Should I be lagging this badly?

[gothtier]

CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) X2 Dual-Core QL-65 (2094.77 MHz)
Memory: 3839 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit Service Pack 1 (Build 7601)
Graphics Card Vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon 3100 Graphics     

Windows Graphics Driver Version: 8.14.0010.0678
OpenGL Version: 3.1.8794 BETA

 

I'm honestly not very good with things like this.

Is my computer capable of running Secondlife smoothly, and without lag? If not, what can I do to reduce the lag? I've already tried all the obvious things, like lowering the graphic settings, draw distance, particles, etc. Is there anything else I can do?

[JetZep Zabelin]

Get a better graphics card.

[Mankind Tracer]

The real question is why is Second Life broken in MANY regards and further, why is LL not taking steps to fix it? I looking t about two months where my notices aren't sent, I'm logged in ruthed and have to do a character text very ofte just to get looking normal, teleport issus, inventory issues. I'm on pheonix, Firestorm and SL Viewer and the eame issues are happening. I've got a very stable high speed internet connection with a fast MAC.

 

More than anything, I have been performing in SL for about 6 years now and mine and many other live shows of my friends are suffering due to these technical glitches. They aren't getting tips that are sent, many IM me during the sho saying they cant TP in. I mean come on... this has been going on long enough. Who has the answers?

 

Can anyone... ANYONE... address what's been happening lately? 

[Dilbert Dilweg]

Yea your video card is low end for Sl

UpgraDE the video card and you should run a lot better..

 

@Mankind perhaps you could start a thread about your topic

 

[gothtier]

That what I was guessing. Ahhh

How do you upgrade it? Do you actually have to go out and buy it, or is it something you can download? I'm sorry. I don't know anything about any of this -.-

[Qie Niangao]

It's hardware, so you don't download it. But you may be out of luck anyway: Unless I'm mistaken, the Radeon 3100 was notebook-only, in which case it's quite possible that there's no way to replace it in your current machine. Maybe somebody who knows your specific machine model could advise further.

[Ayesha Askham]

@Gothtier

Your computer should handle SL fine in most respects.  I would make 2 recommendations. 

Firstly you would be better with more RAM (Memory) this is a physical thing that you would need to replace in your PC.

Secondly definitely upgrade your Graphics Card.  This also is a physical thing in your PC that would need to be replaced.

If you are confident, you can do both things yourself, but if you do buy a new Graphics card, please, please read the booklet first!

An electronics shop which sells the components would also do these things for you if you are not happy to DIY.

I would recommend doubling your RAM (memory), and since they seem to play nicer with SL, an nVidia graphics card, though they are a bit more expensive than an apparently equivalent ATi (AMD) card.

ETA: Seeing Qie's reply you may have issues upgrading your hardware if indeed your computer is a laptop or notebook.

[Rhys Goode]

My old computer had only 3800 MB of RAM, and that was kind of marginal for running SL.  I had to keep other programs in the background to a bare minimum, or else SL would start swapping from RAM to hard drive, slowing things down a lot.

Two things that made a big difference for me, and they both reduced the memory swapping problem by a lot.  First, was disabling voice.  Even when I wasn't actively using it, just having the capability on made my machine start swapping memory to disk like crazy.  The other thing that made a noticeable difference for me was the size of the graphics cache.  Cutting it down to 512 MB  or even 256 MB reduced the amount of memory swapping to disk, more than making up for not having as much data in my cache,

This was my experience, your mileage may vary.

[Orca Flotta]

Well, we all know what a resource hungry beast SL is so why not just use your common sense when logging in SL?

1) close all other applications!

2) get rid of laptops and older desktops!

3) SL might not look like much but still only the bestest gamer hardware will serve you here!

4) maintain your system! Defraggle your HD, clean your registry, keep your drivers up to date!

5) didn't I say since years that voice is crap?

6) check your setttings! Do you really need 512 DD in a crowded club or shopping mall? Must you push the bandwith slider to higher than 500? That all sounds like wasting away precious resources.

 

[gothtier]

Thanks for helping, everyone!

From what I read here, It would seem that I am unable to replace my graphics card? Since, yes, I do use a laptop, and I am unable to upgrade to a desktop any time soon.

Does it depend on what kind of laptop you have? Are there some that have replaceable cards?