Hi. I am about to purchase a new PC and want some advice about graphics cards to buy

[Delta Saunders]

Do I need to buy a computer that has a separate graphics card?

[LoveAngeL Lyre]

Hello Delta. The best you can do is to check out the recommended system requirements using the following link:

https://secondlife.com/my/support/system-requirements/?lang=en-US

My suggestion is that you choose very carefully your graphics card, because most problems come from unsuitable graphics cards. You will notice that you don't need something special about the RAM or CPU so is easy to build your computer.

[Claireschen Hesten]

if you can find it on wiki.secondlife.com (i couldn't today) there's a chart and it shows you the typical frame rates your likely to get from a graphics card some newer cards seem to have worse fps than much older cards

[Luc Starsider]

@Claireschen. You might be thinking of this one: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Typical_Frame_Rate_Performance_by_Graphics_Card/GPU

@Delta. I'm not sure what you mean by separate graphics card? It is preferable that it is not an integrated one, for sure. I would recomment looking at a pc with an nVidia card, but I don't know which is better. Price may be an issue, as I imagine they vary in what they cost. You definitely want a PC with a card that has its own memory - that do not share memory with the PC. That's about what I know about the issue....

- Luc -

[Rolig Loon]

In general, you want a graphics card with as much memory as you can afford (at least 1 gB), keeping in mind that (1) the heftier the card is, the more power it needs and (2) the more power it needs, the more heat you will have to get rid of.  Be sure that your power supply can deliver the wattage that the GPU requires and don't skimp on fans and heat sinks.  I have four good fans in my tower. When it comes to choosing a specific card, take Luc's avice and get an nVidia card and avoid ATI.  SL residents have had a lot of problems with ATI cards (search the JIRA to get a feel for some of them).

[Shockwave Yareach]

Graphics cards:  My strong recommendation is the Nvidia GTX460 or better.  It's not high priced and doesn't even get warm when running SL. 

I strongly discourage ATI cards as they have problems with OpenGL that Nvidia doesn't have.  Also, any ATI or Nvidia card built into the motherboard will work, but some motherboards then have no PCIe slots for future upgrades, trapping you forever in that card.  They also share main memory, making them slower than PCIe cards. 

If you want the best performance and future upgradability, budget 150$ or so for a GPU and get a motherboard without a builtin graphics card.  Today you'll be poorer, but tomorrow and every day thereafter you'll be happy with your decision.