exemplar virtual reality gaming pc (1)Road to VR and AVADirect are pleased to announce the launch of Exemplar, a high-end VR gaming PC designed for those who want to push the limits of immersion. Available starting today, Exemplar is made for VR enthusiasts who won’t settle for minimum specifications.

AVADirect and Road to VR have teamed up to create Exemplar, our top-end system designed to push virtual reality experiences above and beyond what’s possible with systems built to lesser recommended VR specifications. Road to VR worked directly with AVADirect to create a system capable of handling the most demanding virtual reality experiences.

Exemplar by Road to VR

Road to VR readers can save $100 through the end of December with the promo code RoadtoVR2015

“AVADirect is excited to have established a partnership with Road to VR to create the Exemplar,” said Travis Bortz, Vice President of Business Development at AVADirect. “The system’s sleek design combined with its power and flexibility, thanks to an SLI-ready configuration, sets the standard for high-end VR desktops.”

The Exemplar Ultimate is the test platform used by Road to VR for benchmarks and reviews of virtual reality experiences and hardware. With published test results done against an identical platform, gamers have peace of mind knowing exactly what the system is capable of when it comes to real world virtual reality performance.

With most upcoming PC VR headsets rendering at 2160×1200 and in stereoscopic 3D at 90 FPS, virtual reality experiences are significantly more demanding than gaming on a regular monitor; if your PC isn’t up to the task, you’ll experience choppy and possibly dizzying performance. The Exemplar is packed with powerful components designed to outperform and outlast systems built to a lesser specification.

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The history of PC gaming is full of graphically ambitious titles like Half-Life 2 (2004), Crysis (2007), and Star Wars Battlefront (2015), which become de facto graphical benchmarks of their era, demanding nothing less than top-end PC hardware to achieve full fidelity. VR gaming will be no different. Virtual reality in titles like Elite Dangerous already demands hardware beyond the recommended specification suggested by VR headset makers, and many forthcoming VR games will be able to push their visuals further with capable hardware.

“PC gamers are known for pushing the boundaries of graphics performance, and that’s exactly what the most immersive VR demands,” said Ben Lang, Co-founder of Road to VR. “When creating the Exemplar, we knew we needed a partner experienced in delivering reliable high-end PCs. With their track record of quality systems hand-built in the USA, AVA was the natural choice.”

The Exemplar Ultimate is available starting today from AVADirect for $2,550. The Exemplar base configuration starts with the same case, cooling, and motherboard foundation as the Exemplar Ultimate but offers customizable components for the budget conscious enthusiast, starting at $1,700.

Exemplar Ultimate Specs:

Dead Silence White Cube Case w/ “Road to VR” Etched Side Panel
(Case Dimensions: 10.5” x 16.5” x 15”)
SuperNOVA 850 G2 Modular Cables, 80 PLUS® Gold
MAXIMUS VIII GENE LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 mATX Intel Motherboard
Core™ i7-6700K Quad core (4 Core) 4.0 – 4.20GHz TB, HD Graphics 530, LGA 1151, 8MB L3 Cache, DDR4-2133
ACX mITX CPU Cooler
GeForce® GTX 980 Ti SuperClocked ACX 2.0 1102-1190MHz, 6GB GDDR5 7010MHz, PCIe x16 SLI, 3x DP + HDMI + DVI
16GB (2 x 8GB) HyperX Fury PC4-17000 DDR4 2133MHz CL14
500GB 850 EVO SSD, 3D V-NAND, 540/520 MB/s
1TB Barracuda®, SATA 6 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 64MB cache
2 x 120mm Quiet Case Fan, 1500 RPM, 81.5 CFM, 23 dBA, White LED
Custom 20-Color LED Lighting w/ Remote
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit Edition
Silver Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty & LIFETIME Technical Support)
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Exemplar Specs:

Dead Silence White Cube Case w/ “Road to VR” Etched Side Panel (Case Dimensions: 10.5” x 16.5” x 15”)
SuperNOVA 850 G2 Modular Cables, 80 PLUS® Gold

