Oculus Rift Compatability

marxkate

M
Hi everyone

Please bear with me as I'm not massively in the know with tech!

I'm looking to buy my husband a new PC and the Oculus Rift for Christmas, but need to know if it will be compatible with the PC I'm getting him. I'm having to buy the PC on finance so can't afford to buy the package deal direct from Amazon or wherever.

The PC I'm getting is the Alienware X51 intel core i5 (I may get the i7 - I haven't decided yet). From what I can see on the Oculus site, it looks as though everything is good enough to be compatible, i.e. over 8gb ram etc. However, the graphics card in the description of the PC says NVIDIA GTX 960, and the compatibility check on the Oculus site says NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD R9 290 equivalent or greater.

Could someone help to put me in the know? I don't want to buy something if it isn't going to be able to do the intended job!

Thank you!
Kate
 

Hell Razor5543

H
You have plenty of time before Christmas. NVidia and ATi/AMD have new graphics cards in the pipeline that should be out in the next few months. When they are launched current cards should drop in price somewhat (VR has, from what I can see, held the prices high for longer than normal). If you can wait, the recommended cards will drop in price.
 

marxkate

M
Hi

Thanks for your reply, although I'm not sure I've explained myself properly! What I mean is, the PC I plan to buy has a NVIDIA GTX 960 that comes pre-installed as the graphics card. Will this be compatible with Oculus Rift? As the Oculus site says NVIDIA GTX 970 or the equivelent? I'm really confused! They sell what appears to be the same PC with their package - exactly the same with everything other than the one digit on the graphics card description is different. Could it be a typo? Sorry if I sound ridiculous! :)
 

shreddog

shreddog
Well, it's compatible, but may not be fast enough to keep the recommended 90 fps in certain games. Elite for example is very demanding on gfx power, especially on planet surfaces. My 970 is just enough to power my old low res DK1 on medium settings.
 

bitstorm

bitstorm
It's like one just below the minimum for Oculus.

960 => 970 => 980.

But as Hell Razor was saying there are new cards out this year with a big jump in power, it might be better waiting.

This thing is, why buy so far ahead of xmas, I mean if you wait you'll get more for your money.
 
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marxkate

M
Thanks for all your replies :) I start buying really early on so that anything on finance is paid for before the big day! We have six kids between us (three together) so it's an expensive affair otherwise!

So, plain and simple for me... If I buy it, it will be compatible but I would be better with the 970?

Thanks again!
 

Hell Razor5543

H
Hi Kate,

Sorry if my explanation was not clear. At this time, the PC system you are looking at will not be able to run the Oculus Rift well (if at all). Part of the problem is Virtual Reality equipment itself. As VR equipment needs powerful graphics cards for it to work well, this has the consequence of keeping the price of such graphics cards high. For example, when I built my PC this time last year, the Asus Strix GTX970 card was about £300, and it is currently around £285 (so only a drop of 5% in a year, which is unusual).

However, NVidia have the Pascal series of graphics cards due for launch soon, while AMD have their equivalent cards due at roughly the same time (and these are new technology cards from both makers). Normally when a new series of graphics cards are launched, their predecessors drop in price. This could mean that a system that is currently capable of doing what you need (but is out of your budget) should drop into your price range well before Christmas.

EDIT; The NVidia Pascal cards are due to be launched at Computex, which is from 31st May to 4th June;

http://wccftech.com/nvidia-pascal-gp104-gpu-leaked/

I hope that this helps.
 
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g.eoff

g.eoff
Hi marxkate. My PC is an i7, but had a Nvidia GTX 970 graphics card installed. I've just removed the 970, and replaced it with GTX 980Ti. More expensive but I believe it will give me a better VR experience than the 970.

If you can't wait for the next generation of cards to be released, I would suggest that your planned 960 will not be man enough for the job.

Merry Christmas.
 

