VR Ready Graphics Cards: Is Your GPU Ready for Oculus Link and Steam VR?

The best way to find a VR ready graphics card is to simply look at the Oculus Link requirements or PC requirements for individual on Steam. On the low-end, you should at least aim for a GEFORCE GTX 970. VR games Along my journey to create a VR-ready PC under a tight budget, I had to figure out what GPU was powerful enough to handle the biggest and best games the VR library had to offer. Surprisingly, it is relatively simple to figure out what VR-ready GPUs are currently on the market. In this article, I will briefly explain the simplest ways to tell if a certain GPU can handle virtual reality games and recommend a few of the cheapest options for those that are gaming on a budget (like I am). Quick ways to tell if your Graphics Card is VR Ready Check Oculus Link requirements Check individual game requirements on Steam Establish your baseline and compare options on the GPU Hierarchy Option 1: Look at Oculus Link Requirements So if you have an Oculus Quest and plan to play PC via Oculus Link, then all you have to do is head to the and scroll down to their list of supported VR-ready GPUs. VR games Oculus Link Requirements page To save you some time, I've copy-pasted the tables here: Oculus Link NVIDIA GPU Support For those who are gaming on a budget, the cheapest or lowest-end GPU that Oculus Link supports is the . However, finding these cards new isn't that easy. GTX 970 Oculus Link AMD GPU Support Instead, you may want to look at AMDs VR ready if they are compatible with your motherboard. One of the cheapest ones on Amazon that works with Oculus Link is the with is only ~$85 USD! graphics cards AMD Radeon RX 550 Option 2: Check Out Individual VR Game Requirements on Steam If you are using the Quest or any other headset to play games via Steam VR, your best bet is to look at individual games you want to play and check out their minimum PC requirements. Let's take a look at the requirements for the critically-acclaimed Half-Life: Alyx. As you can see, the game requires a , , or better with 6GB of VRAM. GEFORCE GTX 1060 AMD RX 580 To be honest, I'm not sure how strict these requirements are. Because I ran the game on a , with a Core i5-4440 processor and that worked just fine, despite the minimum listed CPU requirement of the Core i5-7500. GTX 1660 However, I will say I tried running this game on my ASUS TUF laptop that has a GTX 1050 and...it did not work at all. I got maybe 2 frames per second, so I highly recommend sticking to the minimum GPU requirements for . VR games Option 3: Establish your baseline and compare options on the GPU Hierarchy This is less of an option and more of a best practice to help you find the best deal. The is a table on Tom's Hardware that lists the top GPUs in a ranked order of best value and performance. So if you've decided at the very least you want to be able to play and you are looking for a GTX 1060, then head over the table and look for that GPU on the list: GPU Hierarchy Half-Life: Alyx You'll notice that there is a 3GB and a 6GB version. You should go with the 6GB version. So let's say you check prices on Amazon, eBay, or whatever site or local shop and you see a brand new. GTX 1060 for $200 USD You should also look at a few of the other GPUs it on the list to see if you can get a stronger VR-ready GPU for a similar price. If you are in VR for the long haul, you might as well spend an extra $40-$80 now and use this GPU for longer, rather than realize 8 months from now that you want to play a new game and need a stronger GPU. above Instead of buying a cheaper GPU now and a more expensive one later, try to find a middle ground. For example, if you find a GTX 1060 for $200 USD and you also see a USD brand new, you might want to spend an extra $30 for better performance and a newer model. GTX 1660 for $230 Well, I hope this quick tutorial on VR ready was helpful for you and I hope you build a powerful VR rig to enjoy the best games the market has to offer. graphics cards If you need more advice on this, with your question! Tweet this article to me This article includes affiliate links to the items above. via Luis Gonzalez on Unsplash. Disclaimer: Lead image Looking for more VR reading? Check out: 5 Best Oculus Quest Battery Packs for Extended Play Sessions VR Gun Stocks: Essential Guide to Improve VR Shooting Experiences