Second Life Forums Archive - Optimum Game Specs

Allen Kato

Junior Member

Join date: 31 Jul 2003

Posts: 2

08-01-2003 18:23

I absolutely love this game, it's new innovative ideas are great. And although I love playing it, it is often a bit laggy, if anyone could give me some suggestions on what kind of improvements my computer could use in order to make the game run smoother, I'd be very appreciative.

Current specs are:
900mhz processor
256 MB ram
50 gig hardrive
GeForce 4 video card

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

Jack Orlowski

Senior Member

Join date: 13 Jul 2003

Posts: 141

08-01-2003 18:33

i run a dell inspirion 8200 (laptop)
1.19 ghz
512 ram
60 gb hardfive
nvidia mobile chip cant remember the specs but supposedly the edriver is out of date but i have no problems
and a cable modem

no problems other than normal lag and bugs i see every one else encounter. I build allot and would notice buggy video stuff

si Money

The nice demon.

Join date: 21 May 2003

Posts: 477

08-01-2003 18:40

Unfortunately there is nothing which would meet 'optimum game specs' for SL. SL can bring my P4 3.06ghz to it's knees if I get too overzealous with graphics options.

That said, my specs:

P4 3.06ghz 533mhz FSB w/ HT
1GB ram
GeForce FX 5600 256mb
and a decent 1.5mbit/384kbit DSL line

These allow me to run at 1280x1024@32bpp with all graphics options on at a decent rate (~22fps on average), at 2xAA and 2xAnistropic

Misnomer Jones

3 is the magic number

Join date: 27 Jan 2003

Posts: 1,800

08-01-2003 18:45

Allen,

What GF4? All GF4's are not created equal. I used to have a GF4MX and now I have a 4600ti and theres a really big difference.

I have:
P4 2.53ghz
Gig ram
GF4 4600Ti 128mb
Cable (1.4/230 kpbs)
2xHD(40g/10g)

_____________________

Allen Kato

Junior Member

Join date: 31 Jul 2003

Posts: 2

08-01-2003 18:52

Oh yeah, sorry, forgot to post what my GeForce was. Which is, same as yours, the 4600Ti, sorry about that

Water Rogers

Registered User

Join date: 1 May 2003

Posts: 286

08-01-2003 19:16

I'd say the game overall runs pretty smooth for me, other then normal sever lag etc... and I have upgraded my system dramatically for the game a while back.

P4 2.0 Celery (but really want the 533fsb)
GeForce FX 5600 256mb
1gb RAM
1.2mbs DSL

I never seem to have graphics card issues as much as I have seen others have. The consesus seemed to ME that nVidia has been very good, but they are always working on improvements. I know it must be rough when nVidia or ATI keep changing things on them. Although, I do notice it start to get choppy when I raise my Distance Draw Range in game above 150m... but i tend to keep it around 100, and I get roughly around 45-60fps. This does vary a lot though, and really depends on what sim you are in etc etc.

--Water

Darwin Appleby

I Was Beaten With Satan

Join date: 14 Mar 2003

Posts: 2,779

08-01-2003 19:36

P4 2.8 OCed to 3.4
1GB RAM
GeForce Ti 4600 128 MB
Audigy 2

Not a bump in the world

_____________________

Touche.

Ama Omega

Lost Wanderer

Join date: 11 Dec 2002

Posts: 1,770

08-01-2003 21:19

First step to cutting lag is making sure you have AGP enabled and that your card is set to AGP (more info in knowledge base I believe).

The second, and more common need I think, is dropping the draw distance. Dropping to 128 from 256 can improve performance significantly.

Also, bandwith plays a *very* large role in this game. If you have a mid to low level of DSL service that could also cause lag.

Ian Linden

Linden Lab Employee

Join date: 19 Nov 2002

Posts: 183

08-01-2003 23:22

First, you can reduce your draw distance as others suggest - it's kindof a pain but it'll speed things up across the board.

To improve your framerate, make sure all your drivers are up to date; after that, some more RAM will probably give you the best bang for your buck. To do better than that, you'll need a faster CPU.

If you're experiencing network lag, there's not alot you can do except try to find a better ISP.

Huns Valen

Don't PM me here.

Join date: 3 May 2003

Posts: 2,749

08-02-2003 04:35

#1: MEMORY. SL loves RAM. Upgrade to at least 512. You can practically get RAM in boxes of Cracker Jacks these days. It's extremely cheap. Trust me, just do it! Unless the installation goes wrong, no one ever regrets upgrading their RAM.

#2: DISK. Go into the settings and let it use a gig of cache space.

#3: DRAW DISTANCE. Like the others said, this has a LOT to do with how SL runs.

