Tag Archives: CV1

Building the Rift PC

December 20, 2015 octopusrift Leave a comment

If you were waiting months and months to build a Rift PC now is the time to start ordering parts. CV1 is officially on the horizon! Oculus has released the official recommended specs for the PC hardware to power the Rift. This is a smart move as it standardizes the experience for developers and end users.

Surprisingly my generic VR PC build was very close to the recommended specs. This build will focus on the recommended Oculus requirements and provide you with the exact parts you need. The goal was to build a capable PC with quality components that would meet the specs without greatly exceeding them. I also made some decisions in order to make future expansion or upgrades easier.

The big question for most people will be, “What specific components are best for the Rift?” It can be hard to mix and match parts to find the right combination. Here is what I would recommend:

Processor – Intel Core i5-4590K – Haswell processor from Intel, will offer excellent performance for the cost. Also consider the Intel Core i5-4690K which slightly exceeds the recommended spec. Note that this includes its own cooler and fan, nothing else is required here!

Graphics Card – EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB GDDR5 – Good performance for the price, EVGA makes a great card. It’s great that Oculus set a fixed GPU bar for the Rift, just keep in mind that one day this may need to get replaced.

Motherboard – MSI ATX DDR3 2400 LGA 1150 – supports Z97, modern and inexpensive. (2) USB 3.0 ports for the Rift. This is a great foundation for a new PC and will support upgrades over the life of the PC. Great BIOS screen for easy setup.

Memory – Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB 1600MHz 240-pin DDR3 – A single stick of 8GB will leave room for expansion. I would recommend two sticks right off the bat for 16GB but this is an easy upgrade in the future.

Storage – Samsung SSD 840 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III – Solid state drive for the OS. Also consider a 3.5 SATA disk for game storage. I’ve had bad experience in the past with SSDs so I prefer to stick with a brand name.

Case – Corsair Carbide Series 200R – Nice clean case that is solid and inexpensive. Beautiful with plenty of quiet cooling.

Power Supply – Rosewill 80 PLUS BRONZE 550 – Decent power supply to support future upgrades

OS – Windows 7 64-bit OEM – The old standard here, I prefer it over Windows 8

The Rift – Oculus Rift – Available directly from Amazon

This should be everything you need to put together the perfect Rift PC with upgrade potential. Budget versions of this are possible but this PC is a quality build for the Rift. I included Amazon links for everything and recommend them for their Prime shipping and ease of exchanges.

Here is the complete list with totals:

Component	Link	Price
Processor	Intel Core i5-4590K	$199
Graphics Card	PNY NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB GDDR5	$320
Motherboard	MSI ATX DDR3 2400 LGA 1150	$85
Memory	Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB 240-pin DDR3	$104
Storage	Samsung SSD 840 EVO 250GB 2.5-Inch	$78
Case	Corsair Carbide Series 200R	$66
Power Supply	Rosewill 80 PLUS BRONZE 550	$70
OS	Windows 7 64-bit OEM	$135
Total		$1057

Never built a PC before? It’s easier than you think – everything snaps together. I recommend the step-by-step guide at Tom’s Hardware.

Projects

Building a Budget Rift PC

November 5, 2015 octopusrift Leave a comment

As the release of the Rift draws closer I thought it would be a good idea to put together a budget Rift build. There is a lot talk online about the steep price to buy into VR since many people will need to purchase a new PC in addition to the Rift headset. Oculus has published a set of official recommended specs as a guide map for any PC build but the question still remains:

“What is the cheapest PC I can build for the Rift?”

I thought it would be possible to build an Oculus PC under $1000 and cheaper than a premade “Oculus Ready” PC. It can be hard to mix and match parts to find the right combination. but here is what I would recommend:

Component	Link	Price
Processor	Intel Core i5-4590K	$199
Graphics Card	EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB GDDR5	$335
Motherboard	MSI ATX DDR3 2400 LGA 1150	$95
Memory	Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB Kit	$38
Storage	ADATA SP600 2.5-Inch 64 GB SATA III	$35
Case	Rosewill ATX Galaxy Case	$48
Power Supply	EVGA 500W	$35
Total		$785

This covers the bare minimum for the PC but you may need some additional items if you don’t already have them:

Component	Link	Price
OS	Windows 10 Home – USB Drive	$120
Monitor	Acer S220HQL Abd 21.5-Inch LCD	$100
Keyboard and Mouse	LED CM Storm Devastator	$30
Total		$250

My previous Rift PC Build slightly exceeded the recommenced specs by using a few higher end components and was built to support some future upgrades. I wanted to shoot for the lowest price components to deliver the most inexpensive Rift build possible.

