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From the hardware FAQ on /r/oculus: "Can I use a weaker PC for basic content? With weaker hardware, it may be possible to run very graphically simplistic cont

From the hardware FAQ on /r/oculus: "Can I use a weaker PC for basic content? With weaker hardware, it may be possible to run very graphically simplistic content like virtual desktop, virtual cinema (for watching movies), and 360 videos, however you will be totally on your own without support if you choose to do this, and it is unlikely that there will be many (or any) games that support lower specs. If you do wish to take this non-recommended path, your PC must at least meet the absolute minimum requirements: Video Card: GTX 650 / AMD 7750 desktop GPU or better and newer USB Ports: 2x USB 3.0 ports Video Output: free HDMI 1.3 output OS: Windows 7 SP1 64 bit or newer Remember: The Rift will not run on your laptop, this rule does not change!" https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/wiki/requirements https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/wiki/requirements

matwood 11y ago
> The Rift will not run on your laptop, this rule does not change! IMHO, this is the biggest issue. The computer landscape has shifted towards laptops/mobile and now this device requires a device whose marketshare is shrinking.
- dikaiosune 11y ago
  Not so much among PC gamers, from what I've seen. And that's really the market that matters. Not many other segments are still buying high power desktops, but they certainly are.
- zcdziura 11y ago
  With a Gen1 release, Oculus is trying to build its "core audience" which will be the PC Gamer. Any serious PC gamer will have built their own custom rig to play games. As long as they can nail this audience, they'll be able to grow from there with more "mass consumer" equipment to target lower capability computers.
  - lfowles 11y ago
    This makes me think a better nickname for this revision is Hobbyist Version rather than Consumer Version.
- jameshart 11y ago
  Yes, it feels like a big mistake. An external box containing the necessary graphics hardware should probably be a part of the Oculus package - it seems to be setting itself up for failure by pretending to be a display, rather than a graphics pipeline.
  - prodigal_erik 11y ago
    Lots of their target market already has suitable video cards, and don't want to pay $400 extra for a downgrade. And what would you plug the box into? I've read that there are specs for external PCIe x16 ports and enclosures but I've literally never seen one.
  - usrusr 11y ago
    Assuming that box would add 300$ more to the package price, you would be close to sinking four digits when it turns out that VR is more immersion than you like. In that case, a regular GPU upgrade will happily drive your conventional screens, whereas an Oculus box would likely be dead weight causing or at least cause all kinds of compatibility headaches when repurposed for conventional display use.
thenomad 11y ago
That's odd, I've been using a laptop to demo Rift tech for some time... (Although it's quite a beefy laptop, optimised for 3D work.)
- moron4hire 11y ago
  You're fortunate. Yes, there are some laptops that can do it, but most have NVidia Optimus getting in the way, and it's nearly impossible to tell which ones are okay and which are not just from spec sheets, so I can see why they just say "no laptops".
- ihuman 11y ago
  I used to use a MacBook Pro from 2011 with the DK1, and it worked just fine.
  - uptown 11y ago
    Did you Bootcamp to Windows 7, or is there something that runs natively on OS X?
    - ihuman 11y ago
      I used Windows, because the rest of the hackathon team I was on was using Windows. We were using Unity, but we didn't want there to be any problems getting the code to run on multiple OSs. I know that Unity makes it easy to do that, but we didn't want to risk it. Edit: Also remembered that we used as Kinect, which requires Windows
dandanisaur 11y ago
Sadly, this is what stopped me from considering the Oculus Rift. My expectations were wrong in thinking this would be more of a mass-consumer oriented product instead of targeting VR hobbyists'* Basically, forcing people to shell out ATLEAST 1600$ to be able to use it (not to mention making them buy a desktop). Aside: I was always more interested in the potential of Gear VR. Thanks for the info.
- amock 11y ago
  You don't need to spend anywhere close to $1600. I just put together http://pcpartpicker.com/p/p8MjmG http://pcpartpicker.com/p/p8MjmG with only a little consideration for price and it's less than $900 while exceeding the requirements.
  - AndrewKemendo 11y ago
    $885 (PC you linked) + $600 (Rift) = $1485 That's pretty close.
- potatolicious 11y ago
  Unfortunately this is the way it will be for the immediate future - the combination of high resolution requirements and high refresh rate requirements means that any VR application will have to render a lot more pixels than "typical" games on phones/PCs. You can for example get away with rendering at 30Hz for a typical game, but that's a recipe for nausea in VR - where you'd want 90-120Hz instead. That's a lot of extra pixels immediately. Even something as simple as a virtual desktop is going to be pretty performance intensive if only because of how many pixels your hardware has to push around. There's not really a good way to make a mass-consumer (i.e., low-end PC, mid-end phone) version of this tech yet, and probably not in the near future either since any hardware gains we make (either in mobile or desktop) will be poured into visual fidelity.
- TulliusCicero 11y ago
  It's in between right now. It's not just targeted at 'VR hobbyists', but it IS targeted at tech early adopters/hardcore gamers. Give it a few more years and I'm sure the price will slowly come down.

