A lot of people still want to know, should you get the Oculus Rift S or is it worth the upgrade from the original Rift (CV1)? As you can imagine, it all comes down to a variety of factors. The specs and features in particular matter a lot. The design is roughly the same when compared to the Oculus Quest, the only difference is that you are attached to the PC at all times. Join us as we review is the Oculus Rift S worth it.
Verdict
Pros
- Large game library: Oculus rift store + SteamVR
- Higher Resolution display
- Five insight sensors
- Updated controllers
- Same PC spec requirements
- Minimal screendoor effect
Cons
- You need a PC all the time
- Lower refresh rate, which has been reported to make some users more prone to motion sickness
- No manual IPD adjustment
- Far better options available like the Oculus Quest 2
Resolution and Performance
For the Oculus Rift S, you have a display resolution of 2560×1440 and a refresh rate of 80Hz. They added 5 sensors and you have the same PC requirements as CV1. That being said, you also have accessories like a 5-meter cable, DisplayPort 1.2 and USB 3 support. The price for this unit is $399 and the interesting thing about it is that it also has a plethora of cool benefits with it.
The IPD adjustments made to this new version really stand out, in bad way. Gone is the manual IDP adjustments and instead the Oculus team opted for software IDP adjustments, which may not work for your if you IDP is way outside the normal range.
Tracking and touch
Based on our experience the Oculus Rift S works quite nicely and you will like appreciate the fact that the new controllers are super easy to adapt to your own needs. They are using the Oculus Insight tracking system that will identify physical objects in space and you will have a much more accurate experience with this. Therefore, there’s no need to set up those annoying base stations with many wires running back to your PC.
Rift S Requirements
Minimum requirements for the Oculus Rift S below.
| Graphics Card | NVIDIA GTX 1050Ti / AMD Radeon RX 470 or Greater |
| Video Output | DisplayPort1.2 / Mini Display Port |
| CPU | Intel i3-6100 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200, FX4350 or Greater |
| Memory | 8GB+ Ram |
| USB Portts | 1x USB 3.0 port |
| OS | Windows 10 |
Oculus Rift S Games
One of the strongest features for the Rift S is the vast amount of games at your disposal. It launched with access all the Rift CV1 games, there’s been tons of new games created specifically for the Rift S. And you even have Steam VR support with upcoming titles like Half-Life: Alyx. So you have a ton of games to play with already, and it only gets better and better over time, what more can you ask for?
Is it an improvement or not?
The Oculus Rift S doesn’t have a jump in the recommended PC specs. But it does provide much better accuracy and quality, which is exactly what you want. On top of that, the five insight sensors really improve the immersion and the touch controllers are even easier to use than before. While they decreased the refresh rate when compared to the CV1, they made up with brighter colors and a higher resolution. Something that helps a lot when it comes to boosting your game-play.
Overall, the Oculus Rift S is a great VR headset. The fact that they updated the old CV1 version is very helpful. Everything still works very well, it’s super easy to set up. The immersion factor has improved quite a bit. Although there’s no manual IPD adjustment, the LCD display has a lower refresh rate, not to mention you need to be near a PC if you want to use this. All of these minor downsides go away when you start using the Oculus Rift S.
You can purchase the Oculus Rift S on Amazon at the moment for $399.
Oculus Quest VS Oculus Rift S 2020
Both had an extremely strong use case on release. The Oculus Rift S is a natural upgrade to the C1V. Suited to those that want to play the best VR titles on a VR ready PC. Making the Oculus Quest 2 a perfect for the more casual audience that didn’t own a powerful PC.
Now, there’s an Oculus Link cable which effectively turns your Oculus Quest into an Oculus Rift S. We feel the best purchase at the moment is the Quest. Let’s wait and see what the Oculus Team have in store. Maybe there’s a wireless adapter on the way for the Rift S.