king-gamer
In this topic I will be referring to latest PC VR (virtual reality) customer friendly (not dev kits) HEADSETS , PC requirements and a suggested build that is balanced and above requirements but for average price difference and higher performance, and feel free to suggest any build, we are trying here to clarify VR recommended specs, and trying to guide any interested builder like myself for a good stronger more lasting build with low to fair price difference and with overclocking option, will also address Sony VR, so this topic I hope get sticky to be a reference to all VR enthusiast, and to all gamer in general, cause VR gaming is the future of gaming, and VR in general is the next stop for everyone, currently being developed for advertising, virtual visits, virtual social interacting, virtual car testing, wireless surgeries, educational purposes, fones, ETC....
I will be mainly addressing the top 2 VR headset for PC : Oculus rift(Facebook property), HTC VIVE (HTC and steam property, mainly HTC)
the reason I pick these 2 is for obvious reason, oculus is the best developed VR device, and have the largest spread dev kits worldwide, and HTC VIVE is the most polished and advanced VR headset and accessories.
OCULUS RIFT: a head mounted device requiring a high end gaming PC, available worldwide end of march, rift is know for being the leaders in this domain, everyone owning a gear VR for their Samsung fone, its made by these folks, they had a developer kit launch previously, and followed by a DK2, and now the RIFT, managed to get Facebook attention until eventually Facebook was interested enough to pay a 2.000.000.000 $ for ownership of oculus.
HTC VIVE: HTC entered the competition with high ambitions, cause word on the street that the VR market will surpass 300billions $, and HTC main market is the fones, where the competition is deadly, HTC currently own barely 1% of the fones market, with presence of giants like apple and Samsung, so they try to focus on VR since its a new market, with partnership with valve, they have developed the most impressive VR experience, by adding virtual space you can move in reality to move in the virtual world adding much to the experience and attracting many of oculus fans .
comparison: both headset are pc based, both have double OLED high resolution displays (1080x1200 per eye), high frequency to avoid latency with 90hz, head tracking, laser tracking, both sets are wired , so you are attached by a wire to a PC, but both of the headsets have many differences, and can be crucial in the competition, will try to cover all of them briefly:
Oculus RIFT : starting price 600$, controller :xbox one controller (currently developing a more advance controller), experience: sitting/standing
HTC ViVE : starting price 800$, controller: include 2 wireless remotes that are laser tracked than can serve as virtual hands inside the virtual world giving a better experience, 2 laser bases : you set them on the opposite corners of the playing area, and that playing area become your virtual playing
space inside the virtual world, so the experience will be sitting, standing, and also walking, walking adds new problem, which is tripping or exiting the play area, hitting shelfs, walls, or even falling from an open window(It's quiet dumb to open a window while playing VR thou), HTC solved this with a smart solution, they added front cam, and some software, once you exit the play area the front cam activates, also you can switch to real life view anytime, lets say you fone rang or you want to text someone, you don't need to remove you head set, thou HTC added this feature to solve a problem they faced, this cam gave them a plus against oculus rift .
OCULUS beats the VIVE with 200$ difference, but to take in consideration that oculus will charge you later for the currently under development controller, while VIVE gives you a whole package from the beginning, in addition to virtual play area , a feature not available in oculus for now .
both of those systems are computer compatible, so many of the game developing companies may target both in the same time to have more profit, you can find exclusive titles for each, but the concept is very similar, space experiences and deep sea experiences are used a lot cause of the potential and the beauty of the experience, both headsets launches with space fighting games, and light simple demonstrations applications to give people a clear idea on the VR potential and capability.
COMPUTER REQUIERMENTS :
the minimum required specs are:
i5-4590 CPU, NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD R9 290 VGA, 8GB+ RAM , 3x USB 3.0 ports
the PC required is not a casual gamer PC, its quiet high end PC so will cost a fair amount of money, each company had partnerships with famous brands like alienware to make a 1000$ VR ready pc, you can check on their websites, or you can build the old fashion way like people her on lebgeeks like to do it .
