AGP card for HD video (h264,720p)

[jbclem]

I have an older computer, Dell 400sc, P2.4, no PCI-e slot. I want to play some World Cup HD videos, in Matroska container, h264 codec, 720p). On my computer, with an old 8 mb graphics card, the cpu usage is 100% and I get frame by frame play with freezes and can barely move the cursor.

I'm told I need an AGP card with 256mb, but more than that I'm not sure. Ideally there would be something that I could find on eBay. Suggestions have included Quadro FX3000, GEForce 6200. But I haven't found any proof that these would carry the h264 load.

Can someone point me to some good AGP cards that would run these HD videos. I'm using Windows 2000, but also have WinXP on dual boot.

Thanks, jc

 

[jaguarskx]

You need a video card capable of offloading some of the video processing. I think the best AGP card for that purpose will be the HD 4670. However, you have a slow single core CPU. Generally speaking, H.264/x.264 needs a dual CPU along with a GPU that can offload video processing for smooth playback. Therefore, you will most likely still encounter some lag after upgrading to a HD 4670.