_____________________

[ huns? || words || 1TBS KREW || VHI Aircraft || Whitepaper on Aircraft Physics ]

Make yourself and your objects immune to llPushObject().

James Miller

Village Idiot

Join date: 9 Jan 2003

Posts: 1,500

08-02-2003 10:18

I just found a stick of ram in a little plastic bag at the bottom of a cereal box! What is the world coming to!?

Jonathan VonLenard

Resident Hippo

Join date: 8 May 2003

Posts: 632

08-02-2003 10:20

You guys probably won't believe me, but a RL space ship just hovered over me and Hippo's beamed down into my room and installed an extra gig of Ram for me when I asked their names one of them said his name was Roo.... Very Very wierd....

But now SL goes super fast!

JV

_____________________

"Now that we're here, it's so far away
All the struggle we thought was in vain
And all the mistakes, one life contained
They all finally start to go away
And now that we're here, it's so far away
And I feel like I can face the day
And I can forgive
And I'm not ashamed to be
The Person that I am today"

Kenichi Chen

Registered User

Join date: 10 Jul 2003

Posts: 76

08-02-2003 14:03

I know I have been playing too many hours of SL each night because the following day at work I notice extreme lag .

Snoopy Pico

Your Best Friend

Join date: 5 Feb 2003

Posts: 62

Well...

08-02-2003 16:56

I dont know what a really good config would be but if you need to save some money i would think this config would do well..

P4 2.0 Ghz

512 DDR Ram ATLEAST

and keap your Nvidia card

My specs:

Alienware
P4 2.56 ghz

1 GB of ram

and a Nvidia Gforce 4 ti 4600

and 120 GB hd for games and what not

and my 200 GB hd for my HUGE .avi files

Karl Longwell

Junior Member

Join date: 23 Jul 2003

Posts: 5

08-02-2003 17:17

I have a pretty decent system going,

p4 2.4 @ 3.06 (170FSB)
Gigabyte GINXP (boughta granite bay chipset before the 875 & 865 chipsets :/)
2x512MB DDR-400 Ram (runs at 340mhz)
ATI 9700Pro
2xWestern Digital Caviar SE (8MB cache) 40GB using the onboard promise fastrack raid controller in a raid 0 config.

DSL connection is 1.5mbit/s down, 512kb/s up..

At 1600x1200@32bit, and default graphic options, I never drop below 20fps, and I'm usually up in the high 30s.

I will say, using a couple of similiar harddrives and going with a raid 0 (even software raid, cuz, that's basically what that controller does anyways) makes a HUGE difference gaming wise.

You can try this type of config (Keep your video card tho, a ti4600 is pretty decent)

Here's the bare minimum you'll need to upgrade for processor (all prices canadian dollar):

ASUS P4P800 (Nice little mobo w/gigabite lan & audio on board intel 865 chipset) : $176.82
p4 2.4 800FSB version (pretty cheap): $277.20
2x512MB DDR-400 ram. ($130.73ea) : $261.46

So if you bought it from me (one of the many things I do is sell computers): It'd be a $715.48 (About $500US) upgrade.

After that, you'll have a pretty smoking system. You may need a new power-supply depending on what you have (w/the p4 connector thingy). It's like 25 bucks for one of those.

If you want to go raid (something I very much recommend, since it's so cheap for small harddrives right now), Either buy a couple of S-ATA drives (the Western Digital 10K RPM 36GB Raptors are quite nice

, Or go for the deluxe version of the P4P800 which has on-board IDE raid.

Or you can go the AMD way as well, except those things run so damn hot ! (Like 85Watts of heat dissipation or something??).

Teeny Leviathan

Never started World War 3

Join date: 20 May 2003

Posts: 2,716

08-03-2003 18:43

Ok, I guess I'll show you mine.

The highlights...

Athlon +2600Xp (2 ghz, Barton core)
1 gig of ram
ASUS A7N8X motherboard (333 FSB)
GeForce FX5600, 128MB ram
Sound Blaster Audigy (oem) card

...and "the Rest".

Under normal conditions, I average around 30fps at 1280x1024, with a draw distance of 256. Bring in a crowd, it falls to the high teens.

Cori Sunshine

Registered User

Join date: 16 Jun 2003

Posts: 42

08-04-2003 07:28

I'm running the following... I really don't expereience much in the way of lag most of the time, but the last few days have been somewhat laggy.

P4 3.06 ghz
512 Ram
Radeon Pro 9700 128 mb ram
120 gig hard drive
SB Audigy 2

Cable ISP

My suggestion would be to run only what is necessary during the game..check your start up options and turn off what you don't need. I can bring this computer to its knees at times. I generally have Winamp, several MSN Messenger windows open, Photoshop, and Second Life... Just closing Photoshop helps tremendously.

