Best Graphics Cards for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive

Best Graphics Cards for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive

In this post we will list some of the Best Graphics Cards for Oculus Rift.

Oculus has released its new VR headset, the Oculus Rift S.

With this they suggest a recommended graphics card of a GTX 1060 or RX 480.

However, there are many graphics cards that work well with the Oculus Rift and Rift S that are not listed within Oculus’ requirements.

If you’re looking for a VR headset check out our guide on Which VR Headset Should You get?

Table of Contents

ASUS Expedition GeForce GTX 1060 OC edition 6GB

ASUS Expedition GeForce GTX 1060 OC edition 6GB
ASUS Expedition GeForce GTX 1060 OC edition 6GB

Starting with Oculus’ recommended of a 1060 we have the Asus EX-1060.

Whilst the GTX 1060 can now be considered an older card with the release of the RTX lineup, this GTX 1060 comes with 6GB of GDDR5 memory as well as being factory overclocked.

Performance with the Oculus Rift

We recommend getting the 6GB version of the 1060 as it allows for much smoother experience.

Asus’ 1060 performs very well when it comes to VR. In most games it will achieve the required 90 fps and high settings required for the Oculus Rift. Games Like Robo Recall, The Lab VR in addition to Job simulator run very well and never really have any noticeable frame drops.

Features of ASUS Expedition GeForce GTX 1060 OC edition 6GB

The Asus EX-1060 is factory overclocked to 1809 MHz in OC mode. Furthermore, there are dual fans with 0db ball bearings allowing for the cool temperature even when overclocked.

Asus’ GPU Tweak II can be easily used to customise the clock speed, fan speed in addition to lots more.

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC 4G

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC 4G
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC 4G

Going closer to Oculus’ minimum specs, we have the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC 4G.

The 1050 Ti is a very budget friendly graphics card for someone who want to get into PC gaming and VR.

Performance with the Oculus Rift

It may seem like the GTX 1050 Ti may not be powerful enough to have a decent experience with the Oculus Rift.

However, in most games, the 1050 Ti has great performance.

Games Like Robo Recall and Job Simulator Run Fine at mostly 50-90 fps depending on the part.

You can always turn down the settings in most games to medium or so to get better fps.

Don’t, however, expect to get a constant 90 fps all the time.

Features of Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC 4G

Like most Gigabyte cards this card is also factory overclocked.

2 Fans for WindForce 2x to allow for good fairly low temperatures even when in VR.

Gigabyte Xtreme engine utility for overclocking, fan speed as well as temperatures.

EVGA GeForce GTX 1650 XC BLACK GAMING 4GB

EVGA GeForce GTX 1650 XC BLACK GAMING 4GB
EVGA GeForce GTX 1650 XC BLACK GAMING 4GB

Moving on towards a card which is quite new at the time of writing this article.

The EVGA GeForce GTX 1650 XC BLACK GAMING 4GB is between a 1060 and 1050 Ti so it performs basically how you would expect; better than the 1050 Ti but not as good as the 1060.

Performance with the Oculus Rift

The GTX 1650 has very good performance with the Oculus Rift in basically all games.

Whilst it doesn’t perform as well as the 1060, it still has good performance in lots of games like robo recall, Job simulator and also The Lab.

Most games were are high settings and stayed at 90 fps a lot of the time.

Features of EVGA GeForce GTX 1650 XC BLACK GAMING 4GB

The EVGA GeForce GTX 1650 XC BLACK GAMING 4GB is powered by the newest Turing architecture for better power efficiency, shaders and even performance.

Two fans for optimal cooling or you can get the shorter version of the card with only one fan for your small PC build.

EVGA’s precision X1 for monitoring and overclocking of your graphics card.

MSI GeForce RTX 2060 Ventus 6G

MSI GeForce RTX 2060 VENTUS 6G OC
MSI GeForce RTX 2060 VENTUS 6G OC

Another newer card is the MSI GeForce RTX 2060 Ventus 6G which comes with GDDR6 memory.

The RTX 2060 is the successor to the older GTX 1060 even though it is quite a bit more expensive. Even though the cost is higher the performance of the card more than makes up for its slightly higher price tag.

Performance with the Oculus Rift

The RTX 2060 has great performance in gaming and also VR gaming. All the games we tested performed great at the highest settings with no noticeable frame drops.

This meant we had a solid 90 fps most of the time on the Oculus Rift which provided a smooth and very much enjoyable experience.

Features of MSI GeForce RTX 2060 Ventus 6G

Two Torx 2.0 fans for optimal cooling to allow for great performance.

Fast GDDR6 Memory

The newest architecture from Nvidia –  Turing

MSI Afterburner for overclocking and monitoring of your graphics card.

EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 BLACK GAMING 8GB – One of the Best Graphics Cards for Oculus Rift

Best Graphics Cards for Oculus Rift
EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 BLACK GAMING 8GB

The EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 BLACK GAMING 8GB is an expensive but powerful graphics card.

Performance with the Oculus Rift

Everything we played with the RTX 2070 was almost flawless.

Job simulator, Robo Recall and additionally The lab. Worked at the highest settings at 90 fps with no big drops.

The RTX 2070 is a very powerful card and can play games (non-vr) at 1440p and even 4k with good fps.

Features of EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 BLACK GAMING 8GB

ICX2 cooling for low temperatures even when gaming in VR

Fast GDDR6 Memory

The newest architecture from Nvidia –  Turing

EVGA’s precision X1 for monitoring and overclocking of your graphics card.

PowerColor Red Dragon Radeon RX 580 8GB

PowerColor Red Dragon Radeon RX 580 8GB - Best Graphics Cards for Oculus Rift
PowerColor Red Dragon Radeon RX 580 8GB

The PowerColor Red Dragon Radeon RX 580 8GB is not a very new card but still has some good performance similar to that of the GTX 1060.

Performance with the Oculus Rift

The performance of the RX 580 is slightly better than that of the GTX 1060.

Most games work perfectly at 90fps most of the time with the occasional drop.

Robo recall, Job Simulator and also the Lab work great and the RX 580 provides very good experiences running the games at high.

Features of PowerColor Red Dragon Radeon RX 580 8GB

AMD Liquid VR compatible.

AMD XConnect to allow you to use this card with an external GPU enclosure for laptops and other PCs.

Radeon Chill to improve power efficiency and lower temps by regulating frame rate based on in game movement.

The fans are quite loud in the PowerColor version of the RX 580 when under load.

Conclusion

The Oculus Rift is compatible with a load of graphics cards. Even some graphics cards that are lower than the recommended can be used witht the Oculus Rift with not too bad performance.

We recommended getting the GTX 1060 or RX 580 as these are graphics cards that provide great performance but don’t cost a ton. However for better experiences better graphics cards like the RTX lineup should be considered.

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