Computer Recommendations

Likewise. The tech guy in the Corsair forums tells everyone to disable legacy USB support before testing their RAM so I figured that was worth trying. I still have it off, though I'm not sure it made a difference. When I tried upping the RAM voltage it started not wanting to post. I also currently have the onboard LAN disabled and and old Intel Pro 10/100 card that I had laying around in there instead. This is the longest stretch I've had without a bsod. I have the RAM set at stock speed and voltage again, just with AI overclock at 5%. I REALLY hope I have it pegged now but I don't want to get my hopes up. Every time I start to relax, BAM! Are you using the P5N-T Deluxe also?

I'm using a P5E3 Deluxe with 1600Mhz DDR3 from Corsair. More stability has come with the newer BIOS revision, but so far has been tough. Doesn't seem to matter if I overclock or not. Seems things change from BIOS to BIOS at the moment.

I've tried stock speeds and didn't really offer me any added stability. But even 2 BIOS revisions ago memory voltage settings were totally broken, so I wonder if there are some still yet unsolved issues.

I disable all that AI Overclocking stuff, I find it to be more trouble then it is worth. I just manually configure the settings. But there is just no setting for total, long term stability. Right now my issues are mainly involving the video card errors (BSOD blames nvlddmkm.dll, sometimes Vista 'recovers' from a video card error). But I still believe this is possibly related to RAM and it is just SL uses alot of communications between RAM and Video Card (textures).

I still have my fingers crossed. I custom built my system so I would have to go through the annoying process of RMAing the parts, and before that I need to be sure what part is actually causing the problem... FUN!

I feel your pain, Shiney! Hope you're able to get it sorted soon. I'd forgotten how amazingly unfun trying to troubleshoot an unstable PC is. Asus should stop branding their boards as being for enthusiasts and start branding them for masochists.

Pretty much. I decided to actually overclock this time and look what I get, nothing but trouble

Other then that, when it runs, it runs great

hahahaha!

Took me approx 8 weeks to get my ASUS "enthusiasts" / "extreme gamer" / "extreme user" Striker Extreme motherboard to a stable point, and only after a lot of heartache and tears

Only when I was totally sure it was stable did I start overclocking. Avoid using the AI Overclocking software, and instead take a weekend off to slowly increment BIOS values (assuming you're comfortable you know what you are doing! otherwise take a week off and research it first!). Perform a stress test after every seemingly successful change.

PC now runs stably overclocked at 37%, and temperature well within acceptable tolerance.

But the key for me to achieving stabilty was using QVL paired and sequentially numbered RAM modules, and installing a 850W PSU; after they were in place, everything else followed relatively easily and naturally.

If you don't want to build your own, I'd suggest getting a Dell Inspiron 530 and configure it to have 4gb of RAM, the nvidia 8600GT DDR3 video card, and a core 2 duo 6550 CPU. Unfortunately, you'll have to get Vista to get the better video cards. But my in game dad has this model and it's pretty decent. And it will offer you some opportunities for later upgrades. The total would be 800-900 including a monitor.

The reasons:

Vista -- only because they don't offer the good video cards with XP
4gb RAM -- Ram is cheap speed, XP wants 2gb, Vista wants 4gig
Core Duo 6550 -- This is a solid fast processor and more important it has a 1333 "front side bus" speed, which is how fast information goes to and from the CPU. You probably will never need a faster CPU until you replace the computer, but there are faster models out there that will fit in the same slot.
8600GT DDR3 256meg -- The most important thing in making your computer faster for gaming is the video card. Nvidia seems to have the edge overall and is reported to work better with Second life. This is a solid midrange video card.

Once you have the system go to the nvidia site and download the latest drivers for the card. Don't get them at the Dell site, get them direct from nvidia.

I've got an 850W PSU (and it's hooked up to a 1500W UPS) so no problem there. If I decide to keep this machine I'll probably end up replacing the RAM. I just haven't wanted to spend any money on it unless I decide to keep it. It didn't crash overnight (for the first time since I've had it) so things are definitely looking up. I'm now at 24 hours without a BSOD.

Prime95 has four (or more?) tests, with a description of what each stresses. The choices include a memory stresser.

What kind of puter do you have now?

(If you don't know yourself, when you're logged in: Help / About Second Life... click somewhere in the top part, Ctrl-A to select all the text, Ctrl-C to copy and then use Ctrl-V in a post here to paste all of it )

Crashing seems like a silly reason to buy a new puter to me personally since it's likely a fixable problem (as opposed to SL just running too slow for your liking which would require new parts/a puter) as long as you're not currently stuck with an onboard video card.

