When virtual reality (VR) was first launched, it was a pretty expensive endeavor to get into. This is because at the start, VR hardware would require users to own a pretty high-end (read expensive) computer in addition to the cost of buying the headset like the Oculus Rift or the HTC Vive.However over time costs have gone down as companies have come up with ways to reduce the system requirements. In fact for those who use SteamVR, it seems that Valve has come up with a way to better optimize VR headsets for different GPUs. This comes in the form of an auto-resolution feature which will adjust the resolution depending on your GPU.
According to Valve, “How it works is simple. The SteamVR runtime measures the speed of your GPU and tells applications to render at an appropriate resolution based on the power of your GPU. There are many customers right now with GPUs that aren’t being fully utilized. These customers will now automatically have their VR application resolution up-res’ed – the end result being a clearer and better looking VR experience.”
“Customers who have GPUs that can’t quite render the native resolution of their headset will automatically see images rendered at a slightly lower resolution that is more appropriate for the speed of their GPU.” However it should be noted that this feature is currently in beta so it isn’t available to all users just yet.
Filed in . Read more about Steam (Valve) and Virtual Reality (VR).