Best Video Card

I have a Gigabyte GA-8191P motherboard with a PCIex16 video slot and 2Gb ram running Windows XP. If cost is not a consideration, what video card will provide the best performance for SL?

Also, I have noticed that when I log out of SL, the application and the voice segment still appear as processes in Task Manager. Can that be avoided?

It appears that SL has problems with ATI videocards so maybe go with NVidia? right now, the 9800GX2 is their top of the line but not sure if that card has problems. I had an NVidia 7900GS and SL ran great. I upgraded to ATI 4870 and now SL won't run on my computer because it crashes soon after I log in. Maybe get an older cheaper card to run SL and upgrade later after the problem is fixed? It seems like older cards don't have problems running SL but new cards do. Good luck and hope things work out for you.

I'd probably go with the nVidia GTX 280. It'd offer you the best SL performance you can get at this point in time.

Getting one will set you back >$400, though.

Right now, the NVidia GTX 280 is the highest performance video card available. Unfortunately, it's problematic for Second Life at the moment; there are problems with the 177.x series of drivers, and the GTX 280 (and its little brother, the GTX 260, which is basically the same card with a slightly slower clock rate and 1/8 of the GPU disabled -- that lets them sell the chips that aren't quite perfect) won't work with any earlier drivers. In another month or two it will probably be a great card for SL. The GTX 280 gives you full bragging rights for $400 and up, but the GTX 260 is a much better buy; right now you can get one for around $250. It's possible to run SLI pairs of them if money is no object.

The highest performance card that you can expect to run SL on without problems is the NVidia 9800GX2, which is essentially a pair of 9800GTX cards in SLI on a single card. If you really want to go over the top, you could run a pair of those as a quad SLI setup. They're getting a little scarce as the top of the market shifts to the GTX 200 series; if you find one it's likely to cost $350-400. If you don't want to spend quite so much you can step down to the 9800GTX with one GPU; they're more readily available and you can land one for $200 or so.

Over on the ATI side, the Radeon 4870X2 (again, really a pair of GPUs in CrossFire) is pretty fast, but it also has problems with SL at the moment; it will run $400 or more. The top of the previous generation, the 3870X2, is a safer bet for SL. There are also single-GPU versions that cost less.

Thing is Second Life doesnt use SLi nor Xfire right now...so dont expect big jumps getting a duel gpu card..better going with a single gpu card and prob a nivida too..i got a 4870 which runs fine but im sure a nvidia card of sorts 9800 series or above would do better..but im a all around gamer so i use ati..

I don't want to sound rude, but I can't help wondering why you felt it necessary to resurrect a 4-month-dead thread, just to tell us that.

In any case, just so you know, programs don't need anything special in them to benefit from SLI. A speedier system is a speedier system, and double the GPU's working on any single problem is double the GPU's. All programs benefit at least passively, if not actively, from increased power.

When I enable SLI on my desktop (dual GeForce 8800 GTX), I get about a 30% boost to FPS in SL. On my laptop, which has dual 8700's, the difference is a little less dramatic, but it's still definitely noticeable, maybe a 10% increase.

That said, people do report mixed results with SLI in SL. Many report increases to FPS, just like I just did, but others have reported no change at all, and a few have even reported decreases. If all stories are to be believed, results vary greatly from system to system. We could spend all day trying to guess at why. The only way to know whether it will benefit you on your particular machine is just to go ahead and try it.

I've actually never personally experienced a machine NOT benefit from SLI. So I'm not sure where the people who report no change or slowdowns are coming from. But again, we could guess all day at potential causes. My best guess is the motherboard probably has a lot to do with it.

Anyway, it can certainly be well worthwhile to have multiple video cards, even if you never ever use SLI/Crossfire. If you're using more than two monitors, for example, or even two large screens, you need two cards to feed them.

never mind all SLI setups are handled by the drivers, and not the software using them