Why is my FPS so, so, so darn low?

Here are my system specs. Can anyone tell me why my FPS is always ridiculously low, even with all "nifty" options turned off in preferences (shadows, lighting, etc)?

Dell OptiPlex GX260 computer with:
- Microsoft Windows XP Home
- 1 GB RAM
- NVIDIA Quadro NVS with AGP8X 64MB video card
- SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio icky on-board sound card
- Cable internet connection via Comcast.net

Thats a 2D graphics card, for connecting up to 4 displays. It offers little or no 3D acceleration. You'll have to get another card to run SL at any reasonable framerate.

Well... I have a very slim case 'cos this is a Dell business model. My brother took a looksie inside and told me if I wanted a better video card it would have to be half-height. Errr... so now I have no idea what to get. I'd love to upgrade the video card, but I'm not used to looking for "half-height" as a spec! :|

All I know is, my framerate SUCKS and I wanna fix it... help?

Thats pretty bad. Even if you can find a suitable AGP card, it will be more expensive, because of the special height.

You just found out why slim cases suck ;)

If you seriously want to get into Second Life, or any kind of gaming or other 3D applications, your best choice is to buy a new computer :)

Otherwise, good luck finding a low-profile AGP card at a reasonable price.

Unfortunately, I can't really buy a new computer. I just got this one in May. It was a gift. That's the problem with business models... fast processor, lots and lots 'o' RAM, but crappy video and sound cards. But, again, it was a gift...

Hmmm. I wonder if I could just put it in a new case.

Heh, my computer's been running with the box open for as long as i can remember it. Being an Athlon room heater of a CPU, it needs the added cooling. At least until I get off my ass and buy a new HSF for it.
I guess modern HSFs should be much better than this 3 yr old piece of crap.

A quadro is not a 2d card. Period. Its not designed for playing game but it is most definatly not a 2d card. It is a profesional grade graphics card with a much larger emphasis on accuracy in 3d displays than on speed. They are used for profesional rendering or scientific displays were accuracy is what is needed more than triangle pushing speed.

What is 'rediculously' low? Are we talking 10fps? 20fps? Or 3fps? This is not a fast paced action game and thus 10fps is doable, though of course not prefered. The highest is usually around 20fps or so, as long as its not overly busy.

Your graphics card may be slowing you down some but probably not much. Because of the design of SL, it is much more processor dependant than graphics card dependant. The extra features are graphics dependant and some people find that the FPS loss of turning even some of the fanciest on is negligable because the bottle neck is the CPU - not the GPU which the fancy feature can get pushed to.

Or there could always be something else wrong.

Also, check if its running in PCI mode, and install the latest chipset/AGP drivers.

I have this same card. I was having alot of probelms as well, and one thing made SL a whole new world for me:

draw distance

Move this to 64 and SL will be great even in crowds. I can even use the lighting options and shadows and it doesn't slow me down much. In groups of 2 or 3 in low particle areas I get as much as a steady 25 FPS. Typically I stay over 15 FPS even in crowds. I was at the island when they crashed it, I had 10 FPS until 60 people showed up.

Also I get better FPS in PCI mode with this card.

My PC:

Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1
HP Workstation xw6000
2.80 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
512 mb RAM
NVIDIA Quadro4 200/400 NVS 64meg video

I know what you mean. I used to have an Athlon. That puppy heated the room up like nothing else...

Thank you for the thoughtful response, Ama.

I'm usually hovering somewhere around 10. I go down to about 5 when there's a good amount of people / prims / particle effects in the area.

I just don't really know what's considered "ok" or "good" in this game, when it comes to FPS. What really got me is that my FPS is so low with nothing extra on. No shadows, no lighting effects, no object bump (sniffle, sniffle)... nothing. I mean, jeez. I'd like to at least be able to see shadows! And my boyfriend has what I think is a comparible computer and internet connection... and consistently gets higher frame rates and smoother operation with more of the options turned on. I'd at least like to see all the new, shiny textures people have been using on vehicles without rendering the game unusable because it's moving so slow....

Know whatta mean?

That may be true for the Quadro 4 and Quadro FX, but from what I've been able to find, the Quadro NVS is specialized for running multiple monitors, not 3D work.

Thanks for the tips, Cua. I already put the draw distance down to 64, unfortunately. It's one of the first things I changed...

How do I do that? And could it cause problems with anything else, if I change this?

I think that the NVS is sort of like the MX line of the Quadros. In other words, its the low end line. IF the parralelism is true then you may very well be right - the MX lines have historically gotten multi monitor support before the regular lines of the GeForce. However it is a 3d card, at least as much as a Geforce 4mx is. However it could be less of a gaming card than a Geforce 4mx, which wouldn't be good. .

Well, that would make sense... since this computer came with two monitors. I have a Dell GX260 with two 18.1" flat-panel LCD monitors.

Ghoulie, 10 fps in SL isnt that bad. I vaguely remember LL stating that the game was designed to run around 10 fps.
Plus, IIRC, network lag also affects your fps around here.

Ok... In that case, it seems odd that my b/f regularly gets around 20-30, then. Maybe he's just in good with the peeps at his internet provider.

