We have this odd room in our basement that really serves no purpose, so it is becoming a dedicated Virtual Reality room. In part 1 of our multi-part series, we go over the general setup, give an update on cryptocurrency mining, and figure out which additional hardware we need.
VR Setup
I was able to pick up a used HTC Vive from Reddit, but prices have come down significantly as more headset competition comes to market. Check out your options for Oculus or HTC VR headset
Audio/Video setup
This part is pretty basic. The Vive headset itself covers most of what we need here, but we do want to allow people to see and hear what the person inside of the VR game is experiencing so we can make fun of them because everyone looks cool when they are in VR.
TV: This doesn't matter much, in my case I just reused an old 1080P TV that we were otherwise going to get rid of after upgrading our home theater. If you are buying something new, I'm a big fan of the price/quality offered by TCL
For sound, I considered a bunch of different options but ended up going with a soundbar that mounts to the wall, and a small sub because we want decent bass response when we play Beat Sabre. VIZIO SB3821-C6 38-Inch 2.1 Channel Sound Bar with Wireless Subwoofer
PC Hardware
The PC is, of course, the core of the entire setup. While you can run VR on a budget PC build, you are going to run into performance problems, so don't skimp here if possible. I had a bunch of hardware leftover from my cryptocurrency mining so I stayed with Intel and more specifically: Intel Core i7-9700K Desktop Processor 8 Cores up to 4.9 GHz Turbo unlocked
I'm a big fan of Samsung SSD's and have both Pro and non-pro models that I use in my build.
If I were building from scratch, I would honestly check out the newer AMD processors. They are killing what Intel has on offer.
We need the memory of course: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz C15 Desktop Memory Kit
A case to hold everything is needed: Thermaltake V200 Tempered Glass RGB Edition 12V MB Sync Capable ATX Mid-Tower Chassis with 3 120mm 12V RGB Fan + 1 Black 120mm Rear Fan Pre-Installed CA-1K8-00M1WN-01
We need to keep that processor cool: be quiet! Dark Rock 4, BK021, 200W TDP, CPU Cooler
We, of course, need a motherboard to plug everything into. This has a few cool features, supports USB C, has WIFI built-in (since my room isn't hard wired), and we have LGA 1151 support for the 8th and 9th gen Intel processors: MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Edge AC LGA1151 (Intel 8th and 9th Gen) M.2 USB 3.1 Gen 2 DDR4 HDMI DP Wi-Fi SLI CFX ATX Z390 Gaming Motherboard
For power, I usually grab an EVGA power supply. In this case 1200 Watt
The final, and arguably most important piece is the video card. I'm using a GTX 1070 because I have dozens of them, but I would go with an RTX 2060 Super, or an Nvidia RTX 2070 Super
Stay tuned for part 2, coming soon!
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