Get into VR Gaming with this $1,500 System

The Oculus Rift launched to rapturous applause and celebration from gamers and PC hardware fans. It represents the culmination of years of work and will turn the world of gaming on its head. This guide walks you through the kit needed to build a $1,500 VR gaming PC.

The good news is that there’s never been a better time to build your own gaming PC that can handle the Oculus Rift – and when it’s released the HTC Vive.

If you’ve never built a gaming PC before don’t stress – it’s easy.

If you can put together a simple Lego kit and know how to follow instructions you’re well on your way to becoming an established builder of gaming PCs, which you can wow your friends with and use to dominate PC and VR gaming.

This guide aims to help you build a $1,500 VR gaming PC, once you’ve had a look at the components head over to the main building a gaming PC guide page to look at how you can put everything together, and check out the step-by-step videos too.

Benefits of Building Over Buying

As PC games get better and better and the hardware to run them advances you may be tempted to buy a pre-built VR-Ready gaming system.

STOP! Don’t do it. There’s a range of benefits to building your own PC:

you’ll save a tonne of money

you can customize it exactly as you want

you avoid ‘bloatware’ that comes as standard with pre-built systems and clogs up performance

As I said above, if you can put together a Lego kit you can build a computer, seriously it’s that easy.

The good news is that the requirements to handle the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are not that high.

PC Requirements

So what are the requirements for a VR-capable gaming PC?

Oculus and HTC have issued recommended specifications to enjoy their VR-headsets.

The minimum Intel CPU is an i5-4590, while AMD suggest a minimum of an eight-core FX-8350.

Memory demands for the VR-headsets are slightly different. Oculus recommends a minimum of 8GB of RAM, while HTC says the Vive will run on 4GB of RAM.

Both Oculus and HTC recommend a minimum of a Nvidia GTX 970, or a AMD R9 290 graphics card.

The Oculus Rift requires two USB 3.0 ports and one HDMI 1.3 video port, while the Vive needs a USB 2.0 (or greater) port, and a HDMI 1.4 or DisplayPort 1.2 port.

Oculus and HTC both say the operating system for your VR-ready PC should be Windows 7 SP1 or later.

If you meets these requirements you shouldn’t have any problems enjoying virtual reality gaming.

As I said above, if you’ve never built a computer before, don’t worry I’ve got you covered, check out my comprehensive and step-by-step guide.

$1,500 VR Gaming PC Build

To save time I’ve researched and pulled together a $1,500 VR gaming PC build.

This is a system that will allow you to max out most games even before you throw a VR headset into the mix.

I should state up front the prices of components that make up the build do go up, so please be sure to check back regularly if you’re unsure of prices.

Please Note

This list is for the ‘PC’ part of the system and does not include a keyboard, mouse or monitor .

For recommendations on individual components please check out my blog , it’s updated regularly with reviews of hardware and gaming components.

If you do have any questions let me know in the comments section below or tweet me here.

$1,500 VR Gaming PC – Build Overview

This system benefits from an unlocked Skylake processor – the 6600K.

This means should you feel the need you can tweak the CPU’s clock frequency – it’s speed – to make it run even faster.

To help cool the processor – if you opt to overclock it – I’ve included an aftermarket cooler from Noctua.

The $1,500 VR gaming PC also features a very powerful video card.

The AMD R9 Fury is one of the latest cards available from AMD and offers performance that is almost on a par with Nvidia’s flagship GTX 980Ti card at a MUCH cheaper price point.

The fast video card and processor mean this card will handle anything at screen resolutions of 2560×1440, and will comfortably hold its own in 4K performance too.

So, Have You Built One Yet?

Have you managed to put together your own $1,500 VR gaming PC? Got any questions on building one? Let me know in the comments or tweet me here.

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Further Reading

If you’re interested in other PC systems please check out my other guides, or for the latest news and reviews head to the blog.

If you have any questions about this $1,500 VR gaming PC, or would like recommendations on other components or hardware you could use, drop me a line on Twitter, send me a picture on Instagram, or join my community on Facebook.





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