It’s true that in most technology related areas, be it cars, computing, etc that for many people statistics are king. Even though how good an experience is, is not solely defined by how big the numbers are; the bottom line is that bigger is still seen as better. When it comes to a straight ‘Top Trumps’ style fight between the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive the two are pretty similar. Both use OLED displays, they each have a field of view measuring 110 degrees. Their resolution and refresh rate are the same and they features built in audio input and outputs. Go past this however and the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift begin to trade wins.
The HTC Vive requires half the minimum RAM of the Oculus Rift yet provides a far greater tracking area and onlyt requires a singular USB port in contrast to the Rift’s reliance on two 3.0 sockets. Yet it also requires a slightly higher powered graphics card and processor than its rival, and whilst prices were relatively similar that situation has also changed.
HTC Vive and Oculus Rift Specs Comparison
HTC Vive and Oculus Rift Minimum Requirements Comparison
| Oculus Rift | HTC Vive | |
| Display | OLED | OLED |
| Resolution | 2160 x 1200 | 2160 x 1200 |
| Refresh Rate | 90Hz | 90Hz |
| Field of View | 110° | 110° |
| Tracking Area | 5ft x 11ft | 15ft x 15ft |
| Built-In Audio Output | Yes | Yes |
| Built-In Audio Input | Yes | Yes |
| Store Platform | Oculus Home | SteamVR & Viveport |
| Connections | HDMI, USB 2.0 & USB 3.0 | HDMI, USB 2.0 & USB 3.0 |
| Sensors Camera | Accelerometer, magnetometer, gyroscope and Constellation tracking | Accelerometer, gyroscope, front facing camera and Lighthouse system. |
| Controller Options | Oculus Touch, XBox One Controller | HTC Vive Controller or any compatible PC gamepad |
HTC Vive and Oculus Rift Minimum Requirements Comparison
| Oculus Rift | HTC Vive | |
| Graphics Card | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 / AMD Radeon RX 470 or greater | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 /AMD Radeon RX 480 or greater |
| Processor | AMD FX4350 / Intel Core i3-6100 | Equivalent to Intel Core i5-4590 or greater |
| Memory | 8GB+ RAM | 4GB+ RAM |
| Video Output | Compatible HDMI 1.3 | Compatible HDMI 1.3 |
| Required Free Ports | 2x USB 3.0 | 1x USB 2.0 |
| Minimum OS Compatibility | Windows 7 SP1 | Windows 7 SP1 |