Quadro 1000m , CAD laptops, Second Life

[Ehrman Digfoot]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a good CAD (3D modeling) laptop to use on the train this fall.  I have a nice desktop system and I will not likely have a good internet connection, so the ability to use Second Life on the laptop is slightly less important.  I do, however, want to purchase a laptop that can at least run Second Life and do so with at least Ultra settings, AO and shadows.  

The new Quadro mobile GPU's are really nice, they have as many cuda cores as a standard nvidia gpu and run with OpenGL 4.1, shader model 5.0 so even though they are not designed for gaming they seem perfect for SL.  I know the driver release schedule is always slower, but does anyone know if I can use these for SL?  

The only other alternative is a GT540 or GT555 based laptop which I'm sure would do a pretty good job with both gaming and 3d modeling.  But for the same price I'd rather go with something specifically designed for 3D modeling and I've always wanted a quadro card.

Any suggestions?

Best,

Ehrman

[Chic Aeon]

For shadows one of the most important parts of the equation is the graphics card. There are "issues" with ATI (I know, I have one. GREAT for everything else. Not for shadows.) so it will depend on how MUCH you want a good shadow experience in SL.

This article from the most popular "shadow viewer" will tell you a lot about the cards:

http://www.kirstensviewer.com/Blog/177/__Kirstens_GPU_Awards_2011_!__.html

 

I have the second one in the list. Does NOT do shadows well . Everything else? VERY happy gal. Also you can write to the forums for that viewer as there are MANY techie folks contributing and they can most likely tell you more. Good luck.

 

[Nyll Bergbahn]

Quadro cards are not supported by Second Life although that is not to say they won't work. It's just they are not gaming graphics cards and Linden Lab don't test them so performance in Second Life can be problematic.

The following cards have not been tested with Second Life, and compatibility is not certain:

• NVIDIA cards that report as Quadro
• ATI cards that report as RADEON IGP or RADEON XPRESS
• ATI cards that report as FireGL
• ATI cards that report as FireMV

I'd suggest you do a search of Google using Second Life + Quadro and check out people's comments when using them in  SL. There are some threads in the blog archives too although a lot of the former blog was wiped out.

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?filter=location&location=Category%3AAnswers_Archive&q=quadro

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?q=quadro

If you want definite compatibility you may need to go for a more conventional graphics card such as the ones you mention.