Introduction
Since the first VR headsets started to become available almost a decade ago it has always been seen that it is something incredibly expensive to get into. And that was true at the start, with headsets costing an average of $400 and the hardware necessary to use them around $1000 minimum. But whilst it does feel that the perception VR is prohibitively expensive to enter has stuck, the reality couldn’t be more different, there are a lot of good options for VR on a budget these days.
The industry has changed since the first Oculus Rift was released, there are now a lot of options. If you want an ultra top of the line set up, that still costs a lot. But if you are on a budget you can go for cheaper standalone headsets or even build a VR capable PC on a budget.
The first question you need to ask is, which is more important between the convenience of standalone VR or power of PCVR?
Standalone Headsets – Sub $200
At under $150 you would be looking at a 2nd hand Quest 2, or you could grab one new for $200. Despite it beginning to show its age the Quest 2 is still a decent entry point to VR, especially at this price. The system is very underpowered compared to PCVR, but don’t let that fool you, there are still some very good games being released for this system.
The beauty of going for a standalone headset like the Quest 2 is that it is really convenient to use. Wherever you are, you can just pop the headset on and within seconds you will be in VR.
There is still a decent amount of games being released for the Quest 2 as well, even if they do have to make sacrifices with the visuals more often than not. Highly anticipated games like Behemoth and Metro Awakening are scheduled to be released for the aging headset.
The battery life on the Quest 2 will generally last around 2-3 hours, if you go second hand expect that to be a little less.
The Quest headsets are not just restricted to VR gaming though, they also make excellent media players, allowing you to have your own private cinema all in VR.
However if you do go with a Quest 2 be warned that this is a dying system at this point. The first wave of Quest 3 exclusive games is coming out. This means you will miss out on titles such as Batman Arkham Shadow, Alien Rogue Incursion and Hitman 3. This situation will not improve either, expect more games to skip the Quest 2 as we go forward.
PCVR
If you want to take the PCVR route and take advantage of the increased power the PC provides, things will get a bit more expensive. But it is still possible to do PCVR gaming with a budget around $600.
Now at this budget do not expect to be playing anything on ultra high settings, yet you will be able to play most VR games, and some older ones at high settings. For example you should be able to build something that can play Half Life Alyx on high settings.
For Flat to VR game mods, you should expect to struggle though as these games tend to be a lot more demanding. So forget about most of the UEVR mods you have been reading about recently. You can also forget about games like No Man’s Sky or Microsoft Flight Simulator, these games require very high specs and they won’t run on a budget system.
You would most likely need to go second hand, but there are options out there to build a decent rig on a budget. You will need to look at building the PC yourself too, it is possible to find prebuilt cheap systems but they are rare. Whilst this does seem intimidating, it is not as hard as it sounds and there is plenty of resources out there to guide you.
For the graphics card you would want to look for a 2nd hand RTX 2060 or a RTX 3050, you should be able to snag one of these on eBay for anywhere between $150 and $220. Try to find a version with the highest amount of VRAM possible, 8GB should be considered the minimum.
For the processor I would recommend something like an AMD 5600, on eBay you should be able to find one of these for anywhere between $70 and $100.
For the rest of the components you should be able to pick them up quite cheap if you go second hand. You will need the following:
- $40 Case
- $70 Motherboard
- $45 DDR5 16GB Ram
- $45 1TB SSD
- $35 500w PSU
- $40 Monitor
Whilst you should pick most of these parts up second hand, get the PSU and the SSD new. You won’t save much going second hand with these and the last thing you want is a hard drive full of malware or a faulty PSU.
On top of this you would need a budget VR headset. Personally I would recommend getting a Quest 2 second hand as you would also benefit from standalone VR. However if you just want to use VR on your PC look for something like a second hand HP Reverb or a Valve Index. They should be possible to find second hand under $150.
So all in all the PC should cost anywhere between $400-500 and the headset should set you back around $100-150.
Conclusion
The cost of VR has come down considerably in recent years, especially if you go for a standalone headset only set up. PCVR gaming is still somewhat expensive but the costs are coming down now and it is possible to do PCVR without breaking the bank at this point.
