Installed new graphics card but poor flash video playback

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shinystar77

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Aug 25, 2013
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I recently upgraded an old PC by replacing the old graphics card with a newer graphics card which has more memory.

The new card works and boots up fine, shows the desktop, plays DVDs etc no problems there.

But I have not noticed any difference in the Flash Player playback. It struggles to play anything at 480p quality on Youtube or Daily Motion. I'm assuming that the graphics card is supposed to kick in for Flash video streaming. Am I right?

I have used the latest driver for the new card and an older driver for the new card with no effect.

These are my system specs:

2 Ghz Intel Celeron CPU,
1 GB DDR RAM,
160 GB HDD,
NVIDIA Geforce FX 5500 256 MB Graphics
Windows XP SP3

I know this is an old PC but it should really have no problem in playing back flash videos as this PC is excellent at doing most computing related tasks.

So any ideas as to what the problem might be?
 
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shinystar77

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Aug 25, 2013
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I've already tried that with no effect.

Have done a clean uninstall of the Flash Player as described on the Adobe forums, re-installed the Flash Player and enabled Hardware Acceleration but to no avail.

Any Flash video that is 480p quality uses up 100% of the CPU resources. It plays smoothly at 360p but even then its uses up 80% of the CPU resources.

Could this be a driver related issue? Or a motherboard related issue?
 
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shinystar77

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Aug 25, 2013
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What do you suggest I try next to solve the problem?

I mean this graphics card is supposed to work with Windows Vista and the Aero glass interface yet its struggling to playback Flash videos properly in Windows XP which is supposed to be the more reliable OS.

I'm puzzled because I thought take the old card out put the new card in and hey presto the Flash Player playback is good but that has not happened.
 
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sizzling

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Oct 18, 2006
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I am not techy enough to know the true answer but I doubt Flash player uses much if any of the GPU power. Even if a GPU can help flash player if you have a bottleneck elsewhere then you need to resolve that. I still think its a system RAM issue, 1Gb of ram is not very much at all. What does your ram usage show as in task manager when this is happening?
 
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shinystar77

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As requested I have some screenshots of the Task manager when playing back Flash videos from Youtube.

This is what happens when I try playing a 480p video:

480p.jpg


And this is what happens when I try playing a 360p video:

360p.jpg


RAM usage looks okay to me as I suspected it would be as I have another Laptop that has a 2Ghz CPU with 1 GB RAM and the Flash Player performance on the Laptop is perfect.

So any ideas as to what the problem is here?
 
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sizzling

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I was half expecting another program to be hogging some ram but as you say it looks like only just over 50% usage which is fine. When the processor hits 100% what processes are using all the CPU under task manager processes tab? I am running out of ideas if all drivers are up to date.
 
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shinystar77

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When I try playing a 480p video on Youtube the browser uses up about 90% of the CPU with the Task Manager using the remaining 10% of the CPU.

I've tried Internet Explorer, Chrome, Opera, Safari and Firefox and they all do this.

I even tried re-formatting the HDD and re-installing a fresh copy of Windows XP which achieved nothing by the way.

I have also updated the AGP driver for my motherboard which again achieved nothing.

I'm starting to believe that this is a driver incompatibility issue hence why the hardware acceleration does not kick in when trying to play a Flash video. The hardware is fine because everything boots up and loads and runs programs and software no problem.

All I'm thinking now is perhaps as a last resort to try another OS such as Vista seeing as the new graphics card was designed to work with Vista and Windows Aero. I have a Vista install DVD lying around somewhere so I could try that as a last resort I suppose.
 
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shinystar77

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I have just tried installing Vista on this computer and Aero works like a dream - smooth and beautiful. However, the problem remains with the Flash video playback.

It looks like the Motherboard and the Graphics Card are working okay (hence Aero working).

I'm now starting to believe that Adobe no longer supports the CPU hence why the Hardware Acceleration does not kick in when trying to playback a video with the Flash Player. I think they have probably stopped testing the Flash Player with CPUs like this one.

It's a shame as this computer works well for everything else. And I still can't believe that I managed to get Aero working on a computer with a AGP 4x slot.

I will consider giving Windows 7 a go as I have heard that it is more stable than Vista and I have a Windows 7 install disc lying around somewhere though I doubt it is going to make any difference to Flash video performance.
 
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shinystar77

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I have downloaded some 720p videos from Youtube and converted them to .flv files using a free online Flash Video converter and have tried playing these .flv files from the Hard Drive.

Amazingly, these .flv files are playing fine when played off the Hard Drive as single files - no skipping or stuttering just smooth playback with great picture quality.

I'm using VLC Media Player to play the .flv files.

I'm both shocked and appalled at this.

It seems that it is a Flash Player issue as to why videos above 360p quality do not playback smoothly through Youtube and Daily Motion regardless of which browser I use.

I'm furious at the developers who work on the Flash Player. It looks like they have dropped support for my CPU because of its age even though its perfectly capable of playing 720p Flash Video from the Hard Drive.
 
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