Oculus Rift Available for Pre-Order Beginning Feb 16: PC Requirements

Virtual Reality is better than ever, with the Oculus Rift available for pre-order beginning February 16. To claim discounts, check order status and look over partner offers. There should be codes appearing on the order status page for February 16.

Virtual gaming is a step up in technology, but before you go put in your order, here's the catch: as noted by PC Mag, it is necessary for you to own a PC with a high computing power in order for the Oculus Rift to work. As described by the team in a blog post, "These PCs have been battle tested and certified by Oculus to deliver an incredible Rift experience."

The company also put together their own compatibility tool to help users check whether or not a computer is compatible with the new gaming system. The team wrote, "To get the full Rift experience, you'll need a PC that meets or exceeds our recommended system specifications."

Or you could get your own new bundles available from Best Buy, Amazon or the Microsoft Store. These things start at $1,499 and will include an "Oculus-certified PC" from Asus, Alienware or Dell.

Everything else will also be included -- the headset, sensor, remote, an Xbox One controller, and two games to start with: "Valkyrie Founder's Pack" as well as "Lucky's Tale."

PC World noted something interesting about the PC models recommended by the Oculus team: there is a lack of Radeon graphics cards, which is a bit startling as it has been a major VR proponent and has supported Oculus from the beginning. However, it seems that the PC specs required by Oculus definitely does include the Radeon recommendations, while the Vive-optimized HP Envy Phoenix offers Raedon cards as options.

For those who want to build their own Oculus-supporting PCs, PC World said that there are a bit of savings that will come from this option, but it won't be much. For the most part, savings will be about $50 to $100.

There is another way to save as set by Forbes though, which will save about $300. One option gets you an Oculus-ready PC for only $750, while another will cost about $1,050. Many can be overwhelmed with making their own PCs, but as the magazine noted, it really comes together if you know the art of following instructions.

In the end, the most important thing when building your own Oculus-ready PC is to get a good grade graphics card.

Check out the rest of the requirements here.