Valve launches SteamVR Portal performance test demo

Remember last year when screenshots and videos of Valve's Aperture Science/Portal virtual reality demo started popping up on the web? Well, now you can download that demo for yourself as Valve has just released it as a SteamVR performance testing tool. The tool is obviously designed to rate your system performance and let you know if you are ready to run virtual reality games on the HTC Vive headset.

The SteamVR Performance Test measures your system's rendering power using a 2-minute sequence from Valves Aperture Robot Repair VR demo. After collecting the data, it determines whether your system is capable of running VR content at 90fps and whether VR content can tune the visual fidelity up to the recommended level. For machines that are not VR Ready, the tool can help determine whether capabilities are bound by Graphics Card, CPU, or both.

Early tests performed on a system featuring an Intel i7-6700K, 2x4GB DDR4-2666 RAM, Z170 motherboard and running Radeon Software 16.1.1/ NVIDIA 361.91 drivers on Windows 10 show that the GTX 980Ti and 2x Radeon R9 Nano get a top graphics score of 11, with the Radeon Fury X and Fury coming in at 9.6 and 9.2 respectively. The GTX 980 sits at 8.1, a single R9 Nano scores 8, the 390 X and 390 score 7.8 and 7 respectively and the GTX 970 scores a 6.5, according to AMD's own tests.

So if you are planning on picking up an HTC Vive for $800, then now you can check your system is up to scratch too if not, figure out where the bottleneck is. You can grab the tool on the Steam Store, HERE. 

KitGuru Says: While many had hoped that Valve's Portal VR demo would turn into a full-on game, it seems that for now it is just a benchmarking tool. Will any of you be downloading it later? Are any of you planning on jumping on VR this year? 

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