Having the right specs is probably the most crucial step to enjoying VR gaming, as an underpowered rig can hinder even the highest-end VR headsets with decreased immersion, stuttering animation, and even motion sickness.

To help PC players know their rig’s limits, Nvidia has released FCAT VR – an extension of the tech company’s FCAT benchmarking software – to accurately track their machine’s VR performance.

Headsets like the Oculus Rift often synthesize frames of animation to keep up with the demands of VR – something other graphics benchmarks don’t always have an eye for. This is where FCAT VR shines, analyzing frame data for those synthesized frames and more.

All killer, no filler

While synthesized frames keep framerates steady and even lowers the minimum specs needed for certain VR hardware, it is no replacement for a computer rendering each frame on its own for silky-smooth, speedy performance.

FCAT VR looks at these frames to analyze how often the hardware synthesizes frames (or drops them entirely) and gauging how reliable the GPU is for VR gaming, as explained by Nvidia’s own Tom Peterson in this video below: