EVGA outs GeForce GTX 980 Ti VR Edition

Nvidia partner EVGA has announced the launch of its GeForce GTX 980 Ti VR Edition graphics card, featuring front-mounted ports for ease of connection to virtual reality headsets.

While virtual reality is looking more convincingly like it will go mainstream than during any other attempt in history, the technology is still relatively inaccessible. The devices that are due to launch in the near future, including the Oculus Rift, are priced firmly at the top end of the enthusiast market and require a relatively hefty gaming PC to meet their minimum requirements. While only time and the march of technology will address the pricing issue, EVGA is looking to make installation as simple as possible with its latest GeForce GTX 980 Ti card.

Designed specifically for driving virtual reality hardware, the company's latest card comes bundled with a 5.25" drive bay adapter featuring front-facing HDMI 2.0 and USB 3.0, connecting to an internal HDMI port on the graphics card and the motherboard's USB 3.0 header respectively. Through this, the company boasts, it's possible to have neater cable management, gain a few extra inches on the cables, and easily connect and disconnect the headset without having to go around the back of your system.

The specifications of the card, too, are designed to exceed the official requirements of current-generation virtual reality hardware. The GTX 980 Ti GPU is joined by 6GB of GDDR5 memory and cooled by EVGA's latest ACX 2.0+ cooler design, claimed to offer reduced fan noise and higher overclocking headroom than a stock cooler.

While EVGA has described the card as 'launched,' it has yet to provide pricing or availability information - but expect to pay the usual early-adopter premium over existing GeForce GTX 980 Ti designs. Details other than pricing are available from the official product page.