If you want an Oculus Rift, you'll probably need to upgrade your PC

When the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset debuts next year, it's going to require a pretty powerful computer to get the optimum experience.

The consumer version of the Rift will need a newer graphics cards to run games and other virtual reality experiences at "recommended" settings, Oculus VR stated in a blog post on Friday

Here's the full breakdown:

NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD 290 equivalent or greater
Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater
8GB+ RAM
Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output
2x USB 3.0 ports
Windows 7 SP1 or newer

Nvidia's GTX 970 graphics card came out early in 2014 and the AMD Radeon R9 290 in late 2013, meaning these are still relatively expensive graphics cards. If you have one of these cards, you've already made a significant investiment into a machine that can support them. Considering the Rift will also require two USB 3.0 ports, you'll also need a motherboard that can support plenty of them. Read more...