Here’s some great news for fans looking forward to Valve’s foray into virtual reality hardware: Valve Index VR headset pre-orders are now live on the official site.
Revealed back in April 1, this rival to the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR is no joke. All of the details revealed about the HMD so far show that Valve is looking to to be a serious competitor in the VR space.
The Valve Index VR comprises three separate units: The headset, a base station, and a controller. The headset has been reported to support a 135-degree field-of-view. This is a much wider field of view than the FOV offered by its competitors like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, which only have a narrower 110-degrees.
Integrated into the headset are a pair of headphones. Players won’t have to invest in separate hardware for audio to match their VR experience, as custom-tailored audio has been built into the device. As for the controllers, it seems that Valve developed them based on their Knuckes VR controllers.
Back in March, Valve laid off a number of staff members from the VR division. Despite this, it seems that the company has been able to develop a product that is ready to hit retail.
Interested buyers can pre-order either either a complete Index VR kit, which is a single headset paired with controllers, or opt to purchase each individual component separately. Both the base station and controllers can also work with HTC’s Vive Pro. The headset however, only works with the base station and controllers.
As for system requirements, Index VR requires a PC running either Windows 10, SteamOS, or Linux. These must be on dual core processors and have at least a Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 or AMD RX480 graphics card with DisplayPort. The headset does not support HDMI. Meanwhile the base station and controllers also need USB 3.0 to connect to the PC.
Expected shipping date for Valve Index VR headset pre-orders is July 31, 2019.
