USB-C AND VIRTUALLINK Supporting VR headsets on today’s PCs requires multiple cables to be connected between the headset and the system; a display cable to send image data from the GPU to the two displays in the headset, a cable to power the headset, and a USB connection to transfer camera streams and read back head pose information from the headset (to update frames rendered by the GPU). The number of cables can be uncomfortable for end users and limit their ability to move around when using the headset. Headset manufacturers need to accommodate the cables, complicating their designs and making them bulkier. To address this issue, Turing GPUs are designed with hardware support for USB Type-C™ and VirtualLink™.
VirtualLink is a new open industry standard that includes leading silicon, software, and headset manufacturers and is led by NVIDIA, Oculus, Valve, Microsoft, and AMD. VirtualLink has been developed to meet the connectivity requirements of current and nextgeneration VR headsets. VirtualLink employs a new alternate mode of USB-C, designed to deliver the power, display, and data required to power VR headsets through a single USB-C connector.
VirtualLink simultaneously supports four lanes of High Bit Rate 3 (HBR3) DisplayPort along with the SuperSpeed USB 3 link to the headset for motion tracking. In comparison, USB-C only supports four lanes of HBR3 DisplayPort OR two lanes of HBR3 DisplayPort + two lanes SuperSpeed USB 3. In addition to easing the setup hassles present in today’s VR headsets, VirtualLink will bring VR to more devices. A single connector solution brings VR to small form factor devices that can accommodate a single, small footprint USB-C connector (such as a thin and light notebook) rather than today’s VR infrastructure which requires a PC that can accommodate multiple connectors.