With so many choices for graphics cards out there, it’s hard to know exactly what you should buy to outfit your next VR-ready PC. To make things a little easier, Oculus recently published a list of GPUs that meets its Minimum and Recommended specs. The list helps clear up confusion regarding which older and less popular GPUs the company considers ‘equivalent’ to the company’s prior recommendations which often consisted of just one GPU from NVIDIA and one GPU from AMD.

Minimum Spec GPUs

You’ll need a powerful GPU for VR, though if you’re on a tight budget, Oculus introduced some tech (ASW) which helped lower the bar a bit more, and led to the creation of the ‘Oculus Minimum Spec’.

The company does warn that some Rift content may require a computer that “exceeds Oculus’s minimum or recommended specs,” and that you should always keep an eye on the recommended specs when browsing content in the Oculus Store. That said, here’s the current list of GPU that the company considers is powerful enough to meet the Oculus Minimum spec:

  • NVIDIA GTX 960 (4GB)
  • NVIDIA GTX 1050 (4GB)
  • NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti
  • NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti (laptop)
  • NVIDIA GTX 980M
  • AMD RX 470.

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Recommended Spec GPUs

GPUs meeting the Oculus Recommended spec will give you smooth VR rendering without relying on ASW (which can introduce unwanted graphical artifacts). While all the cards on this list ought to render Oculus experiences smoothly, the higher-end cards will let you crank the graphical nobs up in many games, sometimes substantially increasing visual fidelity. Learn how to use supersampling to sharpen any Rift game (if your GPU can handle it).

NVIDIA*
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (3GB, Desktop)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB, Desktop)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Desktop)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB, laptop)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Laptop)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (Laptop)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN
NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN X
NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z
NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Black
NIVIDA TITAN X (Pascal)
NIVIDA TITAN Xp
NVIDIA Quadro GP100
NVIDIA Quadro K6000
NVIDIA Quadro M5000
NVIDIA Quadro M5500
NVIDIA Quadro P4000
NVIDIA Quadro P5000
NVIDIA Quadro P6000
NVIDIA M5000
NVIDIA M5500
NVIDIA M6000 (12GB)
NVIDIA M6000 (24GB)

*not in order of performance or price

AMD*
AMD Radeon R9 290
AMD Radeon R9 290X
AMD Radeon R9 390
AMD Radeon R9 390X
AMD Radeon R9 Fury
AMD Radeon R9 Fury X
AMD Radeon R9 Nano
AMD FirePro W9100
AMD FirePro WX7100
AMD FirePro WX7100 (laptop)
AMD Radeon RX 480
AMD Radeon RX 570
AMD Radeon RX 580
AMD Radeon RX 580 Mobile

*not in order of performance or price

If you’re in doubt about whether other parts of your PC can handle VR, download the compatibility check tool published by Oculus to see if your computer’s guts have what it takes.

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Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Christopher May

    No NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (3GB, laptop) in either list?

    • J.C.

      Might just be that it’s not worth the space to put it in there? The difference between the 3 and 6gb models are…not large. The 6gb one has SLIGHTLY higher specs, but it doesn’t translate to much of a performance difference.

      You’ll notice the 1070ti isn’t on this list either. It’s basically a 1080, by an incredibly slim margin…unless you plan on overclocking. The 1070ti has a hardlocked speed, while the 1080s routinely come factory overclocked, and can be pushed beyond that. If you’re considering either card, you’re basically just going to go by price.

  • nebošlo

    These are not in order of performance. So your “bottom rung” comment doesn’t make any sense.

    • Thanks for pointing that out, neboslo. In the context of the list as it is written, you’re right. While it’s a fairly common phrasing, I’ve updated the wording to be more concise.

  • Justos

    What about the AMD RX 580 Pro thats on the higher-end iMacs today?

    I’ve been using it for VR for a while now, no issues at all. Obviously running windows to play. I think Oculus should add this to the list seeing as the 580 ‘mobile’ is good enough. Im sick of the ‘not meeting specs’ warning :D

  • Volodymyr Tormoz

    What? No Radeon RX Vega GPUs either?