Best laptop currently for SL to run well - model or spec?

[NevaehHeartstrings]

On 7/24/2022 at 4:26 AM, Henri Beauchamp said:

Any laptop with:

• A discrete NVIDIA GPU (forget about Intel iGPUs or AMD APUs, for they are too weak, and forget as well about AMD GPUs, for their OpenGL driver sucks rocks and is way too slooooooow).
•  

AMD Fangirl here your suggestion triggered me in a very shameful way on a TDS level 

 

OpenGL® Optimizations

Up to 79% increase in performance in Minecraft™ @ 4k Fabulous settings, using Radeon™ Software Adrenalin 22.7.1 on the Radeon™️ RX 6950XT, versus the previous software driver version 22.6.1 RS-491

Up to 75% increase in performance in Minecraft™ @ 4k Fabulous settings, using Radeon™ Software Adrenalin 22.7.1 on the Radeon™️ RX 6400, versus the previous software driver version 22.6.1 RS-495

 

 

It's not just the AMD Radeon GPUs that are witnessing a good boost in OpenGL performance but so are the Ryzen APUs that utilize RDNA 2 graphics architecture. As spotted by Videocardz, Twitterati Cary Golomb, ran a Ryzen 7 6800U at 10W with the new 22.7.1 Software Drivers and scored a 12% performance uplift. The older drivers delivered a max FPS of 31.9 while the newer drivers uplifted the performance to 35.7 FPS, scoring a perfect 900 points in Unigine Heaven 4.0. These are just a few examples of the OpenGL performance boost coming from the new drivers and if you happen to have noticed some big improvements while running an OpenGL app or game.

 

AMD is also proud to announce that Radeon Super Resolution (RSR) now supports Radeon RX 5000 and RX 6000 graphics cards found inside AMD Ryzen notebooks with hybrid graphics. In addition, Radeon Super Resolution is now compatible with the borderless fullscreen option in games. You can now configure this in AMD's Adrenaline software.

 

Your Welcome!

Sincerly 

Nevaeh

Edited July 27, 2022 by NevaehHeartstrings
Because I could =)

[Henri Beauchamp]

18 hours ago, NevaehHeartstrings said:

AMD Fangirl here your suggestion triggered me in a very shameful way on a TDS level 

OpenGL® Optimizations

Up to 79% increase in performance in Minecraft™ @ 4k Fabulous settings, using Radeon™ Software Adrenalin 22.7.1 on the Radeon™️ RX 6950XT, versus the previous software driver version 22.6.1 RS-491

Well, I am not a fanboy (at all): I just buy and use the best computer parts for the money. I base my choices on verified facts, not on personal feelings.

AMD's cards are good cards, but their OpenGL driver under Windows always sucked rock in the past; Linux users could enjoy much faster Open Source drivers (Mesa), but even then, with an equivalent NVIDIA card, the OpenGL performances always have been much better than AMD's (like +50% and over) in compatibility profile and massively better (with yet another +30% to +100% boost depending on the scene to render) in core GL profile (a mode the ”performance viewer” improvements made possible to use).

So, with the (very welcomed) recent optimizations (or de-suckification) of AMD drivers under Windows, you basically see performances on par with Linux drivers for AMD, but that's about it. @Kathrine Jansma also confirmed to me yesterday that with her AMD card and the new drivers under Windows, the core GL profile was still slower than the compatibility profile, so...

Edited July 28, 2022 by Henri Beauchamp

[diamond Marchant]

The New York Times Wirecutter recommends

Note that this laptop runs hot and the fans are noisy. I prefer cool and quiet. The RTX 3060 is a bit overpowered for Second Life at the moment. My laptop sports a GTX 1650 Ti/PCIe/SSE2 and works great.

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10750H CPU @ 2.60GHz (2592 MHz)
Memory: 32676 MB
Concurrency: 12
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit (Build 19044.1826)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti/PCIe/SSE2
Graphics Card Memory: 4096 MB

[JeromFranzic]

22 hours ago, diamond Marchant said:

The New York Times Wirecutter recommends

Note that this laptop runs hot and the fans are noisy. I prefer cool and quiet. The RTX 3060 is a bit overpowered for Second Life at the moment. My laptop sports a GTX 1650 Ti/PCIe/SSE2 and works great.

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10750H CPU @ 2.60GHz (2592 MHz)
Memory: 32676 MB
Concurrency: 12
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit (Build 19044.1826)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti/PCIe/SSE2
Graphics Card Memory: 4096 MB

That can't be right.

This laptop contains a newer gen CPU and GPU compared to your laptop. I'd take that or something else with at least a RTX 3070 as a GPU. Yes, it runs hot but that's because the GPU and CPU use more wattage, not because it's less capable. I'd definitely recommend a 5 fan cooling pad with this model for heavy tasks. I use one with my laptop from 2018, it's saved mine from the trash heap thus far.

[diamond Marchant]

4 hours ago, JeromFranzic said:

it runs hot but that's because the GPU and CPU use more wattage

Obviously. My point is that Second Life does not require an RTX 3060 to achieve very good or excellent performance. For those on a budget or don't like to burn their thighs, there are options.

[NevaehHeartstrings]

Just play SL on the SteamDeck   you can load up most viewers while running Windows or Lenox.

 

[Marianne Little]

Those who wanted to sell it never returned my call, so whatever.

I'm still looking. My old laptop is really "well used".

[Bree Giffen]

Here are the major gaming laptop companies and their brands.

