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Second Life and graphics card help!

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Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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So the computer I'm running right now is dying and I'm looking to upgrade to a new one finally!

My problem is I want to make sure I get a graphics card that can run second life.

Here is the deal that I'm interested in:

# Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
# AMD Phenom(TM) X4 830 quad-core processor [2.8GHz, 2MB L2 + 4MB L3 shared, up to 4000MHz]
# FREE UPGRADE! 6GB DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM [3 DIMMs] from 4GB
# FREE UPGRADE! 750GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive from 500GB

Here are the options of graphics cards they give me that are within affordable price range:

512MB ATI Radeon HD 5450 [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]

512MB NVIDIA GeForce 315 [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]

1GB ATI Radeon HD 5450 [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]

1GB ATI Radeon HD 5570 [DVI,HDMI, DP, VGA adapter]

1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 [DVI, HDMI, VGA]

If anyone is successfully running sl with one of these or can tell me which one would be good? I want to run with minimal lag, at least see the clouds! and be able to see the water all pretty. Compared to what I have now I am not picky lol. I would also like to know which one would be best for multitasking aka, running sl and photoshop at the same time along with firefox.

Thanks so much!

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Graphics card Expert

Hmph!

I just spent 15 mins getting some research and posting links to you.....only, when I posted it, your thread wasn't there anymore! :p 

No worries...here's what the sys.req on Second Life is:

Windows Minimum Requirements Recommended

Internet Connection*: Cable or DSL Cable or DSL

Operating System: XP, or Vista XP or Vista

Computer Processor: 800 MHz Pentium III or
Athlon, or better 1.5 GHz (XP), 2-GHz (Vista) 32-bit
(x86) or better

Computer Memory: 512 MB or more 1 GB or more

Screen Resolution: 1024x768 pixels 1024x768 pixels or higher

Graphics Card for XP**:
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or better
OR ATI Radeon 8500, 9250 or better
OR Intel 945 chipset
NVIDIA Graphics cards
9000 Series:
9600, 9800
200 Series:
275 GTX, 295 GTX
ATI Graphics Cards
4000 Series:
4850, 4870, 4890
5000 Series:
5850, 5870, 5970

Graphics Card for Vista
(requires latest drivers)**:
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or better
OR ATI Radeon 9500 or better
OR Intel 945 chipset
NVIDIA Graphics cards
9000 Series:
9600, 9800
200 Series:
275 GTX, 295 GTX
ATI Graphics Cards
4000 Series:
4850, 4870, 4890
5000 Series:
5850, 5870, 5970

Mac OS X Minimum Requirements Recommended
Internet Connection*: Cable or DSL Cable or DSL
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4.11 or better Mac OS X 10.5.4 or better
Computer Processor: 1.5 GHz Intel based Mac 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or above
Computer Memory: 512 MB or more 1 GB or more
Screen Resolution: 1024x768 pixels 1024x768 pixels or higher

Graphics Card**:
ATI Radeon 9200 and above
OR NVIDIA GeForce 2, GeForce 4
ATI: 4850, 4870
OR NVIDIA: 9800
Linux Minimum Requirements Recommended
Internet Connection*: Cable or DSL Cable or DSL
Operating System: A reasonably modern 32-bit Linux environment is required. If you are running a 64-bit Linux distribution then you will need its 32-bit compatibility environment installed. A reasonably modern 32-bit Linux environment is required. If you are running a 64-bit Linux distribution then you will need its 32-bit compatibility environment installed.
Computer Processor: 800 MHz Pentium III or Athlon, or better 1.5 GHz or better
Computer Memory: 512MB or more 1 GB or more
Screen Resolution: 1024x768 pixels 1024x768 pixels or higher
Graphics Card:
NVIDIA GeForce 6600, or better
OR ATI Radeon 8500, 9250, or better
ATI: 4850, 4870
OR NVIDIA: 9600, 9800

To state it simply, if you're looking at that budget, get the 5570. Here's one for $84:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

But, if you're looking at multitasking, I would really suggest you consider the 5750. Here's one for $140:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Thank you so much for replying namelessonez! Sorry about that! I was half asleep when I posted this and realized that there were other graphic cards in that list aside from ATI so I had to change the area this was posted.

On that list were the only options to pick from for that deal that I could afford so I was wondering which one was the best. Meaning new egg is not an option.

Also the system requirements for SL leave out so many cards!

If you suggest the 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5570 have you or anyone else successfully used SL smoothly with it?

Please let me know! I'm going to call the company a little later today and with any luck I will be ordering it all :) 
Graphics card Master

It says Nvidia 6600 or better, or ATI 9500 or better, you don't need anything as powerful as nameless said.

