I want to record video of sl with shadows on.

[DKTitan]

I see people making movies and such in sl all the time. Videos of friends dancing and such. I even see them do it with shadows on. I want to be able to record sl with shadows on while staying above 30fps.

So heres what i have as far as specs go.

amd fx 4300 

8gig ram 

2 1tb hdd's- i wont count the external storage

A gtx 660ti 

750w psu

 

I have looked at nvidia's new offerings in the form of the gtx 970 and 980.  I am certainly leaning towards the 970 due to its cost. At about 349 I could get asus strix gtx 970.  What i wonder is, would it then be possible to record video on higher than 30fps  with shadows on.  The gtx 980 is about 549, I highly doubt I wanna pay that much. Due to the amount of time I'd have to save for it.

 

So are their any owners of the gtx 780 ti or something near that who uses their machine to record sl video. Could you please tell me what your experience is like while recording video? 

 

Thanks to anyone who looks at this post  and understands what I am after.

 

Ps  I do plan on upgrading the cpu, I am staying amd though.

[Chic Aeon]

First of all it will always depend somewhat on the sim and the number of avatars present. Your graphics card is of course very important.

 

I had an AMD 6950 for 3.5 years. I could record with shadows on in many locations, but not others. As time went on of course the likelihood of hitting 30fps was iffy -- especially with my alt filming or being in a scene.

 

A week or so ago I bought a MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 OC 2GB GDDR5 2DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort PCI-Express Video Card N760 TF 2GD5/OC for $250. I can film easily with two avatars and shadows and smooth cams. So any card of that quality or higher will work in some instances. When you get in a crowded area with lots of avatars or a sim with tons of laggy trees etc?  I am not sure how well any card will do. Hopefully someone reading this thread will have experience there.

 

There are plenty of machinima "tricks" that will help. Not filming full screen is the biggest . I film at 1600 x 900 and have for many years. My current screen resolution is 2560.  If you plan to publish at 720 you could go smaller. Limiting your draw distance will help some (most likely not much in a club). Clever editing can do much to make a film work when the shots aren't quite what you wanted. Also close shots will often take less "power" than long shots as your card has less info to read.

 

While AMD cards often outperform others in many games, traditionally they have not been supported well in SL. So Nvidia is a better choice IF you spend most of your time here.

 

Also when you decide on the card you want, do a lot of research on the different brands available. By accident I found some articles that alerted me to the differences; I didn't know how much there could be.

 

Enjoy filming!

[Ohjiro Watanabe]

I can record at 30fps Graphics set to Ultra with a GTX660, not saying I don't ever drop a frame or two.

But it isn't just the graphics card. You also need a good internet connection and fast harddrive.

The place that you record also makes a difference, if it is a busy place and the sim is slow it doesn't matter how fast you record it may still look laggy in video if the viewer FPS doesn't match it.

[Amethyst Jetaime]

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Chic Aeon wrote:

 

 

While AMD cards often outperform others in many games, traditionally they have not been supported well in SL. So Nvidia is a better choice IF you spend most of your time here.

 

 

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This is not true anymore.  AMD Radeon 7700 series cards, and Radeon R7 and R9 series cards all support Open GL.  I have the Radeon R9 270x and couldn't be happier with it.  I routinely run ultra high graphics with all options set at their highest level without any problems and the graphics are superb with a draw distance set to 256.  I can actually go much higher on my draw distance if I need to and the sim isn't crowded.

[Dresden Ceriano]

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Amethyst Jetaime wrote:

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Chic Aeon wrote:

While AMD cards often outperform others in many games, traditionally they have not been supported well in SL. So Nvidia is a better choice IF you spend most of your time here.

---

This is not true anymore.  AMD Radeon 7700 series cards, and Radeon R7 and R9 series cards all support Open GL.  I have the Radeon R9 270x and couldn't be happier with it.  I routinely run ultra high graphics with all options set at their highest level without any problems and the graphics are superb with a draw distance set to 256.  I can actually go much higher on my draw distance if I need to and the sim isn't crowded.

---

I beg to differ... what Chic said is precisely the case.  I'm not saying that I doubt the veracity of your claims, but historically Nvidia has consistently had better support of OpenGL.  While AMD may be up to par for the moment, while comparing the two companies, one must take past performance into consideration when trying to predict future performance.  If for no other reason, I'd still pick Nvidia over AMD any day.

...Dres

[Bobbie Faulds]

With the NVidia 760 I have a new perk called Shadowplay you get with the GeForce Experience panel that you can use to record. It does a beautiful job and you can record up to 20 minutes at a time. You can even broadcast what you are looking at through Twitch.

[Nova Convair]

Ati has always supported OpenGL. But if you compare an Ati and a Nvidia of the same speed class under SL the Nvidia will always beat the Ati significantly.

The R9 series is surely fast enough to give a good SL experience though.

Another point is that some Nvidia cards look a bit overpriced for me, so you will probably find an Ati with a comparable Money / Speed ratio.

But if you compare an Ati and a Nvidia of the same speed class Ati is 2nd choice. (for SL !)

oh, for the OP:

I have a Nvidia 770 and get 60+ fps with shadows/ultra/high view range most of the time but can drop to 15-20 at the right place with the right amount of avatars. Is no problem to raise the fps by setting an adequate view range but you can not render masses of avatars, you will need impostors.
The low amount of texture memory will be a factor at texture heavy places, no matter what card you use. When the viewer decides what textures you will see in what resolutions you will loose quality and the ability of fast camera panning.

Whatever you get - there will always be a chance to find the limits.

[Maryanne Solo]

Any vid card 256bit DDR5 2gb, DX11 rah rah will do the job easily.

Fullscreen fraps = bingo.

Listening to AMD vs Nvidia is soooooo 2010  

A bit like Intel vs Apple snoreathon. The past is history, set it freeeee!

Radeon HD 7800, 1680 x 1050 average resolution for SL, ultra graphics settings @ 150 draw distance.

Most of my capturing is single avatar close up, more often than not green screened (for dance vids/after effects SFX).

So not really similar to what youre doing nevertheless... 

Pay a premium for an irellevant rumor or go by the specs. same old same old...

[DKTitan]

Thank you everyone for replying. I have since learned that the drive I was recording to is slowly dying this would account for the large drop in frame rates. It was also suggest to try dxtory and shadow play. I've been using shadow play for a bit now and I can record around 30 for on my sim which has a lot going on. Lots of houses and such. Right now I'd say the gtx 970 sounds about right at 350 bucks. Unless something else comes out from the amd camp I'm not sure there much more that can touch it. It can in some cases give a gtx 780 ti a run for its money. It also gives a good Jab at the gtx Titan. I'll look at the amd cards and price to see what I come up with.