Second Life Forums Archive - Second Life and SMP

Noddingham Protagonist

Junior Member

Join date: 21 Jul 2003

Posts: 6

07-22-2003 17:32

Will Second Life recognize and be able to use a system with more than one processor? E.g If I have a system with 2 600Mhz processors will it recognize it as 1.2Ghz or will it only see one of the two?

Thanks,
Noddingham

Ian Linden

Linden Lab Employee

Join date: 19 Nov 2002

Posts: 183

07-22-2003 18:46

Currently SL isn't sufficiently multi-threaded to take advantage of SMP systems. In general such systems are too rare to develop for, which is too bad for us SMP afficionados (yes, I have a dual-cpu box myself).

We've internally discussed adding better threading to SL, which will benefit more people once CPUs with HyperThreading become more common. However, this optimization is still on the drawing board so you won't be seeing it any time soon.

Noddingham Protagonist

Junior Member

Join date: 21 Jul 2003

Posts: 6

07-22-2003 19:06

So I'm assuming that means that I should run at least dual 800Mhz chips or higher, or else I won't be able to play SL (since 800mhz is min. requirement)?

Sorry for redundancy just wanting to be perfectly clear.

Noddingham

Ian Linden

Linden Lab Employee

Join date: 19 Nov 2002

Posts: 183

07-22-2003 20:24

The short answer is, 600Mhz CPUs will work, but the performance (aka fps aka lag) will be quite poor. Whether you can live with it is up to you. This is true regardless of the number of CPUs in the system.

The long answer is, we consider 800Mhz the minimum for acceptable performance. The more Mhz, the better, because if you have enough RAM, nothing else will affect SL's performance as much as CPU speed. Now, 800Mhz is a generalization, because for SL an 800Mhz Athlon is faster than an 800Mhz P3 which is faster than an 800Mhz Celeron, but it's about right in all three cases.

I've heard rumors of SL running on a Pentium II with a Matrox G450 video card, just very, very slowly.

Charlie Omega

Registered User

Join date: 2 Dec 2002

Posts: 755

07-22-2003 20:54

I have ran SL on a 300mhz with a G4 Ti4200. so your duals may not have too much an issue.

Also I noticed SL don't like overclocking. Any ideas on that Ian?

_____________________

From: 5oClock Lach

With a game based on acquiring money, sex, and material goods, SL has effectively recreated all the negative aspects of the real world.

Mega Prim issues and resolution ideas....
http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/10/04/second-life-havok4-beta-preview-temporarily-offline/

Ian Linden

Linden Lab Employee

Join date: 19 Nov 2002

Posts: 183

07-23-2003 11:08

SL pushes your system, especially your CPU, harder than most applications, even other games. So you're more likely to run into one of the thermal or timing or signaling problems that go along with overclocking. If you overclock, and you've got a thermal monitor in your CPU, keep an eye on it while running SL.

Second Life and SMP
Noddingham Protagonist Junior Member Join date: 21 Jul 2003 Posts: 6	07-22-2003 17:32 Will Second Life recognize and be able to use a system with more than one processor? E.g If I have a system with 2 600Mhz processors will it recognize it as 1.2Ghz or will it only see one of the two? Thanks, Noddingham
Ian Linden Linden Lab Employee Join date: 19 Nov 2002 Posts: 183	07-22-2003 18:46 Currently SL isn't sufficiently multi-threaded to take advantage of SMP systems. In general such systems are too rare to develop for, which is too bad for us SMP afficionados (yes, I have a dual-cpu box myself). We've internally discussed adding better threading to SL, which will benefit more people once CPUs with HyperThreading become more common. However, this optimization is still on the drawing board so you won't be seeing it any time soon.
Noddingham Protagonist Junior Member Join date: 21 Jul 2003 Posts: 6	07-22-2003 19:06 So I'm assuming that means that I should run at least dual 800Mhz chips or higher, or else I won't be able to play SL (since 800mhz is min. requirement)? Sorry for redundancy just wanting to be perfectly clear. Noddingham
Ian Linden Linden Lab Employee Join date: 19 Nov 2002 Posts: 183	07-22-2003 20:24 The short answer is, 600Mhz CPUs will work, but the performance (aka fps aka lag) will be quite poor. Whether you can live with it is up to you. This is true regardless of the number of CPUs in the system. The long answer is, we consider 800Mhz the minimum for acceptable performance. The more Mhz, the better, because if you have enough RAM, nothing else will affect SL's performance as much as CPU speed. Now, 800Mhz is a generalization, because for SL an 800Mhz Athlon is faster than an 800Mhz P3 which is faster than an 800Mhz Celeron, but it's about right in all three cases. I've heard rumors of SL running on a Pentium II with a Matrox G450 video card, just very, very slowly.
Charlie Omega Registered User Join date: 2 Dec 2002 Posts: 755	07-22-2003 20:54 I have ran SL on a 300mhz with a G4 Ti4200. so your duals may not have too much an issue. Also I noticed SL don't like overclocking. Any ideas on that Ian? _____________________ From: 5oClock Lach With a game based on acquiring money, sex, and material goods, SL has effectively recreated all the negative aspects of the real world. Mega Prim issues and resolution ideas.... http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/10/04/second-life-havok4-beta-preview-temporarily-offline/
Ian Linden Linden Lab Employee Join date: 19 Nov 2002 Posts: 183	07-23-2003 11:08 SL pushes your system, especially your CPU, harder than most applications, even other games. So you're more likely to run into one of the thermal or timing or signaling problems that go along with overclocking. If you overclock, and you've got a thermal monitor in your CPU, keep an eye on it while running SL.

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