My son just got himself the Oculus 2 VR, thanks to my brother who brought it for him.    Now that my son got his Oculus he is playing (temporary) Steam VR games from his sister's shared games library while she is home.

Now, comes the problems. She going back to college and I need to get the Steam VR setup on another computer. (nope, none of my other PC and laptops in the house will work because of the graphic card)

I need to look for a gaming Desktop (cheap), yes cheap. Budget Gaming Desktop that can support this. I have been looking around and boy they all either very expensive or not worth getting for the price.

Any recommendation?

Due to chip shortages and scalpers, there is not much out there. I do highly recommend not going on eBay to buy anything, for most of that is scalpers as well as a bunch of scammers.

Also, due to Windows 11 making most computers using mobo's that came out prior to 2018 obsolete within a few years, as well as the used market and most of the cheap PC's out there. Unfortunately, I only recommend either going through a system integrator like Cyberpower, IBuyPower, Digital Storm, ect…, (though won't usually be cheap), or a premade like Dell, hp, Alienware, (Alienware = overpriced Dell), ect...

I had the tough choices 15 months ago when my PC died. If you are not worried that the PC not supporting Windows 11, you can probably go to a system integrator and I am sure they have binned parts, but no matter what, GPU prices are what they are. Luckily, system integrators don't typically mark them up as they would get called out for that, and some system integrators may be able to help you on a budget if you call, especially if it means they can dump some older parts that are not supported by Windows 11, as long as you specify that you are not interested in it running Windows 11. Granted that, you will also need to inform them that it needs to be specifically for VR.

Hopefully, by the time Windows 10 is no longer supported, (in a few years), Steams Linux distro that is due to come out on their Steam Deck in a couple of months, is supposed to have all games found on Steam able to be run without hitches. The problem with Linux as I see it, especially in gaming, is;

1. Companies like Nvidia don't give a shit about Linux, hence why Nvidia drivers for Linux are terrible.
   
   
2. The Linux community, (Being broad here, but I know not all of them are this way.), is very uptight about their specific Distro that they run, and for the most part refuse to look at it from a standpoint of someone coming in that just wants something to work, (like Windows almost does). Windows has its flaws, and I understand the power of terminal, but, I am sure that a bunch of crap done through terminal could have been improved and simplified with just most click options. I am not saying remove terminal since I know power users love & use it, just, get with the times a bit.
   
   
3. Linux just never had the money behind it to really get those improvements out there. But, most can hope that changes with the release of the Steam version.

There are more, but those are the three big ones that I can think of.
I will shut up now before I write a long book.

I know I can always expect a very good answer from you CoRpSE. Longwinded at times, but worth reading all the time. Thanks for the quick reply on this.

Yeah, Windows 11 don't matter, but it can be beneficial if the hardware support it. As you know I am not a hardcore gamer, so I don't know much about what to get when it comes to Gaming PC. I have in the past dealt with building Power PC before, but only for people that multitask a lot, not for gamers. So the specifications are not the same.

yeah, I remembered your Delima 15 months ago.

I probably will not jump into Linux, not unless I have to.

I'll look into the recommendations.

yeah, the single most expensive components for any PC these days is going to be the GPU. The next would be the Mobo and CPU.

I did forget to say, if you decide to go with a prebuilt like hp, dell, ect..., the odds of you being to upgrade that PC in the future is slim, since companies like "Dell/Alienware", they like to use proprietary hardware so using adding your own stuff may not be an option, where system integrators use stuff that you can buy off the shelves to make their PC's.

I personally don't use VR, so I am not sure what are the best options for VR systems. I can only speak of gaming PC's as a whole, for that's what I use. Linus from Linus tech tips would be a great person to ask for I know he does a bit of VR gaming when home with his kids. His community on his forums would also be great, so ask there.

Please login to see this link Get registered or Log in

Hope this helps.

Thanks. Will look into it and ask.