Secondlife On Windows 7

[Atomic SecretSpy]

 

Ive just got a new PC with windows 7 and SL runs sooooo slow the in world takes forever to load, it worked great on my old PC running XP which was like 7 years old surely the graphics the old machine cant be better then my new one ?

this is what i have

 

Detected Intel® Processor Graphics 3000 Current Driver Installed 8.15.10.2342

[Peggy Paperdoll]

...

Detected Intel® Processor Graphics 3000...

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There's you problem.  The Intel Processor Graphics 3000 is an on CPU graphics chipset very much like onboard graphics accelerators.  The difference is the graphics is intergrated into the CPU chipset instead of on the motherboard.  Like the older Intel GMA chipsets it is not designed for high demand 3D graphics.......and it shows.  You'll need a discrete (or dedicated) graphics card somewhere close to mid range in perfomance to get good performance in SL.  If your new computer is a laptop, you may not have the option of adding a discrete card (and even if you do have the option, it's likely the CPU has auto-switching to save battery power......which is a whole new can of headaches).  If you have a desktop computer then adding a discrete card is pretty easy (but, if the CPU has auto-switching you're back to that same headache).  It's not Windows 7, it's your graphics accelerator chipset.

 

[Atomic SecretSpy]

thanks for that will just have to stick with firestorm works fine it in

[Peggy Paperdoll]

You mean the discrete card that I said the OP needs?  Auto-switching is done by the CPU so if that's what you are asking the answer is no.........both nVidia and AMD/ATI have the problem equally.  AMD CPU also have the problem of not properly switching from the on chip graphics to the discrete card........it seems to be mostly to do with OpenGL graphics but that's up in the air.  Everything I've read about auto-switching leads me (and many others) to believe the technology is not quite ready for prime time........and those CPU's with the feature are probably destined for the "good idea that never came to be) catagory.  It's mostly incorporated into laptops to save battery life, but some desktops have the feature too.  I think Intel, AMD and all the computer manufacturers who taut the great "advancement" should be tarred and feathers........it does nothing but give users headaches and additional expenses.  Right now the "feature" is junk.......and the consumers are getting hosed over it.

[VRprofessor]

I'm running windows 7 on an i5-2500k with the onboard graphics--SL in Low works well and medium works, but is laggy in heavily populated areas.

I've tried SL for a few moments on an i3 based laptop with windows 7, low graphic settings--it was a bit laggy, but not awful.  I suppose around 15-20fps in an relatively unpopulated area.

Have you checked your SL graphics settings?

It is possible that your old computer had a graphics card? 

[Nalates Urriah]

While not scientific, you can get an idea of the performance others are getting with their hardware and favorite viewer. How Fast is Your Viewer? - Second Life.

Please add your information to the thread.

For now the SL Viewers seem to be CPU bound. The i3's are duel core hyperthreaded. They act like 4 CPU's. The i5's are either duel or quad core and they too are hyperthreaded. i7's are quad or 6 core CPU's. Any of the 'i' series CPU's should improve SL performance.

If you read through the linked thread you'll see some people with 200 series nVidia cards are getting good performance. So, a better CPU and moderate graphics card can give good performance.

The Intel CPU w/graphics found in many laptops is optimized for video (movies). The system is not so great at rendering 3D games. 

[Alicia Sautereau]

That answer isn`t so simple

As any sl client is a memory hogg (1 session for me can go to +2gig ram)  a good amount of ram, and fast ram also improves the fps
Also your hdd is a key factor as sl exists out of a few billion small files, my cache exists out of 9329 items at the moment , so hdd speed/indexing is defenetly recommended.

 

On another note, sl isn`t cpu "bound", putting in an 3960 and a 200 range card will yield not much improvements, using an cheap i5 with a 580 would benefit more then a cpu change.
There is another reason to just upgrade you gpu instead of cpu, going to a newer socket model requires you to also updat ethe motherboard, cheaper to get a gpu model from last year that will run as fast as the rest of the pc components can supply the data/

It`s kind of a balance between all the parts, depending on the parts that are installed what to change first 

 

The problem with the sandybridges is indeed the damn onboard gpu, but, in the driver control panel you can disable the onboard so it allways uses the main gpu instead, had to to that with my own laptop
If it`s a normal pc then cooling isn`t much of an issue unlike with a laptop and an i5 will run nicely with the nvidia 560 cards  

 

For the op, get a normal gpu if you can, that intel crap is worthless :matte-motes-sick:

[VRprofessor]

I do have some stuff to post in the performance thread.  Just thinking about adding some more information....one of the benefits of multiple computers.  But I suppose I could post separately for each computer.

I found my daughter's i3 laptop after my last post.  Downloaded SL and played around for about 10 minutes.  

Initial graphics settings were "high" which resulted in terrible lag even in a relatively quiet area--around 6fps.  Resetting to "low" moved that to around 20fps.   Not great by any definition, but not awful.  

In a busier sim---20 or so avatars and plenty of stuff to look at--performance dropped to 6-10fps depending on the direction I was looking.  The same sim with my i7 with 560m graphics card running is 20-25fps as a comparison.

 

[Suki Hirano]

SL = primitive technology + futuristic spec requirements. Your HD 3000 (that's what you're talkin about right? 2nd gen intel 3000?) is fine with most modern games, and its performance rivals most low-end discrete cards so theoretically you should expect no lag in a game like SL, it only lags because well SL terrible in the system optimization department. Mesh was out in other games like at least 5 years ago, and my laptop can run stuff like Oblivion at med-high settings with no lag. Took SL years to catch on in the graphics department, and sometimes even lags at min settings.

I think SL was also designed for XP, that's why I also found it run slightly better on XP. Not a computer person so not sure what's causing it. Nothing really you can do other than playing SL on something with discrete graphics card.