sochimilko

I am hoping someone who has significan technical knowledge of graphics hardware and Internet connections can give me some information based on their experience. I bought a laptop last year before I discovered SL, and went for the one with the sub -par graphics card. Now I am stuck with it. In spite of this, I have been able to have an OK experience in SL, with my current Internet connection, and my graphics setting at High ( I have tinkered with them until although things load slowly, I can still move around, and I can see for a fair distance.) PROBLEM: Now I have to move to a place with a slower Internet connection than I am used to. I am afraid I am going to have a doublewhammy lag situation. I have laid out my questions and my specs below. I would appreciate any sensible answers. Please note that I have already looked up minimum system requirements in the SL Knowledgebase, and I am fully aware that my graphics card does not meet them. I do not want to discuss getting a new one, since I can't afford another computer, and my Laptop is not upgradable in that respect. (Note: SL Min sys req. for Internet speed is DSL or CABLE but it doesn't specify speed. ) Question 1 Will downgrading my Internet connection from 9-10 Mps to 1Mbps cripple my ability to run Secondlife? Question 2 How important is Internet speed above 1Mbps for having a decent experience in SL. Question 3 Is having a good graphics card more or less important than having fast Internet? ( fast Internet is usually not available in the US at reasonable prices. Often not available at all due to crappy infrastructure.) MY SPECS WIN 7 64 BIT ATI Radeon mobility HD 4200series- SL recommends ATI Radeon 9500 or better CPU: AMD Phenom(tm) II P960 Quad-Core Processor (1795.57 MHz) Windows Graphics Driver Version: 8.14.0001.6105 OpenGL Version: 3.2.9756 Compatibility Profile Context I have been able to run on Phoenix Viewer 1.5.2 tolerably well (SL Viewer 2 & Firestorm (Newest version) Not so well.) with the 4200 graphics card and the current Internet speed, which runs bout 9Mbps despite advertised speed of 11. My new apt. will have only 1Mbps or slower. (ISPs are not required to advertise the real speed, but it is usually significantly lower than advertised speeds.) OTHER CONSIDERATIONS: Cleaning out my inventory, clearing various caches, and changing my max bandwidth does not seem to have much difference in performance. Lag meter Sometimes the client meter is green, sometimes red. Depends on the sim. Network meter is usually yellow or green. Server is sometimes green, sometimes red. When it is red, I can't do anything.