No, Ghoulie, it's not his ISP that's good, it's most likely that his computer is much, much better than yours. (And mine, I might add!)

From what I've observed, this is the order of importance that SL seems to put on your hardware while deciding how awesomely it chooses to render your video:

1. CPU
2. Memory bandwidth
3. Memory
4. Video card

Now, you're okay on all of those counts except for the video card. While SL isn't as GPU-centric as a game such as Quake, you still want to throw whatever you can at it.

You might consider replacing your computer case if you intend to upgrade your video card. An ATX case will hold your Dell components, and let you use full-height cards. They're not that expensive, either. You can pick up a sufficient one for $50, including the power supply.

All modern video cards can be used with two monitors, too, so if you wanted to get a new video card, you wouldn't have to worry about that part, at least.


On a side note, there are a number of factors that combine to create what we call "lag" -- or at least what we call "lag" in SL.

1. Slow computer (this and this alone will cause low FPS)
2. Server response time -- is the sim full of people? Has someone just rezzed 1500 physical dominoes?
3. low bandwidth -- what's your network capacity?
4. high ping/network latency -- what's your network SPEED? Note that this is not the same thing as bandwidth/capacity. Think of your network connection as a pipe -- if it's a fat pipe, a lot of water might move through it, but if it's moving very slowly, the data will take a long time to get there.

WARNING:

Dell uses non-standard power supplies with their computers, but those power supplies have the standard ATX connector. If you try to mix an ATX power supply with a Dell mainboard, or a Dell power supply with an ATX mainboard, you will fry the power supply, the mainboard, or both.

I was confused by that too Ama so I looked it up on nvidia's site. Looks like the NVS is a Quadro in name only. It's a quad display card aimed at the spreadsheet crowd. Only having 64mb on it is a dead giveaway too. I'm running on a quadro4 (the high end 3d content creation market card) and the NVS definitely ain't it, hehe. No idea what you could find in half height though. Maybe just buy a new case and move the guts over?

Eeep! Thanks for the information, Carnildo.

I hate these slim cases. It's not all that slim, first of all, and they're sacrificing some much-needed space for design. Even a casual user might want to update their video or sound card eventually...

I built my last computer from scratch, with lots of help from a friend of mine. Ok, so he basically built it but I bought everything . Tee hee... anyway. It never worked right. Ever, ever ever. There was always some stupid little thing wrong with it. So my family bought this computer for my birthday last year. I'm a little reluctant to start fooling around inside there because of my past experiences...

Speaking of which! If anyone meets Joseph Groshomme in game, that's my bro. He just joined SL yesterday. He's a Mac user, too.

I refuse to admit anyone's computer is better than mine! Haha, just kidding. He has a Sony Vaio laptop. I don't know what model is it. It's about a year old. It's probably pretty damn good, 'cos he told me he compared it to one of the high-end Alienware models before purchasing it.

Good point.

1. One of the few things I can guarantee it's not. If my 2.7 GHz processor can't handle SL, I don't know what can! LOL...
2. Yes, good point. This is something that increases my lag, but it's always pretty low. I've been the only person in a sim and I'm laggin'.
3. Good point. These are the results from my latest speed test at DSL Reports... My ping times are usually around 130 for "ping sim" and "ping user" with no packet loss.

2003-12-30 18:33:23 EST: 2176 / 231
Your download speed : 2176273 bps, or 2176 kbps.
A 265.6 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 231454 bps, or 231 kbps.
Seems like broadband .. above the 1mbit barrier!

Contact Dell directly. Call them. Ask them if there are any options to upgrade your computers video card. There is a fair to even chance they will have some half height cards that will fit your machine that they will be willing to sell you.

I suggest this as a possibility only if you really would like to get a new video card, and your computer is primarily for gaming. I know people have been able to call up and order new video cards for their laptops, so I think this may be possible.

Well, here's what I would do, but i'm not afraid of making a bit of a mess to get things to fit where I want them to fit

Get yourself a nice little dremel or equivalent tool. Get yourself a nice video card. A Quadro is fine, but anything with 64mb of video ram is gonna be a bit of a dog in SL these days.

I would highly recommend something with 256MB if you can find it. You'll be happy you did.

Anyhow, get the card, open the case up, see how it does/does not fit.

If you do indeed only have slim AGP/PCI slot capacity, you will have to do 2 things:

One, measure off the case where the AGP card will sit, mark it, measure again, mark it again, repeat that about 4 times until you're pretty sure you're at the right spot.

Take mr dremel, and make yourself an opening so the card will sit through it.

You will also need to do something about the card backplate. You could go about it two ways.

One, you could use a standoff screw and some spacers, washers, grommets, whatever pleases you, and standoff the screw from where it normally screws down.

Two, you could cut the backplate down and rebend it and create a half-height backplate from the full height backplate, and cut out a screw notch so that it fits as a standard slim card would.

Once you've done this, you'll want to give a good hard look at how the air is flowing in the case, specifically the video card's cooler.

You might have to do a little more work on the case and give a good ventilation patch for the GPU.


That would be my route, anyhow.