Performance!

When certain avatars, wearing lots of high-prim attachments (like jewelry) with lights (local lighting on, obviously) and particles (bling) enter the scene (but not necessarily when directly looking at them), client framerate drops to around 4fps and lots of avatar joint/attachment object updates occur as per the debug fast timers. This has been happening ever since SL 1.7 and nothing (avatar attachment LOD, etc) has fixed it!

SL builds with relevant (at least I think so) updates:

1.7
* Particles behind your camera do not slow FPS more than those ahead
* Lighting on avatar seems to flicker at times when you are in the dark

1.7.1
* Improved updates for objects travelling out of one's view [this one is suspicious]

1.7.2
* The frame rate when the local lighting option is turned on has been improved [it has?!]

1.8.1
* Only the modified part of objects will be updated, as opposed to updating the whole object [obviously this got missed for avatar attachments]

1.8.2
* Avatar LOD system
** Improves viewer performance by selectively culling the display of attachments to agents a certain distance away from the person viewing them

1.8.3
* Resolved an issue where a updates to a complex object would sometimes cause linked prim to disappear

Come on, LL, investigate this issue already please!

A 64-bit processor will be nearly the same speed as a 32-bit processor of the equivalent type if you are using a 32-bit operating system, which i'm willing to bet you both are. The sempron IS a budget chip... but blindly upgrading to a AMD64 isn't going to provide a significant boost with all other things being equal unless you are using a 64-bit operating system (Windows XP 64 is only available directly from Microsoft, I believe... or a 64-bit linux kernel), and a 64-bit executable, which the SL executable posted for download is not.

Here's the answer the original poster probably wants, and is much closer to the truth - SL performance is pretty terrible on just about everything. If someone here gets even 35 fps with their draw distance set to 128, with shiney and ripple water on... we'll be nice, no local lighting or shadows- anywhere at ground level on the main grid, then my hats off to you. You probably can also use your computer as a replacement furnace.

Static from excessive rubbing of chest hairs against leather can sometimes cause PC's to not function optimally.

omg, tell me you can still return this! You were bent over and ripped off beyond belief if you paid $580 for a 6800. THere actually is no FX 6800 chipset from nVidia. What you have is a Pine Technologies FX 6800, which is just a regular 6800 chipset (non GT or Ultra). THose are currently going for around $200, and even at release, the base 6800 chipset cards didn't go for that much. I really feel for ya.

ALso, if the same seller was the one that fed you the line about matching video card to motherboard, I'd rip them a new one, or atleast make sure noone you know ever uses them again. That's just a load of bull. About the only 'matching' that can be done, is just to make sure that the mobo can supply the power requirements for the card, but any good mobo will do that, you just have to watch out for the cheap ones that cut corners.



Just so you know, 64-bit has no advantage over 32-bit if the software you are running is 32-bit. The processor will handle the app with the 32-bit pathways and offer no bonus other than a sheer brute-force bump for a faster chip.



Computer Associates' EZ-Antivirus has been recieving good reviews from what I've seen, and has a relatively small footprint compared to the sasquatch that Norton has become. I also like Trend Micro's PC-Cillin, though I mostly use their Client/Server version.



There have been issues with the new fiber service, give google a poke and you may find discussions on them. What it boils down to is that the fiber itself can end anywhere from your neighborhood to your basement, but you end up still carying signal over copper lines which can cause issues. And if they terminated it at the neighborhood level, you're still at the mercy of the phone company's lowest-bidder copper.

YES!! I can! AVG Free!

I just got done working on someone's computer. They had Norton's Internet Security 2004 on it, which includes the spyware & virus detectors. The guy was saying his hard drive ran slow. So I pop it out, hook it up to the laptop & scan it with Spybot, Ad-Aware and AVG Free. WOW! Norton's Sucks anymore!!! 257 bits of Spyware, 2/3rd being cookies, and a nice lil' Trojan Dialer (yea, he's still on Dial-Up too). But it was odd, once I removed Norton's to install an up-to-date version he had, his PC ran a WHOLE lot faster. I haven't used Norton's AV/Spyware stuff since the days of Windows 98SE. Too much of a resource pig.

Been using AVG Free, Spybot & Ad-Aware for about 3 yrs now. Havent had a problem/virus/or spyware yet. My system stays on 24/7 with a reboot on the weekends.