yet another graphics card question ...

My laptop died a horrible death last night and I am off out today to buy a new one. The old one had a NVidia 8600 which ran SL fine and I am definitely looking for another NVidia - the best I can afford. I notice from the system requirements page that the 9000 series is not listed - are these no good for SL? also, what is the GeForce Go series?

Spinster, the 9000 series should be good, it's newer and more awesomer,

The GeForce Go series is the nVidia name for their 'built on mobo' graphic sets for laptops. They are still discreet and have dedicated memory. I think they are lower power. On the downside, if it goes, your laptop is fried again, they can not be replaced without replacing the motherboard. I burnt one up in a HP DV9335 and it cost 800 to replace the motherboard. Probably should have just got a new laptop, but I love this one so I paid for it to be rescued.

Yeah, that's what I thought, I was just a little concerned that they were not listed as supported. Oh well, nothing seems to have 8000 cards any more in any case. Thanks

I have a 9800 and it works great.

Ditto that. It seems a good compromise on price vs. power, too. 9800GT with 512MB or even a full GB have come right down in price. IIRC, the 9800 is a quicker, cooler-running version of the much-favoured 8800.

What about the later versions of nVidia? The gts or gtx series of GPU? These get rave reviews for games in general?
Thx,
BT

For new cards check out the Toms Hardware charts:

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-charts-2009/Sum-of-FPS-Benchmarks-1680x1050,1197.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-charts-2009/Sum-of-FPS-Benchmarks-1680x1050,1197.html

To compare older cards, you will have to step back through their prior year charts. They dont list all older cards on the new charts, since the mix of games they test with changes from year to year.

Im not sure which game would be "most like Second Life" on performance, so I linked to the "Sum of FPS" list, which would be the total across all games they tested.

The GTX200 series are the best you can get for SL now.

For the 9000 series, look for 9500 or better with dedicated memory.

For the new cards, GT(_/S/X) *30 or better will give best performance. The GTX 260m in the Asus G51 ($999 at Best Buy) will shred SL. Full breakdown of current Nvidia mobile series is at http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_m_series.html

Thanks...is 'shred' a good thing?
BT

From experience- aka: replacing these parts for a living.....

If its a "discreet" video card as in 'separate' from the motherboard in the laptop, then yes- it can be replaced just by itself.

I got a Toshiba Quasimodo or something ...

http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe.com/innovation/product/Qosmio-X300-16C/1070529/toshibaShop/true/

It's got an NVidia 9800. It also has bright red flames all over the lid LOL!

I haven't tried SL yet, I am still busy configuring it and turning off all the Microsoft stupidware. I'll let you know how I get on.

I have it running as Vista 64-bit at the moment. Does anybody know if this causes any problems for SL?

ETA: It works fine on 64-bit. With graphics set to ultra and antialiasing on 4, 256 draw distance, I get 39 FPS (on wireless)

I wondered about that terminology, too, as I'm in the market for a new comp and some do have the GTX 260m. Was Veritable saying that card would work well, or badly, for SL?

Also--how can I check a computer's Power Supply rating? If I end up needing to install a graphics card, it would be a waste of money [and effort] if the power supply is too low!

Has no one on this board ever operated a skateboard? Shred=Good.



"Shred" is used similarly in other board sports, including surfing and snowboarding. A related use is to describe a rapid method of guitar playing that originated in Glam rock and was carried over to metal bands.

The GTX 260m will run SL on ultra, all sliders to the right, with 256 meter draw distance and 4x antialiasing. And that is the downclocked version on the Asus G51.

To check your power supply, it will have a sticker either on the back or top with its rating. Also look for two PCI connectors if you plan on running a top-of-the-line GPU.

I will cop to the lack of skateboarding familiarity.

Cool about the stickers--making possible quick comparisons in the store. And, yeah, the PCI slots. (I've learned a lot that will help me in shopping from these Forums...will the same be possible when all we have is the Blogs? [rhetorical question! )

Anyways, thanks, dude.

I ordered my new computer last week, should arrive this week. I hope the power supply is Ok for the GPU that I selected (GTX275). I have noticed something that I did not prepare for though. This computer does not hat HDMI. The monitor that I got (SAMSUNG), has HMEI and DVI, but no separate audio in, so I don't know how I will get te audio from the computer to the monitor. Also, what kind of HDMI/DVI adapter do I need, does it matter which compenent has the DVI and which the HDMI?