Optimum Game Specs
Allen Kato Junior Member Join date: 31 Jul 2003 Posts: 2	08-01-2003 18:23 I absolutely love this game, it's new innovative ideas are great. And although I love playing it, it is often a bit laggy, if anyone could give me some suggestions on what kind of improvements my computer could use in order to make the game run smoother, I'd be very appreciative. Current specs are: 900mhz processor 256 MB ram 50 gig hardrive GeForce 4 video card Thanks in advance for any suggestions
Jack Orlowski Senior Member Join date: 13 Jul 2003 Posts: 141	08-01-2003 18:33 i run a dell inspirion 8200 (laptop) 1.19 ghz 512 ram 60 gb hardfive nvidia mobile chip cant remember the specs but supposedly the edriver is out of date but i have no problems and a cable modem no problems other than normal lag and bugs i see every one else encounter. I build allot and would notice buggy video stuff
si Money The nice demon. Join date: 21 May 2003 Posts: 477	08-01-2003 18:40 Unfortunately there is nothing which would meet 'optimum game specs' for SL. SL can bring my P4 3.06ghz to it's knees if I get too overzealous with graphics options. That said, my specs: P4 3.06ghz 533mhz FSB w/ HT 1GB ram GeForce FX 5600 256mb and a decent 1.5mbit/384kbit DSL line These allow me to run at 1280x1024@32bpp with all graphics options on at a decent rate (~22fps on average), at 2xAA and 2xAnistropic
Misnomer Jones 3 is the magic number Join date: 27 Jan 2003 Posts: 1,800	08-01-2003 18:45 Allen, What GF4? All GF4's are not created equal. I used to have a GF4MX and now I have a 4600ti and theres a really big difference. I have: P4 2.53ghz Gig ram GF4 4600Ti 128mb Cable (1.4/230 kpbs) 2xHD(40g/10g) _____________________
Allen Kato Junior Member Join date: 31 Jul 2003 Posts: 2	08-01-2003 18:52 Oh yeah, sorry, forgot to post what my GeForce was. Which is, same as yours, the 4600Ti, sorry about that
Water Rogers Registered User Join date: 1 May 2003 Posts: 286	08-01-2003 19:16 I'd say the game overall runs pretty smooth for me, other then normal sever lag etc... and I have upgraded my system dramatically for the game a while back. P4 2.0 Celery (but really want the 533fsb) GeForce FX 5600 256mb 1gb RAM 1.2mbs DSL I never seem to have graphics card issues as much as I have seen others have. The consesus seemed to ME that nVidia has been very good, but they are always working on improvements. I know it must be rough when nVidia or ATI keep changing things on them. Although, I do notice it start to get choppy when I raise my Distance Draw Range in game above 150m... but i tend to keep it around 100, and I get roughly around 45-60fps. This does vary a lot though, and really depends on what sim you are in etc etc. --Water
Darwin Appleby I Was Beaten With Satan Join date: 14 Mar 2003 Posts: 2,779	08-01-2003 19:36 P4 2.8 OCed to 3.4 1GB RAM GeForce Ti 4600 128 MB Audigy 2 Not a bump in the world _____________________ Touche.
Ama Omega Lost Wanderer Join date: 11 Dec 2002 Posts: 1,770	08-01-2003 21:19 First step to cutting lag is making sure you have AGP enabled and that your card is set to AGP (more info in knowledge base I believe). The second, and more common need I think, is dropping the draw distance. Dropping to 128 from 256 can improve performance significantly. Also, bandwith plays a very large role in this game. If you have a mid to low level of DSL service that could also cause lag.
Ian Linden Linden Lab Employee Join date: 19 Nov 2002 Posts: 183	08-01-2003 23:22 First, you can reduce your draw distance as others suggest - it's kindof a pain but it'll speed things up across the board. To improve your framerate, make sure all your drivers are up to date; after that, some more RAM will probably give you the best bang for your buck. To do better than that, you'll need a faster CPU. If you're experiencing network lag, there's not alot you can do except try to find a better ISP.
Huns Valen Don't PM me here. Join date: 3 May 2003 Posts: 2,749	08-02-2003 04:35 #1: MEMORY. SL loves RAM. Upgrade to at least 512. You can practically get RAM in boxes of Cracker Jacks these days. It's extremely cheap. Trust me, just do it! Unless the installation goes wrong, no one ever regrets upgrading their RAM. #2: DISK. Go into the settings and let it use a gig of cache space. #3: DRAW DISTANCE. Like the others said, this has a LOT to do with how SL runs. _____________________ [ huns? \|\| words \|\| 1TBS KREW \|\| VHI Aircraft \|\| Whitepaper on Aircraft Physics ] Make yourself and your objects immune to llPushObject().
