I was having issues until today when I changed my max bandwidth from 1500 to 4000kps. My issues were high CPU (4 cores all running around 60 to 80% or 3 out of 4 running very high), slow loads and reduced frame rate. I saw so much improvement after I changed bandwidth that I thought LL must have fixed something else at exactly the same time that I made the change. I even went looking on Grid Status and Forums to find out what they did. Didn't find anything.
Currently when I've cached everything in view and I'm not moving or am moving around just a little I get 100 fps (compared to around 20 yesterday), CPU fluctuates on all 4 cores at around 20 to 30% (was 60-80) and my bandwidth is between 10 and 200 kps (compared to about 1000 yesterday). If I move around outside the area that's cached (my draw distance is 120M) everything loads quickly and smoothly and CPU use jumps 10 to 20 points but comes down quickly. I think I've only noticed CPU hit 80% today while the viewer was loading - for the past few days the viewer took 100% to load.
Speedtest says I get dl speed 7Mbps Boston (near me), 5Mbps Dallas and 2Mbps SF. I get those results more or less whenever I check it. My conection is broadband cable, my nic is 10/100/1000 but I don't get 1000 from the modem or from the cable service I pay.
Today I was at a big clothing store (4 floors wall to wall vendors) and it loaded quickly. I panned my camera around the store - something I couldn't do yesterday without pretty much freezing. I bought 1 outfit and got 2 free gifts.
I don't know how this setting can make so much difference or if it was a problem unique to me, but give it a try if you're having issues with the current viewer.
My 'about sl' info is:
Second Life 3.2.8 (248931) Feb 9 2012 09:04:17 (Second Life Release) Release Notes
You are at blah blah blah Second Life RC BlueSteel 12.02.02.248819 Release Notes
CPU: Intel® Core i5-2320 CPU @ 3.00GHz (2993.24 MHz) Memory: 8175 MB OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit Service Pack 1 (Build 7601) Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation Graphics Card: GeForce 9800 GT/PCI/SSE2
Windows Graphics Driver Version: 8.17.0012.8562 OpenGL Version: 3.3.0
libcurl Version: libcurl/7.21.1 OpenSSL/0.9.8q zlib/1.2.5 c-ares/1.7.1 J2C Decoder Version: KDU v6.4.1 Audio Driver Version: FMOD version 3.750000 Qt Webkit Version: 4.7.1 (version number hard-coded) Voice Server Version: Not Connected Built with MSVC version 1600 Packets Lost: 10/124,844 (0.0%)