On the 28th of June 2019, Valve Corporation released its own VR headset, called Valve Index. When choosing the right gaming desktop PC for Valve Index, there are a few specs to take into consideration. To spare you some time searching, I compiled a list of the best Gaming Desktop PCs for your VR headset.
Being able to run VR games flawlessly without any graphical stuttering and lagging, the gaming PC must at least meet the recommended system requirement.
Why recommended and not minimum? Well, minimum requirements are based on what developers define that games are playable at the lowest graphic settings values. Whereas the recommended requirements are what is needed in order to run a game with decent graphical settings.
ENTRY LEVEL
1. Skytech Archangel
MID-RANGE
2. CyberpowerPC Gamer Master
ENTHUSIAST
3. CyberpowerPC Gamer Supreme
HIGH-END
4. iBUYPOWER Pro Gaming
ENTRY LEVEL
1. Skytech Archangel
MID-RANGE
2. CyberpowerPC Gamer Master
ENTHUSIAST
3. CyberpowerPC Gamer Supreme
HIGH-END
4. iBUYPOWER Pro Gaming
Last update on 2023-09-29.
Valve Index System Requirements
Minimum
- PROCESSOR: Dual Core with Hyper-Threading
- GRAPHICS: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970, AMD RX480
- MEMORY: 8 GB RAM
- VIDEO OUTPUT: Available DisplayPort (Version 1.2)
- USB: 1x USB (2.0+) Port
Recommended
- PROCESSOR: Quad Core +
- GRAPHICS: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 or better
- MEMORY: 8 GB RAM
- VIDEO OUTPUT: Available DisplayPort (Version 1.2)
- USB: 1x USB (3.0+) Port (for Headset Pass-Through Camera)
Source: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4061-QUZB-4602
What computer parts are the most important for running the Valve Index and VR games smoothly?
Graphics Card
A graphics card (or GPU, short of “Graphics Processing Unit”) is undoubtedly one of the most important hardware parts of a gaming PC. It handles all the processing and rendering of what you see on the display and directly affects the quality of the textures, anti-aliasing, frame rate, and such…
The more powerful it is, the more smoothly and realistically the game runs.
CPU
A processor or CPU (short for “Central Processing Unit”) also significantly impacts the overall gaming performance. It handles all the gameplay, instructions, loading different assets of the game, etc.
It basically calculates all the logic behind the scene.
Memory
Computer memory or RAM (short for “Random Access Memory”) stores all the short-term bits of information that are being accessed and used by the CPU constantly. It is a kind of temporary storage for all the calculated results coming from the CPU.
The more RAM you have the more information the processor can store in it simultaneously.
Storage
This is a piece of computer hardware that contains all the data that the PC can access and operate with. It includes everything, from the operating system to the games installed.
The most common consumer class types of SDDs are SATA SSD or NVMe. Although using different bus interfaces and having different connections, the main difference between them is read/write speed. Here’s a little speed comparison about average read/write speed of all the disk drives types mentioned:
-
- SATA 3 – up to 550MB/second
- NVMe – up to 3500MB/second
Traditional HDDs can be used for secondary storage drive only. They are just obsolete.
What is the best VR gaming desktop PC for Valve Index?
There are two main factors for the gaming PC being suitable for Valve Index.
First is no brainer, meeting the recommended system requirements. As mentioned, if you want to enjoy VR games as they are meant to, never go for the minimum.
And the other is connectivity. A computer must have the right ports to hook up the VR headset to.
Meeting the Recommended System Requirements
The main part of the VR ready PC to be able to run VR content on Valve Index is a graphics card or GPU. The recommended one is NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070.
Although this is recommended by Valve Corporation itself, I noticed quite a different recommended specs for different VR games on the Steam platform.
For example, the popular game Beat Saber, the recommended GPU is GTX 1060. On the other hand Fallout 4 VR, requires an Nvidia GTX 1080. So this is really game-specific. That’s why this list of PCs contains models having GPUs from GTX 1660 Ti up to RTX 2080 Ti.
