The PC adapter for PlayStation VR2 is available today, but it is not absolutely necessary for some graphics cards.
PlayStation VR2 PC adapter review: The bare minimum
The PlayStation VR2 PC adapter is available today and we’ve been testing it over the last few days. Here’s our take on PSVR 2 as a PC VR headset.
The adapter accommodates the PlayStation VR2’s single USB-C cable on one side. On the other side there is a fixed USB-A cable for your PC, a DisplayPort connector for your graphics card, and a DC power connector (a power adapter is included).
But NVIDIA and AMD already had a USB-C port in one generation of their graphics card series that supported DisplayPort, USB and up to 27 watts of power in a single connection. This was a new standard called VirtualLink, which was intended to provide a single port for connecting VR headsets without the problems often found with the cheap USB controllers on motherboards.
VirtualLink was available on some RTX 20-series and AMD RX 6000-series cards. On some cards like the RTX 2060 and RTX 2070, it was optional for manufacturers, while on the RTX 2080, RTX 2080 Ti, and Titan RTX, it was mandatory.
If your graphics card has a USB-C port, you have VirtualLink. To use PlayStation VR2 on PC, all you need to do is connect it and install the PlayStation VR2 app on Steam, which includes the SteamVR driver.
VirtualLink USB-C cable for Valve Index canceled, refunds issued
Valve has removed its VirtualLink cable for the Index VR headset and refunded customers. The USB-C-based connection between PC and VR headset would have offered more convenience with a single connection to the PC than the current solution. With the Valve Index, this means two connected cables
Unfortunately, despite initial support from Oculus, Valve, Microsoft, NVIDIA and AMD, VirtualLink was abandoned by 2020 and removed from subsequent graphics card generations.
So if you have an RTX 30 series, RX 7000 series or newer, you’ll have to shell out $60 for the adapter to use PlayStation VR2 on PC, plus about another $10 if you don’t have a spare DisplayPort cable lying around.
