A VR headset is a lot more than a gaming monitor that you sit really close to. It’s a whole new type of hardware with high-performance requirements, and even a PC that’s solid on non-VR titles can have some trouble getting the immersive results that you bought a headset for in the first place. What’s more, playing VR games on a system that’s not up to the task can actually make you physically ill when you encounter jerky frame rates. Yikes, right?
Now for the good news: You don’t need some kind of military supercomputer to enjoy a thrilling (and non-nauseating) VR headset experience. Although VR is demanding, you can make it easier on your system with the right tweaks — like the ones we’ll show you ahead!
Update your drivers and operating system.
This is item number one on pretty much any list of ways to improve graphical performance. Check the manufacturer’s websites for your graphics card and VR headset, and look for driver updates. While you’re at it, see if there are updates to Windows itself available. These usually download automatically, but it’s always worth making sure. When you’re done installing all of these updates, make sure to restart your computer.
Benchmark your performance as you troubleshoot.
So many factors can affect your PC’s VR performance that it can be tough to determine which tweaks are actually making a difference. That’s why major VR platforms like Oculus and SteamVR include built-in performance dashboards that you can keep open while you’re playing to monitor frame rates, CPU headroom, and other important indicators.
Before you start changing settings, run a game for a while and get a basic benchmark of your system’s performance. Then, when you begin experimenting, take note of which changes produce the greatest effects with the fewest performance trade-offs.
Adjust the settings in your graphics card’s control panel.
AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards have built-in control panel software from which you can tweak all settings and potentially boost your VR performance. With dozens of setting options between AMD Adrenalin and NVIDIA Control Panel, your best bet is to do a little research and experiment — but a few of the key ones to know about include:
- Anti-Latency: Graphics software often includes anti-latency or anti-lag options. Lag is a killer in VR, so enabling these features can provide a substantial performance boost in some cases.
- Texture Filtering: Choose high-performance texture filtering settings rather than high quality. This can increase performance by reducing the GPU’s texture workload.
- Frame Rate Cap: Although a high frame rate is obviously good, keeping the target frame rate too high can overstretch your GPU if it’s not quite up to the task. Just don’t set it below 90 FPS, as this is the typical recommended minimum for VR.
Remember that you can change many of these settings either in global mode (which affects all games and programs) or create specific profiles for each VR game you play.
Lower the graphics settings in your VR games.
This age-old fix for graphics performance works just as well in VR. Simply access the game’s settings menu and then turn down graphical options such as textures, shadows, and fog effects. Your game won’t look quite as pretty, but it will likely run a lot more smoothly — which is even more important in VR than in normal PC gaming!
Adjusting settings often requires some trial and error, so don’t be afraid to experiment until you find a combination of settings that runs well on your PC. With some games, you’ll actually find that other people have done the work for you. Check sites like YouTube and Reddit for settings guides that dive into which tweaks can give you the most performance impact.
Get your connection up to speed.
If you’re using a wireless headset, such as the Meta Quest 2 or the Vive with a wireless adapter, your WiFi connection needs to be extremely fast and reliable. The optimal solution is to use a dedicated WiFi 6 access point that’s in the same room where you’ll use your headset. You can use a normal router. Just set it up as an access point and plug it directly into your main router via an Ethernet cable for the best possible connection.
Those with corded headsets should take a look at your ports and cables. Your headset’s USB connector should be plugged into a USB 3.0 port or better, as using 2.0 will severely limit your data speeds and performance. In addition, make sure that your cord itself supports USB 3.0. The cable that came with your headset will support its native standard, but if you’re using a third-party cable, check which USB protocols it supports (and avoid cheap, no-name cables).
Make sure your PC has at least 16GB RAM.
While some VR games are still playable with 8GB RAM, 16GB is the recommended standard for good performance in the current generation of games. (If you have the resources, 32GB is even better and provides some future-proofing.) For those still plugging along with 8GB, now is a great time to upgrade, especially since 16GB is increasingly becoming the gold standard for all games, not just VR.
Fortunately, RAM is one of the easiest parts to upgrade on most PCs (even many laptops). Typically, you’ll need to open up your PC case, remove the old RAM modules from their motherboard slots, and insert the new ones in the correct pattern. Almost any modern motherboard, especially in a prebuilt gaming PC, will have sufficient slots for at least 16GB RAM (and very possibly 32GB).
