The main criticism made to the VR on PC, in addition to the lack of compatible games, is that it is very expensive. It must indeed provide the helmet (more than 600 euros regardless of the model) and also the machine to take advantage of it. Machine that, at a minimum, costs more than € 1200 to have good experiences, helmet on the nose.
as a reminder, the recommended configurations and developed at the output of the helmets provided an equipment comprising at least a four-core processor, 8 Gb of ram, and, finally, a graphic card of type GeForce GTX 970 or Radeon R9 380X.
But breaking the bank to play with the Oculus Rift will soon be a thing of the past ! A PC at $ 500 (less than 700 euros ?) would now be sufficient. It is in any case what said yesterday Brendan Iribe, CEO of Oculus, at the OC3, the event organized by Facebook and dedicated to the VR. The trick ? It is to look at the headset itself. Finally, in the firmware of the latter.
After the Timewarp, the Spacewarp to create images fictive
Yesterday, Mr. Iribe announced the introduction of technology “Spacewarp” in the helmet. This technology has the daunting task of creating images of “synthetic” which are inserted at intervals between two “real” images and this, in order to compensate for the hypothetical movements of both body (user) than those induced by the game (shown in the mask) to “relieve” or “help” the graphics card.
In fact, the cpu of the Rift analysis the last two images received from the graphics card and deducted a third, of its design. It is then inserted just before the next two “real” images calculated by the graphics card. In fact, it is no longer required to generate 90 frames per second required, the critical threshold for an optimal experience. It should no longer display “only” 45 images, the helmet takes care of the booster with the Spacewarp. On paper, the techno is impressive and we can’t wait to experience it on the helmet invented by Palmer Luckey.
as a reminder, last march, the developers had already implemented a new technology designed to improve the rendering and help relieve some of the PC located at the other end of the cable. Called “Asynchronous timewarp”, it pre-calculates some of the images in order to reduce the effect of latency that the tremors or vibrations perceived by the user, caused by the well-known phenomenon of players : the “loss of frame per second” (or dropped framerates).
To PC VR affordable in the ranges of the manufacturers ?
So, de facto, invest in a graphics card that is top of the range, such as during the commercialization of the Oculus, is no longer a requirement, since a model mid-range would be largely the case, according to Brendan Iribe. In detail, a PC with a “simple” dual-core processor minimum (Intel Core i3-6100 (2 cores/4 threads) or AMD FX4350 (4 cores/4 threads), 8gb of memory and for the graphics part, NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 960 or an AMD Radeon RX 470 would be enough to run the Rift. Total cost of the operation : less than 700 euros, everything assembled. Enough to allow Acer, HP, MSI, Lenovo, or even Dell to offer PC-stamped VR in their ranges usual and not only in those dedicated to gaming ?
hardware recommendations, which, by extension, should also allow for owners of the Oculus to be able to plug it into their laptop PC dating game for about a year. For other nomadic computers, it is necessary to wait still a little.
The card high-end 3D on the verge of losing one of their horses in battle ?
However, the Oculus Rift and its technology are not likely to facilitate the sale of 3D maps and other machines top of the range. Because if the game in 4K is one of the el dorados of the designers of the GPU, the VR is also. Moreover, during the release of the new Titan X and GeForce GTX 1080 and 1070, Nvidia has been constantly remember that only powerful cards and equipped with technologies dedicated were able to show good VR. The price of the latter (between 500 and 1300 euros) is therefore the height of their potential, both in terms of virtual reality as a display of game-art, at bottom, on a simple screen Full HD or 1440p.
However, the designer of GPU has already launched cards more affordable, with the GTX 1060 6 Gb and a version that is still cheapest, at about 3 Gb. In addition, a GeForce GTX 1050 is expected to arrive in the coming weeks and establish himself as the successor of the GTX 960. While having more power under the fan and low power consumption.
It only remains to hope that its price positioning will allow him to come find her place in a PC with less than 800 euros, to finally make VR accessible and, at the same time, allow Nvidia to make its standard-bearer of the “VR for everyone”.
on The side of AMD, there is still no new chips Radeon in the laptop… but it will not be long. In the towers, on the other hand, the Radeon RX 470 and RX 480 out recently can perfectly align in front of a GTX 960. The first should largely enjoy the Spacewarp, the second a little less but will not be able to pass. Finally, AMD has not yet deployed all its arsenal, and it’s a safe bet that the designer of chips for 3D takes a new argument to appeal to the builders if adventure the upcoming Radeon RX were struggling to compete with the GTX in terms of raw performance.
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