Brand new computer, but super lag?

[Kolby Nissondorf]

Hey everyone, I just got a brand new computer, internet and computer stats are below, but I want to know why it is lagging so bad?

Im running the latest verson of LL Viewer 2 ((3, whatever))

***** 

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2100 CPU @ 3.10GHz (3093.04 MHz)
Memory: 4009 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit Service Pack 1 (Build 7601)
Graphics Card Vendor: Intel
Graphics Card: Intel(R) HD Graphics Family

Windows Graphics Driver Version: 8.15.0010.2291
OpenGL Version: 3.0.0 - Build 8.15.10.2291 

*****

 

[Phoebe Avro]

Intel onboard graphics?

 

I would think that is your problem along with viewer 3

 

[Hitomi Tiponi]

As Kolby says - Intel onboard graphics, even their latest offering, will give anyone a bad impresssion of SL.  If you have a desktop buy a proper GPU to add in - even spending a hundred dollars should really give you a big improvement, but do some research first.  SL seems to prefer Nvidia cards - but recent versions of LL Viewers are proving problematic, though this should be fixed shortly hopefully.

[Acheron Gloom]

Yeah. You'll need to spend like 80 to 150 more to get good performance. And by good I don't mean just mediocre, you'll definitely be fine then.

 Its just the fact that your graphics card is just an integrated graphics chip that isn't really made to be too fast.

What model of computer is it? I'll suggest a graphics card (or a couple), just need to know if the motherboard will actually support it and if the case will fit it.

[Kolby Nissondorf]

I changed over my video card to the old one, my system settings are now:

CPU: Intel® Core i3-2100 CPU @ 3.10GHz (3093.05 MHz)
Memory: 4079 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit Service Pack 1 (Build 7601)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce 7300 SE/7200 GS/PCI/SSE2

Windows Graphics Driver Version: 8.17.0012.5896
OpenGL Version: 2.1.2 

[Void Singer]

hate to say it, but the 7300 card ain't much improvement, and is the still the most likely problem on the system (heck I'm surprised there were even 64bit drivers for it =X)

the good news is that much newer and better cards are still pretty cheap (comparatively)

 

of course that's assuming that V3 isn't just being V3 (several people seem to be having trouble with it) so shopping around with a few different viewers may get you better performance...

current cast with mesh support is vaniLLa V3, Firestorm, Cool, Dolphin, and Astra?

[Baloo Uriza]

Your GPU is sub-par, and is where you're probably getting your low FPS from.  I doubt you're outright lagging, just not getting great framerate.

[Baloo Uriza]

That's not going to fix a hardware issue, and I'd be very weary of trusting the same people who screwed Emerald up.

[Hitomi Tiponi]

The 7300 GS is 4 or 5 years old so will also be very slow.  Have a look at what you can get in store or online these days, and check out the reviews.  It needn't be that expensive to get a GPU that works well with SL.

[Rabid Cheetah]

Wow.  I do believe that is the same card I have (not at my home computer at the moment).  And I've been having lag issues over the last few months.  I did NOT have these issues when I bought the computer five years ago specifically for being able to get on SL.

 

So what has changed?  Is it textures, mesh, or some other crapola that the average user can't fully use anyhow without blowing a few thousand on various graphics software or Blender or whatever?  Because I don't understand why they would say, hmmmm, there are some new features to the high end computers now, five years latter.  Instead of keeping the system as is and getting more and more users, let's push the envelope and use the lattest crap that Microsoft or whomever's marketing department says is a must-have feature.

 

And so the cycle continues:  The computer manufacturers make new systems that you must buy to run the lattest software, while the software companies make software that won't run unless you do buy a new system, and so on and so on.  It's a real nice marketing scheme, unless you're one of the suckers buying new crap every year.

 

I've checked everything else on my system, and my internet connection, everything runs fine.  After having my system crash trying to access SL for the umpteenth time last night, I switched over to Guild Wars and didn't have a problem.  They don't charge tier, either.

 

Perhaps instead of wasting all my money on this unusable game, or blowing it on an upgrade that is not needed for anything else I do on the computer, perhaps I'll be hapier if I blow the money on comic books or GURPS worldbooks.  Or maybe a nice chess set.  You know, to play with real-world friends in *gasp* meatspace.

 

Sorry for the rant, but I'm at my wits end with this upgrade crap the industry pulls on us...and I WORK in the industry!  :womanvery-happy:  Sometimes an "improvement" ISN'T.

