By itself the Oculus Rift headset priced at $599 isn’t cheap, but from the beginning we also knew that only a powerful PC would be capable of running the VR headset. Oculus has now announced that it will sell Rift bundles along with Oculus-ready PCs starting February 16, 8 am Pacific Time, and as we expected the whole package is what one might call a high-end purchase.

Asus, Alienware and Dell will be the first to join with Oculus, although more companies will will be coming soon, according to Oculus. Pre-orders will be available from Best Buy, Amazon and the Microsoft Store.

At the lower-end a bundle and PC will set you back $1,499 for the Asus Tower (Skylake Intel Core i5 processor, Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 graphics card), while if you’re prepared to splash-out $3,149 you can get Dell’s Alienware Area 51 (Intel Core i7 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 graphics card).Included in all packages is a headset, sensor, remote, an Xbox One controller, EVE: Valkyrie Founder’s Pack, and Lucky’s Tale!

The point of course in purchasing one of the bundles is not just getting the right machine but saving some money, and consumers can expect to save from $100-$200 depending on which bundle they buy.

If you’ve already put in your pre-order for the Rift headset alone, Oculus has said that unbundled PCs will be available at discount prices from its website come February 16. The headset looks to be shipping March 28^th, yet the release date for the bundles will be April 23 according to Amazon and Best Buy’s websites. Oculus also stated that, “Oculus Ready and Rift bundles will ship in limited quantities to select countries and regions.”

If you think your PC might already meet the Rift’s requirements, you can make sure by checking the recommended system specifications on the Oculus website, or by downloading the Oculus compatibility tool.

Photo credit: Maurizio Pesce via Flickr