ACER - Predator/Nitro

ASUS - ROG Strix/ROG Flow/ROG Zephyrus/Tuf

Dell - Alienware/G Series

Gigabyte - Aorus/Aero/Gigabyte

HP (Hewlett Packard) - Omen/Victus

Lenovo - Legion Pro/Legion

MSI - Titan/Stealth/Raider/Katana/GS/etc.

Razer - Blade

 

[Istelathis]

On 7/25/2022 at 4:57 AM, Marianne Little said:

Lenovo legion 5 15imho5h Specs:i7-1075h 2,6 ghz,1 tb ssd m2 ,16gb ram,Rtx 2060 gpu

From the photo, that almost looks like a 4:3 screen, which I haven't seen in a newer laptop in quite a while.  The nostalgic part of me misses seeing those screens, I have a monitor that aspect ratio that I sometimes play older titles on for some of that gewdness.

[Tourmaline Falken]

On 7/29/2022 at 8:14 PM, diamond Marchant said:

Obviously. My point is that Second Life does not require an RTX 3060 to achieve very good or excellent performance. For those on a budget or don't like to burn their thighs, there are options.

I'm looking to buy a new laptop and interested in your comment here.  Although SL doesn't require RTX 3060 currently, wouldn't it be a good idea to get that at this point to future-proof the new laptop for the next several years?  The 3050 is a few hundred pounds cheaper but I want to be sure I'm not cutting longevity with a false economy.  What do you think?

 

[JeromFranzic]

3 hours ago, Tourmaline Falken said:

I'm looking to buy a new laptop and interested in your comment here.  Although SL doesn't require RTX 3060 currently, wouldn't it be a good idea to get that at this point to future-proof the new laptop for the next several years?  The 3050 is a few hundred pounds cheaper but I want to be sure I'm not cutting longevity with a false economy.  What do you think?

 

Good call. I'd want a 3060 or higher for a Nvidia GPU right now, and not just for SL. The 3050 is OK if you don't plan on running 3d apps beyond 1080 resolution, or creating any video content.

[Seicher Rae]

Well, this thread has had some unintended consequences: It has convinced me to not try to do ANY SL photography. As I've posted elsewhere, my old but awesome desktop died a dramatic death about 6 months ago (hard to believe it was that long ago). I could not afford to replace it, and had to do an emergency purchase at Best Buy (via Instacart! can you believe it???) and got a pretty good deal on an Inspiron with win 10. Something under $500. I was afraid I wouldn't even be able to get SL, but it runs it ok. I've tried a few pushes to get some photos with mixed results. But as I'm reading about blowing out graphic/motherboards, and how even high end laptops are in danger with SL... uh. No. My SL graphics will now be set to as low as I can stand them and no photographs.

Heavy sigh. That was my prime entertainment in SL and I miss is sorely. I had stopped doing photos before the desktop died because I suspected something was going on. (It was, just not what I thought it was.)

[JeromFranzic]

Ouch, sorry about that! If you do basic maintenance even a 16 series Nvidia is OK for photography. I know heat is a concern. Diamond Marchant mentioned a 1660 based model that is still fine for SL photos, and won't necessarily require an extra cooling pad... unless the CPU and/or GPU is overclocked perhaps.

In many cases though, PCs generate a metric ton of heat under heavy processing loads, so sadly this has to be dealt with whether we like it or not. That's why most SL users recommend tower PCs as they have space for extra cooling setups (I know, obvious but yes...).

Edited August 13, 2022 by JeromFranzic

[Madelaine McMasters]

9 minutes ago, Seicher Rae said:

Well, this thread has had some unintended consequences: It has convinced me to not try to do ANY SL photography. As I've posted elsewhere, my old but awesome desktop died a dramatic death about 6 months ago (hard to believe it was that long ago). I could not afford to replace it, and had to do an emergency purchase at Best Buy (via Instacart! can you believe it???) and got a pretty good deal on an Inspiron with win 10. Something under $500. I was afraid I wouldn't even be able to get SL, but it runs it ok. I've tried a few pushes to get some photos with mixed results. But as I'm reading about blowing out graphic/motherboards, and how even high end laptops are in danger with SL... uh. No. My SL graphics will now be set to as low as I can stand them and no photographs.

Heavy sigh. That was my prime entertainment in SL and I miss is sorely. I had stopped doing photos before the desktop died because I suspected something was going on. (It was, just not what I thought it was.)

I think the most important reason to dial back graphics settings is to maintain usable FPS/responsiveness. I don't worry about GPU loading. You can lower graphics settings for normal use and jack them up for photography. If your computer was designed by competent engineers, it will protect the CPU and GPU from overheating. I don't imagine you're in-world, taking photographs for more than an hour or so a day. That's not a heavy workload.

Enjoy yourself, Seicher. Post the results.

 

[Charalyne Blackwood]

If LL would give us real info on video cards it would help greatly...

[WereBeast Alpha]

i bought a new laptop even though its not very high end its all i could afford on my budget. it runs SL really well on medium graphics and doesn't lag much like my last laptop did. 

Amazon.com: Acer Aspire 5 Slim Laptop, 15.6 inches Full HD IPS Display, AMD Ryzen 3 3200U, Vega 3 Graphics, 4GB DDR4, 128GB SSD, Backlit Keyboard, Windows 10 in S Mode, A515-43-R19L, Silver : Everything Else this is what i bought but i upgraded the RAM and Hard Drive to 500 TB 8 GB Ram.