Updated on August 14, 2022
The greatest VR graphics cards will be available in 2021, which is a wonderful time to start playing VR games. What began with the Nintendo Virtual Boy in the early ’90s is now beginning to take shape. For the gaming industry, VR was a difficult technology to manage.
Nonetheless, the landscape will be radically altered in the year 2021. VR has now been tamed as a consumer-friendly product, thanks to increasing demand and near-perfect technology, which has led to more developers dedicating larger budgets for VR development.
Virtual reality (VR) games need a lot of time and effort because of their unique display and interface. AAA games in 2021 should be playable at 1080p with at least 30 frames per second.
At least 1440p and 90 FPS are required for smooth gameplay in VR games. As a result, the GPU is the most critical and expensive component in a VR setup.
The Best Graphics Card For VR- The Basics
Before we go into the best graphics cards for virtual reality, we need to talk about the headset first. Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are two of the most popular VR headsets for gaming.
Below you’ll find a list of the system requirements for each of these headsets.
Oculus Rift Minimum Requirements
- CPU: Intel i3-6100 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200
- GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1050Ti or AMD RX 470
- RAM: 8GB of Memory
- OS: Windows 10
HTC Vive Minimum Requirements
- CPU: Intel i5-4590 or AMD FX-8350
- GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1060 or AMD RX 480
- RAM: 4GB of Memory
- OS: Windows 7/8/10
The Oculus Rift and HTC Vive compete head-to-head in terms of cost and capabilities.
Also on the market are VR boxes that turn your smartphone or tablet into a virtual reality headset.
Those headsets aren’t optimised for gaming, so they’re not suitable for that purpose. The ideal way to experience virtual reality content is through VR boxes, which act as entry points into the VR environment.
Alternatively, there are more expensive VR headsets like the Valve Index, which costs more than $1,000. Both the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive can’t compete with Valve Index’s performance.
Because of this, the Valve index isn’t a good option if you’re just getting started with virtual reality gaming. The headgear is aimed at the most affluent and affluent customers..
Now that the essentials are out of the way, let’s get right down to business!
Here are our top 10 recommendations for the finest graphics card for virtual reality.
Best Graphics Card For VR
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1. Gigabyte Radeon Rx 5700
AMD’s previous-generation graphics card had a bad reputation when it came to virtual reality. The Vega cards, despite their impressive specifications, fell short of expectations. AMD has a stranglehold on the GPU industry now that they’ve released their new Navi architecture. The Radeon Rx 5700 Xt is an excellent mid-range graphics card for virtual reality gaming.
The Radeon Rx 5700 Xt consumes less power and generates less heat because to its 7 Nm design. The system as a whole delivers an outstanding cooling mechanism without sacrificing performance..
Radeon Rx 5700 Xt GamingOC is a good choice for VR-ready PCs because to its boost clock of up to 1905MHz and 8GB of DDR6 memory.
Three display ports are necessary for VR headsets, while an HDMI port can be used to connect to a gaming display.
Technical Specifications:
- RDNA Cores: 2,304
- Boost Clock: 1,905MHz
- TFLOPS: 7.95
- Memory: 8GB GDDR6
- Memory Speed: 14000 MHz
- Memory Bandwidth: 448 GB/s
2. Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super
In terms of power, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super is Nvidia’s second most powerful RTX card. The RTX 2070 Super OC edition from Nvidia offers incredible 4K performance in virtual reality and on a screen. The ray-tracing cores give it a layer of future-proofing, and the overclocking range is stable.
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super has a clock speed of 1,770MHz and 8 GB of GDDR6 RAM, making it capable of taking on any game.
Or only reservation against the RTX 2070 Super and all the RTX cards for that matter is the fact that RTX card has dedicated cores for Ray Tracing.
RTX 2070 will never be used to its full potential because there are no games that enable ray tracing in virtual reality. The ray-tracing cores, on the other hand, make your system future-proof.
Technical Specifications
- CUDA Cores: 2,560
- Boost Clock: 1,770MHz
- TFLOPS: 9.06
- Memory: 8GB GDDR6
- Memory Clock: 14 GT/s
- Memory Bandwidth: 448GB/s
3. MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Super
Nvidia’s GTX 1660 is the current generation’s budget market champion. Compared to the ordinary GTX 1660, MSI’s GeForce GTX 1660 Super is an overclocked and slightly beefier variant.
To take on even the most demanding VR games, the 1,815 MHz boost clock and 6 GB of GDDR6 VRAM are more than adequate.
You’ll be able to get the most out of this card because there are no ray tracing cores. Due to an upgraded architecture of the RTX 2060 Super, its peak performance is a tad better than the GTX 1660 Super’s.
For about $300, you can’t go wrong with the MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Super. Also included is MSI’s Afterburner software, which allows you to monitor and even tune your graphics card’s performance.
