You can find system requirements on the official sites for both of the games, or easier, on Wikipedia. The Sims 2. Second Life. If you know your computer ran The Sims 2, then chances are it can run Second Life. SL needs twice as much RAM, and 512 is the minimum. I recommend upgrading to 1GB or more if you can. You’ll need to find out the model of your card. Second Life requires a certain range of graphic cards, whereas The Sims 2 does not. Again, the requirements are listed on the Wikipedia page. As to your download/connection speed, this is very normal. A 512kb connection means both uploads and downloads. There may also be controls set by your ISP to limit your download speed. And then, there’s the issue that ISPs lie and sell you connection speeds that you simply cannot achieve.