# How expensive is a computer that can run VR chat?



## Simo (Apr 20, 2021)

Been curious about this, since I've been seeing more and more about it. But my computer is ancient and computers are not really my thing.

Nosing about the net, I get the idea a rig that can do VR chat decently is gonna cost between $2500-$3,000 or more, but maybe this is too high, or it is high right now, because of how Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies have driven up the demand for parts.

Also, is VR chat easy to use for those not much into things like coding and spending a long time configuring things?

It looks kinda complicated, potentially...like the new second life, something that really confused me, in terms of how it worked.

Also, how fun is it, really? If I get a character made, what can I do with him? I mean, if I interact with others does the graphic part just work, by some kinda digital magic? Do various characters interact, graphically, or just kinda talk at each other? (As in: it just my avi, kinda walking around, looking cute?)

I'm confused as to what makes it so amazing, and even how a lot of it works.

*standing by for comments from computer-nerd and expert furries*


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## Deleted member 106754 (Apr 20, 2021)

It's very dependent on what kind of VR games you also intend on playing. It could be worth mentioning that when VR first started becoming a thing again, some of the most common mid to high end cards were the 970 and 980 along with 290x from AMD. It's not a lie that you want to kick in quite a bit of money into your system if you intend to play VR, but if you do not include the price of the actual headset itself. You could probably get away well enough with a PC around a grand, give or take how well you can scavenge for parts. This is not me saying that you should go look for a 970, but that you must get the absolute best is far from it. What I can say from my experience is that my 1070ti managed all the VR games just fine that I tried out, VR chat included. 1060(6GB preferably version) would do just fine as well in most cases, in particular something like VR chat. Nowadays you also have the 2000 series and 3000 series from nvidia that released after that, along with the vega cards, 5000 series and 6000 series from AMD.

Your key ingredient to playing VR is really the graphics card and as it's being echoed throughout the internet, the availability and market for getting both new and old GPU's is kinda shite right now due to everything that is going on as you're aware of.

I am not an avid user of VR chat as I only really tested it quickly, but as far as playing it goes you don't need to know anything at all. If you want to add your own characters exactly the way you want it to look you'd be better off paying someone to make it for you I believe as that does require some knowledge in creating 3D models and rigging along with texture work. But as far as just playing goes, it's not harder than to install the game and put on your headset.

If you look up on youtube with various people playing VRchat you will get a good idea of what you can and cannot do in more detail what I could explain here. But essentially you are in a 3D space with an avatar you pick in the game via the menus. It's really a VR CHAT, where you talk to people on their avatars, there's no really any collision in the typical sense. Videos show this pretty well.

How fun it is I cannot tell, I didn't play for long and do not have a VR headset anymore so I think other people could sell this more to you. I enjoyed playing pavlov and project cars in VR more than VR Chat.


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## Stray Cat Terry (Apr 20, 2021)

Mine can run it without issues and is about 1.7m KRW, which is *about 1,525 USD.*
I'm not sure if mine is under the lowest cost possible, but just for your information! OwO
(But the cost of computers and parts have skyrocketed recently--same reason, bitcoins--which is after I got my computer set up... So perhaps it's different now?)

The real issue is that I don't even have a VR controller to enjoy VR Chat fully... UnU


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## Borophagus Metropolis (Apr 20, 2021)

I'm thinking $400


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## Hound-of-chulainn (Apr 20, 2021)

VR chat actually has super low system requirements, they recommend a 4th gen core i5 and GTX 970 with 4gb of ram to play. But you can play it with or without a VR headset. If you want to play with VR, that jumps a lot in price, since you need a VR headset, and then you need the minimum requirements for the computer to run the headset. If you're building a new computer I'd say you'd do good with just about any CPU/GPU from the past 2-3 years, and a 8gb of ram. In the for a while. you could get by with something like a GTX 1050 for your video card to play VR, and I personally used a 1060 and ryzen 1600x to do vr. For the game itself, it runs in Unity3D and you can do pretty much whatever you want. if you know a bit of code you can set up minigames and such, but if you can do models and animations, you can make your avatar do whatever you make for them. I've seen avatars turn into dust or hop into mechs, so it's a little like Second Life but a lot easier to make content for.

If you ever want to play more demanding VR games, I'd save up a little extra so you can get something to run those as well. 

