How to Tell if Your PC is Ready for Quest Link & Air Link

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Meta Horizon Link and Air Link allows you to use your Quest headset to play PC VR games, opening up a world of high quality content that you simply won’t find on the Quest Store. Here’s a breakdown of the Link and Air Link recommended system requirements and hardware specs, and what you’ll need to use everything from the original Quest to Quest 3S to play Rift and SteamVR games on your PC.

Updated – July 30th, 2026

Looking to make your Quest 3 gaming experience even better? Don’t miss our top picks for the most essential Quest 3 accessories.

Recommended PC Specs for Meta Horizon Link & Air Link

You’ll need a reasonably powerful PC to play Rift and Steam games on Quest via Link & Air Link, though many modern gaming PCs with NVIDIA or AMD graphics cards will fit the bill.

Here’s the PC hardware you’ll need for Quest, Quest 2, Quest Pro, Quest 3 and Quest 3S to work on PC. Notably, neither Intel Arc GPUs nor workstation GPUs are supported.

Meta Horizon Link & Air Link Compatible Graphics Cards

GPU	Supported	Not Currently Supported
NVIDIA Titan Z
NVIDIA Titan X
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (desktop, 3GB)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (desktop, 6GB)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060M
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (all)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (all)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Super
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20/30*/40/50 series (all)
AMD 200 Series
AMD 300 Series
AMD 400 Series
AMD 500 Series
AMD 5000 Series
AMD 6000 Series*
AMD 7000 Series
AMD 8000 Series
AMD 9000 Series
AMD Vega Series

*NVIDIA 3050 (laptop) and 3050ti GPUs are not recommended for use with Link
*Radeon RX 6500 is not recommended for use with Link

Horizon Link & Air Link CPU, RAM, USB, and Operating System Recommended System Requirements

	Recommended Specs
Processor	Intel i7 / AMD Ryzen 7 or greater
Memory	16GB+ RAM
Operating System	Windows 10+
USB Ports	1x USB-C port (unless using Air Link)

Horizon Link vs. Air Link

What’s the difference between Horizon Link and Air Link? Horizon Link uses a cable to connect your headset directly to your PC. This will generally result in the best visual performance, and in most cases it will let your headset’s battery last significantly longer than if you use Air Link.

Air Link is the same feature as Horizon Link, except wireless. If you have an ideal network configuration, Air Link can be a great way to easily play PC games wirelessly with Quest. Without an ideal network configuration, you might have issues with Air Link (like lag or low quality visuals).

Tethered: Horizon Link Cable

Horizon Link technically works with any USB cable, including the one that comes in the box with Quest, but without a fairly long cable you won’t have much room to move around. If you’re only planning to play seated games like racing or flying sims, you can probably get by with the included cable, but you’ll probably want to buy a dedicated cable that’s long enough that you can really spread your virtual wings.

An inexpensive option is to combine this Anker 10ft USB 3.0 cable with this CableCreation 16ft USB 3.0 extender for a total of 26 feet for under $40 from Amazon.

Alternatively, Meta sells a lighter (but much more expensive) 16ft USB 3.0 Horizon Link cable for $80, also available on Amazon.

Whether you pick a third-party USB 3.0 cable or Meta’s own cable, both will give you the same visual experience when used with Meta Link.

Wireless: Air Link Network Recommendations

You’ll need a properly configured network for Air Link to deliver a good wireless PC VR experience. Here’s what to do to ensure the best performance:

• PC connected to router/access-point via Ethernet cable
• Router supporting Wi-Fi 5 (also called 802.11AC) or Wi-Fi 6 / Wi-Fi 6E (also called 802.11AX)
• Headset connected to 5GHz Wi-Fi band
• Router in the same room as the headset or in line-of-sight, and at least 1m off the ground
• Don’t use a mesh network configuration (extenders, etc)

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Steam Frame Launch Looks Imminent Following FCC Certification

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The launch of Steam Frame has grown tantalizing close following the publication of documents from the FCC showing the headset has cleared required regulatory certification.

We still don’t have an exact release date for Steam Frame, but now we know it’s one huge step closer to actually launching: regulatory documentation and approvals from the FCC were published in the last 24 hours.

The FCC is tasked with certifying products with electromagnetic emissions to be safe and compatible with regulations. Products utilizing radio, WiFi, infrared, etc. need certification before they can be distributed for sale. Certification by the FCC marks one step closer to the launch of a consumer electronics product.