my recommended build, in this build I took in consideration the price ++++ and the performance so I targeted overclocking, in this build I was confused between an NVidia build with the 980gtx ti and an AMD build with the R390X, most people wont agree but I found the radeon build better,980gtx ti is too much price difference, requires a little more expensive motherboard, I wanted something that serves as high end pc for few years uphead, also that wont cost couple thousands of dollars, by going with the AMD build I save around 500$, the prices I listed are price I found on local resellers, friend shops, and MSI Lebanon, and some from PC and PARTs , tax included, I kept my old monitor to save some money to add to other parts , no gaming mouse or keyboard, also will keep old ones for now have to do,
mb: MSI Z170A PC MATE (DDR4) $121.00
ram :HyperX Fury 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 2400 $70.00
cpu :Skylake 4.00 GHz - i7-6700K 335$+ fan 35$
case:NZXT Guardian 921RB CA-GR921-B1 Blue Led Mid Tower$80.00
HDD: 1TB WD10EZEX 7200RPM SATAIII 64MB 55$
SSD : SAMSUNG 850 EVO MZ-N5E250BW M.2 250GB SATA 6Gbps $110
VGA : MSI R9 390X Gaming 8G Radeon R9 390X 8GB DDR5 $485
display : my plasma 43inch 3d fhd for now
psu : i neeed opinion cause not sure about the 390x , heard it needs double the power than nvidia
121+70+35+335+485+80+55+110
50$ psu
1341$+ vr headset (600$/800$ plus TVA and shipping)
no matter what I tried I always ended up with a total cost near the 2000$, that's why I believe VR on PC will take much time to spread worldwide, and to start making big bucks , cause not many will adopt such expensive project .
Sony PS VR:
Sony Project Morpheus as first named, was really kept underground for so long and people always had speculations, by 2016, all big VR players had their cards open, all in, so now sony had revealed everything related to their version of VR headset experience, I didn't want to include sony in this topic cause it is a console based headset, powered by a playstation 4, with limited power (not underestimating the PS4, but no Ps4 can match an average gaming pc, a RIG or a Top class gaming PC, so the comparison is not valid, but for many reason i will address later, i included sony in this competition .
first lets talk about Sony VR , Sony VR is being in development since the launch of the PS4 , around 3 or 4 years, its a Headset similar to PC headsets, has head tracking, double OLED display, with slightly less resolution than oculus and VIVE, with 960 x 1080 per eye, higher frequency with 120hz, wired to the ps4, experience sitting or standing, controllers : will use the ps3 move, also needs a ps camera.
The PS4 was included in the comparison for simple reason, cause i believe the Sony VR will be the face of VR, will spread more widely, will gain the most profit and will be able to develop faster , but why I believe this, many will be surprised, and saying no way Sony can compete against a 3 or 4 times stronger hardwares , well clearly it is not the hardware we will be talking about, it is a smart plan Sony are making for few years now. sony was the last to announce their device price, they actually waited till yesterday to announce it will be at 399$, beating all other devices in price, also sony presented a series of astonishing games, like a deep sea experience, a space fighting game and many more to come, people who tried the sony admitted it is not as powerful as PC headsets, yet it is quiet satisfactory and enjoyable and has all the VR qualities, great images, great experience, and even less motion sickness from the Oculus and VIVE, so far sony has better price, and good gaming enough to complete, add to that the endless games developers sony has, and Sony gaming experience, if that is not enough, lets take the hardware point that many thinks it is Sony weakness versus pc based VR, you will find it is totally the opposite, cause the PS4 is already spreading very well around the world, with Sony's latest counting goes around 40millions owners, so many people have already the necessary build to run the Sony VR, and those who don't, have 2 options : a desktop for around 1200$, or a PS4 for 300$ !?!?!?!? turns out the hardware factor made quiet a difference, with 900$ difference plus 200$ difference to its closest price competitor, so going for a playstation VR will be quiet cheaper, with 1000$ plus cheaper, and that is what sony is counting on, if they own the market, they will win this VR war, also Sony announced there will be bundles, like Sony Playstation 4 VR bundle, will include the playstaion 4, couple games, and the VR headset, and as a package will be cheaper, than buying each a apart, also add to that that the sony VR is coming out in October, close to holiday seasons worldwide, aiming to be the Christmas hottest gift for sure .
The important thing is that VR has finally launched, i dreamed about this when i was young, going in virtual adventures with my pet monster and fight others, or just sit and look around in this virtual world with unlimited options to arise in the future, cause the ways the VR can go are unexpected the least said, now i am happy to be able to finally have my hands on a VR device, i tried google cardboard and i found it interesting and i am sure the main VR companies will be far more interesting.
I also would like to advise not to decide which one to pick yet, wait till November, by than all the companies will have their devices in the market, and prices will start dropping, also you will have a better idea on each devices cause it will has more reviews, by the date of this topic none of the above devices is released yet, oculus till end of march, vive in April, sony in October, so waiting is the key, one last hint, having a pc experience will cost a lot, but pc is easily hacked, so you will have many many free apps, plus it is a more open source than sony playstore fortress, on the other hand, i really think VR is still a baby, a newborn baby, so in a small time this baby will grow fast, and change fast, adopting an expensive item early on may be unwise, so i see sony is the best option, for first VR experience, cause it has a big price difference, and if you don't like the VR, to hell with it, you just put your old fashion FPS (battlefield 4 for me) and hit it with your friends ;), you still got that option available, also you have the monthly free games, and the used game market to get cheap games .
Hope i Gave a small idea on the top Virtual Reality systems coming up this year, any questions or comments feel free to post .