Is Lindenlab choosing a doomed path for SL ? Tell us if the EEP and PBR introduction changed the way you play SL

[Fluffy Sharkfin]

Oh I can guarantee it won't fit in my case ...

and even if it did I couldn't turn the PC on because the PSU Dell provided with the SFF case is a puny 230W.  

I calculated the approximate power draw of the components installed and discovered that the absolute best dedicated card I could upgrade to was a GT1030 which leaves me with a whopping 3W to spare before I start having power issues. 🤣

[Coffee Pancake]

5 minutes ago, Fluffy Sharkfin said:

Oh I can guarantee it won't fit in my case ...

and even if it did I couldn't turn the PC on because the PSU Dell provided with the SFF case is a puny 230W.  

I calculated the approximate power draw of the components installed and discovered that the absolute best dedicated card I could upgrade to was a GT1030 which leaves me with a whopping 3W to spare before I start having power issues. 🤣

Where's the rest of it 😨

Next time you're building a PC.

[Katherine Heartsong]

9 minutes ago, Fluffy Sharkfin said:

Oh I can guarantee it won't fit in my case ...

and even if it did I couldn't turn the PC on because the PSU Dell provided with the SFF case is a puny 230W.  

I calculated the approximate power draw of the components installed and discovered that the absolute best dedicated card I could upgrade to was a GT1030 which leaves me with a whopping 3W to spare before I start having power issues. 🤣

Even me, a PC klutz, can tell part of your system's problem is the banana you've found in the case.

[Fluffy Sharkfin]

1 minute ago, Coffee Pancake said:

Where's the rest of it 😨

Next time you're building a PC.

It was meant to be a stand in machine after my big fancy rig decided to have a meltdown one day.  A very dear SL friend gifted it to me (what little sanity I have left is entirely thanks to her generosity!) but it's been "standing in" for a lot longer than I initially thought it would have to.

I have to say for it's modest size and specifications it's held up remarkably well and is still capable of running quite a few games and most 3D apps (I currently have 3D coat running with 5 million polygons on screen and am getting a solid 45fps even with multiple chrome tabs and other apps running), but it's in no way up to the challenge of roaming around a PBR enabled Second Life.  It handles my little corner of it well enough that I can test stuff out and play around with most of the new features though.

[Fluffy Sharkfin]

22 minutes ago, Katherine Heartsong said:

Even me, a PC klutz, can tell part of your system's problem is the banana you've found in the case.

Ahh, at first glance that may seem like a stray piece of fruit but if you look closely...

Since I read somewhere that bananas are a good source of energy I figured I'd wire one up to the extra power leads on my graphics card.  After all when you only have 3W to spare every little helps, right?  

 

ETA: To avoid any further confusion the above pic is not my actual PC, just a photo I found online of the same model in which someone decided to include a banana (perhaps to provide a sense of scale or perhaps because they had to put their lunch down so they could hold the camera steady?).  It's not particularly useful since they didn't happen to mention what type of banana it is and they tend to vary quite a bit, but rest assured my PC is pretty small!

Edited July 3 by Fluffy Sharkfin
Musings on the inconsistencies of bananas!

[BriannaLovey]

1 hour ago, Fluffy Sharkfin said:

Oh I can guarantee it won't fit in my case ...

and even if it did I couldn't turn the PC on because the PSU Dell provided with the SFF case is a puny 230W.  

I calculated the approximate power draw of the components installed and discovered that the absolute best dedicated card I could upgrade to was a GT1030 which leaves me with a whopping 3W to spare before I start having power issues. 🤣

There is still a way to get a better GPU for your system than the GT 1030, but it won't look pretty.

You will need the following parts:

1) Oculink to PCIe slot adapter: https://www.amazon.com/chenyang-SFF-8612-SFF-8611-External-Graphics/dp/B0BZW1G87R/ref=sr_1_4

2) Either of these, depending on your budget/preference:

a) Oculink to host PCIe adapter (will look cleaner/fit better/be easier to install): https://www.amazon.com/Chenyang-Express-External-SFF-8612-SFF-8611/dp/B09CPNY5DH/ref=sr_1_3

b) M.2 to PCIe adapter (cheaper, since the Oculink to PCIe slot will already come with a oculink to M.2 connector): https://www.amazon.com/EZDIY-FAB-Express-Adapter-Support-22110/dp/B01GCXCR7W/ref=sr_1_40

3) Standard ATX PSU to plug into part #1 in this list as well as your GPU (wattage depends on your card of course.)

