Oculus Rift PC Bundles Pre-Orders to Start February 16 From $1,499 Onwards

If you're interested in virtual reality and have been considering buying a VR headset such as the Oculus Rift, then you probably already know that you will also need a fairly powerful system to be able to make use of it and properly experience VR. If you don't already have a high performance PC, then you might be able to save a little money by pre-ordering a PC bundled with the Oculus Rift. In a blog entry posted on Tuesday, the company announced that starting February 16 8am PT, you will be able to pre-order Oculus-ready PC and Rift bundles from sellers such as Best Buy, Amazon, and the Microsoft Store, starting from $1,499 (or approximately Rs. 1 lakh).

All the bundles will include an Oculus-certified PC, and the full Rift package, which includes the headset, sensor, remote, Xbox One controller, the EVE: Valkyrie Founder's Pack, and Lucky's Tale.

(Also see: Oculus Rift VR Headset Now Up for Pre-Orders at $599)

The Oculus-certified PCs are being made by Asus, Alienware, and Dell, and more partners will be announced soon according to the post. The discounts on these bundles range from $100 to $200, although of course, you're likely to save some more cash if you put together your own gaming PC. Still, if you've stayed away from PC gaming of late because you don't have the time to research all the components and find the best deals, then these bundles could mark a reasonable compromise.

The cheapest bundle listed so far has the ASUS G11CD, powered by an Intel i5-6400 processor, with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 video card, 8GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 1TB HDD. It's priced at $949, and of course the Rift adds $599, raising the cost to $1,548. Presumably, the price of the Rift is also being slightly discounted to make the bundle hit the $1,499 mark mentioned in the blog. The most expensive computer on offer was powered by an Intel i7-5820k processor, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 video card, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, a 128GB SSD, and a 2TB HDD. This is priced at $2,549; add $599 for the Rift, and you reach an approximate price of $3,148 (approximately Rs. 2.15 lakh).

(Also see: Public Outcry Over the Oculus Rift Price Misses the Point)

If you already own a gaming PC, you might not need to invest in something like this though. Do check the hardware requirements on the Oculus site. The recommended PC specification is an Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon R9 290, Intel i5-4590, and 8GB RAM. Oculus also has a compatibility tool on its website that you can use to see if your current PC is Rift-ready.