MAXIMUS VIII GENE LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 mATX Intel Motherboard
Core™ i5-6600 Quad core (4 Core) 3.3 – 3.90GHz TB, HD Graphics 530, LGA 1151, 6MB L3 Cache, DDR4-2133

ACX mITX CPU Cooler
GeForce® GTX 970 SuperClocked ACX 2.0 1165-1317MHz, 4GB GDDR5 7010MHz, PCIe x16 SLI, DP + HDMI + 2x DVI
8GB (2 x 4GB) HyperX Fury PC4-17000 DDR4 2133MHz CL14
No Solid State Drive (Choose)
1TB Barracuda®, SATA 6 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 64MB cache

2 x 120mm Quiet Case Fan, 1500 RPM, 81.5 CFM, 23 dBA, White LED
White LED Light
Windows 10 Home 64-bit Edition
Silver Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty & LIFETIME Technical Support)
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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • Noxas

    Interesting, the minimum and high end benchmark machines. My gaming machine has a gtx 680 which is just a bit under the performance of a 970. Don’t really want to spend that much money for such a low increase in fps. Sli on the other hand would be worth it but with the current multi gpu support for vr is pretty low :(

    • Jim Cherry

      Blame unity for that as unity doesn’t truly support multi gpu yet.

      • Quinn

        Is UE better? Or, what would be a better alternative? I’m brand new in Unity and UE, figured it’s gonna hurt like a bitch to learn one or the other so may as well make it worth it and learn both! I’m starting to stumble over a lot more people on the web out there giving Unity lower marks for these kinds of issues, but, usually high ones for graphics quality. Every time I come across something like this it makes me wonder if learning Unity would be a waste of time when UE seems to be winning the engine race.

        Thoughts?

  • garrilla

    Is there no audio in high end VR ?

  • CURTROCK

    Interesting. A R2VR endorsed & approved VR machine. Would I invest between 1000-2000 $ based on an endorsement from my fav website? Possibly… You have piqued my interest. Question? Will these PC’s bear the Oculus Approved seal of approval? If so, that would prob seal the deal, for me. Hope to hear more about this, as I will soon be purchasing a Rift Box to coincide with the arrival of the CV1.

    • benz145

      Glad you are interested Curtrock. The Oculus Ready PC program is only for machines that target their recommended specifications and are priced at $1000 or less. The Exemplar far exceeds the those specs and is targeting high-end VR users rather than entry-level.

      There will be a million people benchmarking rigs that meet the Oculus specs. For the people who want to futureproof and push performance, we wanted a system of known quantity with top-end hardware—against which we’ll be doing all of our testing and reviews—providing a reference point for hardcore VR enthusiasts. The spec of the Exemplar Ultimate will not change, so that if you have a system that matches those specs (or are interested in getting one), you’ll have reliable data for how it will perform across an array of VR games.

      • CURTROCK

        Thanks for the response. When pre-orders for CV1 begin, I will be looking for specific info about Canadian ordering, warranty, after purchase support, etc. Your endorsement/collaboration with AVA does carry a lot of weight with me, and places the Examplar PC as a front runner for my VR machine $$$.

        • benz145

          Glad to hear it Curtrock. Just an FYI, there’s a coupon for $100 off in the article above. Only good through December I’m afraid.

          Get in touch if you’ve got any other questions.

  • cheol

    Seems overpriced. Bought gtx 980, 8gb ddr3 1600mhz, i7-4790k, 256gb ssd, 2tb 7200rpm hdd, 600W powersupply, msi z97 mate mono with 2 free games for 1299. Also had alternative of same as exampler but with 16gb ddr4 ram and 128gb ssd, little worse powersupply for 1350

    • Quinn

      They always are. Wait awhile for the hype to settle down, along with the price. Even 1700 isn’t good for the “budget” minded. I think the demand for low priced gear will win in the end, to be honest. They can make all the cool games but if the mass population can’t afford 1500+ dollar systems the price of the systems will have to come down, or a LOT of people will lose a LOT of money.

      That said, we’ve already decided that a VR machine is going to be a requirement and that we likely won’t get out of it for less than 1500 so we’re saving up and shopping around to find the best deal for the best price. Now’s the time to start filling those piggy banks so when the hype settles down, you can find some great buys!