The largest detractor to the adoption of virtual reality headsets, at least the first generation, just has to be price.<\/p>\n
The minimum necessary investment, we\u2019re talking about just buying the darn thing, is around R9,500<\/strong> for the Oculus Rift<\/a> and a mighty R12,300<\/strong> for the HTC Vive<\/a> \u2013 that\u2019s before you factor in the price of building a VR capable rig.<\/p>\n You could always buy an Oculus Rift Ready PC<\/a>, which are essentially HTC Vive ready as well given similar hardware requirements, but they\u2019re far more expensive \u2013 or are they?<\/p>\n So, we thought we\u2019d source as affordable a VR capable build as we could, or there about. That is to say, there will be preferences for a particular brand or favoured features offered, for example, but it\u2019s the prices that matter most.<\/p>\n We also thought to emulate the Oculus Rift Ready structure\u2014focussing only on the CPU, GPU, motherboard, memory, chassis, PSU and storage\u2014thereby giving us a final build with which to compare to the pre-built systems available.<\/p>\n Minimum Requirements:<\/strong><\/p>\n GPU:<\/strong>\u00a0NVIDIA GTX 970 \/ AMD R9 290 equivalent or greater With the particular hardware recommended in mind, there\u2019s really no need to include the cost of a mouse and keyboard, especially because neither the HTC Vive nor the Oculus Rift will actually require such devices.<\/p>\n We\u2019re also going to assume you already own a monitor as well as the OS necessary to use a headset \u2013 the OS being a fixed price and given the specifications necessary for VR really any 1080p or 1440p will do.<\/p>\n So, just how much will an \u201caffordable\u201d VR ready PC set you back?<\/p>\n GPU:<\/strong><\/p>\n PowerColor PCS + AXR9\u00a0390 \u2013 R5,899<\/a><\/p>\n Sapphire Radeon R9\u00a0390 \u2013 R6,551<\/a><\/p>\n Gigabyte GV-N970IXOC \u2013 R5,799<\/a><\/p>\n EVGA GeForce GTX 970 \u2013 R6,499<\/a><\/p>\n CPU:<\/strong><\/p>\n In the terms of the CPUs recommended by both parties, you really only have a choice between LGA1150 and LGA1151 Intel CPUs.<\/p>\n AMD CPUs don\u2019t really have support in SA, driving costs up and increasing the difficulty of not only locating but replacing said CPUs.<\/p>\n It\u2019s gotten to a point where an Intel CPU will pound its equivalently priced AMD CPU into the dust.<\/p>\n While many are recommending the LGA1150 based i5-4590, Skylake CPUs like the i5-6500 are equally priced, perform just as well and offer more future upgradability.<\/p>\n Just keep in mind that if you\u2019re unwilling to swap your motherboard out for an LGA1151, you cannot choose the Skylake CPU. Should you be going for a new build, however, we would recommend the Skylake route.<\/p>\n Intel i5-4590 (LGA1150)<\/em> \u2013 R3,843<\/a><\/p>\n Intel i5-6500\u00a0(LGA1151)<\/em> \u2013 R3,799<\/a><\/p>\n Motherboard:<\/strong><\/p>\n ASUS Z97-K\u00a0(LGA1150)<\/em> \u2013\u00a0R2,058<\/a> – Can be overclocked<\/p>\n Gigabyte Z170M-D3H\u00a0(LGA1151)<\/em> \u2013 R2,356<\/a> – Can be overclocked<\/p>\n Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H\u00a0(LGA1151)<\/em> \u2013<\/strong> R1,478<\/a> – Can’t be overclocked<\/p>\n Memory: <\/strong><\/p>\n G.Skill, 8GB, DDR3-1600\u00a0(LGA1150)<\/em> \u2013 R739<\/a><\/p>\n Corsair ValueSelect, 8GB, DDR4-2133\u00a0(LGA1151)<\/em> \u2013 R749<\/a><\/p>\n PSU & Chassis: <\/strong><\/p>\n Cooler Master CMP-350 \u2013 R1,309<\/a><\/p>\n Storage:<\/strong><\/p>\n Seagate Barracuda, 1TB \u2013 R968<\/a><\/p>\n Crucial MX100, 128GB \u2013 R899<\/a><\/p>\n LGA1150: R15,615<\/strong> While we would recommend a board that allows overclocking, a very inexpensive way to garner more performance should you require it, it\u2019s the rough average price of these three builds that we\u2019re interested in.<\/p>\n Even when saving a significant amount through the use of a chassis\/PSU bundle, the only one we\u2019d recommend by the way, that\u2019s still a lot of money \u2013 keep in mind that we chose the most affordable of the four suggested GPUs.<\/p>\n You might be thanking: \u201cHang on, the cheapest Oculus Rift Ready PC is cheaper?!\u201d Not exactly.<\/p>\n The ASUS G11CD may cost just $949 (R14,527 at the time of writing), but when you consider the effect of local inflation and shipping, those PCs will be a lot more expensive once they reach our shores.<\/p>\n As an example of that, a GTX 970 will cost, as near as makes no difference, R1000 more locally than it will internationally, and that\u2019s usually courtesy of a sale or two.<\/p>\n The scariest thing of all is that we haven\u2019t factored in inflation or shipping to either headset yet.<\/p>\n Should you opt for the most affordable of the three options given above as well as an Oculus Rift (the cheaper of the two headsets), you\u2019re looking to pay R25,115<\/strong>, and that\u2019s without the cost of importing the Oculus Rift.<\/p>\n Unless you\u2019ve got a beastly rig already, we wouldn\u2019t recommend going VR until the technology gets a lot cheaper.<\/p>\n Consider waiting for second or even third generation headsets first; by then, PCs capable of supporting VR will cost less as well.<\/p>\n Games you can play this week \u2013 sabre-toothed tigers and sunflowers<\/a><\/p>\n
\nCPU:<\/strong>\u00a0Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater
\nMemory:<\/strong>\u00a08GB+ RAM
\nVideo Output:<\/strong>\u00a0Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output
\nUSB Ports:<\/strong>\u00a03x USB 3.0 ports plus 1x USB 2.0 port (it seems that\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0was right on the money)
\nOS:<\/strong>\u00a0Windows 7 SP1 64 bit or newer<\/p>\n
\nLGA1151: R15,001<\/strong>, but will set you back R15,879 <\/strong>if you want overclocking.<\/p>\n
\nIn other news<\/strong><\/h3>\n