VR specs

[DanPage]

I was wanting to know if the recommended specification on the HTC Vive website for a PC to run it is overkill, or will a less powerful PC be able to run VR with no problems?

This is the recomended parts as listed on the HTC Vive website:

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 970 / AMD Radeon™ R9 290 equivalent or greater
CPU: Intel i5-4590 / AMD FX 8350 equivalent or greater   
RAM: 4GB+
Video Output: HDMI 1.4 or DisplayPort 1.2 or newer
USB Port: 1x USB 2.0 or greater port
Operating System: Windows 7 SP1 or newer

[Guest]

it will run with less powerful hardware, just don't expect the smoothest experience

[DioOmicida]

I haven't used a VR headset but I would assume those recommended specs are pretty accurate.
Anything less then that and you'll probably have a bad time.
How about instead of dropping $800 on a VR headset, you put $800 into your PC? 

[tahmidkhan123]

those specs are necessary to utilize the headset properly. Anything else will stutter and drop frames. This is especially troubling with vr headsets as it can disorientate you. Go with the recommended specs to ensure smooth gameplay. 

[BrightCandle]

Don't go for less. Stuttering in VR does you sick and that 90 fps is not a nice ideal its absolutely necessary, a single frame drop even occasionally is enough to have you hurling chunks in 30 minutes.

[bgibbz]

39 minutes ago, DanPage said:

I was wanting to know if the recommended specification on the HTC Vive website for a PC to run it is overkill, or will a less powerful PC be able to run VR with no problems?

This is the recomended parts as listed on the HTC Vive website:

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 970 / AMD Radeon™ R9 290 equivalent or greater
CPU: Intel i5-4590 / AMD FX 8350 equivalent or greater   
RAM: 4GB+
Video Output: HDMI 1.4 or DisplayPort 1.2 or newer
USB Port: 1x USB 2.0 or greater port
Operating System: Windows 7 SP1 or newer

i would say that those specs are suffienct to run some less demanding VR titles. I have a 970 and a 6700k and i scored well withen the "ready" margin on the steam VR test. I havent tried any actual games as i dont have a headset, but i would bet it would at least run, but probably with alot of the eye candy disabled.

[Dash Lambda]

I'd say a 970 would still have 'problems' with VR, unless you're just using it for really simple games. If you don't want to worry about how your PC handles VR, you have to get a bit more.

 

What hardware are you comparing against?