Testing documentation for Steam Frame, which goes by the model number 1015, was submitted beginning in May. But it was only made public following the official stamp of approval from the FCC, called the ‘Grant of Equipment Authorization‘, which occured in the last 24 hours. Steam Frame could not legally be sold in the US before receiving these approvals, though it isn’t clear if this was the thing blocking the headset from launching any sooner.

We’re still waiting for Valve to make an official announcement about the launch of Steam Frame, which we expect will roll out similarly to the launch of Steam Machine last month.

While we’ve had extensive hands-on time with the headset and know the major specs and details, the one big unknown is how much it will actually cost. This might be your last chance to make a guess on the price of Steam Frame in the comments below, and lock in your “I told you so” claim for all to see.

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SideQuest is Reviving Microsoft’s Social VR Platform ‘Altspace’ This Fall

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The team behind SideQuest, Quest’s alternative app library, announced it’s bringing Microsoft’s social VR platform AltspaceVR (2015) back from the dead.

The News

Initially released in 2015 and then acquired by 2017 by Microsoft, Altspace was one of the first successful social VR platforms, launching across PC VR headsets, Samsung Gear VR, Oculus Go, and both Quest and Quest 2.

In early 2023 however, Microsoft announced it was shuttering Altspace in a bid to shuttle resources to its cloud-based mixed reality collaboration platform, Microsoft Mesh, which was subsequently deprecated in 2025 and parted out to Microsoft Teams.

Now, SideQuest CEO and founder Shane Harris reveals in a Reddit post the company has acquired the rights to the Altspace name, noting it will be “a brand new Altspace” for a modern audience as well as “a spiritual successor to the Altspace we know and love and capture what made it great.”

Check out Altspace’s final moment below, courtesy ‘Vitua Zone’:

Harris reveals SideQuest will be re-launching Altspace with many of the same features and functionality the app had circa 2016-2017, further noting he’s assembled a team of previous Altspace staffers and “some of the most prolific OG players” to help shape the platform.

One such re-hire is Christian Boe, the original concept designer behind the original robots in Altspace, which were discontinued in favor of human-only avatars, which means the new Altspace will most definitely feature robot avatars of some sort in addition to custom avatars, Harris says.

Harris maintains we’ll hear regular updates and developer insight in the coming weeks and months.

My Take

Altspace likely shut down for a myriad of reasons, although one of the biggest is it never actually monetized; in its eight years of existence the platform never featured an in-world economy or creator marketplace, and its avatar system was decidedly much more ‘off the shelf’ than something like VRChat, which lets you upload, sell, or style your avatar in any way imaginable.

Starting Altspace back up, and importantly employing those people who helped define the platform in the first place, is a giant win, although being able to pick up where they left off and find an economic model that benefits both players and creators alike will be a tall order.

Still, there must be some contingent of VR-using Rec Room refugees out there looking for a platform that isn’t VRChat, and Altspace may try to fill that gap. Whatever the case, getting back to its roots means putting on a lot of events to attract regular users.

For all of the team’s know-how though, relaunching Altspace is roughly like starting from scratch with the new generation of younger players, as even in 2023 Altspace had waned a lot since its heyday in 2016-2017. I’d like to hope they can also attract back a bulk of the OG users too looking for that socially tame sweet spot Altspace seemed to fill so well.

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‘VRChat’ Competitor ‘Somnium Space’ Releases Biggest Update Yet Ahead of Return to Steam

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Social VR platform Somnium Space is rolling out its biggest update yet, which aims to bring major improvements across the entire platform ahead of its planned release on Steam Frame and Apple Vision Pro.

The News

Somnium Space’s v3.1.6 update is slated to rollout today, bringing to the social VR platform a number of quality of life features that could put it more on par with its main competitor, VRChat.

Arguably the most important feature to the update is how it handles World Instances, which now supports a wider degree of privacy, including friends instances, friends+ private instances, paid instances, and PIN-protected instances. Previously, Somnium Space was largely built around a persistent shared world. That essentially means instead of every event existing in one open space, communities can now have private concerts, classrooms, meetings, paid events, and moderated gatherings.

You can check out all of that and more in Somnium Space’s v3.1.6 update video below:

The update also includes a major creator upgrade with server-side scripting, which aims to lower the barrier for creators by removing local installation requirements.