The selection process was straightforward since Oculus’s recommended specs already have the CPU and graphics card already selected – I only needed to find the supporting components.

Two key decisions I made were eliminating an optical drive to save money and the inclusion of a SSD over a regular hard drive for performance reasons. Physical media is almost dead and if you’re building a new PC you should have a SSD otherwise you’re selling yourself short.

Here are the components and a few details about the selection process.

Processor – Intel Core i5-4590K – This is the minimum Oculus recommended processor so no options here. It’s a Haswell processor from Intel, will offer excellent performance for the cost. Note that this includes its own cooler, fan, and thermal paste – nothing else is required here!

Graphics Card – EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB GDDR5 – This is the minimum recommended chip set from Oculus and the most inexpensive card that has it. Great performance for the price and EVGA is a quality manufacturer.

Motherboard – MSI ATX DDR3 2400 LGA 1150 – supports Z97, modern and inexpensive. (2) USB 3.0 ports for the Rift. This is a great foundation for a new PC and has an awesome BIOS screen for easy setup.

Memory – Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB Kit – Two sticks of 4GB RAM to meet the minimum requirements. Nothing special here but it does look cool!

Storage – ADATA SP600 2.5-Inch 64 GB SATA III – Solid state drive for the OS. It’s on the small side at 64 GB but it will make the entire system snappy. Consider a 3.5 SATA expansion disk for game storage.

Case – Rosewill ATX Galaxy Case – Nice inexpensive case with plenty of room inside. I don’t think this is winning any style awards but it fits the bill and Rosewill makes quality products.

Power Supply – EVGA 500W – Inexpensive but well made power supply, plenty of juice to go around.

OS – Windows 10 Home – USB Drive – The new standard here, shipped on a USB drive for easy installation.

Monitor – Acer S220HQL Abd 21.5-Inch LCD – Inexpensive LED monitor that’s great for gaming for when you’re not wearing the Rift.

Keyboard and Mouse – LED CM Storm Devastator – A nice combo to go with this PC, the back lit keyboard is a nice touch

This should be everything you need to put together an inexpensive Rift PC. I included Amazon links for everything as they have competitive prices and I recommend them for their Prime shipping and ease of exchanges.

Never built a PC before? It’s easier than you think – everything snaps together. I recommend the step-by-step guide at Tom’s Hardware.

Projects

Building a PC for GTA V

January 4, 2015 octopusrift Leave a comment

GTA V has been one of my favorite games of the last and now current generation of consoles. A PC port is on the way and it will benefit from higher horsepower machines and a lively modding scene.

Rockstar introduced a first person mode to the game when it made the leap to current generation consoles. The mode begs for Oculus support and we’ll see it one way or another soon after the game’s release. The open world of Los Santos is gorgeous and ripe for exploration with the current DK2 or the CV1. Consider future support by the popular iCEnhancer mod and you’ll have a near photo real gaming experience.

The ~~rumored~~ recommended hardware requirements are as follows:

CPU – Intel Core i5 3470 @ 3.2GHZ or AMD X8 FX-8350 @ 4GHZ
GPU – NVIDIA GTX 660 2GB / AMD HD7870 2GB
RAM – 8GB

The game will be an absolute monster, especially if it requires a +75 fps frame rate for Rift support. These requirements are nothing more than a starting point. We’re going to need a beast of a machine for a comfortable Rift experience.

Here’s what I would recommend:

Processor – Intel Core i7-4790K – New Haswell processor from Intel, will offer excellent performance for the cost. You can overclock it too but performance will be fine right out of the box.

Motherboard – MSI Z97-G45 – supports the Z97 chipset, modern and flexible for different builds. This is a solid foundation for the system.

Graphics Card – EVGA GTX 970 Superclocked 4GB – Not exactly cheap but this card delivers excellent performance for the price. Don’t skimp here. I’m actually tempted to recommend a beefier card here but prices get out of hand pretty quickly.

Memory – Crucial 8GB 240-pin DDR3 – I’m recommending two 8GB sticks.