This could run it (quite well), now obviously this is just if SL is the only game you are playing.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

hell even this could run it...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

But you HAVE To have a PCI-e slot on the motherboard before you get a graphics card, do you? Also what power supply do you have. These matter.
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Ask the community

gakuto said:
So the computer I'm running right now is dying and I'm looking to upgrade to a new one finally!

My problem is I want to make sure I get a graphics card that can run second life.

Here is the deal that I'm interested in:

# Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
# AMD Phenom(TM) X4 830 quad-core processor [2.8GHz, 2MB L2 + 4MB L3 shared, up to 4000MHz]
# FREE UPGRADE! 6GB DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM [3 DIMMs] from 4GB
# FREE UPGRADE! 750GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive from 500GB

Here are the options of graphics cards they give me that are within affordable price range:

512MB ATI Radeon HD 5450 [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]

512MB NVIDIA GeForce 315 [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]

1GB ATI Radeon HD 5450 [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]

1GB ATI Radeon HD 5570 [DVI,HDMI, DP, VGA adapter]

1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 [DVI, HDMI, VGA]

If anyone is successfully running sl with one of these or can tell me which one would be good? I want to run with minimal lag, at least see the clouds! and be able to see the water all pretty. Compared to what I have now I am not picky lol. I would also like to know which one would be best for multitasking aka, running sl and photoshop at the same time along with firefox.

Thanks so much!


I would say definitely not the 315 model. Seems to be more like a 6200 spec card. A 9800 GT is 4x the card these are in specs. Out of the ones listed I would choose the GT 220 but check the price as you would be really happy with a 460 GTX or will that mean upgrading other parts? At least go for a 9800GT at minimum depending on price etc. SL is graphic intensve with windlight and antialiaisng (4x) and draw distance with shaders. With he cards I mentioned you can have all that within reason on High settings at very nice fps. Maybe up to 15-70 fps depending where you are and the amount of avatars. All the I have Machinima on my site with both the 6220 Turbo card and later the 9800 GT. You will see a difference between the earlier videos and the later ones. Noe produced with the 460 GT yet as they are being edited but again another bump up in quality. www.youtube.com/fuzonacid


If you want to use photoshop and SL at the same time then a Quad Core would be a must in my opinion. For graphics you can use a 9800GT and the next step up would be a GTX 260 or the new 460 GTX. I have used the former and latter. Basically a doubling in FPS but I went from a slower AMD Ducore to an Intel i7 930. A quad Core AMD with any of these 3 cards should be more than sufficient. Since those 2 programs will use GPU the 460 would be the best bet but I produced Machinima with the 9800 GT quite well although not multitasking apart from using FRAPS. An i7 930 is using 20% cpu when running SL so lots of headroom for PS. ATI are not recommended for SL since LL uses Nvidia to develop the game and ATI is not an OpenGL friendly card apparently. Doesn't mean they won't run it but have some issues re: settings and shadows etc depending on the model. I have no experience with them however but an Nvidia should not have as many issues. Six GB of Ram if using Windows 7 with Multitasking recommended. I assume you are a builder or clothes maker etc?

cheerio
Ormand Lioneart

gakuto said:
So the computer I'm running right now is dying and I'm looking to upgrade to a new one finally!

My problem is I want to make sure I get a graphics card that can run second life.

Here is the deal that I'm interested in:

# Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
# AMD Phenom(TM) X4 830 quad-core processor [2.8GHz, 2MB L2 + 4MB L3 shared, up to 4000MHz]
# FREE UPGRADE! 6GB DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM [3 DIMMs] from 4GB
# FREE UPGRADE! 750GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive from 500GB

Here are the options of graphics cards they give me that are within affordable price range:

512MB ATI Radeon HD 5450 [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]

512MB NVIDIA GeForce 315 [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]

1GB ATI Radeon HD 5450 [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]

1GB ATI Radeon HD 5570 [DVI,HDMI, DP, VGA adapter]

1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 [DVI, HDMI, VGA]

If anyone is successfully running sl with one of these or can tell me which one would be good? I want to run with minimal lag, at least see the clouds! and be able to see the water all pretty. Compared to what I have now I am not picky lol. I would also like to know which one would be best for multitasking aka, running sl and photoshop at the same time along with firefox.

Thanks so much!


This site ships to Canada and the US. This system with a tweak of the RAm and video card options would suit very well I think. http://pc.ncix.com/ncixpc/ncixpc.cfm?uuid=76FEA05A-30FD...
Graphics card Authority

Nothing seems to be enough for SL. It eats all resources available, and it still lags a lot. Notheless even the graphic cards Linden Lab says is incompatible runs SL, with poor performance, of course. The better hardware you have, better will be your experience, in SL or in any other app.

I run SL with an ATI 5870, and I had some troubles with Global Ilumination (a non official SL feature) until I updated to the 10-7 driver. Now with the 10-8 things are a bit better. See some of it here http://www.youtube.com/user/MetaverseMachinima?feature=...
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