With Windows Mixed Reality, you can experience VR worlds, VR games and immersive apps all from Windows 10. The headsets are relatively inexpensive (sometimes they can be found on offer for around $200), but before you buy you should check if your PC is up to the job.

In the Microsoft Store Microsoft have published a Windows 10 app checks the setup of your machine, it reports back if your system is able to run Windows Mixed Reality.

To get started first download the app from the Microsoft Store, then run the app and agree to the terms.

Your PC will check the specifications of your machine and the results should look something like this:

As you can see in the above example, my machine passed the spec but there is a warning that the 960M graphics card is below the recommended specifications. In fact my machine works pretty well with Windows Mixed Reality and only slowing down on some of the more taxing games.

Here is an example from my Surface Pro 4, which is not capable of running WMR:


Microsoft have two spec ratings, Windows Mixed Reality and Windows Mixed Reality Ultra. With Windows Mixed Reality Ultra you get a 90hz refresh rate rather than 60hz so the experience is smoother, you get wider viewing angle, screen minoring, video recorder and more.

Here are Microsoft’s recommended specs:

PC hardware guidelines

Windows Mixed Reality Windows Mixed Reality Ultra
Operating system Windows 10 Fall Creators Update Windows 10 Fall Creators Update
Processor Intel® Core™ i5 7200U (7th generation mobile), dual core with Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology enabled or better Intel® Core™ i5 4590 (4th generation desktop), quad core or better

AMD Ryzen 5 1400 3.4Ghz (desktop), quad core or better

RAM 8GB DDR3 dual channel 8GB DDR3 or better
Disk space 10 GB 10 GB
Graphics card Compatible GPUs:

  • Integrated Intel® HD Graphics 620 or greater DX12-capable integrated GPU
  • Nvidia MX150 discrete GPU
  • Nvidia 965M discrete GPU
Compatible GPUs:

  • NVidia GTX 960/1050 or greater DX12-capable discrete GPU
  • AMD RX 460/560 or greater DX12-capable discrete GPU
Graphics driver Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) 2.2 Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) 2.2
Graphics display port HDMI 1.4 or DisplayPort 1.2 HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort 1.2
Monitor External or integrated VGA (800×600) monitor External or integrated VGA (800×600) monitor
USB type USB 3.0 Type-A or Type-C USB 3.0 Type-A or Type-C
Bluetooth type (for controllers) Bluetooth 4.0 Bluetooth 4.0

Have a look at my review of the Lenovo Explorer Windows Mixed Reality Headset to see how well my Dell XPS 15.

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