Could SL run on this video card?

I'm thinking of buying a new laptop, but the #1 criteria (no addiction here!) is that it run SL. The video card that comes in the laptop is "NVIDIA GeForce 7000M TurboCache supporting 896MB". Would SL run on that?

I ran SL in a HP laptop with a Nividia Gforce 8600M GS and runs fine

The 8600 is a recommended card, whereas the 7000 series starts at 7600...hence my hesitation. I'm also looking at one with an NVIDIA GeForce Go 7150M and again, the recommendation is 7600.

I just don't want to put out the money and then find out it won't work.

humm, didn't know that. Why don't you go for one with a 7600 or plus? Laptops usually don´t let you change the video card so the more you can get the better

I've gone up by $500 and still haven't found one in the "recommended" category.

I would say no only for the following reason (But it could sorta run)

"TurboCache supporting 896MB" this tells me it uses part of the system's ram to store video memory. this can cause major overall problems when using Second Life sense Video memory is always in a constant flux (Second Life is just like that).

Suggestion: Get a laptop with a video card that has dedicated, This will be stated somewhere as dedicated Memory maybe.

If you do use this card make sure Second Life only set to use 128mb or 256mb of video memory. I have run SL on much worse with integrated graphics! so it is feasible but not recommended.


Peace.
~ Soma

I just got a sweet laptop from dell.com with similar specs to these for $984:

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition edit
LCD PANEL 15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA LCD Display edit
MEMORY 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM edit
HARD DRIVE 160GB Free Fall Sensor Hard Drive, 7200RPM, for Dell Vostro 1500 Notebook edit
OPTICAL DRIVE 8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD+R write capability, w/ Roxio Creator edit
VIDEO CARD 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GT edit
MEDIA DIRECT Dell Exclusive MediaDirect™ Instant Play Software Application edit
WI-FI WIRELESS CARD Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Wi-Fi Mini Card edit
WEBCAM No Webcam Option

The 2.2 ghz core2duo , 8600M GT, 2 gigs ram and 7200 rpm disk make it FASTER in windlight than my desktop.

This laptop is made for SL.

What brand are you looking at? What's your price range? I would be more then happy to scout out some setups and maybe even help save you a buck or two.

Pass on the 7000, and remember that the "turbocache" is a new feature designed off of the old shared system ram. It's not a bad thing, it's an option with Nvidia's newer cards to double your ram amount to see a increase in performance.

As Kai said and if Rebecca hits this thread she'd say the same, Dell.com. They always have sales and from time you time they have the recent catalogs floating around with coupon codes printed on the shipping label for a decent savings.

Important thing to remember, no matter what company/brand you go with get the extended warranty.

I wish Dell were that cheap here in Germany...I'd buy that baby in a second! (I run SL on my lappy with an ATI Radeon Mobile 9700 just fine, though...even Windlight with bells and whistles still gives me around 6 or 7 FPS. on a card with 64 MB and my gigantic RAM of 512 MB. No, I don't understand it either, but i know if I switch to a new laptop it needs to beat that)

i use my laptop in bed or out and about when off the main pc, (pure addiction yes) and i have a packard bell 1 gig ram and a go500 graphics card, runs perfect, only a 299 pounds laptop, runs perfect.....

Try the Vostro 1500 at the Dell SMALL BUSINESS section. It can put you into an 8600M GT for under 800.

LL seems to be recommending cards they classify as class 2 and higher for WindLight (see gpu_table.txt in the SL WindLight folder - the first number designates the card's class).

The class is what decides what SL will look like (regardless of whether the card is actually perfectly capable of doing more).

Class 0 - SL will look worse than the main viewer (no ripple water, no glow, etc)
Class 1 - can do full WindLight but LL feels it's a "low-end" card
Class 2 - can do full WindLight ('mid-end' card)
Class 3 - same as class 2 ("high-end" card)

If you're looking at nvidia cards:
Class 1: 6500, 6600, 7100, 7200, 7300, 7500, 8300, 8400, Go6500, Go6600, Go6700, Go6800, Go7200, Go7300, Go7400
Class 2: 6700, 6800, 7600, 7800, 7900, Go7600, Go7700, Go7800, Go7900
Class 3: 8500, 8600, 8700, 8800

Again, LL isn't basing that on what the card is capable of, so the above is just a basic guideline as to how WindLight will look by default, not how good/bad it will run.

In other words, those of us who are going to buy a lap top have to pay close to $1000 for one that will run Second Life. There isn't any lap top under $500 that comes with a graphics card that will work decently.

Yep, that's my thinking. Why I stick with desktops.

omg i was on a dinosaur for the longest time lol

i was running SL with a Nividea Geforce FX5200 ultra
a 1.4 athon
756 sdram
all on Abit ka7a with the raid
if i remember all those numbers right lol
it ran sl fine even in windlight but when you hit hard lag it was like taking screenshots

that was a very tweaked system with about every tweak you could think of in hardware and OS
it got me by but sl was a lot more work to be in than i realized once i got my new system lol

im running a desktop with geforce 5200fx XD and it runs fine so you shouldnt have much trouble

It will run BUT if they come out with shadows..and they will it wont work
You need at a min a 8600 8800 would be alot better

edited: it will still work but you wont get the real time shadows.

O the turbo charged videos cards are over clocked and run HOT your need a drive bay fan also prolly just watch your temps real close

SL + Laptop = burned up something, either video card or HD.

Get a Laptop cooler - i hear this work.

My laptop HP dv6000 is on right now for 2 weeks since if i turn it off it will not start and gives me an error that indicates either bad ram (which i have swapped out) or a burned up/bad video card.

The lappie always runs hot and the fan stays going 24/7. I think SL killed it.

I've also read before how SL burns up laptop so unless a laptop is an absolute necessity go for a more powerful desktop.

But for the record, my HP dv6000 is a 1.6ghz duo core AMD 64bit, with 2gig ram, GeForce Go 7200 256mb video card and i ran SL at full resolution with 200m draw, and most sliders maxxed except post-processing (on Low) and atmospheric shaders turned off. Before i put 2 gigs of ram, it only had 1 gig and i could not shop at malls or stores without major pause lag after everything loaded. 2 gigs of ram eliminated that.