A big chunk of the update is however dedicated to the much less glamorous task of smoothing out essential infrastructure. The v3.1.6 update redesigns a host of systems, including friends, favorites, bubble chat, moderation tools, blocked users, global chat, and improved voice reliability.

Meanwhile, desktop support seems to be getting a lot more focus, as the update includes better onboarding, movement, sprinting, controller support, and Inspector functionality, which seemingly aims to expand Somnium Space beyond its hardcore PC VR audience.

Notably, Somnium Space is slated to launch on Steam with full Steam Deck support in the near future, with versions for Steam Frame and Apple Vision Pro set to follow. The Steam re-release, which comes after more than five year’s of absence on the store, is also slated to include the company’s signature user ID system, which ensures all users are verified as being over 18.

My Take

TL;DR: Somnium Space is looking to cement itself further as an alternative to VRChat for niche adult communities. The platform’s crypto ambitions are still unclear though, since re-launching on Steam will mean it needs to comply with Valve’s blanket ban on NFTs and crypto.

I don’t know anything about Somnium Space’s financials, so it’s difficult to tell whether the update and eventual rollout on Steam means it’s at crossroads or not. Companies can push right along with planned releases and features one day, and then the next say they have to close up shop due to lack of funding, like Rec Room did, which closed in June. That’s more of a warning that the space as a whole is dangerous right now, and not an assumption of what Somnium Space is or isn’t facing internally.

What is certain: Somnium Space isn’t Rec Room, or VRChat for that matter, as the app prides itself on verifying the identity and age of each user to ensure absolutely no children are allowed. Its planned release on Apple Vision Pro and Steam Frame will also be its first version available for standalone devices—notably missing is a dedicated Quest version.

Also certain: For a time, Somnium Space was all about cryptocurrency and NFTs. In October 2019, the platform auctioned off virtual land in an initial NFT offering, leading to the release of the platform’s token CUBE a year later. With the platform allowing for free, private instances, all of that means a lot less than it used to, especially since the platform is making a bid to return to Steam after its delisting amid Valve’s crypto games purge in 2021.

And it will be interesting to see how the platform detangles from this overtly crypto-forward architecture when that day comes.

In the meantime, the next challenge is attracting and retaining enough creators and users to take advantage of the improvements seen in v3.1.6, which nowadays could be harder than ever.

Love it or hate it though, Somnium Space is one of the most technically ambitious PC VR social platforms out there. That, and it’s strong creator tools and a team that so far hasn’t let up on its continuous development, could mean it’s looking to further cement its lead as the premier ‘no kids’ social platform as enthusiasts become a bigger relative percentage amid consumer slowdown.

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Meta’s First Thin & Light VR Headset Reportedly Appears in User Setup Video Ahead of Connect

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A user setup video has reportedly surfaced of Meta’s long-rumored thin and light VR headset, suggesting we may see its official unveiling at Connect in September.

The News

The images below reveal a blurry look at what is unmistakably Meta’s upcoming puck-tethered VR headset, which has been referred by number of internal codenames over the years: Puffin, Loma, and now Phoenix.

Courtesy ‘ToastConcern’

Courtesy ‘ToastConcern’

Courtesy ‘ToastConcern’

Courtesy ‘ToastConcern’

First discovered by X user ‘ToastConcern‘ in Quest’s firmware, the images above are actually screenshots of the device’s initial setup video, captured in full by ‘NoriDoesVR‘. See the full video below:

I managed to get the updated device fit and eye tracking setup to work on my headset!

This is not 100% accurate, as I had to make some tweaks to get it working, but this represents some of Meta's WIP NUX for Phoenix :3 https://t.co/jyNtBcOkLU pic.twitter.com/k5aObbt2cE

— Nori (@noridoesvr) July 29, 2026

As confirmed in the work-in-progress video, Phoenix features a slim, almost glasses-like profile, independent lens spacing, removable nose clips for individual user comfort, and built-in hand and eye-tracking. More importantly, it’s said to feature a tethered compute puck, which offloads the bulk of the weight from the user’s head.

While those images of Phoenix are intentionally blurry, it’s very similar to a render generated by data miner and serial leaker ‘Luna‘, which was based off their impressions of the device.

Meta “Phoenix’ render | Courtesy ‘Luna’

Considering Meta is now just including user setup content in Quest’s firmware, it looks increasingly possible the company is hoping to unveil it at its annual Connect developer event.

