Build a Oculus Ready Gaming PC to Dominate in 2016

This year is going to go down in history as the year VR launched and made its first real impact on gaming and consumer electronics. Make sure you’re there at the start of the revolution by building an Oculus Ready gaming PC ready to dominate virtual reality gaming.

If you’re a gamer, tech fan, hardware enthusiast or are completely new to computer building, 2016 will be seen by your descendants as a golden time to be alive.

Now is the perfect time to get onboard the VR-tech train as hardware manufacturers fall over themselves to get you interested in their new hardware.

I’m here to help you cut through the VR hype and to provide you with clear advice on building a gaming PC that’s ready to take on virtual reality.

I’ve already featured a guide to building an Oculus ready gaming PC , and 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.

Build lists

Things to consider

As PC games get better and better and the hardware to run them advances at an ever quicker rate you may be tempted to buy a pre-built gaming system.

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

you’ll save a bundle of money

you can customize it to include exactly what you want

you avoid the ‘bloatware’ that comes bundled with pre-built systems and clogs up gaming performance

It’s Easy

When available, VR-headsets such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive will mean PC builders have another hardware component to consider.

Until then though let’s work with the components widely available now.

The good news is it’s a buyer’s market with a massive range of components available to builders and building a gaming PC is easier than many people realize.

If you can put together a Lego kit you can build a computer, seriously it’s that easy.

If you’re struggling take a look at my video guides. They’re deliberately short and show you everything from installing a CPU fan, to connecting a power supply unit.

Below I set out four VR-ready PC builds that you can put together NOW, to make sure you’re ahead of the curve. Read on for more information…

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.

Oculus Ready PC Builds

With Oculus announcing the Rift will be available from March the time is ripe to build a VR-ready PC.

It’s also worth noting HTC’s own entry into the VR market the Vive is expected to be available in April this year.

To help save you time and to bypass the often long-winded process of researching components I’ve put together four different builds at a variety of price points – $1,000, $1,500, $1,750, $2,000.

Let’s be clear – these are all high end VR-Ready Gaming PCs, even the $1,000 system will allow you to max out most games.

As you move towards the higher priced builds what you are buying is increased 4K performance and an ability to play games the way they were made to be played for the foreseeable future.

Browse below and as soon as you’re happy with a system you like you can start to focus on the important stuff – the games you want to play once the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive launch.

I should state up front that the prices of components that make up the builds below are subject to daily fluctuations, so please be sure to check back if you’re unsure of prices.

Also, these lists are for the ‘PC’ part of the system only and do 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.

What’s Your Budget?

Click the buttons below to go to the pre-made build lists:

$1,000 OCULUS READY GAMING PC

Overview

I’ve previously blogged about an Oculus ready gaming PC system that you can put together for a shade under $900.

This build gives us a little more room and I’ve put that extra cash into a slightly faster graphics card, opting for a GTX 970 over a AMD R9 290.

This card will allow us to comfortably game at screen resolutions of 2560×1440, and at a push will even allow you to game at 4K resolutions, although frame rates and gaming experience will not be as good.

The GTX 970 maintains a constant 60 frames per second in most games at 2560×1440 resolutions.

If you have a G-Sync monitor you can also expect to easily achieve buttery-smooth frame rates of 100 frames per second.

The parts

CPU Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor BUY NOW

GRAPHICS CARD Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card BUY NOW

MOTHERBOARD ASRock Z170M Pro4S Micro ATX BUY NOW

MEMORY G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB BUY NOW

HARD DRIVE 1 Seagate 1TB BUY NOW

HARD DRIVE 2 (SSD) Samsung 250GB BUY NOW

CASE Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) BUY NOW

POWER SUPPLY UNIT Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified BUY NOW

Total Cost: $993.00

(Please note prices are subject to daily fluctuations)

$1,500 OCULUS READY GAMING PC

Overview

The extra $500 spent on this build gets you a number of important upgrades.

Firstly, you benefit 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 in this way I’ve included an aftermarket cooler from Noctua.

The $1,500 system also features a more 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 cheaper price point.

The faster 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.

The parts

CPU Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor BUY NOW

CPU COOLER Noctua CPU Cooling Fan BUY NOW

GRAPHICS CARD Sapphire Radeon R9 Fury 4GB Video Card BUY NOW

MOTHERBOARD Asus MAXIMUS VIII HERO BUY NOW

MEMORY Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB BUY NOW

HARD DRIVE 1 Seagate 1TB BUY NOW

HARD DRIVE 2 (SSD) Samsung 250GB BUY NOW

CASE NZXT S340 ATX Mid Tower Case BUY NOW

POWER SUPPLY UNIT EVGA SuperNOVA 650W 80+ Gold Certified BUY NOW

Total Cost: $1423.00

(Please note prices are subject to daily fluctuations)

$1,750 OCULUS READY GAMING PC

Overview

The $1,750 goes a little further than the $1,500 system with the extra money helping to fund the inclusion of Nvidia’s flagship graphics card – and arguably the best graphics card available on the market today – the GTX 980Ti.

This card paired with the performance of the top of the range 6700K Skylake CPU means 4K gaming is a reality.

This system will easily be able to handle the demands that the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive throw at it.

For the $17,50 system I’ve opted to include an all-in-one liquid CPU cooler.

Not only does this provide much better cooling performance than fan-based or ‘air’ coolers, it means your system will run whisper quiet ensuring that your virtual reality experience is not interrupted by noisy fans.

The parts

CPU Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core BUY NOW

CPU COOLER Corsair H60 Liquid CPU Cooler BUY NOW

GRAPHICS CARD EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB BUY NOW

MOTHERBOARD Asus MAXIMUS VIII HERO BUY NOW

MEMORY G.Skill TridentZ Series 16GB BUY NOW

HARD DRIVE 1 Seagate 1TB BUY NOW

HARD DRIVE 2 (SSD) Samsung 250GB BUY NOW

CASE NZXT H440 ATX Mid Tower Case BUY NOW

POWER SUPPLY UNIT EVGA SuperNOVA 650W 80+ Gold Certified BUY NOW

Total Cost: $1750.00

(Please note prices are subject to daily fluctuations)

$2,000 OCULUS READY GAMING PC

Overview

So you’re opting for the top-of-the-range system? Awesome! If you have the money to spend you obviously want the best parts available.

This system delivers. In place of the 16GB or RAM offered in the earlier systems the $2,000 system features 32GB of fast DDR4 RAM.

On top of that you get an even better liquid cooler that features a 280mm radiator and enough power to keep your games exceptionally quiet no matter how intense the gaming gets.

This Oculus ready gaming PC will eat games at 2560×1440 resolutions and will dominate at 4K resolutions too, providing exceptionally fast and smooth performance at the latest games’ highest detail settings.

The parts

CPU Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor BUY NOW

CPU COOLER Corsair H110 Liquid CPU Cooler BUY NOW

GRAPHICS CARD EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB BUY NOW

MOTHERBOARD Asus Z170-DELUXE Motherboard BUY NOW

MEMORY G.Skill TridentZ Series 16GB BUY NOW

HARD DRIVE 1 Seagate 1TB BUY NOW

HARD DRIVE 2 (SSD) OCZ ARC 100 480GB BUY NOW

CASE NZXT H440 ATX Mid Tower Case BUY NOW

POWER SUPPLY UNIT Corsair RM 750W 80+ Gold Certified BUY NOW

Total Cost: $1995.00

(Please note prices are subject to daily fluctuations)

Have You Built One Yet?

Have you managed to put together your own Oculus Ready 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 any of these builds, 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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