VR Dextrovix

VR Dextrovix
I can understand what the OP is trying to do, e.g. buy it now under finance. However, prices for PC hardware prices are always on a downwards spiral, hence if possible it is always beneficial to wait, as in six months what you would get is a better PC at a better price. On the run-up to Christmas, plenty of suppliers provide finance so there isn't a need to buy it now when the deposit could be saved now and the finance began nearer Christmas to handle repayments?

Plus, a 970 card is a minimum for VR, and in six months there may be other faster ones in that range at a better price, or cheaper variants of the new Pascal chipset (don't know what the model numbers will be yet) which might do a better job than a 970 today. A 960 probably won't cut it, and the Oculus utility will report that if the OP went for the PC being proposed.
 
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robinjb

robinjb
OP just a suggestion.. but how about.. create a savings pot. and put the money in that you were going to pay to the finance people... finance will cost you more in the long run.. this way.. you are allocated funds like you would be getting on finance.. but by the time xmas comes youll get more for your money.
 

Frank

Frank
The best time to buy would be Black Friday. It's still plenty early for Christmas and you can sometimes pick up good deals then.
 

Spam

Spam
The easiest way maybe to ignore all the nerd talk (guilty as charged) and save yourself a whole load of time, effort and sanity and phone the lovely chaps at www.overclockers.co.uk and speak to them direct.
I've been using them for years and they are bloody good on price and properly helpful.
Explain that you want a prebuilt Oculus CV1 ready PC and give them a rough budget and they will sort you out, for a way better price than the Alienware PC.
 

llanky

L
Yes I cannot stress enough how over priced alienware desktops are.
If you hubby isn't a big pc geek and keen on upgrading parts or playing with lowering settings and quality in each game then you want to get him the 970 at the least.
The 960 will run but some games will be slow on it and sacrifices will have to be made.

If you have to use a certain shop to get finance and it's your only way to buy, I understand that, and you might have to choose one of their alienwares. Try get them to upgrade to a 970 or otherwise if all else fails the 960 CAN be upgraded in 6 months, a year, 2 years etc to a better card once the prices are down.

ps. your husband is an extremely lucky man!!
 

marxkate

M
llanky said:
Yes I cannot stress enough how over priced alienware desktops are.
If you hubby isn't a big pc geek and keen on upgrading parts or playing with lowering settings and quality in each game then you want to get him the 970 at the least.
The 960 will run but some games will be slow on it and sacrifices will have to be made.

If you have to use a certain shop to get finance and it's your only way to buy, I understand that, and you might have to choose one of their alienwares. Try get them to upgrade to a 970 or otherwise if all else fails the 960 CAN be upgraded in 6 months, a year, 2 years etc to a better card once the prices are down.

ps. your husband is an extremely lucky man!!
Click to expand...


Thanks so much for all your help! Unfortunately he is a very big PC geek haha! It's so frustrating as I know he could most likely answer my questions but I can't ask him! :)

I have been looking at this one - is there any possibility you would be so kind as to take a look at the spec on it for me to see if it would be a fit? I think it will but don't trust myself at all now!

http://www.littlewoods.com/msi-nigh...-4gb-graphics-gtx970-black-red/1600061274.prd

Thank you so much!
Kate x
 

marxkate

M
P.S. He's actually said the same thing on several occasions too re Dell and Alienware. He wanted one from being a kid so I bought him one for Christmas a few years ago - just the M15X laptop, spent around £700 on it 2nd hand, and although it wasn't what he had hoped, he still loved it. Then, we were burgled around 2 years later and it was one of the two things they took :( This is why I was wanting to go the Alienware route, well one of the reasons aside from the finance issues, but I do understand that other PC's I can get more for less with! :)
 

Karnath

Karnath
I applaud your efforts Kate in which is truly a cracking present for your husband, looking at your link and I hope it's a typing error on littlewoods behalf but

* 350-watt 80 PLUS Bronze Power Supply (PSU)

Personally I don't think it's got the required juice to run that type of PC hardware
 

marxkate

M
Thanks everyone! Aargh this is seriously messing with my brain now! My main issue is, I have a budget of around £1400 absolute max but it can only be with littlewoods or very as I have the required credit with them and can choose the no interest payments! I'm so stuck!
 
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