One of the most criticized aspects of this first generation of virtual reality is the high level of requirements it imposes on the user. Overnight we discover that many graphics cards with decent performance fall far below what virtual reality headsets require, so each potential user must evaluate their system before buying. Both Oculus and Valve have their own benchmarking tools, but in June of last year, Futuremark announced VRMark. From now on, VRMark is available for download.
Disabling v-sync and applying a little overclocking to the processor and graphics card were critical resources for years for those looking to squeeze a bit more out of their computers. However, those tricks are biting the dust in the face of what some games demand today. Personally, several titles that I expected to play are already far out of my reach, at least until I upgrade my graphics card. The last major speed update was a solid-state drive, but something like that only benefits overall system performance, unless I install games on it. I know many users out there are in a similar situation, and if we add virtual reality to this complex situation, well... I think we can only watch it on YouTube, right? The most disturbing thing is that some very powerful hardware configs on paper fall to their knees in front of VR headsets. If you want to know precisely what you're missing, you might want to download a copy of Futuremark VRMark.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/Giz2PrmTZvUOriginally announced in June of last year, VRMark aims to carry out an intensive evaluation of our computer, in an attempt to determine how well it stands up to current virtual reality standards. The first part of VRMark performs a comparison between the available hardware and the minimum requirements of the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, while the second is divided into two parts: The Orange Room equates to "the minimum necessary experience" for virtual reality sessions to not be a headache (or a vomit-inducing roller coaster, that depends on each user), and then there's the Blue Room, whose maximum specs allow it to render scenes in 5K.
Of course, VRMark's plan is to inform the user before investing money, so the presence of the virtual reality headset is not obligatory in any of the benchmarks. The basic and free version of VRMark gives us access to the Orange Room and basic measurements, but enthusiasts will likely want to spend the $15 that the Advanced Edition costs, enabling access to both rooms, performing additional benchmarks, and saving results offline.
