Terrible lag after logging in

Hi all,

I'm new to SL, my girlfriend got me interested and I'm trying to get going. I recently (last week) built a new computer and think it is a strong system, but we'll see... LOL

This is my main board, cpu and it's running 4gig of 800fsb ram, with windows xp sp3.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3827914&Sku=MBM-G35EC-E8400

I currently play Lord of the Rings online with it in the high settings, and it does fine. Any ideas why I can't do much in SL? I've bottomed all the settings I can find and read everything even remotely mentioning lag/SL. I even tried the test viewer, it was great for about 10 mins then.. bang.. same old same old..

Help, I want to enjoy SL and hang out with some kewl people!

Is this still and ongoing entity? (linden et al) the board is broken (urls show as code not a link), issues are unresolved as of several years ago (issue tracker), and many are complaining and no one from SL answers. I'm not complaining just wondering. If it's winding down and not going on much longer than I'll just look elsewhere, but I really hope this is still an ongoing endeavor as it seems like a wonderful idea.

Lindens dont post on the forums, this is user based technical support, people reply as and when they can. The forum isnt broken, links were disabled a long time ago due to abuse. There places offered to speak with lindens on issues such as the forums at the top, and the blog. SL isnt going anywhere, theres nothing else to compete and nothing else like it available.

Comparing SL to something like LotR isnt a fair comparison. SL is a different beast. Stop thinking of it as a game, and start thinking of it as a virtual platform and your getting somewhere.

What graphics card do you have in your system? If your using the onboard chipset thats a problem straight away. And what fps are you getting ingame? In crowded areas the average user tends to get anywhere from 5-20 dependant on system, a little more in quieter areas.

Thanks for the reply

Lotro was my only other online endeavor for now, so it was/is my only point of comparison. Anyway, I'm using a built in intel graphics card, with HD abilities. On windows XP sp3, 4 gig of ram, 10/100/1000 built in ethernet card, Eide 160g wd/hd.

This is my cpu/board and built ins etc..

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3827914&Sku=MBM-G35EC-E8400

I've seen as high as 40fps in some areas, and as you have said much lower in busy areas. I have a feeling it's a hardware setting or something on my machine as my girlfriend is on her new laptop nearby and using the wifi system in my house. She has no issues. That at least tells me it's not my broadband.

Ugh.. I really want to figure this out and get to partying

you will never truly be able to play or use SL with an intel on board card... in fact I don't think this " Intel GMA X3500" one is even supported at all .. http://secondlife.com/support/sysreqs.php

You can run it ( I have a Toshibia running that but ... it stinks.)... but its not a true supported Graphic card... SL willl be more like a blury chat room with laggy chat...

my advice is grab a Nvidia card 88xx or 9xxx series card and you will be able to run itlike it should...

you can get buy with a Nvidia FX5200 128mb card if you can find one for that board, but it wont be to much better) you want one that is for the "PCI Express X16 Slot" on that mobo.. the best you can afford.

Thats your bottleneck, and other than that you sould be running well... (Power Supply) whats in it as well will determine what GPX card you can run, 600w min maybe? for a 8800GTX series ???

I was figuring it might be the card.

I'm looking at a:

XFX GeForce 8600 GT Video Card - 1GB DDR2, PCI Express, SLI Ready, (Dual Link) DVI, VGA, HDTV

GPU/VPU: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT

RAMDAC: Dual 400 MHz

Fill Rate per Second: 8.6 Billion pixels

Additional Features: RoHS Compliant
HDCP Enabled
HDTV Ready
SLI Ready
OpenGL 2.0
DirectX 10
Vista Certified

Maximum Resolution: 2560 x 1600 (Digital)

Video Memory: 1GB

Memory Type: DDR2

Core Clock: 540 MHz

Memory Interface: 128-bit

Memory Clock: 800 MHz

Shader Clock: 1180 MHz

Stream Processors: 32

Memory Bandwidth: 22.4GB/sec.

Interface Type: PCI Express

Interface Speed: x16

Connector(s): VGA (15-Pin D-Sub)
DVI (Dual Link)
HDTV/S-Video

I do in fact have a 600w powersupply and the case has 2 huge fans lol The card aboves recommends a 325W PCI Express-compliant system power supply.

Thanks for the reply, I want to be able to hang with my girlfriend and her friends. I was in a dance contest today and won, and couldn't even type to thank people.. ugh that was embarrasing..

thats a good card but remember Nvida the higher the second number the better... ie. 8800 9800, the lap top I am on runs the 8600m and runs great even a bit better than the full XPS tower (at times)

if you can find an 8800GTX you may find it to be better, then you may not like I say if it works good then don't mess with it

you should be able to run Ultra setings and still have good FPS,

HINT: always remember this is not like any game, when you get into an area like a club full of avatars even the best cards are going to have some lag... at least at this point in time
and there are many server bottlenecks as well, and SL sometimes just has real bad days lol

Another concern is how long the latest and greatest will be viable. Seems from reading the forums something changed recently and has caused a lot of issues for others. I know progress has it's price, but I can't be buying a new card every time a new release comes out.

What changed that is causing so much lag for others that have been playing without issue prior?

there are diffrent theorys on it ... but most new issue s many are seeing is texture load time (gray textures for much longer than normal, a change in the way the asseset servers call for them (I forget exactly) as well as many many with Vista having issues..

I can say as below in my sig.

my 7900512GT XPsp3 runs fantastic my mainland sim with 12 avatars on it I see well over 40FPS (but of course the sim can only give 40.. ) set at Ulrta and using windlight sky settings costumed. (now I have issues with this running Atari Rollercoaster tycoon 3 stans alone, running from CD(so go figure it gives BSOD 10-20 minutes into an empty park just building)

With the 8600m on the lap top Vista Runs fantastic (40+ almost everywhere, I do run a top of the line cooling fan under it set up to make sure the fans blow in where it needs it )..as well NO ISSUES at all.

the compaq AMD cpu with a lowly 2 GB of ramm and a 19USD Nvidia FX5200256k APG card (about what 6 years old? runs just fine although about 5-20 FPS ..

and the old 128 shared runs 2-15 FPS depending and is just 1 GB on an old Pentium 4


as of now I think the new Nvidia cards the 280 and ??? are the best bet, but the drivers they must run have issues at the moment with SL, so do the latest and greatest for the 7000,8000, and 9000 series cards, many like me run 169.1 drivers and not the 175, or 177 drivers to keep from some of the bugs until they arte fixed ..

so I think with a 8600 your going to have at least a coupele years out of it at least here in SL... but I would look into a 8800 first although that 1 GB ramm on that crd is pretty tempting are you picking that up from tiger as well? whats the USD on it? I want to run mine in SLI but can't find a identical 7900 card to run with mine so more than likely will looking for 2 cards at the same time