Whether you want to keep your gaming PC in a different room than where you use your Oculus Rift, or you just have a large space to cover for your room-scale VR activities, you might be looking to extend the cables on the headset and to the external sensors. Luckily, it'll only cost you about $20 to get everything ordered for the headset, and about that much again to extend each sensor.
Products used in this guide
- Quality HDMI cable: Monoprice 6-foot HDMI extension ($13 at Amazon)
- Headset USB-A cable: UGREEN 6-foot USB-A extension ($7 at Amazon)
- Long USB-A cable: Monoprice 15-foot USB-A active extension ($20 at Amazon)
How to extend your Oculus Rift headset
Your Oculus Rift requires an HDMI extension cable and a USB-A extension cable to connect to your PC. In this case, we're using a 6-foot HDMI extension from Monoprice and a 6-foot USB-A extension from UGREEN.
- Plug the male cable ends from the Rift into the female ends on the extension cables.
- Plug the extensions into your PC.
You'll have now added six feet to the reach of your Oculus Rift head-mounted display (HMD).
How to extend your Oculus Rift sensors
Extra sensors purchased after the initial Oculus Rift package come with a 16-foot extension cable, but you can also extend your original sensors with the 15-foot active USB-A extension from Monoprice.
- Plug the male cable end from the sensor into the female end on the extension cable.
- Plug the extension into your PC.
Your sensor will now have an extra 15 feet to work with, which in most cases should be more than enough when setting up a room-scale Rift experience.
Our top equipment picks
Here's the stuff you need to complete the steps in this guide. These cables have been tested to work with the Oculus Rift.
HDMI extension
Monoprice 6-foot HDMI cable
For your headset's HDMI cable
Adding six feet to the HDMI cable on your Rift can make a big difference, especially when enjoying a room-scale experience in a large play area.
Suggested by Oculus and tested by plenty of Rift users, this 6-foot HDMI cable from Monoprice should have no issues with your headset. It's the same length as the USB cable we also recommend, so there won't be any mismatch.
USB-A extension
UGREEN 6-foot USB-A cable
For your headset's USB cable
Your Rift HMD has two cables connecting back to your PC, so make sure you grab this extension as well as the HDMI extension.
The Monoprice cable we originally suggested went way up in price, but luckily UGREEN makes a 6-foot USB-A extension as well that's been tested and confirmed to work with the Rift HMD.
USB-A extension
Monoprice 15-foot USB-A active cable
For your sensor's USB cable
Reaching your sensors to their optimal positions in your VR play space might likewise require an extension cable, and this is the one to buy.
It's cheap, it's suggested by Oculus, and it's been tested to confirm it works with Rift sensors. It's also about 15 feet in length, which is no doubt more than enough to hit the back and corners of your VR room.
Additional Equipment
If you're looking for some Oculus Rift accessories to take VR to the next level, we've rounded up a bunch of the best out there, with wireless adapters and stands to hygiene solutions. Here are some of our favorites.
Energizer rechargeable batteries
The Touch controllers included with the Rift each require a AA battery to operate and, speaking from experience, you're going to want to invest early in some rechargeable batteries to save money in the long run. This pack includes a wall charger that can handle four AAs at once, so you shouldn't have any downtime while waiting for a charge.
SecurOMax microfiber cloths
There's nothing worse than foggy or dirty Rift S lenses. They obstruct your ability to focus on the action in the headset properly, and frankly, they're just gross. These cloths from SecurOMax won't scratch your headset's lenses and you'll be glad you have them on hand after a couple of sessions.
Oculus Rift earphones
The earphones that Oculus offers are super easy to install; you just unscrew the headphones and screw the earphones into their place. The whole process takes about three minutes, and after you'll have earbuds that actually stay in your ear, even when you're in the middle of an intense game. They're designed to fit into your ear from the top down, so there's no awkward cable management.