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Oculus Rift VR Headset compatibility update: VR headset can now run on low-end PCs via Asynchronous Facewarp technology

Oculus Rift is now compatible with low-end PCs. | Facebook/Oculus 

Virtual reality (VR) is the "in" thing right now so it is understandable for consumers to expect VR support on their own devices, even those who have low-end models. Good thing that Oculus Rift emerged to announce that it has just the right VR headset for low-end PCs.

This may be the moment every PC user has been waiting for, especially those that have not upgraded to new models yet. Oculus Rift is bringing virtual reality to their PC versions via a technology called Asynchronous Facewarp (ASW).

The Asynchronous Facewarp can run smoothly on low-end computers, allowing VR games to function at 45 HZ that is initially set at 90 HZ. This is said to be a step back from the ATW that was already released by Oculus Rift in the recent months. However, it can now reach more PC gamers in whatever version they are playing with.

"ASW is available with the release of the Oculus 1.10 runtime," the company posted on its developer blog. "It will be enabled across all ranges of hardware and systems that support the feature, and activated for all applications. ASW will automatically engage whenever the application needs extra time for rendering."

However, in order for Oculus Rift to run compatibly with a PC, it necessitates an NVIDIA 960 graphics processing unit (GPU) or later models. The processor of the computer may at least be installed with Intel i3-6100 or an AMD FX4350 central processing unit (CPU). As for the memory requirement, 8 GB of random-access memory (RAM) is preferred. As for the operating system, it needs Windows 8 or higher versions.

Computers that already have the recommended specs, according to Oculus, may not need the help of ASW anymore. The systems that fulfilled the minimum specifications, on the other hand, will see better framerates and performance once ASW runs in their system.

ASW will be automatically activated and integrated with no effort. That's the great thing about it.