How to identify your graphics card
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With Second Life open, up top under Help, click "About Second Life" All your system stats are listed here.
On any version of the SL Client, the main things to look out for are:
Graphics Card Manufacturer: 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.
GENERALLY, its best to update to the current drivers. On occasion Second Life runs better on a less current version. For the most up to date information, check the forums. http://www.secondlife.com/forums
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 card 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 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 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.
- ATI Radeon x300 x86/sse2
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