matwood 11y ago

> The Rift will not run on your laptop, this rule does not change! IMHO, this is the biggest issue. The computer landscape has shifted towards laptops/mobile and now this device requires a device whose marketshare is shrinking.

dikaiosune 11y ago
Not so much among PC gamers, from what I've seen. And that's really the market that matters. Not many other segments are still buying high power desktops, but they certainly are.
zcdziura 11y ago
With a Gen1 release, Oculus is trying to build its "core audience" which will be the PC Gamer. Any serious PC gamer will have built their own custom rig to play games. As long as they can nail this audience, they'll be able to grow from there with more "mass consumer" equipment to target lower capability computers.
- lfowles 11y ago
  This makes me think a better nickname for this revision is Hobbyist Version rather than Consumer Version.
jameshart 11y ago
Yes, it feels like a big mistake. An external box containing the necessary graphics hardware should probably be a part of the Oculus package - it seems to be setting itself up for failure by pretending to be a display, rather than a graphics pipeline.
- prodigal_erik 11y ago
  Lots of their target market already has suitable video cards, and don't want to pay $400 extra for a downgrade. And what would you plug the box into? I've read that there are specs for external PCIe x16 ports and enclosures but I've literally never seen one.
- usrusr 11y ago
  Assuming that box would add 300$ more to the package price, you would be close to sinking four digits when it turns out that VR is more immersion than you like. In that case, a regular GPU upgrade will happily drive your conventional screens, whereas an Oculus box would likely be dead weight causing or at least cause all kinds of compatibility headaches when repurposed for conventional display use.

thenomad 11y ago

That's odd, I've been using a laptop to demo Rift tech for some time... (Although it's quite a beefy laptop, optimised for 3D work.)

moron4hire 11y ago
You're fortunate. Yes, there are some laptops that can do it, but most have NVidia Optimus getting in the way, and it's nearly impossible to tell which ones are okay and which are not just from spec sheets, so I can see why they just say "no laptops".
ihuman 11y ago
I used to use a MacBook Pro from 2011 with the DK1, and it worked just fine.
- uptown 11y ago
  Did you Bootcamp to Windows 7, or is there something that runs natively on OS X?
  - ihuman 11y ago
    I used Windows, because the rest of the hackathon team I was on was using Windows. We were using Unity, but we didn't want there to be any problems getting the code to run on multiple OSs. I know that Unity makes it easy to do that, but we didn't want to risk it. Edit: Also remembered that we used as Kinect, which requires Windows

dandanisaur 11y ago

Sadly, this is what stopped me from considering the Oculus Rift. My expectations were wrong in thinking this would be more of a mass-consumer oriented product instead of targeting VR hobbyists'* Basically, forcing people to shell out ATLEAST 1600$ to be able to use it (not to mention making them buy a desktop). Aside: I was always more interested in the potential of Gear VR. Thanks for the info.

amock 11y ago
You don't need to spend anywhere close to $1600. I just put together http://pcpartpicker.com/p/p8MjmG http://pcpartpicker.com/p/p8MjmG with only a little consideration for price and it's less than $900 while exceeding the requirements.
- AndrewKemendo 11y ago
  $885 (PC you linked) + $600 (Rift) = $1485 That's pretty close.
potatolicious 11y ago
Unfortunately this is the way it will be for the immediate future - the combination of high resolution requirements and high refresh rate requirements means that any VR application will have to render a lot more pixels than "typical" games on phones/PCs. You can for example get away with rendering at 30Hz for a typical game, but that's a recipe for nausea in VR - where you'd want 90-120Hz instead. That's a lot of extra pixels immediately. Even something as simple as a virtual desktop is going to be pretty performance intensive if only because of how many pixels your hardware has to push around. There's not really a good way to make a mass-consumer (i.e., low-end PC, mid-end phone) version of this tech yet, and probably not in the near future either since any hardware gains we make (either in mobile or desktop) will be poured into visual fidelity.
TulliusCicero 11y ago
It's in between right now. It's not just targeted at 'VR hobbyists', but it IS targeted at tech early adopters/hardcore gamers. Give it a few more years and I'm sure the price will slowly come down.