Technical Specifications:
- CUDA Cores: 1,408
- Boost Clock: 1,815 MHz
- TFLOPS: 5
- Memory: 6GB GDDR6
- Memory Clock: 14 GT/s
- Memory Bandwidth: 336 GB/s
4. MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 2060
For under $300, Nvidia’s RTX 2060 graphics card is the best value in the company’s new RTX lineup. As previously stated, the RTX 2060 cannot be pushed to its maximum potential.
However, if you can afford it, we recommend the RTX 2060 over the GTX 1660. The RTX 2060 outperforms the GTX 1660 despite having same specifications.
Adding a layer of future-proofing to your virtual reality build is also a benefit of this. Ray tracing will be used more and more by VR developers as it becomes more common.
ray tracing has the potential to transform the entire VR business, according to a lengthy press statement from Nvidia.
A factory overclocked speed bump of 1710 with a 6 GB VRAM is what you’re looking at here. With the Afterburner, you can monitor things like temperature while keeping the GPU cool with two angled blades.
A total of four outputs are available, including three Display Ports and an HDMI.
Technical Specifications:
- CUDA Cores: 2,176
- Clock Speed: 1,710MHz
- TFLOPS: 7.18
- Memory: 6GB GDDR6
- Memory Clock: 14 GHz
- Memory Bandwidth: 336 GB/s
5. Asus ROG STRIX GeForce RTX 2080TI
RTX cards can’t be pushed to their limits in virtual reality, but the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti is so potent that only a select few titles can take advantage of it.
This year’s most powerful consumer GPU, the GeForce RTX 2080TI, is expected to be on the market in 2021. The GTX 1080 Ti, the 2080 Ti’s predecessor, was about 40% quicker than the RTX 2080 Ti.
If you’re looking for the most powerful graphics card on the market, go no further than the factory overclocked GeForce 2080TI. Using just one card, you can run four monitors and a VR headset at the same time.
There are four display connectors, an HDMI port, and a Type-C port that may be used for both VR headsets and E-GPU setups in terms of connectivity. A VR setup in 2021 will find it overkill, but a gaming setup will find it to be the greatest GPU for years to come.
Technical Specifications:
- CUDA Cores: 4,352
- Clock Speed: 1,665 MHz
- TFLOPS: 13.4
- Memory: 11 GB GDDR6
- Memory Clock: 14 GT/s
- Memory Bandwidth: 616GB/s
6. MSI GAMING GeForce GTX 1060
Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1060 should be at the top of your list if you’re seeking for the most affordable VR-ready graphics card.
Both the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive can use this GPU with no issues. When it comes to virtual reality games, Half-Life Alyx, one of 2020’s most popular releases, requires it as a minimum requirement.
If you’re playing VR games like Skyrim VR, Assetto Corsa, or Superhot, you’ll be glad to know that the GTX 1060 meets or exceeds the system requirements.
With a 1544 Mhz core clock speed, MSI is delivering 3 GB of GDDR5 memory to its customers. A 6-GB VRAM GeForce GTX 1060 is also available, which costs roughly $100 more than the 3-GB VRAM model.
To make room for its newer GTX 1600 and RTX series GPUs, Nvidia has retired the GTX 1000 family.
A GeForce GTX 1060 is available from MSI GAMING, and you don’t need an organ in order to get one. In 2021, the GeForce GTX 1060 won’t be able to play the most popular virtual reality games, but it will be able to run most of them.
Technical Specifications:
- Clock Speed: 1569 MHz
- TFLOPS: 3.9
- Memory: 3GB GDDR5
- Memory Clock: 8 GHz
- Memory Bandwidth: 192 GB/s
7. Sapphire Radeon RX 580
If you’re looking for a low-cost AMD-powered GPU capable of running virtual reality games, Sapphire’s RX 580 is the best option. Both the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive may use it because it meets or exceeds the basic technical criteria for both.
For VR gaming, we recommend the Sapphire Radeon RX 580 over the GTX 1060, despite the fact that the GTX 1060 has better specifications.
Sapphire sells an RX 580 that has been factory overclocked to 1366 MHz. In comparison to both the GTX 1060 and the RTX 2060, the GPU has an astounding 8GB of video memory.
In addition to AMD’s proprietary software, the RX 580 features LiquidVR, which is like FreeSync for virtual reality in that it eliminates stuttering and lag.
It’s a very strong GPU for virtual reality gaming and for normal gaming. Here, the power usage is the only thing you’re giving up.
To put it another way: The cheaper RX 500 series has 4th Gen GCN graphics instead of the 7 Nm RDNA. As a result, the 185 watts of power consumption is higher than the 150 watts of the Radeon 5000 series.
Technical Specifications
- Clock Speed: 1366 MHz
- TFLOPS: 6.17
- Memory: 8GB GDDR5
- Memory Clock: 2000 Mhz
- Memory Bandwidth: 256 GB/s
