It’s been brought to my attention that certain types of systems may be having specific issues with Second Life.
I’m going to bring up notes on my three systems here, and their varying successes with SL at this time. Uru is also included for comparison.
### Desktop:
*Mainboard* is [865M01-G-6ELS][MB] – Based of a stock intel 865 chipset, SATA with no RAID controller (they look like extra IDE connections in the BIOS). Case is an Antec Aria.
*Processor* is P4 3.0 ghz, HT. Not overclocked, since this a Small Form Factor / MicroATX system and heat is already a factor in this build.
*Video* is from an NVidia 5700LE, 128 meg mem, AGP 8x. Also stock.
*Misc:* Memory 1 gig, 2 sticks @ 400 (to allow 800 FSB dual-channel). Sound is from the onboard AC97, stock driver that came with the system. HDD – boot is 80 gig Maxtor IDE, extra storage from a 120 gig Seagate SATA. DVD-ROM Dual-layer writer.
*Stability:* Built around New Years 2005, was great then (mid 1.5.x). Started having general latency issues in a number of sims around mid-1.6.x release (Aug-Sept), and the problems came to a head during the 1.7 initial release (though some rare sims became much better). I have not evaluated 1.8.x as much yet, as RL has intruded a lot more. Uru runs fine, though I normally run windowed 1024×768 nowadays.
### Notebook 1 – HP L2000 Special Edition (aka LiveStrong):
Review [here][LS] (not mine).
*Processor* is AMD Turion 64, 1.8 ghz. *Video* is ATI Radeon Xpress 200M IGP, shared memory (128 used), stock drivers. *System Mem* 1 gig (minus 128 for the video). *HDD* is 100 gig @ 4200 RPM.
*Stability:* Not bought with any game in mind, let alone SL or even Uru. However, both *can* run on this system – sort of. Uru runs at minimum resolution and settings, reasonably stable. SL can run but has horrible latency (likely due to the shared memory). All SL testing done via the 1.7.x codebase so I’ve not had a chance to test 1.8.x.
### Notebook 2 – Sager 8890-V
Specs [here][Sag].
*Processor* is P4 3.2 ghz, HT. (This is a ‘desktop replacement’ grade system.) *Video* is ATI Radeon 9600 Mobile, dedicated 128 meg mem, latest drivers supplied by Sager (due to LCD screen support). *System Mem* 1 gig, 2 @400 (800 FSB). *HDD* is 60 gig @ 7200 RPM. *LCD* is a Very Rare True 16″ @ 1280×1024; Flawless.
*Stability:* Uru runs beautifully, even in fullscreen at max res. SL has had texture corruption from litterally day one (I signed up and went through Orientation on this system); Unable to fix as of yet due to special ATI drivers that support my LCD screen. Amazingly, there is not much in the way of latency on this notebook. Mind ya, the texture issues are a show-stopper in its own right.
.
This will be updated as I run tests over time.
–Alan
[MB]: http://www.ocia.net/reviews/foxconnmobo/foxconnmobo.shtml
[LS]: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2455&review=HP+Special+Edition+L2000+Notebook+PC
[Sag]: http://www.notebookforums.com/archive/index.php/t-6055.html