Maggie

Time to bring out the inner nerd. I'm looking at replacing my current workstation with a new one in the next few months. What would some good hardware recommendations would you guys have for something with SL and virtual worlds in mind?

I'm thinking at least a 4 to 8 core cpu with 16 gb of ddr3 ram. Graphics cards are what I'm thinking would be the key point. I have a nvidia 550ti card but I'm looking at a 670.

Sorry if this isn't where this goes but I didn't see a hardware forum.

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Ramen Jedburgh

I built a new PC back around January which pretty much tears through Second life and everything else I could throw at it.

Here is a general run down of the parts I used. I reused a Hard Drive and Case I already owned. Also, I found out after I ordered the Processor fan that the processor includes a fan, so I didn't need it ultimately. The total when I ordered through Amazon was $575, I don't know what the total would be today. A quick run as I cut and pasted those in my head suggests the total is around 625 now, but I may have miscounted as I am multitasking.

Also, on the video card, I did some research and found that, at the time, it provides a great value for the price. Most benchmark reviews put it at like fourth or fifth among cards that cost 2-3 times as much. I saw a chart recently that suggested it's still pretty up there in power.

Anyway, Hope that helps.

Motherboard
Amazon.com: Gigabyte Intel Z68 ATX DDR3 2133 LGA 1155 Motherboard GA-Z68A-D3H-B3: Electronics
Gigabyte Intel Z68 ATX DDR3 2133 LGA 1155 Motherboard GA-Z68A-D3H-B3

Processor
Amazon.com: Intel Core i5 2500 Processor 3.3 GHz 4 Core LGA 1155 - BX80623I52500: Electronics
Intel Core i5 2500 Processor 3.3 GHz 4 Core LGA 1155 - BX80623I52500

RAM
Corsair Vengeance Blue 8 GB (2X4 GB) PC3-12800 1600mHz DDR3 240-Pin SDRAM Dual Channel Memory Kit CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B
Amazon.com: Corsair Vengeance Blue 8 GB (2X4 GB) PC3-12800 1600mHz DDR3 240-Pin SDRAM Dual Channel Memory Kit CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B: Electronics

Graphics Card
Amazon.com: Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 6850 1GB PCI-E Video Card (100315L): Electronics
Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 6850 1GB PCI-E Video Card (100315L)

Power Supply
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o01_s00_i03

CPU Fan
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o01_s00_i00

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Ramen Jedburgh
Abusively Cute ^_^

Da5id Weatherwax

if SL is your target, you could go lower than that - you can avoid using your swapfile for any SL data with no more than 6 to 8 G of RAM in a win7 environment. The 550 or 670 graphics card will both handle SL well, but if you're looking at maxing every graphics setting in Nirans viewer I'd suggest the 670 CPU cores are perhaps the least important factor with the current state of multithreading in the SL viewer.

Save on RAM, save on CPU, blow the savings on a higher-end GPU

On the other hand, if you're aiming for running high-end games as well, you need to up your target spec some.

One thing that most folks designing systems unwittingly skimp on is the power supply. High end GPUs in particular really do suck down the wattage (converting most of it to heat, so figure in extra cooling too)

Add up the power requirements for everything you're putting in your case and then double it. That's the minimum PSU rating you want feeding that machine.

Ramen Jedburgh

Yeah, I learned the Power Supply truth years ago. I had a PC I had been using for a while and occasionally adding parts to. Suddenly I had hard drives "failing" after adding a new one. Basically, I had exceeded the power provided by the Power Supply.

Summer Haas

The thing with the CPU is, its speed is really important if you want to run with shadows and projectors on. The downside is SL does not take advantage of all those cores. An i5 is going to run SL just as well as an i7, but i7's come in slightly faster versions.

I put together a similar system as Ramen, an i5 2500. 8GB of memory and a sata III ssd. It ran fantastic until I tried running multiple instances of Firestorm. I put in another 8GB of memory and the problem was solved.

Maggie

Ruining SL will only be one of the tasks of this machine. I just figured that SL is good to build it around since that is where I spend most of my free time.

Memory is relatively cheap right now for ddr3. I'm not going to save that much going from 16gb to 8gb. The processor is one area that I'm wondering about. Do I want to go AMD or Intel. Seems AMD's are cheaper but I'm not sure they would be better for this purpose.

I know about cheaping out on power supplies. I've got a 850W powersupply right now.

Summer Haas

I think Linden Lab has already accomplished that.

Brenda Connolly

This is what I had made a couple of months ago:

Intel DZ68DB motherboard
i5 2500 3.3 ghz w/stock cooler
128GB Crucial M4 SSD
1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM HDD
8GB Corsair 1333 Mhz RAM
EVGA GTX 680 GPU
850W Seasonic PSU
LG 24X DVD drive

It runs SL like a charm. I have all the graphics maxxed and get anywhere from 30-100+ fps, depending on the situation.

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Eboni Khan

RAM is really cheap, I suggest maxing it out.

bladyblue

This is the SL computer Mulch's gf Kita designed for me. Total cost is about $1,500 USD:

AZZA Hurrican case - $150
Japanese steel ATX full tower

Processor - $105
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition Thuban 3.3 GHz , 3.7 GHz Turbo 6X, 512Kb, L2 Cache, Socket AM3, 125W 6-core Desktop Processor

Motherboard - $190
Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Motherboard

Memory - 65.00
G. Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240 Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)

SSD Harddrive - $155 (Install Second Life and Windows on this one)
Cosair Force Series 3 CSSD-F120GB3A-BK 2.5" 120 GB SATA III Internal Soli State Drive (SSD)

Regular Platter Hardrive - $140
Seagate Barracuda XT ST32000641AS 2TB 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Harddrive - Bare Drive

Cables for the harddrives - $4.49 each (buy 2)
Rosewill 19.7" Serial ATA III Blue Round Cble w/ Locking Latch Suppot 6 Gbpps, 3 Gbps, and 1.5 Gbps transfer rate Model RCA-RU-19-SA3-90-BL

Video Card $269.99
MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 2GB 256 bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x 16 HDCP ready SLI suport

DVD/CD Burner $21.00
LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer - Bulk - 24X DVD+R 8X Model iHAS224-06 LightScribe support - OEM

Card Reader $19.99
Rosewell RCR-AK-IM5002 USB 2.0 75 in 1 internal card reader w/ 3 ports USB 2.0 Hub/eSATA port/extra silver face plate / SATA Power

Power Supply - $=$120
RAIDMAX RX-850AE 850W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V SLI Certified Crossfire ready 80 Plus Gold Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

BlueRay Burner -$90
ASUS Black 12X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 12X DVD-RAM 8X BD-ROM bMB Cache SATA

Windows 7 Professional - $140
SPI 64-Bit - OEM

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I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in the rain...Time to die.-Roy Batty