On Thursday, US time, Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe announced at the Oculus Connect Developer Summit that the minimum specifications announced by Oculus will be reduced to Intel Core i5 quad-core processors and NVIDIA GTX 970 graphics cards to Intel Dual-Core Core i3 processing. Device, NVIDIA GTX 960 graphics card, in addition to support for more AMD processors. There is no doubt that such adjustment will inevitably affect the entire VR industry, speed up the VR popularity, and broaden the VR user base. So, what kind of deep meaning can we interpret behind this adjustment? This adjustment will in turn affect those other VR helmet products, hardware and software developers, and users? We will deeply understand this for you.
Accelerate the popularization of VR and reduce the cost of PC configuration
Prior to this, in addition to Sony's PS VR, both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift have high requirements for PC configuration, especially high-end graphics such as the GTX 970 graphics card will directly block many low-end PC users. outer. Although Nvidia later introduced a new generation of VR-ready cards, the price of the lowest-end GTX 1060 on a certain treasure is also expected to reach 1,700 yuan, which is not yet the relative power cost (if the user's PC power was insufficient). There is no doubt that upgrading an ordinary home machine to a VR-ready computer requires an upgrade cost of nearly 2,000 yuan. If you purchase a VR-ready computer again, the cost of the host computer may exceed 5,000 yuan. The high price has undoubtedly become a stumbling block to the popularity of VR.
On the other hand, in terms of Sony, PS4 and PS Slim can only provide 1.84 TFLOPS of computing power. You know, a "VR-ready" video card requires 3.5 TFLOPs of computing power. The previous generation graphics card GTX 970 has the ability to reach 4.2 TFLOPs, GTX 1070 maximum to 6.5 TFLOPs; the previous generation graphics card GTX 980 has the ability to reach 5.6 TFLOPs, GTX 1080 can reach 9 TFLOPs. Even the entry-level GTX 1060 is faster than 4 TFLOPs. In other words, Sony through internal optimization and other measures to make software and hardware compatibility to the extreme, just a low-end graphics card can be competent for VR requirements. On the other hand, this also significantly lowers the cost of the PS4. On a certain treasure, the price of a PS4 is less than 2,000 yuan, which is equivalent to the price of a GTX 1060 graphics card.
Price and penetration are generally inversely proportional. Oculus learned from Sony in hardware strategy, through optimization and other measures to reduce the threshold of VR-ready computers and speed up the VR popularity. Currently, according to the official results, Oculus’s PC sales price is supported at US$499 (3327 yuan), which is much lower than the price of the initial PC configuration announced at the time the Oculus Rift was just released. The popularity of VR is just around the corner.
Competing HTC Vive against PS VR
Sony sold more than 40 million PS4s in 3 years, and this year with PS VR helmets, sales of PS4 consoles will continue to climb. PS4's best-selling addition to the PS platform's premium content, the PS4 console's low price strategy contributed. As stated in the above question, the price of the PS4 in a certain treasure is less than 2,000 yuan, while the PC supporting Oculus is currently only about 3,300 yuan. Compared to the previous RMB 10,000 PC configuration, the threshold of the Oculus VR computer today is reduced a lot, and it also greatly narrows the price gap with the PS4. From another perspective, some PC users can upgrade their own computers by purchasing the used GTX 960. The upgrade cost is almost negligible. This time, in the end it is to spend 2,000 yuan into the pit PS4 platform or spend hundreds of upgrade their own graphics card? Users can have pondering!
In the second quarter of this year, neither the Oculus nor the HTC had sales of helmets between the two parties. Oculus lowered the entry configuration to let HTC Vive compete on this item. Perhaps HTC Vive will also lower the barriers to entry to VR computers through hardware and software optimizations in the future to compete with Oculus Rfit. For users, this is undoubtedly a good thing.
From behind, make up for the disadvantages of the previous period
You know, Oculus Touch continuous bounce tickets and Rift delivery issues have put pressure on Oculus and parent company Facebook. The Touch, which was announced at the conference, was priced at US$199, and the Rift helmet was nothing more than an advantage. Taking into account the late arrival of the Touch and the supporting applications of the Oculus Home platform are slightly inferior to the Steam VR platform, it is still somewhat difficult for users to select the Oculus camp at the same price. This time, Oculus lowered the standard of entry-level VR computers and at least allowed those players with insufficient pockets to turn to the Oculus camp.
So far, HTC Vive has not yet lowered its own standard for getting started with VR computers. Oculus has greatly stimulated the consumption of low-end users. It also allows them to regain one game if they lose their advantage in the early stages, but in the end, the winner is the winner. It still depends on the internal strength of everyone.
Optimize hardware and software platforms, save energy, and save energy
Compared with Intel Core i5 quad-core processors and NVIDIA GTX 970 graphics cards, Intel's dual-core Core i3 processor + NVIDIA GTX 960 graphics card has an advantage in energy saving. The lower platform heat output means less power consumption and heat generation. For manufacturers, the host can be made smaller, thus reducing costs, reducing the size, and increasing product buying points. For the user, it becomes possible to purchase a VR-ready host that is more energy-efficient and smaller.
In addition, for the notebook platform, the previous generation of GTX 960 M platform notebooks may be "returned." For computer makers, there is no doubt one more point of purchase.
Bad bad ally
Although PC makers can benefit from it, the happiest ones are Nvidia and AMD. It is reported that Nvidia is already working on the development of the next generation of VR-ready graphics cards, which may be named: GTX 2080, GTX 2070, and GTX 2060. The next-generation mid-range graphics cards GTX 2050 Ti and GTX 2050 are likely to target the current GTX 1060, which is 10% to 15% higher performance than the GTX 960. According to the computer configuration of Oculus that Oculus announced today, the next generation of GTX 2050 Ti and GTX 2050 is likely to be a VR-ready video card. This time will be happy to break Nvidia's old yellow, after all, you can lay more than a few cards can still be a good deal.
In addition to traditional PC manufacturers and graphics chip makers can benefit from it, software development vendors are also among the benefits. The optimized Oculus can reduce the software consumption of hardware resources and improve the compatibility of software, drivers, etc. From this perspective, it is undoubtedly a direct reduction in software development costs and subsequent maintenance costs. The lower VR computer threshold means a broader user base, which will be one of the important factors for the content monetization of software vendors.
to sum up
Whether the horse is a horse or wants to take it out, Oculus has said it better and needs to be able to know the experience of the late users. However, at least for now, Oculus is regarded as catching up with HTC Vive. As for whether or not to surpass or exceed it in the future, it depends not only on the merits of Oculus, but also on whether HTC Vive follows countermeasures. However, no matter who wins or loses, it is still the user himself who laughs.