VirtualLink: next-gen VR over a single USB Type-C cable

NVIDIA, AMD, Valve, Oculus, and Microsoft team for VirtualLink, a new VR standard powered by a single USB Type-C connector.

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The VR market just got a whole lot more interesting over the last 24 hours, with a new consortium that involves NVIDIA, AMD, Valve, Oculus, and Microsoft introducing the new VirtualLink specification.

VirtualLink: next-gen VR over a single USB Type-C cable | TweakTown.com

VirtualLink is a new open standard for the next generation of VR headsets that will see the entire VR experience powered by a single USB Type-C connector, removing the current need of HDMI and multiple USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports for the HMD, cameras, sensors, and power.

VirtualLink uses a single USB Type-C connector that provide four high-speed HBR3 DisplayPort lanes, something that is future-proof for next-gen VR headsets. There's USB 3.1 data for high-res cameras and sensors, and a huge 27W of power on tap with the new VirtualLink specification.

The new VR standard was "purpose-built for VR" with optimizations for latency and the next-gen of VR headsets. All of the current VR headsets including the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive require multiple ports, with the Rift needing HDMI and USB while the HTC Vive requires HDMI, USB, and a power plug whilje the new HTC Vive Pro requires DisplayPort, USB, and power.

All of this is reduced to a single, super-thin USB Type-C cable which is quite the leap over current technology. But what graphics card will have that? Well, the rumors of NVIDIA's next-gen GeForce GTX 1180 including a new port exclusive for VR now makes sense. It seems NVIDIA will be the first to market with VirtualLink on its next-gen graphics card that is meant to be right around the corner.

NEWS SOURCE:roadtovr.com

Anthony joined the TweakTown team in 2010 and has since reviewed 100s of graphics cards. Anthony is a long time PC enthusiast with a passion of hate for games built around consoles. FPS gaming since the pre-Quake days, where you were insulted if you used a mouse to aim, he has been addicted to gaming and hardware ever since. Working in IT retail for 10 years gave him great experience with custom-built PCs. His addiction to GPU tech is unwavering and has recently taken a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.

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