For the CPU, I find it a bit amusing as all they say is “Quad Core +”. I guess a CPU back from 2006 (let’s say Core 2 Extreme QX6700) wouldn’t do any good. 🙂
Anyway, all the desktop computers listed here have more than enough powerful CPU to run Valve Index with ease.
Connectivity
Valve Index requires only one USB 3.0 and a DisplayPort 1.2.
A compiled list of desktop gaming VR PCs, being able to run Valve Index
ENTRY LEVEL
Key Components: CPU: i5-9400F, i7-9700F or Ryzen 5 3600 GPU: GTX 1660 Ti or Radeon RX 590 RAM: at least 16GB STORAGE: NVMe or SATA SSD
Gets you up and running with decent components.
Skytech Archangel Gaming Computer
Last update on 2023-09-29.
Technical Details:
| Ryzen 5 3600 | |
| GTX 1660 SUPER | |
| 16GB DDR4 | |
| 512GB SSD |
MID-RANGE
Key Components: CPU: i7-9700K, i9-9900K or Ryzen 7 3700X GPU: RTX 2060 Super or Radeon RX 5700 XT RAM: at least 16GB STORAGE: SATA or NVMe SSD
The best price/performance components.
CyberpowerPC Gamer Master
Last update on 2023-09-29.
Technical Details:
| Ryzen 7 3700X | |
| RTX 2060 SUPER | |
| 16GB DDR4 | |
| 240GB SSD + 2TB HDD |
ENTHUSIAST
Key Components: CPU: i9-9700K, i9-9900K or Ryzen 7 3700X GPU: RTX 2070 Super or Radeon RX 5700 XT RAM: at least 16GB STORAGE: SATA or NVMe SSD
High-end components, focus on price/performance factor.
CyberpowerPC Gamer Supreme
Last update on 2023-09-29.
Technical Details:
| i7-9700K | |
| RTX 2070 SUPER | |
| 16GB DDR4 | |
| 1TB PCI-E NVMe SSD |
Gameplay Example:
Playing DiRT Rally 2.0 VR on RTX 2080 Super looks amazing.
HIGH-END
Key Components: CPU: i7-9900K or Ryzen 9 3900X GPU: RTX 2080 SUPER RAM: at least 32GB STORAGE: SATA or NVMe SSD
High-end components for a maximum performance.
iBUYPOWER Pro Gaming
Last update on 2023-09-29.
Technical Details:
| Ryzen 9 3900X | |
| RTX 2080 SUPER | |
| 32GB DDR4 |
|
| 1TB SSD Drive |
ULTRA
Key Components: CPU: Ryzen 9 3900XT or Ryzen 9 3950X GPU: RTX 2080 Ti (or 2x) RAM: 64GB+ STORAGE: NVMe SSD
Core components the fastest available, possibly fancy RGB lightning, water cooling, and all that jazz.
CUK Mantis Gaming PC
No products found.
Technical Details:
| Ryzen 9 3900XT | |
| RTX 2080 Ti | |
| 64GB DDR4 |
|
| 1TB NVMe SSD + 2TB HDD |
Conclusion
How the VR Ready gaming PC will perform it depends also on the game itself. It’s not always hardware’s fault for stuttering, sometimes the lazy developers thinking they can powerhouse a PC game. There are games that even an i9 processor with RTX 2080 Ti cant hold stable 120 fps.
The game industry as a whole needs to step back and learn how to optimize VR games properly. Anyway, if you go for the RECOMMENDED one, you will be able to enjoy most VR games. But if you can afford, by all means, go for HIGH-END or even ULTRA. This way you are sure you are going to be able to play many VR games that are yet to come in the following years.
I wish you plenty of fun in the VR world.
Have fun, take care!
Do these really work if so you just helped me out so much
Most definitely do. Your’re welcome. 🙂