Connect is set to kick of on September 23–24, 2026. While the company teased what seems to be a new pair of smart glasses, the event is also focusing on “the latest in VR, wearables, metaverse, and AI.”

My Take

TL;DR: Meta has taken its past failures and largely translated them into wins, although I’m still skeptical that the component crisis hasn’t introduced more friction in VR hardware development than Meta can reasonably stomach.

According to a previous report from The Wall Street Journal last year, Meta was internally hoping to price Phoenix somewhere under $1,000. Considering both RAM and storage have skyrocketed since this time last year, and now Qualcomm chips are getting a price hike too, Meta’s next premium VR headset may be particularly premium, which could be setting the company up for another uphill battle.

That said, higher component prices are a new level of friction is affecting almost every company right now hoping to release something that doesn’t cost the equivalent of a black market kidney, Steam Frame included.

Anyway, here’s how Meta’s strategy stands today, at least according to previous rumors and reports: in addition to Phoenix, Meta is still reworking its Quest 4 strategy, which could conceptually put the two devices in different segments—a high-end device for prosumers and professionals (Phoenix), and the lower-end console for consumers (Quest 4). This is essentially the same strategy Meta tried when it first offered Quest Pro, but failed at fairly quickly, so it’s not without risk.

Quest Pro | Courtesy Meta

Don’t get me wrong. Quest Pro was a great first-gen device for 2022, but it was expensive at the launch price of $1,500. Meta eventually realized this, lowered the price to $1,000 and accelerated the launch of Quest 3, which not only subsumed a lot of Quest Pro’s abilities (minus the eye-tracking) but did it at a third of the price. It turned a failure into a quick win.

With Phoenix though, Meta has an opportunity to offer a real productivity device, owing to its small form-factor and focus on long-term user comfort. But if Meta can’t capitalize on Phoenix, it’s possible consumers may not see the downstream effects like it did when Quest Pro gave up the ghost and Quest 3 and Quest 3S took its place.

Can Meta pull it off again? I’m skeptical. Meta could decide tomorrow it simply doesn’t care about consumer VR headsets, cancelling any affordable Quest successor and favoring productivity-focused VR from now on. I certainly hope that isn’t the case, although it’s pretty evident at this point we’re in the middle of a VR winter in terms of content development, which could stymy consumer engagement and attraction in the future.

That said, Meta has proven itself agile enough in the past to make it work either way. The company has a history of releasing VR devices that typically take on multiple purposes after the fact, and end up serving their next hardware strategy, “failure” or not.

Oculus Quest (left), Rift S (right) | Courtesy Meta

Some increasingly ancient-feeling history: released in 2019, Oculus Rift S was a marked improvement over the original Oculus Rift CV 1, which had arrived three years prior. Rift S not only allowed Meta (then Facebook) to appeal to upgraders looking for a new headset within the same PC VR ecosystem, but also extract as much money from Rift’s back catalogue of apps before giving up on PC VR gaming entirely, as the company moved on to largely concentrate on developing its Quest standalone platform. Whether that was the intention or not doesn’t really matter; the company had a strategy that allowed it to capitalize on the launch of one piece of hardware to benefit the next.

The same happened with Quest. Launching alongside Rift S, the original Oculus Quest performed well enough, although it lacked power, couldn’t play the same games as Rift without a tether, and was priced at $400 for the 64GB—three areas Quest 2 would immediately improve upon a short year later, culminating in the company’s best-selling VR headset to date. The original Quest was a glorified developer kit.

Whatever the case, we’re sure to learn something about Meta’s future VR strategy at Connect in a few weeks, and possibly sooner, as the company has a pretty terrible track record at keeping anything but its most sacred one-off prototypes under wraps.

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Qualcomm is Reportedly Raising Chip Prices and Steam Frame Could Feel the Impact

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Besides being the world’s biggest smartphone chipmaker, Qualcomm is also the number one supplier of processors for nearly all standalone VR headsets on the market today. According to a Bloomberg report, those chips could be getting a lot more expensive.

The News

According to email seen by Bloomberg sent to customer on Friday, Qualcomm is slated to raise chip prices by a percentage in the double digits, set to take effect September 1st, 2026.

Qualcomm explained in the letter that, despite its best efforts to secure alternative components from new sources, the company can no longer absorb higher costs from suppliers.

This adds to the already beleaguered RAM and storage crisis largely caused by the uptick in AI data center construction, which has seen consumer electronics skyrocket in price.

