AMD Radeon HD 6310 ok for SL?

[Winter Azarov]

I'm thinking about buying a new laptop during the holiday sales, I have a main PC for bigger stuff, I just want something casual that  let's be bein SL without being chained to my desk 24/7 and the one I am considering has the AMD Radeon HD 6310 graphics card with up to 1461MB total graphics memory.

Any suggestions whether or not this will be sufficient for running SL.  I currently use both Viewer 3 and Firestorm (sometimes Dolphin).

Any feedback would be appreciated :)

[Peggy Paperdoll]

It may or may not work....depends on what you consider "works".  It's a low end GPU with no dedicated memory meaning it will require memory from your system RAM.  If your system RAM is not greater than about 4 gigs you'll have difficulty getting enough graphics memory from your operating system (which I assume will be Windows 7.......hopefully 64 bit so that you can install more than 3 gigs).  The GPU is not designed for 3D graphics and you'll notice that right away.........low settings in your viewer is about the best you can hope for.  If you're good with that, then the HD 6310 just might work well enough for you.  But, it's still iffy whether or not it will even let you log in.  It appears that the computer you are looking at is a netbook..........and that type of computer is really not enough for SL (some work, some don't).

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6310.40952.0.html

[LoveAngeL Lyre]

Hello Winter. Same question here. Have a look.

[Winter Azarov]

Thanks for the feedback so far, and to Peggy, no it is not a netbook, it's a full laptop and will of course have more than 4 gigs of ram.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

Then go for it..........the GPU may or may not work.  If it does then you will be fine as long as you are okay with low settings and perhaps a great deal of texture lag.  You asked if it's okay for SL..........and "okay" is subjective (I might not think it's okay but someone else might think the opposite).  It's a low end graphics processor and will perform accordingly.

[Winter Azarov]

*nods*  As I said, I have a desktop that I use for high end stuff, I just added a beefy new graphics card to it so that's what I use for all of primary stuff like taking Photos or anything I need to run on High for.  I just hate being tied to my desk all of the time and want somehing simple that will let me get in world in a nice comfy spot on the couch from time to time lol.  I just want to make sure I can actually get in!

[Peggy Paperdoll]

With that GPU I don't think anyone can tell you it's going to be okay for sure.  It depends on many other factors.  The GPU is marginal at best.  And that's all I'm trying to say.  Maybe, maybe not.  If it doesn't work for you then it gets to be a problem....if it does then you got what you want.

[Aveline Stein]

I looked it up at http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card-gaming-performance,3042-7.html

Seems to be an integrated chip that is equal to the Intel integrated graphics. Will the viewer start? Most likely. Will be be an ejnjoyable SL expierence, i doubt it.

Personally i would stay away from it.

[Indio Quinnell]

Seeing as how I recently went through this exercise myself, I have a suggestion, unless you've really, really got your heart set on that particular laptop...

I'm getting reasonably good results from a Lenovo Ideapad Z575.  It has 4Gb of RAM, and uses an AMD A6-3400M CPU/GPU combo chipset.  (It also has WIndows 7, but nobody's perfect, I suppose. )  It's no barn-burner when it comes to frame rates, of course, especially in a crowded sim -- but I can generally keep the graphics settings in the midrange without things grinding to a halt.  Even in a club with a dozen or so avatars (furry AVs, at that, which generally means a boatload of flexi and sculpt prims), I can usually stay around 10 frames/sec on average, which seems reasonable for a $500 general-purpose laptop that's not really optimized for that sort of thing...

It'll never take the place of my full-fledged desktop machine with the good nVidia graphics card, of course, but it serves well enough to untether me from the computer room and let me relax on the couch once in a while.  

[Winter Azarov]

UPDATE:

Got it and it works just fine, running on high and even went to some of the more laggy sims I tend to frequent and it might not be quite as smooth as my desktop but it works great.  I'm using firestorm at the moment, have not tested it with the SL viewer yet but will do so later and I don't anticipate any problems with that one either (aside from the typical problems that is the SL viewer lol)

[YYsmith]

Great post! The AMD E-350 w/ Radeon HD 6310 and E-450 w/Radeon HD 6320 are excellent low cost APUs that are extremely popular in value priced laptop computers now. I have seen friends run SL off of the Radeon HD 6320 with high graphic details with Firestorm and he, like yourself, is able to play.

 

SL is a great game in that it is playable with excellent graphics even with modestly priced laptop computers today