4) Standoffs for part #1: https://www.amazon.com/Mounting-Circuit-Standoffs-Hardware-Motherboard/dp/B0BRQ8T4RY/ref=sr_1_3

5) Something to hold your GPU in place. There are various external GPU mounting brackets for sale, but I can't guarantee that they will fit oculink adapter board. If it were me I would just make my own bracket out of wood or something.

Of course you could buy/build a new system too, but where is the fun in that?

 

 

Edit: Mining risers are a cheaper option than oculink (especially now that crypto mining with older GPUs is dead,) but only provide 1x bandwidth as opposed to 4x from oculink. Whether or not that is good enough for you is your choice. They sell for dirt cheap right now: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=mining+riser&_sacat=0&_sop=15

Supplying power to these will require adapters of various sorts, depending on the mining riser's power socket. If the riser you buy has a 6-pin PCIe power socket for example, you will need an adapter like this: https://www.amazon.com/IOTSES-Adapter-Switch-Graphics-Cards（1/dp/B0BWQ1GFRV/ref=sr_1_4

I highly suggest that you avoid anything that takes power from a SATA cable, as these are often fire hazards. That includes any SATA to 6-pin adapters included with these devices; just throw those away.

Edited July 3 by BriannaLovey

[Scylla Rhiadra]

45 minutes ago, BriannaLovey said:

Of course you could buy a new system too, but where is the fun in that?

🙄

[Fluffy Sharkfin]

33 minutes ago, BriannaLovey said:

Of course you could buy/build a new system too, but where is the fun in that?

Thanks for the info, I'll be bookmarking it for future reference in case I decide to embark on more adventurous upgrades!

Looking at the rest of the specs for my system I doubt I'll go that route as a next step since the cpu isn't exactly state of the art (i7-3770s so not horrible but certainly not the greatest either), the ram capacity is 4 slots of DDR3 and is capped at 32GB (the official documentation says 16GB but later models are capable of double that and there's a bios update for earlier models), and while I could remove the DVD drive and use a bay adapter to fit up to 3 internal SSDs it doesn't have an m2 interface (and so on and so forth).

I'll certainly be keeping it around and using it for other purposes once I get something more capable and may even upgrade the memory to 32GB (although it's currently using all 4 slots so I'd have to throw away the 16GB I have and get 4x 8GB sticks) and add some more internal storage, but I'm fairly certain that if I want something capable of running SL at a reasonable fps then I'm going to be better off getting something a little more versatile and up to date.

[AmeliaJ08]

19 hours ago, Fluffy Sharkfin said:

Oh I can guarantee it won't fit in my case ...

and even if it did I couldn't turn the PC on because the PSU Dell provided with the SFF case is a puny 230W.  

I calculated the approximate power draw of the components installed and discovered that the absolute best dedicated card I could upgrade to was a GT1030 which leaves me with a whopping 3W to spare before I start having power issues. 🤣

 

I always thought that the PSU companies missed a trick by not producing upgrade options for those little Dells. There's enough room for a 4060 or an A2000/A4000 but not without a PSU.

You could put a 3050 6GB in there though. There's half height versions, even a passive one and no external power requirement.

Edited July 3 by AmeliaJ08

[Myth Valeska]

I just think actual reflecting mirrors in SL is cool lol

[Fluffy Sharkfin]

51 minutes ago, AmeliaJ08 said:

 

I always thought that the PSU companies missed a trick by not producing upgrade options for those little Dells. There's enough room for a 4060 or an A2000/A4000 but not without a PSU.

You could put a 3050 6GB in there though. There's half height versions, even a passive one and no external power requirement.

Yes, even my little XPC Shuttle (which was considerably smaller than the Dell) had an option to upgrade the PSU.