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In general, the only thing that will really make much of a difference on whether SL will run is your video card. Things to avoid:
* any Intel - built-in (no separate card) - video card. SL just won't run (reliably or at all)
* SL generally plays nicer with nVidia cards than ATI cards
* if the new puter comes with Vista, ATI is more likely to cause a problem as well due to driver issues (unless someone points out that that's been solved by now )

If the amount of money you want to spend on a new puter matters, do point it out again and again . I noticed that people here tend to suggest things that are better, but also cost twice as much as the next best thing which is still more than adequate. It'll all become "obsolete" in the same amount of time so there's little point in paying more for something you'll never really fully use/need.

CPU: AMD K7 (Unknown model) (2174 MHz)
Memory: 448 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
Graphics Card Vendor: SiS
Graphics Card: 741 VGA
OpenGL Version: 1.4.0
LLMozLib Version: 1.1.0 (Mozilla GRE:1.8.0.12_0000000000)
Packets Lost: 35/32866 (0.1%)
Viewer Digest: ffac34f4-0452-2fcc-16b7-c2868f0923ef

The crashing problem I may have solved (knock on wood), but I'm still having to log out and in to fix the black shadow thing, and to rebake textures again and again. Plus sometimes my clothes won't show up on my avatar's body. (I spend a lot of time at a nude beach.)

Cost is always an issue, but in the best of all worlds, I'd like a system that I didn't have to fight with on a daily basis, and that wouldn't go obsolete when sl ups the stakes the next time....

I can't tell you all how much I appreciate your help. I'm beginning to feel competent to start this search. Thank you all.

The SiS video is a problem.

You might find you get acceptable results with a new video card and additional memory.

Does the computer have an AGP or PCI-E video card slot?

What is the brand name and model number of the computer?

It's an off the shelf E Machines W2785. (Hey, I bought it for my daughter's schoolwork. ) I couldn't begin to tell you what kind of video card slot there is...

Someone told me that what I have is a motherboard chipset with a graphic controller, if that's possible. It's a E Machines thing. Would it even be possible in that case to replace the video card without replacing the motherboard?

Motherboards that have built in video are common. All you'd need to do is disable the onboard video in the system bios. You just have to open the computer and make sure there's an open pci, agp, or pci-e slot where you could put an add-on videocard.

It has an AGP slot.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125039

GIGABYTE GV-N76G256D-RH GeForce 7600GS 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 8X Video Card

Something like that - not necessarily that particular one - might serve you alright.

Plus more memory.

Yes, but my statement was in regards to my experience. Prime95 == no crash, while SuperPi would result in a crash.

Like about 2 GB? And that would cope with Windllight, when it comes?

Well that could be part of the problem. (I have a very large zalman 97000 fan on my amd. So that can`t be the problem. )( Or a bad VRAM etc..could be trhe problem) I had that nighmare wondows error for many months. until my system did a meltdown and i had to buy CPU DDR2 Mother board. It doesnt help when LLABS servers are over loaded and causing systems to work harder because of badly scripted location on SL as well.

I have 4 giga DDR2 installed and i pretty happy. But know i seeing the same problem that i had with 2 giga reoccure. Because of that badly buildt UI of Windlight and its over blown added features. More memory? well manybe . My current mother board can hold 8 giga with vista and two DDR2 boards are very very cheap now. But when ar the UI builders going to stop adding features that are too complex for them to do correctly. Or Just don`t work from the start. Adding memory is not cosly these days. But why is LL inabilty to build within a given limits of those people specs.

I would agree with the previous comments about the SiS graphics. Note the following comment from the SL system requirements list:



Moreover, the amount of RAM listed is definitely not enough. It's also an odd amount -- you don't normally find PCs with 448MB of RAM. This probably indicates that the video system is running on "shared memory," meaning that part of your system RAM (which is probably actually 512 MB and barely adequate to run SL) is being reduced because, in this case, 64MB of it is being allocated to video use.

Get a decent video card (an NVidia or, less preferably, an ATI-based one with at least 128MB VRAM) and more RAM (at least 1GB, more if possible, as much as you can afford; it's relatively cheap) and you should find yourself having a MUCH better SL experience.

P2

One thing to remember is that you do need the 64 bit version of Vista if you have 4 gig of RAM. Vista OS comes in both 32 and 64 bit versions, and the maximum amount of RAM that can be addressed by a 32 bit operating system is 3 gig.

I found the asus forums to not be that helpful when i needed help. the forums at extreme systems are very good for info. The users there are xtreme LOL, and they know what they write about mostly. There will be more than you ever wanted to know about motherboard/cpu/bios/memorycombintions

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=175399&highlight=p5nt

Well thats what they say 3 giga, but my 4 giga shows. Problem is SL client doesnt noticed ( as I remeber more then 2+ giga with XP......withthe 32 bit system OS.

With Vista 4 giga ( or More ) can be used 32 bit os systems. My current Mother board and support 8 giga of ddr2 memory.