Courtesy Valve

As Bloomberg points out, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has become the major chokepoint, as the it’s a major provider for outsourced chipmaking, with customers including Qualcomm, Samsung, Xiaomi, and Meta.

Outside of Apple Vision Pro, which is based on Apple-developed silicon, most standalone VR headsets rely on Qualcomm chips, including a slate of upcoming devices.

Valve’s Steam Frame is likely to be affected alongside other standalone VR headsets centered around Qualcomm SoCs, with Pico’s ‘Project Swan’ compute puck-tethered headset and undoubtedly also Meta’s next headset in the crosshairs too.

My Take

With rapidly raising component costs now including mobile processors, consumer VR is probably going to be even more difficult to price aggressively in the near future. Most worrying to me is Steam Frame, which Valve still hasn’t given a price or release date yet.

It’s impossible to say whether Qualcomm’s price hike is the main reason why this is the case, but you can bet Valve is now having to think long and hard about how to rolls out the headset, which could be any day now.

I see it going one of a few ways: Valve could eat the cost and make a little less money. Valve could raise its internal price target (again) and sell at its new expected price target. Valve could also raise the headset’s price shortly after launch with a big “sorry guys, we tried” letter to the community. Whatever the case, Frame’s bill of goods has effectively just increased a few more dollars thanks to its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

That’s in the near term. In the longer term, I’d expect the price hike to touch smart glasses, AR glasses, as well as in-development VR headsets—with all constituent companies probably now having to weigh whether they really actually need a cutting edge processor to meet market expectations.

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Immersed Says It’s Finally Getting Ready to Ship ‘Visor’ VR Headset

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XR startup Immersed announced it’s nearing launch of its long-promised work-focused standalone VR headset, Visor.

The News

Immersed sent out an email (courtesy Reddit user ‘aline-works’) to pre-order customers over the weekend announcing that the company is locking in shipping timelines.

Next month, the company says we can expect an update that will “cover where we are on the production ramp and what to expect next for your pre-order.”

The company says that due to the global component crisis, which has seen RAM and storage skyrocket in price, Visor is raising its floor price of $500 (Standard 4K Edition) to $700 for pre-order customers and purchasers after July 31st.

As a work-focused standalone VR headset based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chipset, Visor boasts dual 4K microOLED displays, hand & eye tracking, color passthrough, 6 DoF tracking, and an included three-hour extended battery.

Pre-production unit (circa 2024) | Courtesy Eric Liga

Notably, the $800 Founder’s Edition, which will see the same $200 bump later this month, is said to ship “6 months before Standard Visor 4K,” the company maintains on the headset’s pre-order page, which could point to at least those customers receiving headsets in the near future.

That price however doesn’t include the required ‘Visor Plus’ subscription, which is an additional $40 per month for a 24 month period, or $60 per month for 12 months. This also includes access to the company’s own ‘Curator Professional AI Assistant’.

The shipping update has been a long time coming. Immersed began taking pre-orders in September 2023. In October 2024, Immersed said the hardware was largely complete, but it wanted more time to improve quality control and polish the overall experience rather than rush Visor.

Then, in March 2025, In the company issued its second shipping update wherein Immersed said the shipment of the more expensive Founder’s Edition Visors would be “another month or two,” as the fulfillment schedule was then on “the order of weeks, not quarters.”

That post was subsequently edited, walking back the shipping quote, instead noting that “[p]rogress continues on Founder’s Edition deliveries as we work through fulfillment.”

My Take

Immersed has attracted a bulk of its $38 million runway from pre-IPO crowd investment, with only $4.5 million coming from traditional VCs. That’s a substantial amount of good will in Immersed’s ability to deliver, or at least enough people who believe they’re getting in on the ground floor of the next big thing.

But now approaching late 2026, the landscape is changing. Sometime this year we’ll be getting Valve’s Steam Machine, admittedly not a work-focused thin and light headset like Visor. And at some point, Pico will also release its Project Swan puck-tethered thin and light headset; rumors also allege Meta is cooking up its own puck-tethered competitor for release in 2027, codenamed ‘Phoenix’.

Besides Steam Frame, Pico and Meta’s headsets are likely gunning for the productivity segment too. And even if either company markets more toward gaming, the overlap in function between them is bound to draw direct comparisons, which simply wouldn’t have been the case in 2024.

Still, and it’s unfortunate to say, in the current VR funding hellscape, now more than ever, we really need to see it to believe it.

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