Customers can now preorder the Oculus Rift VR headset, which is scheduled to ship in June 2016.
However, the headset requires a powerful PC for it to work with no issues. While there are certain gaming PCs from Dell and Alienware that are already compatible with the headset, there are customers who seem reluctant to purchase VR headset because of compatibility issues.
Luckily, there is now a Rift compatibility tool that potential customers can download and run on their PC in order to find out if their machine meets the requirements.
According to Oculus, the Rift VR headset would work well with PCs that have the following specs: a CPU that is equivalent to an Intel i5-4590 or greater; a video card equivalent to Nvidia GTX 970 or AMD R9 290 or greater; memory that measures up to 8 GB RAM or higher; a compatible HDMI 1.3 video output; four USB ports wherein three would be 3.0 while one would be 2.0; and Windows 7 SP1 64-bit OS or newer.
If the user's PC is found not Rift-ready after running the test, a pop-up window will appear with the following message:
"Your computer does not meet the recommended system specification for Rift. Please check the results below to learn more, or find out more about Rift at oculus.com/rift."
The site also indicates some of the PCs that have been optimized for the Rift VR headset.
"Oculus partnered with top manufacturers of PC systems and components to provide a range of systems that are optimized for Rift," said Oculus. "They've been designed, assembled and tested with Rift in mind, so you can be confident they'll deliver a great VR experience. Oculus Ready PCs will be available starting next year."
Apart from Dell and Alienware, another PC system compatible with the Rift technology is Asus. The company's G11CD and ROG G20CB PCs are both designed to provide gamers with an authentic and immersive virtual reality gaming experience.
Asus Rift-ready PCs start at the price of $949 while both Dell and Alienware offer PCs at a starting price of $999.
