How Heaven Benchmark Can Help You Choose the Best GPU for VR Gaming?

GPUs can heavily impact how you can utilize your VR gaming output. While it’s not the only thing dictating how great of an experience you can get, it’s often the benchmark you look for!

And that’s where Heaven Benchmark can provide the ultimate solution! Heaven Benchmark can properly assess your GPU and give you a score to determine whether your GPU is optimized for VR gaming.

Although Heaven Benchmark does not explicitly mention anything about VR Gaming, you can get an overview of your GPU’s performance from it. So, let’s get started with how to use Heaven Benchmark for great GPU suggestions.

Why Should You Consider Heaven Benchmark for VR Gaming?

To understand why you should get Heaven Benchmark for your PC, let’s understand why Heaven Benchmark is great for VR game testing.

• VR Compatibility: Heaven Benchmark supports VR headsets like Oculus, and HTC, enabling direct assessment of VR performance.
  
• Advanced GPU Features: Provides Screen-Space Ray-Traced Global Illumination (SSRTGI) which can enable dynamic lighting & intensive graphics experience.
  
• Hardware Monitoring: Includes GPU and CPU performance in real-time to understand the exact condition of the VR performance.
  

Overall, Heaven Benchmark can essentially provide solid stress testing for your GPU, regardless of how old it has become now.

How to Use Heaven Benchmark to Get the Best GPUs for VR Gaming?

Heaven Benchmark is a complete GPU testing tool and a trendsetter in assessing available GPUs. But, how can it testify for VR Gaming and accurate results?

First and foremost, Heaven Benchmark can go above and beyond to test your GPU. The preset Extreme can be used to properly test the GPU rendering performance and with the overall score, you can get an idea about your VR gaming capabilities.

Then, you can check other results from different Heaven Benchmark scores forums and find out whether your GPU is performing well. 

Here, you should consider some of the key aspects of VR gaming to get the best possible results. For example:

• Which type of GPU you’re using
• The reference GPU stats & requirements to match your VR gaming target
• Frame rate & other crucial factors

That's why, we have considered different categories of GPU to easily demonstrate what kind of performance you can expect. Let’s look at the next segment to understand further!

VR Gaming Test According to GPU Categories

To make you understand how Heaven Benchmark can help you assess the VR gaming capabilities of a GPU, we took three prominent cards in three price brackets. GTX 1650, RTX 3060 Ti, and RTX 4090, all of these three cards represent the budget, mid-range & high-end GPU categories.

As you can see, there’s a massive difference between the overall results of the 3 GPUs. 

Let’s look at the test results, first. Here, you can clearly see that even with normal-high custom settings, the GTX 1650 can barely go past the 70 FPS mark as well as 160 max FPS. So, it clearly highlights that you will get a very sub-par VR gaming experience with this GPU.

Then comes the RTX 3060 TI which can deliver a decent performance with the max average FPS going above the 200 range. However, if you are using a high-end VR headset, then you can occasionally get some jitters and lags.

Finally, our best GPU, RTX 4090 just blows out all the cards with a massive 350+ average FPS. Considering that all the presets were set with extremes, these results will definitely give you confidence about choosing any VR gaming headset without any concern.

With a higher score and above-average Max FPS, you can easily assess that your GPU will be able to handle the demanding GPU rendering of VR games. A low-end GPU like the GTX 1650 is not suitable at all for VR gaming.

However, you should also keep in mind that not all VR gaming headsets require external GPUs. Modern headgear like Meta Quest 3 can be used without any additional GPU source. To get a better VR experience for some insanely GPU-intensive games, using an external GPU can be a plus point.

What is the Minimum Requirement of GPUs for VR Gaming?

The minimum requirement mainly depends on what kind of game you want to play on your VR headset. However, it’s always best to go with an upper mid-range GPU like NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 8GB or AMD’s Radeon RX 6600 8GB.

Furthermore, having higher VRAM on your GPU can directly affect your overall FPS and smoothness in the game. So, we recommend at least 8 GB if not 12 GB of VRAM for your GPU.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 or AMD Radeon RX 7600 are quite affordable right now. So, you can definitely check those out for your VR gaming.

Furthermore, you should test other benchmark testing as well, for example, Unigine has a different software named superposition for VR gaming! Again, there’s 3DMark Benchmark as well which is hugely popular for GPU stress-testing.

You should try multiple benchmark tests so that you can identify the perfect VR gaming settings.

Note: New generation GPUs are more optimized with VR gaming compared to the old generation. So, try to upgrade your GPU if it’s 4-5 years old.

Is GPU Necessary for VR Gaming?

No, GPU is not required for every VR headset. Great headsets like HTC Vive Pro 2 or Meta Quest 3 include the necessary GPU power in the system. However, most VR enthusiasts prefer to use an external machine to get the highest possible output.

That’s why some may think that an external GPU is necessary for VR gaming whereas in reality, it’s not a must anymore.

Special Tips: Update your GPU drivers regularly to get the maximum output from your GPU!

FAQs

What is a good budget GPU for VR Gaming?

RTX 3050 8GB or Radeon RX 6600 is the perfect budget GPU to get for basic VR gaming. You can easily get them well below the $300 range.

Can I use Ray Tracing in VR Gaming?

Yes, with the latest Nvidia RTX 40 series cards, you can use real-time ray tracing in VR games. However, even the most advanced cards struggle to render great details with ray tracing in VR.

What is the minimum VRAM required for VR Gaming?

There is no minimum VRAM requirement for VR gaming but it’s best to have at least 8 GB of VRAM for a smooth gaming experience.

Conclusion

Now that you know about Heaven Benchmark and its awesome scoring results for VR gaming, what are you waiting for? Pick a good GPU for your VR headset and get the optimal experience. 

However, try to check the specs of your VR headset and confirm the compatibility with your preferred GPU.