Oculus Rift requires Windows 10 for new features

When Oculus upgraded its system software to Rift Core 2.0, currently in beta, it added a redesigned Home experience, multitasking for apps and windows in Dash and mirrored Oculus Desktop monitors. These are heavy-resource features, according to Oculus, and need Windows 10 to support them. That's why the company is recommending Windows 10 across the Oculus platform (Rift, Touch and core software). You can still use Windows 7 and 8.1, but you won't get the new features as they appear.

In addition to the extra lifting power Windows 10 provides, Oculus points to Microsoft's deprecated mainstream support for the earlier OS versions. Oculus says that 95 percent of the most active Rift owners are already using Windows 10, and that those not yet upgraded do so soon. There's a compatibility tool to check and see if your PC is up to snuff, too. The full minimum and recommended specs are below:

Recommended Specifications:

• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 1060 / AMD Radeon RX 480 or greater

• Alternative Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD Radeon R9 290 or greater

• CPU: Intel i5-4590 / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X or greater

• Memory: 8GB+ RAM

• Video Output: Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output

• USB Ports: 3x USB 3.0 ports plus 1x USB 2.0 port

• OS: Windows 10 operating system

Minimum Specifications:

• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 1050Ti / AMD Radeon RX 470 or greater

• Alternative Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 960 / AMD Radeon R9 290 or greater

• CPU: Intel i3-6100 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200, FX4350 or greater

• Memory: 8GB+ RAM

• Video Output: Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output

• USB Ports: 1x USB 3.0 port, plus 2x USB 2.0 ports

• OS: Windows 10 operating system