Yesterday the Valve Index was officially announced finally. While a few details were leaked previously, Valve still managed to keep the real chunk of information secret. Today, the headset and the various parts of the kit are now available to pre-order, with a shipping date now confirmed.
Buying the Valve Index isn’t completely straight forward where you purchase one device and away you go. Valve has taken a similar approach to when Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) launched the PlayStation VR, offering a range of options depending on the kit customers already owned.
First and foremost it comes down to whether you own an HTC Vive. If you don’t then you’ll need the entire Valve Index VR Kit which retails for $999 USD/$919 GBP. For this price you get:
- Valve Index Headset
- Integrated Headphones
- Headset Cable
- Headset Connection Cable with DisplayPort 1.2 and USB 3.0 Connections
- Headset Power Supply
- Regionalized Headset Power Adapter(s)
- Headset Cradle Adapter (for smaller heads)
- Headset Face Gasket
- 2 Controllers, Left and Right
- 2 USB Controller Charging Cables
- 2 SteamVR 2.0 Base Stations
- 2 15 ft (4.5 m) Base Station Power Cables
- 2 Base Station Stands with Mounting Hardware
- Regionalized Base Station Power Adapter Plug(s)
- Cleaning Cloth
You’ll also need a compatible PC which needs a Dual Core CPU with Hyper-Threading, 8GB RAM and either an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970+ or AMD RX480+ GPU as a bare minimum.
For those that have an HTC Vive then the choice is wide open. Valve Index and the Valve Index Controllers support the older 1.0 Base Stations, so there is a headset and controller kit for $749.00/£689.00. Or if you just want to upgrade your headset then that costs $499/£459 by itself. Do be aware that buying the items bit by bit will cost a little more, coming in at $1,076/£996.
VRFocus was lucky enough to get some hands-on time with Valve Index and left very impressed. Valve isn’t looking to coerce new players into VR, it wants to offer VR fans an awesome piece of kit; the Index looks to be just the device to do that.
Valve has also teased a ‘flagship VR title‘ is in the works and expected later this year. VRFocus will continue its coverage of Valve, reporting back with the latest announcements.
via Mint VR