Valve formally unveils Index, its new £919 high-end virtual reality PC hardware

After much teasing and leaking, Valve has formally unveiled Index, its brand-new high-end virtual reality PC hardware. Pre-orders open tomorrow, May 1st, and it's out in June.

Index, which is being pitched toward more demanding VR users, consists of three new parts: the Index headset, the Index controllers, and new 2.0 base stations. While Facebook's recently announced Oculus Rift S utilises internal tracking, Valve has opted for an external tracking solution in Index, as it doesn't believe (it told Polygon) that headsets with built-in sensors are "there yet".

The Index headset features dual 1440x1600 RGB LCDs (compared to the original Vive's combined 2160×1200 resolution and Oculus Rift S's single 2560×1440 LCD panel), and promises "greater sharpness for the same rendering cost", as well as greatly reduced 'screen door' effect. It will run at 120Hz, but is fully back-compatibility to Vive's 90Hz (in contrast, the new Rift S supports 80Hz) and promises 20-degrees more Field of View than Vive.

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