Looking for a video card, balance price and performance

[LovelyKalani]

Like most people, I am on a budget. I am addicted to SL, and just bought a new computer (Quad Core AMD processor, 6 GB of RAM HP Pavilion. It doesn't have a video card, I believe using some form of Radeon on board graphics. I am planning on upgrading to a video card, but would liike a recommendation of a nice card to run SL on, but something thats not going to cost more than the computer itself.  In short, a balance of price and performance.

Any suggestions on how I can get the best bang for my buck. BTW, almost exclusively for SL. I dont do any other online games, though have been playing around on the creative end--experimenting with Daz studio and photoshop, so perhaps a nice videocard will benefit these endeavors as well.

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

It would help if you could give an indication of your budget. I think I'd recommend the 660Ti, but that's a rather pricy card.

You have an overview here:

videocardbenchmark.net

[Cincia Singh]

The GTX 560 Ti is a little less expensive option and good performance. Runs shadows well.

[Nalates Urriah]

NVidia is much more OpenGL friendly. So, you want an nVidia card.

The 600 series nVidia cards have been out for a time but still rain as the top of the nVidia line. The new Titian card is out too. This means the 500 series cards are appearing on eBay as people upgrade to 600's and newer. So, this may give you an opportunity to get a much better card than buying new.

Go fore the card with the largest second digit in the model. An older 480 is almost as good as a 560.

Second Life doesn't take advantage of the newer OpenGL features. So even the older 200 series cards do a pretty good job with SL.

Good luck.

[Theresa Tennyson]

I use an Nvidia 640 GT which can be found for under $100. I can run deferred rendering anywhere and can run shadows in a fairly peaceful region. The new rendering engine that's in Viewer 3.4.5 and will eventually trickle over to the TPV's likes it alot, and it doesn't require a power supply more capable than standard equipment on a four-year-old Dell desktop.

[Trifina]

Caveat: I'm no expert, and haven't actually tried these things.

 

But I have been doing a lot of reading. I've read the newer Radeon onboard graphics do a good job with games, so depending on what you have, you may need to spend a bit to see an improvement. While playing with Poser/Daz, I decided the Nvidea GTX 660 w/ 2 GB would give the most bang for the buck (about $200). I assume SL needs the same things as far as rendering goes.

 

Myself, I'm thinking of getting an AMD with Radeon HD 7660D onboard, and hoping that does the trick. (I, too, am on a budget.)

 

PS: Check your power supply wattage before investing in a card! The GTX 660 needs 450 watts.