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 Wednesday at 02:46 AM 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 Wednesday at 03:43 AM 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 Wednesday at 09:39 PM 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.