What is the best graphics card for second life?

[mscarmellanh]

i have an acer aspire w/ati radeon x1250 series graphics card. for a while it was crashing my system totally when second life upgraded to a new viewer...but somehow i found ati's catylist and it is ok now...but very very laggy and im afaid to look at fps. i am clueless, please dont laugh! i intend to buy this and install myself (eek) so please help! i just love second life and my graphics card is ancient like me. ty ps i dont have much money.

 

[rolli59]

Please post the rest of your system specs so we can give you some guidance

 

[mscarmellanh]

ok let me look them up

 

[mscarmellanh]

what is the best place to gather all that info at once?
sorry

 

[mscarmellanh]

i dont know what exactly you need..im a real rookie its why im here

 

[rolli59]

What we need to know is system configuration that is.
CPU (processor)
RAM (memory how muchand what type)
PSU (power supply size in watts, brand name)
Or you can give us the full name of the computer since it is a prebuilt unit then we can google.

 

[mscarmellanh]

Acer Aspire M3100

Vista

Processor AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+, 2300 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)

2.0 GB RAM

the power supply evades my search sorry

 

[mscarmellanh]

duh never thought to google to see what i have here....ty.

 

[rolli59]

Presuming that you have the original psu of 250watts limits the options. Perhaps a Hd4550 or HD4650 card would be the max it supports.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048%20106792627&name=Radeon%20HD%204000%20series

 

[mscarmellanh]

i assume they are easy to install....,right, ?? (please say yes)
thanks that link brought me to a 49 dollar lifesaver.

 

[rolli59]

Those card are easy to install and don't need an external power connector (get all their power from the slot). Good luck and by all means come back if you run into any problems plenty of good folks here to lend a hand. (theoreticaly speaking)