Oculus Rift headsets now work on lower-end PCs

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It's now easier and, crucially, cheaper to get into VR.

The recent coming of virtual reality is exciting - particularly against the misfiring false promises of the '90s—but it's not exactly cheap. Until now, the costly tech has required a powerful and therefore expensive PC to make it work, which is something Oculus hopes to change with something called 'Asynchronous Spacewarp.'

Besides sounding like something Back to the Future's Doc Brown might discuss while downing sarsaparilla in the old west, Asynchronous Spacewarp (ASW) is a new technology which lowers the threshold for the Rift's compatibility. Whereas previous requirements cited setups capable of running games at 90 frames per second, ASW enables a similarly smooth performance via machines capable of just 45 frames per second. 

"The hardware requirements for ASW are modest," explains Oculus via an update post. "This functionality has been enabled on all current-generation AMD GPUs (RX 400 series) and previous—or current-generation Nvidia GPUs (GTX 900 or 1000 series)." 

The Rift company goes on to note that developers should still strive to optimise their games for smooth 90 fps play, and that players should aim for its recommended specs in any event. The Oculus post goes into much greater detail with regards to ASW's functionality and should be read in its entirety here.

Thanks, TechRadar. 

Joe Donnelly
Deputy Editor, PC Gaming Show