Best CPUs For VR in 2023

How we picked the best CPUs for VR

There’s certainly some crossover between traditional gaming and VR, which means that many of the criteria we’d assign to CPU for straight gaming factor into the equation of choosing the right CPU for your VR plans.

While this may be the case, VR places slightly different demands on a PC, and our method for choosing the best CPUs for VR took that into account. In particular, considerations such as future-proofing, the varying requirements of the different headset manufacturers out there, and the all-important question of single-thread performance, steered our decision-making process.

Perusing everything the CPU market has to offer in relation to VR performance, we settled on five different CPUs, from both AMD and Intel, that, in our estimation, offer the best VR experience out there. As always, we’ve steered clear of simply recommending the most powerful and pricey options and instead honed in on CPU models that suit different needs, including budget.

Headset Requirements

Not all headsets require the same CPU requirements, with some more demanding than others. While there’s sense in opting for the best CPU your money can buy, we also recommend checking out manufacturer requirements beforehand. You may be able to save some cash that can then be put towards a better GPU, something we cover below.

For convenience, we’ve included the requirements for the three most popular headsets. In an effort to attract potential customers, manufacturers do tend to produce requirements that flirt with what many would consider sub-par performance. With this in mind, we suggest opting for a CPU that exceeds what’s required to err on the side of caution and weed out potential performance issues when looking for the best CPUs for VR.

• Oculus Quest 2
  • Intel I5-4590/AMD Ryzen 5 1500X or greater

• HTC Vive
  • Minimum – Intel Core i5-4590/AMD FX 8350 equivalent or better
  • Maximum – Intel Core i5-4590/AMD FX 8350 equivalent or better

• Valve Index
  • Minimum – Dual Core with Hyper-Threading
  • Recommended – Quad Core +

Don’t Skimp On a Quality GPU

A suitable CPU is crucial to good VR performance, but the GPU arguably plays a more important role due to the rendering requirements of bringing to life 3D worlds. We, therefore, recommend allocating a decent chunk of the budget to a quality GPU. That additional graphical power will serve you well when it comes to the more demanding VR titles, and overall, a more fluid experience.

As above, you can check headset manufacturer requirements to get a ballpark sense of what’s needed in the GPU department. It’s also worth noting that not all GPUs are compatible with all headsets. For example, NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1650 and 1060 aren’t compatible with the Oculus Quest 2.

Budget and Future-Proofing

Given VR’s relative infancy, the fact there’s still a long path to mass adoption, and the hardware costs, we can’t stress the importance of future-proofing your setup to avoid having to fork out cash in the years ahead simply to keep up. VR tech continues to change and evolve at a rapid pace, and having a CPU capable of navigating those twists and turns is a smart move, as doing so will save you money in the long run.

Naturally, this is limited by your specific budget, so try and stretch it as much as you can, or alternatively, opt for a lower-priced value CPU option with an eye on saving up and replacing it in a couple of years.

In the case of the GPU, it’s arguably a great time to invest with both NVIDIA and AMD launching new flagship lines in recent months, the RDNA 3-based cards and Ada Lovelace 4000-series cards, respectively. It will be a couple of years before a new batch of next-gen GPUs come to market, setting you up for at least a few years.