Should you upgrade to the Oculus Rift S from Rift CV1?

Best answer: If you lot don't already have an Oculus Rift CV1, the Rift Southward is well worth the $fifty toll difference. However, if you already own a Rift, the Rift S might non be worth the upgrade unless you desire to ditch the external sensors and accept advantage of a brandish with better pixel density and improved lenses. There's also the event of Rift CV1 availability, which has recently become deficient.

The new Rift: Oculus Rift S ($399 at Amazon)
Older VR system: Oculus Rift CV1 (From $675 at Amazon)

What are the primary differences betwixt Rift and Rift S?

The original Oculus Rift, known as the Consumer Version one (CV1) was released in 2022 and has since aged quite well thank you to core software updates and a ton of games, including some enticing exclusives available only from the Oculus Store. Information technology is a wired headset, meaning you need to have an HDMI and USB-A cable information technology plugged into your PC at all times, and it relies on external sensors — each besides requiring a USB-A port — to track the headset and Impact motion controllers.

Like the Rift CV1, the new Rift S offers a room-calibration VR experience. Instead of relying on external sensors, however, the Rift Southward uses Oculus Insight, a new tracking system that uses five built-in sensors on the headset to see where you are in concrete space and to track the Touch controllers. Data from the headset's gyroscope and accelerometer are combined with Insight data and identifies your position once every millisecond.

If you already own a Rift CV1, the answer to the upgrade question lies in whether or not you want to spend another $399 on a VR setup.

Oculus hasn't removed the need for a cablevision back to your PC with the Rift Southward, but it has fabricated the change from HDMI over to DisplayPort. You'll still need a USB-A port for the headset, just the demand for three or four other USB ports for the external sensors has been removed. Because the Rift S runs on the same cadre Oculus platform that the Rift CV1 uses, minimum and recommended PC requirements are virtually the aforementioned. Of course, more powerful hardware is going to deliver a improve VR experience, merely if you lot're currently using a PC capable of handling the Rift, it shouldn't have much consequence with the Rift S.

The headset's overall blueprint has been tweaked — Oculus worked with Lenovo here — to brand information technology more comfortable to vesture. Weight is ameliorate distributed to prevent any pressure points or slipping, and there's less space effectually the nose gasket where low-cal can leak in. The halo headband at present also has a dial on the back for easier adjustments to tightness, and the audio organisation has been inverse from the hang-down headphones or earbuds on the Rift CV1 to the same integrated audio system that's used on the Oculus Become and Quest. There'southward besides a 3.5 mm audio jack built into the headset for use with tertiary-political party headphones.

The Rift CV1 uses a dual-OLED display setup with a 2160x1440 resolution and 90 Hz refresh rate. It provides deep darks and bright lights, and near who have used it can say that the worst office is the screen-door effect (SDE) — the grid of lines yous tin can meet between pixels if you expect shut plenty — and god rays shining through the lenses. The Rift S brings a unmarried LCD display with 2650x1440 resolution and eighty Hz refresh rate, which is besides what the Oculus Become uses. You might not see every bit vibrant of colors, only pixel density has been upped for less SDE and the lenses have been improved for fewer god rays.

The Rift Southward comes with the same updated Bear on controllers we saw first with Oculus Quest. Much like the first-gen Impact controllers, these provide the hand presence and precise tracking. Some buttons have been moved to exist more intuitive, and while there's still a tracking ring covered in IR lights, it's been moved to sit down above the controller to be in better view of the headset's sensors.

How does external tracking compare to Insight tracking?

The Rift CV1'due south external sensors do an admirable job of tracking movements, even during frenetic play, so there's understandably some concern with how well Oculus Insight compares. Thankfully, in our own testing, there's no discernible negative difference betwixt tracking on the Rift South and Rift CV1.

Because the Rift S cable is longer than the one on the Rift CV1 — 4 meters compared to 5 meters — you accept more freedom of movement and don't accept to worry almost staying in view of the sensors when you get turned around in a room-scale experience. Fifty-fifty with games like Beat Saber, which might be the one championship that relies the nearly on perfect tracking, you shouldn't have any problems using the Rift S and Touch controllers.

Should yous upgrade to the Rift Southward from the Rift CV1?

If you already own a Rift CV1, the respond to the upgrade question lies in whether or not you want to spend another $399 on a VR setup that brings a lot of the aforementioned features in a redesigned parcel. If SDE and god rays drive you crazy, you'll detect some solace in the Rift S, and you should be able to get it ready upward on a wider variety of devices thank you to fewer ports needed for external sensors.

The headset cable is longer and gives yous more freedom, and you don't accept to worry about staying in sight of external sensors thank you to the new Insight tracking system. It also comes with upgraded Touch controllers, but the older models are still stellar.

Most people without coin to burn and with a working Rift CV1 will have a tough time making the upgrade, but for anyone who's even so to get in on the Oculus fun, the decision between the older headset and the Rift Due south might be a lot easier to make. It seems as though the Rift is suddenly much harder to find, and third-party sellers are taking advantage by jacking upwards prices. There are still a few brand new options on Amazon for a loftier toll, and eBay has a lot of pre-owned Rifts if yous don't mind going that route and want to relieve some money. Once the Rift S is released, your determination might already exist made for you lot.

When can yous go your hands on a Rift Due south?

The Oculus Rift Due south is expected to be released Spring 2022 and it volition cost $399. There still aren't any store listings upwardly, but nosotros will update when they become available. Until and then, you can still find a Rift CV1, if non at the price y'all were expecting.

Old merely gilded

Oculus Rift CV1

The Rift that started information technology all

It might not have the upgrades that the Rift South offers, only the Rift CV1 will still deliver a steller room-scale VR experience.

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Check out the best Oculus Rift and Rift S games you can buy today

Power to the players

Check out the best Oculus Rift and Rift Southward games you can buy today

If you're looking to driblet some money on an Oculus Rift South, you'll want to spend the rest of your money on the most worthwhile games. Hither are our favorite games that you should be playing, with a petty something for every preference and age.

Cale Hunt

Cale Hunt is a staff writer at Windows Central. He focuses mainly on PC, laptop, and accompaniment coverage, likewise as the emerging world of VR. He is an avid PC gamer and multi-platform user, and spends most of his time either tinkering with or writing about tech.