Space Navigator pros and cons?

[Greenie Emerald]

Thinking about getting a Spacenavigator mouse. Any thoughts on whether it improves the SL experience? What are the positives and negatives? My frame rate isn't the greatest (avg about 12 fps) and I'm hoping it might give me more precise movement control. I am using Phoenix, gradually getting accustomed to Firestorm for the day when ...

[Nathan Zetkin]

Space Navigator is a great accessory for SecondLife. Used to be cheaper but if you can afford it you will wonder how you got along without it. For avatar movement and flycamming it can't be beat.

[Jenni Darkwatch]

With 12fps a space navigator won't improve your movement controls. If you want to try out for cheap what it does/doesn't: Go and grab the cheapest joystick or better a dual analog gamepad and use that. The issue is that the code there is extremely dependent on local PC performance. It'll jump the camera wildly if you're in a laggy sim. Same for movement - arrow keys are ten times more precise, oddly enough.

[Imnotgoing Sideways]

It takes a bit of touch to learn how to use a Spacenav, but, that'll take about a day.  From then on, camera control becomes stellar.  It comes with nearly limitless range and control.  Large builds and megaprims are easier to manage, given you Spacenav with your left and and mouse with your right.  And, shopping becomes a renewed experience. =^-^=

The down side?  Someday you'll find yourself on a computer without one and miss it horribly. (>_<)

 

 

[Greenie Emerald]

My PC performance is good (quadcore 1-7), my problem i think is the vidcard (AMD Radeon HD 4350) .. but I guess it's the old story of the "weakest link in the chain" ... however lag is generally not a problem

[Jenni Darkwatch]

I'm not sure when it glitches... CPU or GPU. All I notice is that when frame rate drops dramatically, movement (i only use it for camera) becomes very erratic. Other than that I totally agree - it's worth every penny. For the longest time I used a dual analog gamepad, worked about as well for a fraction of the price.

[Greenie Emerald]

thanks, I'll look into that

 

[Ormand Lionheart]

You might want to upgrade the vid card before getting a 3D mouse? That is horrible fps on an i7. You should be able to get a Nvidia GTX 460 for ablut the same price as the mouse. What settings are yu using at 12 fps?  With Ultra I can get up to 100 fps with DoF and shadows enabled depending on where I am. Up to 300 fps without. i checked the Passmark benchmarks for your card and it is sadly lacking. A 9800GT got a score of 722 and your card was 181. A GTX 460 got 2,673.