This is just the tip of my little iceberg. I am hainv the same issues trying to find the best way to get new speakers for my HDMI TV. I can't use my old speakers or receiver. They are 17 year ol Harman Karden with KDH speakers. It's a shame, since they sound great.
BT

Nope, the 9800 is identical to the 8800, just a marketing gimmick. So either one 8800 or 9800 should run SL pretty well. If you want to spend abit more perhaps a GTX260. But that's already overkill .

Just got my new computer..gtx275. It sure makes SL much more fun. I see things I have never seen before...particles are actual things! SL reports when I log on that the graphics card is not able to support SL...but it does.

I am not sure of the proper settings though. If I am hooking my monitor to the computer using DVI, I don't think this can reach full HD resolution. Is that right? Didn't I read that the resolution on your screen should match the resolution in SL? The limit to the resolution seems to be the DVI connection, so is there any reason to set the screen any higher? It does create more room on the screen to use the higher resolution. WHen I allow the monitor to pick its preferred resolution, it picks one that is higher than the DVI can deliver?

BT

I have a NVIDIA GTX 260 overclocked (yes i said cLocked) . It works great for SL and many other things. The price is now reasoneable also (under $200.00). Of course the GTX275 and 280 are that much better but would not have significant improvement on SL graphics. BTW I upgraded from an NVIDIA 9800GT and honestly.. only saw a slight improvement. Maybe if i went back i would notice a decrease in perfromance.. who knows.


di

What kind of monitor do you have? DVI supports up to 1920x1200, and the DVI Dual Link port on the GTX275 supports up to 2560x1600. The DVI should not be the limiting factor on your display.

it is an LG 23 in full hd. I have never been able to discover what a dual link is. The back of the box for the dvi cable gave a lower resolutin than you mentioned, I think it was 1600z 975 or soemething like that. The picture is VERY good though

On a GTX 260m (due to Nvidia's Maximum Confusion Naming Policy the mobile GPUs are far less powerful than desktop cards with the same name but no "m"--it's more like a desktop 9800 GT, but I digress), I can run at ultra settings and 4x AA on a full HD (1920x1080) screen.

You should be able to run at your monitor's native resolution. I have had some computer/monitor combinations limit the resolution over an HDMI connection, but never over a DVI. You might want to open the Nvida control panel and check that the computer recognizes the monitor (instead of using a generic "plug-and-play monitor" profile). If it is communicating with the monitor, it should read the supported resolutions. If it limits the resolution to below the monitor's native resolution, try dropping the refresh rate. Some monitors will support higher refresh rates by dropping resolution.

It is working beautifully. I am now getting like 105 fps on SL and the picture is great. There have been issues though. Second life fried my computer once, it crashed big time with a blue screen. However, Windows was able to re-boot. I did what someone here suggested, reinstall SL and that seemed to work. Before I reinstalled SL, it would crash my computer just opening it, not even signing on.

Now, I have another problem maybe someone here recognizes. I have a Simple Tech external USB hard drive that Windows 7 does not recognize. No one has had an answer for me, CyberPower PC, the manufacturer of my computer did not know (they have been very nice and helpful btw) and the Simple Tech people are stupid and unresponsive, telling me I need to upgrade my motherboard chip. This device should be a simple USB plug and play. but it shows up in the USB device as an unknown device. According to Simpletech, there are no drivers for this thing needed since Win2000. Any ideas how to access the drive? I have lots of Second life textures stored there and I would like to keep them. I can probably still plug it into my old laptop and maybe access it via the network, but I wish it would work on the new computer. The only other thing I have not tried is to hook it back up to the old computer where I had it set up as a shared object...I wonder if that is preventing it from being recognized by the new computer?

BT

An external USB hard drive is acutally an internal hard drive in a small case.
So here we have two options:
- remove the hard drive from the small case and intsall it internally.
- buy a new external case.

We do not know exactly where the problem is but I would lean strongly towards it being with the case. If it were me, I would mount the hard drive internally even if only temporary to verify the drive its self will work and to possibly copy the files for backup.

Now here come the gotchas ...
The makers of those cases are rather proud of their suff and the price of a case alone is steep for what you are getting.
The hard drive in the external case is most likely IDE and your new computer may not have an IDE controler on the motherboard. It still might but the IDE are going the way of the floppy drive so it is not anything to count on.

Thank you for the suggestion. Fortunately, I can still get to the data by hooking the usb drive back up to my laptop, then accessing it trough the network. Because of the costs you mention, it will probably be better to just go buy a new backup drive for my computer.

This points out a real issue by what we mean by the term backups (its only temporary for the technology at hand) and the issue of how we can reliably archive our stuff. Having three copies of my iTunes music could become a problem.

BT