Video probems

[Henry_3]

I am wanting to get an older PC able to run video from internet sites and also DVD movies for my grandson to see. Currently they may run for a short time then quit and occasionally the machine locks up. Here is what I have:

Gateway Model 700SE
Intel P4 2.0Ghz w/512k cache.
MOBO has 512k RDram PC800 RAMBUS
32MB NVIDIA Geforce2 MX200 AGP Graphics board
New 80GB hard drive
Running XP

I am thinking that memory is an issue both on MOBO and on the Graphics card. But not being very knowledgeable, I am not sure.

Also, Virtual memory could add to the problem ... maybe??
Any help would be so very much appreciated.
Thanks,
Henry


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[505090]

more memory, vid card is fine, check you connection bandwidth if you want to stream video

seeing as it is an older comp clean out old programs you don't use, defrag, run virus and spyware programs to make sure it's clean, and close anything your not using when you watch dvds

 

[Henry_3]

Connection bandwidth?? That is new to me. I have done all in 2nd sentence ... many thanks

 

[505090]

go to speedtest.net and run the test you will get back results that look like this

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

You can look at agp cards that help with video playback, theyre cheap, and will help your processor as well, and get more ram.
Start with the 8xxx series from nVidia, or the 2xxx series from ATI, just make sure its agp

 

[Henry_3]

Thank you ... I will do that for sure.

 

[philologos]

Try using different versions of Nvidia drivers. I had a laptop with a ATI X600 Mobility Radeon, and found that the 8.12 drivers made video playback extremely unstable resulting in blue screens. Rolling back to the 8.11 drivers completely resolved this issue.

If you are using the latest drivers on an aging graphic chipset, I would suggest trying an earlier version. It just might work, though I am merely guessing that my problem resembles yours. In my experience, Nvidia drivers have been much less problematic than ATI's.

 

[Henry_3]

Thanks .......worth a try. That indeed is what is happening.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Check here on Toms, as theyve done articles on the effectiveness of video playback on older cpus. Your cpu is old, and slow. Getting the gpu to do the work is what you need

 

[Henry_3]

Good Idea ... I will do. Thanks

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/hd-2600-geforce-8600,1651-8.html
One example, note also, the cpu in use

 

[Henry_3]

That is very interesting and tells the story

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Thats the earliest example of gpus using the extra chip on them, or having them, for video playback. Any newer models will also include those chips in their gpus. Just make sure its a agp, and youll see a huge difference