James Miller Village Idiot Join date: 9 Jan 2003 Posts: 1,500	08-02-2003 10:18 I just found a stick of ram in a little plastic bag at the bottom of a cereal box! What is the world coming to!?
Jonathan VonLenard Resident Hippo Join date: 8 May 2003 Posts: 632	08-02-2003 10:20 You guys probably won't believe me, but a RL space ship just hovered over me and Hippo's beamed down into my room and installed an extra gig of Ram for me when I asked their names one of them said his name was Roo.... Very Very wierd.... But now SL goes super fast! JV _____________________ "Now that we're here, it's so far away All the struggle we thought was in vain And all the mistakes, one life contained They all finally start to go away And now that we're here, it's so far away And I feel like I can face the day And I can forgive And I'm not ashamed to be The Person that I am today"
Kenichi Chen Registered User Join date: 10 Jul 2003 Posts: 76	08-02-2003 14:03 I know I have been playing too many hours of SL each night because the following day at work I notice extreme lag .
Snoopy Pico Your Best Friend Join date: 5 Feb 2003 Posts: 62	Well... 08-02-2003 16:56 I dont know what a really good config would be but if you need to save some money i would think this config would do well.. P4 2.0 Ghz 512 DDR Ram ATLEAST and keap your Nvidia card My specs: Alienware P4 2.56 ghz 1 GB of ram and a Nvidia Gforce 4 ti 4600 and 120 GB hd for games and what not and my 200 GB hd for my HUGE .avi files
Karl Longwell Junior Member Join date: 23 Jul 2003 Posts: 5	08-02-2003 17:17 I have a pretty decent system going, p4 2.4 @ 3.06 (170FSB) Gigabyte GINXP (boughta granite bay chipset before the 875 & 865 chipsets :/) 2x512MB DDR-400 Ram (runs at 340mhz) ATI 9700Pro 2xWestern Digital Caviar SE (8MB cache) 40GB using the onboard promise fastrack raid controller in a raid 0 config. DSL connection is 1.5mbit/s down, 512kb/s up.. At 1600x1200@32bit, and default graphic options, I never drop below 20fps, and I'm usually up in the high 30s. I will say, using a couple of similiar harddrives and going with a raid 0 (even software raid, cuz, that's basically what that controller does anyways) makes a HUGE difference gaming wise. You can try this type of config (Keep your video card tho, a ti4600 is pretty decent) Here's the bare minimum you'll need to upgrade for processor (all prices canadian dollar): ASUS P4P800 (Nice little mobo w/gigabite lan & audio on board intel 865 chipset) : $176.82 p4 2.4 800FSB version (pretty cheap): $277.20 2x512MB DDR-400 ram. ($130.73ea) : $261.46 So if you bought it from me (one of the many things I do is sell computers): It'd be a $715.48 (About $500US) upgrade. After that, you'll have a pretty smoking system. You may need a new power-supply depending on what you have (w/the p4 connector thingy). It's like 25 bucks for one of those. If you want to go raid (something I very much recommend, since it's so cheap for small harddrives right now), Either buy a couple of S-ATA drives (the Western Digital 10K RPM 36GB Raptors are quite nice , Or go for the deluxe version of the P4P800 which has on-board IDE raid. Or you can go the AMD way as well, except those things run so damn hot ! (Like 85Watts of heat dissipation or something??).
Teeny Leviathan Never started World War 3 Join date: 20 May 2003 Posts: 2,716	08-03-2003 18:43 Ok, I guess I'll show you mine. The highlights... Athlon +2600Xp (2 ghz, Barton core) 1 gig of ram ASUS A7N8X motherboard (333 FSB) GeForce FX5600, 128MB ram Sound Blaster Audigy (oem) card ...and "the Rest". Under normal conditions, I average around 30fps at 1280x1024, with a draw distance of 256. Bring in a crowd, it falls to the high teens.
Cori Sunshine Registered User Join date: 16 Jun 2003 Posts: 42	08-04-2003 07:28 I'm running the following... I really don't expereience much in the way of lag most of the time, but the last few days have been somewhat laggy. P4 3.06 ghz 512 Ram Radeon Pro 9700 128 mb ram 120 gig hard drive SB Audigy 2 Cable ISP My suggestion would be to run only what is necessary during the game..check your start up options and turn off what you don't need. I can bring this computer to its knees at times. I generally have Winamp, several MSN Messenger windows open, Photoshop, and Second Life... Just closing Photoshop helps tremendously.

Welcome to the Second Life Forums Archive

Optimum Game Specs