 

And if I can't get in to rant with my SL friends, then you ALL are gonna have to listen to me, wooo hahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaa lolz

[Hitomi Tiponi]

@Rabid. Sadly you cannot expect a 5 year old computer to work with up-to-date software.  Technology moves on quickly, and eventually old age catches up with old computer kit.  It is probable that the changes for mesh have finally pushed the requirements to run it satisfactorily beyond the capabilities of your old card.  Some tweaking of your graphics prefrences settings  (under 'Advanced') may help you a bit, or changing drivers, or making sure you disable multithreading etc. etc. - but changing cards is a necessary and reasonable way to get SL working well again.

[Baloo Uriza]

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Rabid Cheetah wrote:

Wow.  I do believe that is the same card I have (not at my home computer at the moment).  And I've been having lag issues over the last few months.  I did NOT have these issues when I bought the computer five years ago specifically for being able to get on SL.

---

And how much has the software your computer has on it changed over the years?  Does your system tray have a zillion icons in it?

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Rabid Cheetah wrote:

So what has changed?  Is it textures, mesh, or some other crapola that the average user can't fully use anyhow without blowing a few thousand on various graphics software or Blender or whatever?  Because I don't understand why they would say, hmmmm, there are some new features to the high end computers now, five years latter.  Instead of keeping the system as is and getting more and more users, let's push the envelope and use the lattest crap that Microsoft or whomever's marketing department says is a must-have feature.

---

Meshes and blender aren't anything new, and Blender is free in every sense of the word.  In reality, your former suggestion that new features were developed is far more likely since the 3D CAD crowd has been wanting this for years, and the opensim crowd has had accurate physics with sculpties.  So, mesh is an idea whose time has come here if only to keep a commercially competitve edge against what's available freely.  You can thank the marketing department for the bizarre, seemingly tablet-oriented "basic mode" in the official viewer and pushing premium membership harder.

All in all, your entire post taken as a whole sounds like you fall into a group organizations (profit and non) and developers (paid and open source) call "the unpleasable."   This is a user segment that isn't worth trying to cater to, because anything done or not done won't appease this group no matter what, and the only safe option is to either say, "Don't let the door hit you on the way out," or "then you fix it, smartass!"

[Baloo Uriza]

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Hitomi Tiponi wrote:

@Rabid. Sadly you cannot expect a 5 year old computer to work with up-to-date software.

---

To some degree, this depends on the platform.  I'd say it's epidemic in the Windows world, somewhat an issue in the Apple world (where the hardware in general enjoys long lifespans thanks to a relatively slow release cycle compared to PC vendors and tends to get milked for everything it's worth in it's large educational customer base), and almost but not entirely a nonissue in the free software world (save for gaming, CAD and 3D design, which has historically pushed the computer tech forward regardless of platform going back to the late 70s).  It's a matter of motivation.  Microsoft generally releases whenever they feel the need for more cash, whether it's ready or not (hence 2000 and the almost identical XP; Vista and the almost identical 7 and the brazillion editions of all four), and so do the vast majority of vendors catering to the Windows market.  Apple and vendors catering to that market pretty much know that they're not going to be able to push a raft of crap and expect schools to buy it, and know schools aren't itching to drop a ton of coin on all new systems and software frequently (in fact, Apple gives away binaries for old versions of it's OS away once they're aged a few releases).  The free software world generally values design elegence and efficiency over making money or pushing the latest and greatest hardware, the profit motive generally or entirely takes a back seat (save for the server market where corporations are trying to win goodwill by donating code to various projects and hired guns hacking some custom nicheware for individual clients).

 

[Nany Kayo]

NVIDIA 555M is having trouble running Second Life on some laptops with a second onboard GPU.  I hope they will fix it, soon.

[Topa Adamski]

My Ati HD 4650-1gb want to die on SL viewer 3 but  on old viewer its fast as hell

[Baloo Uriza]

Try turning off switchable graphics in the BIOS (instead going with discreet graphics).

[Void Singer]

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Rabid Cheetah wrote:

[...] I did NOT have these issues when I bought the computer five years ago specifically for being able to get on SL.

So what has changed? [...]

---

 I do believe you answered your own question right there...  5 years came and went... Technology marched on, offering newer and better things....

you say you can still run GW fine... well I'm sure that's true... even my 1999 pc can still run GW... because nothing has changed in GW really... and is probably why it's bloody empty even compared to a few years back... people are moving on to newer and better.

[Kolby Nissondorf]

When I put in the old video card, SL works great. Im getting much improved performace.

 

[Void Singer]

what changes since the last time you tried it?

[Nany Kayo]

Thanks, Baloo.  I will see if I can do that. 

 

I have also noticed it seems to help to clear the cache before every time you start SL.  I have this working sporatically, like three out of four tries, with the latest nVidia 555M driver from their website (280.26).  I have the nVidia settings configured to run the nVidia GPU only rather than the onboard Intel.

[Baloo Uriza]

Depeds widely on the viewer and how well it manages it's cache.  If you have to clear cache every time, then that's obviously a bug.