Without changing the internal hardware, Oculus has made a breakthrough allowing to Rift headset to run on lower PC specs. While the previous requirements called for a beast of a computer to run, now the VR platform will run on computers equipped with a Nvidia 960 or greater and an intel i3-6100 (or AMD FX4350) or greater, all thanks to something called “asynchronous spacewarp.”
Speaking at Oculus Connect 3 (via Ars Technica) Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe described the new API software. Asynchronous spacewarp allows the system to analyze the past frames of information from a game, and generate a new, “synthetic frame.”
What this means is that while VR generally calls for 90fps for the optimal experience, a game can run at 45fps internally. The headset itself will still output at 90fps, synthetically generating every other frame. While Iride clarifies the spacewarp is “no replacement for native 90 hz rendering,” it is a way for gamers to still have an enjoyable, stable VR experience without needing a computer that is quite as strong.
With the more affordable PSVR launching next week, and able to run on a $299 PS4, even slightly lower required specs for the Oculus Rift could go a very long way.