Facebook-owned Oculus has figured out a way to make its Oculus Rift VR Headsets work on lower-end PCs.
During their recent Oculus Connect 3 event last October, the company introduced "Asynchronous Spacewarp" (ASW). Oculus claims ASW allows any VR title to run at 45 Hz that is just as immersive and at par with those running its native 90 Hz.
Using this new development, lower-end machines would be able to deliver VR experience or "power Rift" with a new set of minimum machine specifications, according to their blog. This is in conjunction with their "Asynchronous Timewarp" (ATW) they introduced in March this year.
The Oculus Rift's minimum system requirement to run VR when it was first released this year was high. The requirement just to run VR translates to an expensive entry-level setup even for seasoned gamers who might already have powerful PCs, according to Business Insider.
Oculus collaborated with PC manufacturers to come up with machines that are VR capable of running the Rift properly that are priced up to $1,000. But with this new solution, The Oculus VR Headset may soon be able to run on machines that are even half of the price.
ATW and ASW
ATW and ASW are the two technologies that Oculus will employ that will allow computers to play VR content at 45 frames-per-second, half of that of the recommended frame rate. ATW and ASW in the Oculus Rift VR Headset will "synthetically" fill in the other half for a smooth VR experience.
This, in essence, means the demand on the PC is halved while the Oculus VR Headset fills in the rest. To learn more about these new technologies click here for ATW and click here for ASW.
In partnership with CyberPowerPC, Oculus will offer Oculus Rift ready Pcs for $499. In addition, according to the company, users who already have the Oculus VR can receive ATW and ASW via a normal firmware update, eliminating the need to purchase a new Oculus Rift VR Headset.
For those contemplating on getting Oculus Rift, here are the new specs that can run VR with ATW and ASW on board.
- NVidia 960 or better graphics card
- Intel i3-6100 or an AMD FX4350 CPU
- 8GB or more RAM
- OS: Windows 8 or higher
Does it work? See the video below.