I did consider risking it and going for a 1650 instead of a 1030 (despite some reports of people suffering from power issues) but at the time GPU prices were insane so I opted for the cheaper and more stable option.  I'm still amazed at how well it runs 3D Coat (then again there's a video on YouTube of 3D Coat shifting 200 million polygons around on screen at nearly 120fps so...).

[BriannaLovey]

1 hour ago, AmeliaJ08 said:

 

I always thought that the PSU companies missed a trick by not producing upgrade options for those little Dells. There's enough room for a 4060 or an A2000/A4000 but not without a PSU.

You could put a 3050 6GB in there though. There's half height versions, even a passive one and no external power requirement.

There are companies that sell ATX to Dell power adapters, but I can't recommend them. Dell's (and HP's and Lenovo's) power supply pinouts can change from one model to another, so unless you do your homework about your motherboard's PSU socket specification, you run the risk of setting your computer on fire.

[RicDelMoro]

What some clever guys don't realize  : SL for most people it is just a TOY  ( sorry...) . A toy must be pleasant to play , if it's too tricky or doesn't work well or has sharp edges that can hurt our hands , we just send it back to its box, or even throw it away !
LindenLab should know SL is just another disposable product and must treat its users better .

 

Edited July 6 by RicDelMoro

[steeljane42]

7 hours ago, RicDelMoro said:

What some clever guys don't realize  : SL for most people it is just a TOY  ( sorry...) . A toy must be pleasant to play , if it's too tricky or doesn't work well or has sharp edges that can hurt our hands , we just send it back to its box, or even throw it away !
LindenLab should know SL is just another disposable product and must treat its users better .

Toy can be and is a different thing for many people, and what is pleasant also varies greatly. While some people have troubles unboxing a toy (turning on the PC for SL in our case) others have a great pleasure putting said toy apart to the smallest pieces and checking how it even works. Both types can still have the fun with the same toy on the end, but means of having said fun will be very different.

If continue, then for some people SL is a purely social experience, those might not care much, if any, about the graphics, and are here to just socialize with people, maybe do their favorite activity or two, and call it a day. For those people PBR does little while demanding more resources now, be it hardware resources or money to acquire the former, if what they already have is not enough. I would guess it's mostly those kind of people who are most unhappy about this "forced upgrade".

Other people might enjoy different things, including building/landscaping/messing up with pictures and/or machinimas, and care about visuals a lot more. They also might or might not care about the social aspect of SL at all, but those types, myself included, might care about visuals a lot more. While current PBR release(s) are far from perfect, it is and will be a clear upgrade once some issues are resolved and creators get better at their PBR workflow. Newest PBR-only release by Apple Fall is a decent example. He always did a great job, but this little new set is especially good looking.

Lastly, if the toy is old and dusty, it also may be put in the box and forgotten. So there's no clear win-win for everyone in such cases. Some people will miss their old patched up toy and move on because "it's not the same anymore", while others would have moved on if nothing was done to the said toy instead.

It's the similar idea to the MMORPGs expansions. While some people prefer "classic experience" that was available on/during/shortly after the release, the expansions tend to roll out all the time, and the whole game changes with those, and not just content wise, but also visuals wise, and mechanics wise. Lasting ones also up their hardware requirements from time to time. You won't run WoW on the PC from 2004 now (when it's launched), even if it's "the same game".

I will agree that LL, as usual, made a few big mistakes with the work and release of PBR, just like on most of their big features. It really was released too early, even now would be a bit too early, but last December it clearly wasn't ready. And they absolutely should have redo the library of environmental settings with its release, and do their best to let people know about it.

Edited July 7 by steeljane42
typos

[HeathcliffMontague]

7 hours ago, RicDelMoro said:

What some clever guys don't realize  : SL for most people it is just a TOY  ( sorry...) . A toy must be pleasant to play , if it's too tricky or doesn't work well or has sharp edges that can hurt our hands , we just send it back to its box, or even throw it away !
LindenLab should know SL is just another disposable product and must treat its users better .

 

Fair points, but then again my niece and her friends looked at me in awe when I explained  to them that the more stuff you put on your phone, the "fuller" it gets. They had no concept of  even cleaning up their  iPhones or Androds, never mind the concept of data storage, or that 2 GB is more than 4GB. There needs to be a middle ground here....