88 Reviews teardown

Virtual reality gaming has been ‘the next big thing’ for
decades. Lots of things have held it back though,
including, perhaps most of all, price.

Oculus Rift 3D gaming head-mounted display

1 2

7
4 6

3 5
4

4 8

Exploded view
1 Lens mounting
2 Headset
3 LCD board
4 Lenses (multiple options)
5 Adjacent Reality Tracker board
6 Control Box board
7 Lens mounting cover

9
8 Control Box container

Adjacent Reality Tracker board

10
9 Gyro/accelerometer Invensense
10 Microcontroller ST Microelectronics
11 Magnetometer

11
iFixit

Engineering & Technology June 2013 www.EandTmagazine.com

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 89
Main coMponents
Ocular rift virtual reality gaming
Component Supplier Part No
LCD Display
Display Chimel Innolux HJ070IA-02D
Timing controller Himax HX8851
.
Active Reality Tracker
Microcontroller STMicroelectronics 32F103C8
Gyro/accelerometer Invensense MPU-6000
Magnetometer COTS A983 2206
Control Box
Display interface Realtek RTD2486AD
controller

While virtual reality the company adds: “if you Serial flash memory Winbond W25X20CL
gaming is yet to leave the starting absolutely must have one, please Step-down converter Techcode TD1484A
blocks, 3D games are gaining understand that the developer
traction. ever-cheaper displays kits are more or less early Games developer
provide a more immersive way prototypes of the consumer Valve Corporation has
incorporated Rift-VR into
to play games and watch movies version and with very limited its ‘Team Fortress 2’ game
or sport on flat panels. the software/game support when
next generation of dedicated they ship. So if you’re not a
games consoles will inevitably developer or hardcore
include more 3D games, enthusiast, sit tight for now.”
something that is generating So, this very hefty caveat
interest among developers aside, what did the iFixit team
and driving down cost. discover?
the move towards multicore First, as you might expect,
processing has helped. Multicore they found the developer version
is very much about exploiting very easy to take apart, giving it
parallelism, and graphics has a 9/10 repairability score. it is
long been a good place to do that. inevitable that developers will
So, rather than being an want to look more closely
outlandish prospect, the 3D vr under-the-hood than consumer
headset is the natural users, however, so we will have to
progression of the market. the wait and see if a screwdriver, fate in the consumer market. already done this for ‘team
Oculus rift headset tells us how some basic plastic case-opening the 1,000hz ‘adjacent reality Fortress 2’, and Ocular vr’s GDC
PC gaming will respond to the tools and a coin will do the job tracker’ comprises principally demo ran ‘hawken’ from
next versions of the PlayStation, then. an StMicroelectronics arM adhesive Games. More than 30
Xbox and Wii. From a component design Cortex-M3, an invensense games are already said to have
the rift, offered by start-up point of view, one especially six-axis (gyro and accelerometer) committed to the technology.
Oculus vr, has whipped up a lot striking thing about the rift is motion-tracking controller, and a to woo these partners will be
of interest following the extensive use of commercial part that iFixit believes to be a key to keeping the cost of all
appearances at this year’s off-the-shelf hardware. the three-axis magnetometer, “used PC-based vr gaming headsets
international CeS and the Game display is a 7in lCD from Chimel in conjunction with the down. having the heavy graphics
Developer Conference. the latter innolux, taiwan’s largest lCD accelerometer to correct for lifting to deliver the separate
reportedly had two-hour long manufacturer. it is thought to be gyroscope drift”. images done in the PC will also
queues for a demo of the 379g a replacement source for apple’s a separate control box links help. this exploits the kind of
head-mounted display. iPad Mini screens. alongside it is the rift to a PC. this includes powerful graphic processors now
the version of the rift a himax notebook/tablet timing hDMi, Dvi and uSB input ports available from aMD, intel,
dissected by iFixit, specialists on controller. as well as the DC power port. the nvidia and others. and the
device repair, is the developer remember, though, this is only rift outputs video in Dvi, and the economics favour this model.
kit. Several thousand have the developer kit. the current box carries out the conversion PC gamers will buy new
already been sent out to leading display resolution is 1280×800px from hDMi delivered by the PC. machines as frequently as every
games software companies, and overall, and given the need in the heavy lifting for that is 18-24 months to take advantage
another batch is due in June. stereoscopic mode to deliver two carried out by a realtek display of the latest Moore’s law-fuelled
however, in its current images (left and right), that interface controller. also present advances in processing. By
incarnation – and given the makes for an effective 640×800px are 256KB of serial flash from contrast, the console market is
developer support it contains – per eye. the number is lower Winbond and a techcode looking at a much longer refresh
the price tag is $300. than for other rival 3D headsets, tD1484a synchronous rectified rate – Sony CeO Kaz hirai has
the consumer version will be and Oculus vr is targeting at step-down converter. talked of successive generations
cheaper. “Our goal is to deliver least 1920×1080px (960×1080px it may be a little early to see of the PlayStation having
the highest quality virtual per eye) for the consumer the rift as part of an expected decade-long lifespans.
reality experience at a price that version. the new display is gaming trend, but it is worth For PlayStations, Wiis and
everyone can afford,” reads the already an upgrade from one that noting that its extensive use of Xboxes, then, this implies
Oculus vr website, alongside a featured on the early stage commercial off-the-shelf parts that while peripherals that
warning that Joe Public should prototype. reflects an expected divergence launch alongside a new console
restrain any early adopter urges however, the hardware guts of between the PC and console will be well-matched to that
as best they can. the rift are the three chips that peripherals market after all the console’s hardware, those that
“the consumer product will power its all-important new generation games machines follow later will likely need to
improve on almost every aspect head-tracking software. this are in place. incorporate more processing
of the developer kit, which is allows the user to walk through the whole point of this themselves, inevitably
essentially an early prototype of and look from side-to-side in the version of the rift is to get the kit raising the retail price tag.
the consumer version. this gaming environment with a near as well as the hardware into the as noted, it may be too early to
includes comfort, immersion, 90-degree field of view. Just how hands of games developers and draw this contrast now, but a
features, software support, etc smooth and responsive this convince them to incorporate vr commercial-off-the-shelf
for the absolute best virtual technology is, as well as price, modes within their games. One foundation in PC gaming is likely
reality experience possible.” will determine the rift’s ultimate company, valve Corporation, has to make sense in both the near

www.EandTmagazine.com June 2013 Engineering & Technology

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