Storage – Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB – Solid state drive for the OS. I’ve had bad experience in the past with SSDs so I prefer to stick with a brand name.

Case – Corsair Carbide Series 400R – Nice clean case that’s easy to work on with plenty of cooling.

Power Supply – Rosewill 80 PLUS BRONZE 650W – Very nice power supply to run the system and support future upgrades if necessary.

OS – Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit – Everyone’s favorite Windows OS, I still prefer it over Windows 8.

This should be everything you need to put together a solid gaming PC that can tackle GTA V. The system is built with upgrade potential so with carefully selected upgrades (namely the GPU) this rig can keep you current for the next few years. Total cost is around $1400 which is downright reasonable for a new gaming rig built from the ground up.

Analysis

The Road to 4K

July 6, 2014 octopusrift

The Rift will eventually benefit from a 4K resolution which will have a tremendous impact on its clarity for gaming and other computer tasks. It may start to be taken seriously as a replacement for traditional computer monitors as John Carmack has claimed. The 4K improvement for draw distance clarity and the text readability can be seen with the previously discussed Oculus Simulator. It’s like night and day.

Oculus has been vague about the actual resolution of CV1 although they say it will exceed 1080p. Achieving 4K in an eventual consumer unit has two current obstacles.

The first obstacle is the availability of small form factor 4K OLED panels. They may theoretically exist but they are produced in extremely low volumes and are expensive. Price would certainly drop as production ramped up to meet a wide demand for interested cellphone or tablet manufacturers. Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus may give them the cash and buying power they need to design their own custom panel and buy in enough volume to make the manufacture of a panel inexpensive.

The second obstacle will be the limits of current computer hardware. Rendering 3D scenes at a 4K resolution and the high frame rate required by the Rift is extremely taxing (if possible) on current PC hardware. Gaming has recently adhered to a 1080p 60fps standard waiting to the cost of 4K equipment to fall. While a $2500 “low cost” 4K build may be possible, it will be many months before a rig of that caliber is affordable to many consumers, and at that point it may not even meet the required frame rate to support the Rift.

Analysis

Limitations of the Oculus Rift

July 4, 2014 octopusrift

Over the last few months I’ve heard nothing but praise sung for the Oculus Rift. More recently while I have ramped up my research I’ve found the most common complaint regarding the Oculus is the limited “draw distance” due to the low resolution of the display. Anything in VR that is of a great distance from the viewer will be a challenge to display with the current Oculus technology, including DK2 and CV1.

The issue isn’t actually draw distance in a traditional sense. Your PC is theoretically able to draw an object at any distance whether it be two feet or two miles. The challenge is displaying that object on a screen at a given resolution. The clear lines your PC sees must be broken up and represented by individual pixels. The more pixels, the more clarity for displaying your object.

I lack the knowledge and effort to really give this explanation justice but the Oculus struggles with “draw distance” because it is forced to use half of the normal screen real estate to display an image. A normal image displayed on a monitor will take up the entire screen. To display a stereoscopic image you need two slightly different copies of that same image, one for each eye. That’s fine if you can display those stereoscopic images individually on separate monitors. But if you want to display those images side by side on one screen (like the Oculus does) then you need to squeeze each image to fit both of them on screen. All of a sudden you’re using half a screen to display a full screen image and your using less pixels per eye.

With fewer pixels objects lose clarity. This is especially true for objects that are farther away from the viewer. An object that is displayed with clarity and definition in a full screen image may be reduced to a smudge of pixels in VR. Anything of great distance from the viewer will be a challenge to display in VR.

This problem can be explained and understood much better than I could ever articulate with an interactive visual demo. Luckily I was able to find one:

The Oculus Rift Simulator

To see the resolution and draw distance limitation issue illustrated, focus at a point on the map and switch between the available resolutions. Notice how much of an impact this has on text. We should be happy that everything from here on out will be an improvement on DK1. DK2 and CV1 look comparable. 4K is obviously where this technology is headed but will be further down the road. Available 4K displays need to drop in price and rendering smoothly at 4K will massively tax current PC hardware.

Note that I’ve read complaints about the above simulator regarding the fact that it doesn’t accurately represent the pentile pixel arrangement of future displays. This is a minor quibble with a great demo.

OCTOPUS RIFT