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What can I change in my PC to make SL run better?


LenAmaterasu
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I don't recommend over clocking your PC to run SL.  WoW perhaps but you don't need that kind of performance gains as there is little need to have the fastest response times.

However, what you do need is insane graphics capabilities.  To do this, a solid graphics card and a lot or RAM will go much further than CPU tweaks.

 

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The 8400 graphics-card you have is a low-power model from a pretty old range.  A new(ish) 460 or 560 will run SL and all graphics applications a lot better.

Also make sure that your internet connection is as good and clean as possible.  Don't use mobile broadband and preferably not wireless.  If you have ping times >200ms much of the time shoot your ISP (or at least talk to them to find out why).

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I agree with Peter.  Your system is generally powerful.  During the past yeear or so, I upgraded my CPU and RAM, both to levels below what you have, and there was no improvement.  When I replaced my 8800 GTX with a GTX 470, I did see improvement.  Based on that experience, I would expect you to see significant improvement if you got a GTX 4xx or 5xx.  When Kirstenlee Cinquetti rated graphics cards for SL, the GTX 580 was the best.

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It really depends on your budget. What amount do you have in mind? I'm going to disagree slightly with the others regarding overclocking CPUs as I think this can make quite a difference. More on it in a minute.

On graphics cards, if you wish to stick with Nvidia, then a 460 GTX would be be a good choice, a 560 Ti even better. Choose a well known make such as MSI, Zotac, XFX, Gigabyte, HIS or Asus for example. Aim to get a graphics card with a memory bus of 256 bits and the faster GDDR5 memory. Cheaper cards only have a 128-bit memory bus, GDDR3 memory and less performance. The 1MB 460 GTX has a 256-bit memory bus and fast GDDR5 memory while the 768MB version has GGR5 but only a 192-bit memory bus. Remember to check your PSU rating as you may have to upgrade it too to power the new card. The 8400GS required 300-350W. A 460 GTX would need a minimum of 400W. 

A competent computer shop could probably overclock your CPU from 3.2 GHz  to 3.8 GHz on air-cooling assuming your cooling system is up to it but on its own, probably of little help. Balance that with an upgraded graphics card using a 256-bit bus and GDDR5 memory may very well result in a nice performance increase. See how you get on with the GPU upgrade and if happy, leave well alone. 

You could also consider an upgrade to a quad core chip like the i5 760. Intel, in its infinite wisdom, reduced the socket pins from 1156 to 1155 for the new Sandy Bridge chips so upgrading to one of those requires a new motherboard as well. The i5 760 quad core is a highly recommended gaming chip for 1156 socket motherboards so a direct replacement for your chip but still costs close to $200 even though it is basically past its time. My i5 750 was overclocked from 2.76 GHz to 4.1 GHz by the computer manufacturer but this speed was only possible due to the water cooling system added. Paired with an ATI Radeon HD 5850 (similar performance to a Nvidia 460 GTX), I enjoy frame rates of up to 90 in low lag sims using Ultra with Shadows enabled and 30-60 in other sims using same settings. Could I get those frame rates without an overclocked CPU? I doubt it.

However, if you don't like the thought of overclocking your CPU or replacing it, stick with a simple graphics card upgrade. May very well give you the boost you're looking for. 

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Intel's Core i5 750 and the newer i5 760 are based on Intel's quad core 'Nehalem' processor architecture codenamed Lynnfield, same as the Lynnfield 'Nehalem' based  i7 870. They are very different to the Core 2 Quad processors. The i5 750/760 are highly overclockable and excellent for gaming but even unclocked probably 20%+ faster than a Core 2 quad.

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  • 1 year later...

i have a compaq presario sr2013wm it has a amd athlon 64 processor 3200+ 2.00GHz n 2gb of ram and runs windows xp with a ati radeon x300/x550/x1050 series video card and nvidia nforce pci system management what can i do to make second life run good also have desktop tethered to smartphone (lg spectrum on verizon contract) to use phones internet to surf web on my desktop

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Replace the pc. I'd say, this is the low end to consider:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229390

Or if you have a decent local pc store, I would ask for something along this line as the low end of what can be used:

Quad core CPU, e.g. AMD Phenom //-945 or FX-4100 series.
8GB DDR-3-1333 RAM
Radeon HD6670 GDDR5 1MB
450 to 500Watt PSU
1TB HDD.

Or if you want to go by benchmark:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/
Stay above 3000 for the CPU.

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/
Stay above 1000 for the graphics card
and stay away from mainboard integrated graphics.

Otherwise you have low framerates and stuttering.

 Btw, looked up the specs of your current system, it's an old clunker from 2006 with mainboard integrated graphics, selling that as a multimedia system was slightly fraudulent even back then. Relegate it to office purposes, or keep it as a back up. The monitor is still usable, if the backlight still produces a decent brightness, but if you want to replace that one as well, go for one with LED-backlight and IPS-panel, e.g. LG IPS235.
Specs: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&docname=c00777760

 

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