Last month Microsoft announced its initiative to bring a range of affordable VR devices to Windows 10. There's going to be a whole bunch of headsets created in conjunction with a number of VR manufacturers, including Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo. In theory this means offering VR experiences for all. Widespread adoption is going to hinge on how demanding the experience is, however. Here's the official minimum specs for Windows 10 VR so you can see just what is required.
Windows 10 VR Minimum System Requirements
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- CPU: Intel Mobile Core i5-7200U Dual Core 2.5 GHz
- RAM: 8 GB System Memory
- GPU: Intel Integrated HD Graphics 620
- DX: DirectX 12
- HDD: 100 GB SSD
- HDMI: HDMI 1.4 with 2880×1440 @ 60 Hz or HDMI 2.0 or DP 1.3+ with 2880×1440 @ 90 Hz
- USB: USB 3.0 Type-A or USB 3.1 Type-C Port with DisplayPort Alternate Mode
Compared to the competition, these are unbelievably low system requirements. This is really scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to hardware, aside from the 8GB system memory. Windows 10 VR apparently only requires a 2.5 GHz dual core mobile processor, hinting that Microsoft is aiming at laptop users for its VR push, rather than high-end gamers.
On the graphics side of things the Intel HD Graphics 620 really is as low as it can possible go. It does give us a strong indicator that Microsoft's aim with VR isn't necessarily for gamers, but rather for apps and experiences. Each individual game on the Windows Store is going to have its own set of system requirements potentially above and beyond these specs.
You can begin looking out for the first Windows 10 VR headsets during the first half of 2017.
With extremely low specs like this, is this the moment you've been waiting for to experience VR? Or do you think true VR deserves to be a high-end experience? Let us know what you think!
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PC Specs
I will buy it when it is released if I can't afford HTC Vive or Oculus Rift with Touch Controller for my PC. If I bought Windows 10 VR, my ASUS Gaming Laptop will be working like the charm.
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if that CPU minimum was just slightly lower, I could use my laptop as part of a VR backpack
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i dont think i need an SSD for VR.
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They could be using it as a cache for some things. So you might.
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I'm gonna make a guess and say they were running all this on the Surface Pro, would explain the GPU requirement
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"...is this the moment you've been waiting for to experience VR?" Actually, the moment depends on the price of the gear and supporting peripherals. So, I'm still waiting for that moment.
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instead of lowering the requirement try lowering the PRICES :/
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Lowering the requirements is actually one way to do it...
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I wonder how powerful is that Intel HD Graphics 620 that it can handle VR
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I have heard windows VR has the hardware built in which makes the requirements much less demanding.
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So... My sleep rhythm differs quite a bit from my wife's and our PCs are in the bedroom.
How nauseating it would be if I used the VR device as a monitor? If at all?
Really looking forward to the price reveal.
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Depends on your body. VR doesn't affect me at all while my gf and her friend start feeling weird and headachey quite fast. Though that was with google cardboard, they have not tried the Rift/Vive and the likes, which are a million times better (I'm thinking of buying Rift, it was insane when I tried it)
PC Specs
It depends what type of games these specs are for. Vive and Occulus have such high requirements to make sure that you can play the type of games they're offering, like EVE Valkyrie in VR properly.
PC Specs
If the specs for this is so low then they're probably the specs needed to actually run anything in VR at all, rather than the requirements to run graphically intensive games in VR.
PC Specs
The specs are, like you said, for experiences and apps. They are already very low even if you own a Rift/Vive if that's all you use the headset with. But since Rift/Vive are gaming devices first and foremost - they had to agree on a minimum hardware target for the VR partner titles.
The requirements will obviously be higher on a per-app basis.