Difference between revisions of "How to identify your graphics card"

Revision as of 09:40, 11 May 2007

This article or section is missing vital information. You can help the SL Wiki by editing it.

Note!

Please notice that this article or section contains out-of-date information. You can help to improve the article by editing and updating it.

[[Category:Articles in need of updating|]]

Identifying your computer's graphics card is useful in troubleshooting issues with the Second Life viewer, especially issues where in-world content is not displayed properly or the viewer crashes. This information is also useful for finding and installing updated drivers for your graphics card.

Identifying your graphics card

Launch Second Life and log in. Click the Help menu at the top of the display and select "About Second Life..." Information about the Second Life viewer and your computer are displayed in the "About Second Life" window. Details about your graphics card is displayed next to the following items:

Graphics Card Vendor
Graphics Card
OpenGL Version

Second Life requirements for video cards

Current requirements for video cards can be found on the System Requirements page. This page also includes a list of cards that are explicitly not supported.

Updating video card drivers

Some issues with Second Life may be resolved by updating the video card's drivers. The card manufacturer's website should have free driver updates available.

Updating Macintosh video drivers

Residents using Macintosh computers with built-in graphics made by ATI or NVIDIA generally are unable to update graphics drivers, except when Apple issues updated drivers. Use the Mac's built-in Software Update to check for and download the latest drivers from Apple. Macintosh computers with third-party graphics cards (such as those installable in PowerMac G4, G5, or Mac Pro systems) may be able to download updated drivers from the card manufacturer.

Unsupported video cards

As of May 11, 2007, these cards have been tested and are known not to work with Second Life. If the name of the card includes any of the following words, it is unsupported.

nVidia cards that report as a RIVA TNT or TNT2
ATI cards that report as RAGE or RAGE PRO
ATI cards that report as RADEON 320M, 340M, 345M, or similar model numbers
Intel
Intel Extreme
3DFX
RIVA
TNT
SiS
S3
S3TC
Savage
Twister
Rage
Kyro
MILENNIA
most cards by MATROX

Untested video cards

Residents may be able to use some video cards that are untested, though some graphics features of Second Life may not be available or may not work properly. Updating the video card's drivers may improve compatibility. Additional information about using untested cards may be available from other users in the Resident Answers forum on the SL Forums.

Cards with known issues

ATI 9800 -- Bugs in the final design of this chip variant of the ATI Radeon cause problems with Ripple Water and Avatar Vertex Program features. The Second Life viewer will force-disable these options if cards built using this chipset are detected.
ATI Radeon x300 x86/sse2

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 {{old-info}}
-With Second Life open, up top under  Help, click "About Second Life"  All your system stats are listed here.
+Identifying your computer's graphics card is useful in troubleshooting issues with the Second Life viewer, especially issues where in-world content is not displayed properly or the viewer crashes. This information is also useful for finding and installing updated drivers for your graphics card.
-On any version of the SL Client, the main things to look out for are:
+== Identifying your graphics card ==
-Graphics Card Manufacturer:
+Launch Second Life and log in. Click the Help menu at the top of the display and select "About Second Life..." Information about the Second Life viewer and your computer are displayed in the "About Second Life" window. Details about your graphics card is displayed next to the following items:
-Graphics Card:
-OpenGL Version: (the higher the better, generally)
-Visit the video card manufacturers website and compare this information with what drivers are currently available.
+*Graphics Card Vendor
+*Graphics Card
-GENERALLY, its best to update to the current drivers.  On occasion Second Life runs better on a less current version.
+*OpenGL Version
-For the most up to date information, check the forums.  http://www.secondlife.com/forums
 == Second Life requirements for video cards ==
@@ Line 19: / Line 16: @@
 Current requirements for video cards can be found on the [http://secondlife.com/corporate/sysreqs.php System Requirements page]. This page also includes a list of cards that are explicitly not supported.
-=== Updating video card drivers ===
+== Updating video card drivers ==
 Some issues with Second Life may be resolved by updating the video card's drivers. The card manufacturer's website should have free driver updates available.
@@ Line 26: / Line 23: @@
 *[http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html ATI drivers]
-==== Updating Macintosh video card drivers====
+=== Updating Macintosh video drivers ===
-Residents using Macintosh computers with built-in graphics cards made by ATI or NVIDIA generally are unable to update graphics card drivers, except when Apple issues updated drivers. Use the Mac's built-in [http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106704 Software Update] to check for and download the latest drivers from Apple. Macintosh computers with third-party graphics cards (such as those installable in PowerMac G4, G5, or Mac Pro systems) may be able to download updated drivers from the card manufacturer.
-=== Untested video cards ===
-Residents may be able to use some video cards that are untested, though some graphics features of Second Life may not be available or may not work properly. Updating the video card's drivers may improve compatibility. Additional information about using untested cards may be available from other users in the Resident Answers on the [http://forums.secondlife.com SL Forums].
-=== Cards with known issues ===
-* ATI 9800 -- Bugs in the final design of this chip variant of the ATI Radeon cause problems with Ripple Water and  Avatar Vertex Program features. The Second Life viewer will force-disable these options if cards built around this chipset are detected.
+Residents using Macintosh computers with built-in graphics made by ATI or NVIDIA generally are unable to update graphics drivers, except when Apple issues updated drivers. Use the Mac's built-in [http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106704 Software Update] to check for and download the latest drivers from Apple. Macintosh computers with third-party graphics cards (such as those installable in PowerMac G4, G5, or Mac Pro systems) may be able to download updated drivers from the card manufacturer.
-* ATI Radeon x300 x86/sse2
-=== Unsupported video cards ===
+== Unsupported video cards ==
 As of May 11, 2007, these cards have been tested and are known not to work with Second Life. If the name of the card includes any of the following words, it is unsupported.
@@ Line 60: / Line 48: @@
 * MILENNIA
 * most cards by MATROX
+=== Untested video cards ===
+Residents may be able to use some video cards that are untested, though some graphics features of Second Life may not be available or may not work properly. Updating the video card's drivers may improve compatibility. Additional information about using untested cards may be available from other users in the Resident Answers forum on the [http://forums.secondlife.com SL Forums].
+=== Cards with known issues ===
+* ATI 9800 -- Bugs in the final design of this chip variant of the ATI Radeon cause problems with Ripple Water and  Avatar Vertex Program features. The Second Life viewer will force-disable these options if cards built using this chipset are detected.
+* ATI Radeon x300 x86/sse2
 [[Category:Text from In-world Notecards|Graphics Card]]
 [[Category:Articles in need of expansion|Graphics Card]]