One of the reasons the Oculus Quest is the best VR headset for many is its versatility. We like its wireless freedom, but it can also be connected to a PC to play games available on the Rift (such as Half-Life: Alyx). Initially, a "high quality" USB 3.x cable was required, but a recent software update has relaxed the requirement, allowing the use of a regular USB 2.0 cable

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If you really need it, you can purchase a Link cable for $79. This is a USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-C cable, with a right-angle connector on one side, 5 meters long, but not entirely necessary.

The road to this point has been a little rough. As noted by UploadVR, which discovered this change in the latest software update, the cable included with the Quest is a USB 2.0 cord, which previously did not support Link functionality. The cable is even labeled as a mere "charging cable" to avoid the appearance that it can be used to effectively transform the Quest into a PC VR headset.

With the latest software update, it can now be used for exactly that purpose. We have not yet tested this, but both UploadVR and RoadtoVR have, and both say it works fine. The only disappointment is that it is only 3 meters long, although we've heard that if you attach a USB extender, which you can get for under $20, it works just fine.

Nevertheless, the Link software warns users that switching to a USB 3.x cable will improve performance. This is likely due to the added bandwidth; we found one person on Reddit who said he had problems getting Link to work with a USB 2.0 cable, but so far we have no other complaints.