Graphics cards: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 09:09, 4 November 2009

add versioning

What's a graphics card?

Your graphics card (also called a video card) is the hardware that actually creates the images shown on your monitor. For three-dimensional applications like the Second Life Viewer, this card does much of the work involved in actually calculating and drawing the 3D world. As a result, your graphics card plays a very important part in your Second Life experience.

How do I know which graphics card I have?

Start the Second Life Viewer. You don't need to login.
From the top of the window, go to Help > About Second Life.
Look next to Graphics Card.

Will my graphics card work with Second Life?

See our System Requirements. If your graphics card doesn't meet our Requirements, you may not be able to use Second Life at all.

How much does a capable graphics card cost?

While prices around the world can vary, thanks to advances in technology, you can easily find a graphics card that exceeds our Recommendations (substantially above the minimum Requirements) for US$50-100.

We can't recommend a single store to buy from, but helpful suggestions which fellow Residents have had good experiences with are on the "Buying graphics cards" page.

What if I'm having graphics problems?

Generally, ask fellow Residents, then upgrade to the newest, stable version of your graphics card drivers. This can fix bizarre bugs such as distorted textures.

On Windows:

On Mac, Apple integrates the hardware and software more closely than with Windows. Problems are less likely, but revisions and workarounds, provided through Software Update, are fewer.

If this doesn't solve the problem, try searching the Issue Tracker for known issues.

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-This page is for detailing compatibility issues that certain graphics cards have with Second Life. Note that officially, we only support what's listed on our [http://secondlife.com/corporate/sysreqs.php System Requirements]. However, we understand some Residents want to run SL on unsupported configurations — your results may vary, but hopefully sharing info will give you a better idea of what to expect.
+{{KBmaster}}
+{{TOCright}}
-== Drivers ==
+== What's a graphics card? ==
-We ''highly'' recommend updating to the newest stable versions:
+Your graphics card (also called a video card) is the hardware that actually creates the images shown on your monitor. For three-dimensional applications like the Second Life Viewer, this card does much of the work involved in actually calculating and drawing the 3D world. As a result, your graphics card plays a ''very'' important part in your Second Life experience.
-* [http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp Download Nvidia drivers]
+== How do I know which graphics card I have? ==
-* [http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html Download ATI drivers]
+# Start the Second Life Viewer. You don't need to login.
+# From the top of the window, go to '''Help''' > '''About Second Life'''.
+# Look next to '''Graphics Card'''.
+#: [[File:How_do_I_know_which_graphics_card.png]]
-[http://secondlife.com/knowledgebase/article.php?id=001 More info.]
+== Will my graphics card work with Second Life? ==
+[http://secondlife.com/support/system-requirements/ See our System Requirements]. If your graphics card doesn't meet our Requirements, you may not be able to use Second Life at all.
-== Help resources ==
+== How much does a capable graphics card cost? ==
-* '''[http://secondlife.com/knowledgebase/ Knowledge Base]''' - Repository of support articles you can search. For example, "[http://secondlife.com/knowledgebase/search.php?query=graphics&submit=Go graphics]". Some relevant articles include:
+While prices around the world can vary, thanks to advances in technology, you can easily find a graphics card that ''exceeds'' our Recommendations (substantially above the minimum Requirements) for US$50-100.
-** [http://secondlife.com/knowledgebase/article.php?id=003 What is a graphics card? Will mine work with Second Life?]
-** [http://secondlife.com/knowledgebase/article.php?id=023 Intel Extreme graphics issues]
-** [http://secondlife.com/knowledgebase/article.php?id=300 Invisible avatar? Try these things!]
-** [http://secondlife.com/knowledgebase/article.php?id=405 Why is my avatar yellow/green/some other loud color/horribly deformed?] - Basically, go to Edit menu > Preferences > Graphics Detail tab and uncheck "Avatar Vertex Program". Generally, updating your drivers fixes this.
-** [http://secondlife.com/knowledgebase/article.php?id=019 Errors that mention GDI Generic]
-* '''[https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Issue_tracker Public Issue Tracker]''' - We use this to help us identify bugs to be fixed. Search for terms like the model of your graphics card (e.g., "X1600" or "GeForce") or related keywords (e.g., "invisible AND avatar"). You can also report a new issue and discuss it with fellow Residents.
+We can't recommend a single store to buy from, but helpful suggestions which fellow Residents have had good experiences with are on the "[[Buying graphics cards]]" page.
-* '''[http://blog.secondlife.com/ Official Linden Blog]''' - You can [http://blog.secondlife.com/?s=graphics search] this too. Of recent particular interest is:
+== What if I'm having graphics problems? ==
-** [http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/03/28/1140-known-issues-drivers-vbo-ati-x300x600-notebooks-and-other-woes/ 1.14.0 Known Issues: Drivers, VBO, ATI X300/X600 notebooks, and other woes]
+Generally, [https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/answers ask fellow Residents], then upgrade to the newest, ''stable'' version of your graphics card drivers. This can fix bizarre bugs such as [[Fixing avatar appearance|distorted textures]].
-* '''[http://forums.secondlife.com/forumdisplay.php?f=296 Technical Talk forums]''' - The forums are [http://forums.secondlife.com/search.php? searchable]. Lindens don't really check here.
+On Windows:
-You can also contact our [http://secondlife.com/community/support.php Support]. Remember that specific details, and [https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/QA solid reproductions] when there are bugs, help us help you.
+* [http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx ATI/AMD drivers]
+* [http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx NVIDIA drivers]
+* [http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/ Intel drivers]
-== Personal experiences ==
+On Mac, Apple integrates the hardware and software more closely than with Windows. Problems are less likely, but revisions and workarounds, provided through [http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1338 Software Update], are fewer.
-If you're having problems with a specific graphics card, please share your details on [[Talk:Graphics Cards]].
+If this doesn't solve the problem, try searching the [[Issue Tracker]] for known issues.