Accell Cables, a provider of adapters, cables, and power supplies, is launching a VR adapter which condenses a headset’s cables into a single USB-C cable (for USB-C equipped GPUs) and extends the tether.

The upcoming Accell VR Adapter accepts the HDMI and USB-A cables from the Rift or Windows VR headsets and condenses them into a single USB-C cable to be attached to any USB-C equipped NVIDIA RTX GPU, and also some NVIDIA laptop GPUs with USB-C compatibility. Accell does not note support for any AMD GPUs.

For those running short on USB and video ports, the adapter could free up two commonly used ports in favor of the less often used GPU USB-C port. In addition to simplifying the connection to the PC, the Accell VR Adapter also has an extra eight feet of cable, offering a lengthy extension over the default tether (which runs around 13 feet).

The adapter sports an Oculus Ready certification, marking it as officially compatible with the Rift, though the company also says that it’s compatible with Windows VR headsets. Vive is not mentioned as being supported, likely because it requires a separate power adapter.

Accell says that the adapter will launch on January 14th for $50, available from Amazon and direct from the company’s site.

Image courtesy Accell

You may be curious as we were about whether or not the Accell VR Adapter is using the VirtualLink protocol, which is also based on USB-C. We’ve confirmed this is not the case; Accell notes that the adapter uses a standard DisplayPort Alt-mode of USB-C rather than VirtualLink which is a separate Alt-mode with a different configuration of data lanes. As the supported headsets weren’t built with VirtualLink in mind in the first place, the adapter not specifically using VirtuaLink doesn’t seem to make much of a difference.

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • JesuSaveSouls

    Will it work with usb a and b or just c or e ?

    • Baldrickk

      It’s a full size USB-C connection to the graphics card.

  • Tom Szaw

    Great thing. I will buy it for my Odyssey+.

  • Damn, without Virtualink this is a missed opportunity

    • Baldrickk

      not really, as the article notes, it is meant for the Rift, the current one, which doesn’t support Virtuallink.
      Having it use Virtuallink would therefore be pointless.

      What it does do is provide a single port interface to the PC, while extending the cable, if you have an RTX card with the USB-C interface.

      What this is, is equivalent to having both a HDMI extension and a USB 3 extension, in one cable.

      Seeing as the physical connection is the same, a pure virtuallink cable would be a USB 3 type 3 extension.

  • flamaest
    • Jerald Doerr

      Wow… Nice find Flamaest… It’s $10!!!! Anyone know? I don’t have time to read up much right now but looks better than what there selling..

    • Caven

      The product in the article is almost 8 feet/2.5 meters longer, which is useful for people who want to extend the length of their headset cables. Otherwise, it looks like they do the same thing. A person could always buy a USB-C cable, but that cuts into the price savings, adds a third potential disconnection point, is bulkier, and runs the risk of permanent damage if a person chooses a bad USB-C cable. Having seen an aftermarket USB-C cable kill three MacBooks, the danger is real.

      If a person only needs the adapter, but not extra cable length, then I think the adapter you linked would be a good choice. But if the person needs extra cable length, the product in the article is probably the safest choice unless a properly vetted USB-C extension cable can be sourced.

      • Proof XR Lab

        This product looks very useful. I’ve been using 6 foot hdmi and usb cable extenders for my Rift. It makes all the difference so there is no tension on my tether, lets me move freely around and prevents port damage to motherboard usb and graphics hdmi sockets.

        However, i’ve already had to return 2 hdmi extension leads because first worked randomly (worked in 1 session, not working in next session). replacement would not allow Rift headset to display any image. Really frustrating.

        Currently waiting on Hdmi “repeater” and new cable to give it another try…

    • oompah

      see above

    • Francesco Paolo Schiavone

      many usb to hdmi adapters are not passing through the signal from your graphics card, but have a very tiny and slow graphics card integrated in the hub itself. connecting the rift to that product would mean that the rift would use the tiny integrated card in the usb hub instead of your main graphics card, rendering it unusable. until now only the apple usb-c hub has been proved to be able to use the main graphics card and works like the ACCELL device, but the price is higher and the cord is shorter.

  • oompah

    HDMI is ok but
    once u start using it u hate it
    USB-C is welcome , I would prefer all VR & other media over it
    (being lightweight & easier to connect)
    especially its great to connect mobiles
    so that mobiles can act as consoles

  • JesuSaveSouls

    It almost looks like a mini usb or hdmi end.What would be cool is if the technology was available to use something like this to pluig your entire cv1 rig into your smartphone and have a full vr experience minus the high dollar and bulky desktop pc.