:edit: Since I rambled and didn't actually answer you. I got a VR computer for like $700-800 Canadian, but I saved money using old hard drives and a power supply from an older computer. If you're not doing anything crazy, you can probably fit the rest of the parts in that budget too, but at that point, saving up a little bit extra for something you'll enjoy more is definitely worth it.


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## Firuthi Dragovic (Apr 21, 2021)

Yeah, VRChat is one of those VR things that doesn't absolutely require the headset, and it's a bit of an anomaly there.  So my assessment is going to be based on the idea of a setup where you can do other VR stuff with it.

I don't know AMD cards, so I'll stick to NVidia for this setup: the minimum graphics card for VR is like the GTX 1050-Ti, I think.  So I believe any card from the 2000 series on up will work as well (I use a 1080-Ti, which is about the power of the current 3060-Ti (and which means I'll likely have to upgrade in a couple years).

Here's the thing: due to cryptocurrency and the fact that so many people stayed home for so long, graphics card prices have inflated SUPER hard.  The average price I'm seeing is around $900 for the worse cards.  And that's just the CARD.  I don't know how old the motherboard, processor, or RAM in your computer is, and if those have to be replaced it will run you about $600 at bare minimum.

This is all assuming the desktop version of VRChat.  If you want a headset on top of that, I think the lowest I saw was the HTC Vive Cosmos at about $700 (I'm assuming one wired to the computer for this, and I don't count Oculus Rift S as that's basically at end-of-life).

So yeah, your $2500-$3000 estimate is not far off the mark.



I can't say much about the creative stuff as I still haven't quite learned Unity or graphic design well enough yet (it's a future goal), but the sheer variety of maps in VRChat is insane.  Lot of people do hang around the standard social bar/house settings though, from what I saw.  The times I check in on VRChat I'm usually doing the climbing or horror maps.

Still haven't gotten over the social anxiety enough to be in normal hangouts.


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## Faustus (Apr 22, 2021)

There's a version of VRChat for Oculus Quest 2, if you don't mind the whole 'Owned By Facebook' thing.
That doesn't require a computer at all.


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## Sodapopfox69 (Apr 25, 2021)

my rig cost around $900 or so to build a few months back, and it can run VR Chat quite well. VR games really aren't as hard to run as most people think, as really it's just combining your control method and display together


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## Firuthi Dragovic (Apr 25, 2021)

Sodapopfox69 said:


> my rig cost around $900 or so to build a few months back, and it can run VR Chat quite well. VR games really aren't as hard to run as most people think, as really it's just combining your control method and display together


Problem being that to run them in a fashion that isn't too nauseating, a very good framerate is vital.  I had problems with the Rift S causing a lot of flickering during loading some of the more intensive games - and while I was able to tough that out, not everyone can.

I RARELY get flickering with an Index and I don't know how the HTC sets are or how newer Oculus hardware deals with it.

The other thing with VRChat in particular is.... a lot of the good avatars (I can't say for sure on maps, but there are actual warnings on the avatars) have basically NO optimization and can potentially be difficult on performance.  I dunno if it's because people are trying to whip something up in a hurry or if they're trying to go really overboard with all the bells and whistles of avatar creation.  (If and when I get into making avatars, I plan to treat optimization very seriously.)


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## Raever (Apr 25, 2021)

I have a $950.00 laptop that can run it just fine (no flickering, or other visual issues that I can tell).  Then again, I also don't use a VR headset. I just run the game. VR gives me motion sickness and the headset makes me feel claustrophobic. THat aside, I think it depends less on the money, and more on the specs --- but that's obvious.
You can also make upgrades to almost any PC so money on the long term upgrade path shouldn't be too much of an issue.
Work your way up or just save up for something "affordable" for you.


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## Simo (May 20, 2021)

Thanks for all the replies here!

After digesting this all, I have concluded:

1. VR 'chat' is still in it's infancy, and seems like Second Life II

2. To make it really fun, you need to be a lot more computer savvy than me and know code to really be able to interact with others, besides just being a talking version of your avi

Conclusion: Since I don't play any videogames, VR or otherwise, I think I am gonna wait on the VR thing, until it's a bit more user friendly, and has ways to more fully interact, in a 'graphical' way. I kinda want it to be like a living cartoon, where I pop my character in, and can...well...walk, run, swim, explore, eat, hug, cuddle, &c.

But one huge question:

What's the 'quality' of chat like, in VR chat, and how does one find groups to even chat with?


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