clip. Today's top of the line--which seems to be about what an Oculus Ready PC is these days--is next year's midgrade system, and in two years, it's pretty much bargain basement time. That's good news for anyone eager to try out the Rift, but without the cash. Also bear in mind that it's going to be a while before game developers really get cranking on this as well, so bear that further in mind.
The wait may have been long already, and for some may be longer yet in coming, but the good news is there is light at the end of the tunnel, and consumer-grade VR may be at last in our grasp. It's going to take some top-notch hardware to get there, but man, what a ride it will be when it hits.
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