Standalone VR has its charm, but there are some epic games available in the PCVR world with amazing graphics and game mechanics. The first requirement is having a VR-capable computer. Well, not really, if you’d rather pay a monthly fee, there’s Shadow Cloud Computing, and coming soon is PlutoSphere.
While some computers may advertise a computer as VR-ready, the clearest way to know the requirements is just to look at this article: Oculus Link Compatibility
The graphics card is the main piece of the puzzle. If you have the right graphics card, you probably don’t need to worry about the rest, as the other requirements are pretty meager.
| Component | Recommended Specs |
| Processor | Intel i5-4590 / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X or greater |
| Graphics Card | See GPU tables below |
| Memory | 8 GB+ RAM |
| Operating System | Windows 10 |
| USB Ports | 1x USB port |
While the lowest-end card on the list that’s compatible is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970, there are better cards that aren’t compatible. It’s a bit bizarre which cards are compatible and which aren’t. If you’re buying new, though, If you get an RTX2 or RTX3 series, you won’t be disappointed.
I have an ASUS ROG Strix G15 2020 edition with an i7-10750H, 16GB DDR4 RAM, and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070, and I can play Half-Life Alyx with no issues.
The Interface
While you can buy a $50-70 link cable, playing PCVR wirelessly is so much more enjoyable. There are a couple of options – Airlink and Virtual Desktop.
Airlink is free, but it’s still in beta, and you have to reactivate it inside the headset every day you use it. When it was first released, it performed better than Virtual Desktop, and I’ve heard from some users who claim it still performs better, but for me, Virtual Desktop has much better performance.
Virtual Desktop on Oculus Quest 2 | Oculus
There is a streamer software that you’ll need to install on your computer as well as an app to launch within the headset. Once connected, you’ll be able to launch games. Sometimes you’ll need to go into Steam VR to launch the games first, but some games will show up in the Games section for easier access.
Performance
This is where it gets tricky again. Virtual Desktop does a great job of compressing the data to go over WiFi, but this still requires a lot of bandwidth, and latency on your local network can still lead to a laggy experience. To be clear – we’re talking about WiFi bandwidth. Your internet speed doesn’t matter (unless you’re using a cloud gaming service).
The best setup involves having a wireless access point in the same room as the headset and with your gaming computer connected to the network over Ethernet. That said, my wireless router is one room over, and my computer is connected wirelessly. There’s a lot of factors that can contribute to performance. It may take a little bit of troubleshooting to get right, but it’s totally worth it.