Razumen Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 So I built this HTPC several months ago, mostly out of old computer parts I had laying about, it plays any SD content perfectly, but it seems to have problems with HD videos. (720P, 1080P) Basically it seems like the video is slowed down to a point where the audio is out of sync. The strange thing is that I've downloaded smaller file-sized HD (720P) trailers and they seem to play fine, but for large HD files it is a no-go. These are my system specs: OS: Vista Ultimate CPU: Pentium 4@3.02GHz MB: P4S800D-X RAM: 1.5GB DDR (2x512 PC2100 133mhz) (2x256 PC3200 200mhz) GPU: NVidia Geforce 6800 (AGP) - HDMI->DVI out HD: Western Digital 750GB Sound: Creative Audigy 2 ZS Considering it plays small files fine but struggles with large ones leads me to think that it's probably not a problem with the speed of my CPU or GPU but rather related to the fact I'm using only 1.5GB of RAM with Vista. I'm just wondering what everyone here thinks of this, as I'm currently debating whether it's worth buying 2 more sticks of old DDR ram for such an aging system, without really knowing if it will solve my problem or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwaltzvald Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 At minimum, two gigs are required, three gigs will make it much smoother/flexible... I will say I've not heard of your kind of problem with such vid files working improperly... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phill Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Considering it plays small files fine but struggles with large ones leads me to think that it's probably not a problem with the speed of my CPU or GPU but rather related to the fact I'm using only 1.5GB of RAM with Vista. I would put my money on the fact that all your memory is running at 133mhz (including the PC3200) and not the lack of memory. At any rate, memory is cheap, couple good sticks of PC3200 won't cost all that much and will be the best thing for your computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razumen Posted February 3, 2009 Author Share Posted February 3, 2009 I would put my money on the fact that all your memory is running at 133mhz (including the PC3200) and not the lack of memory. At any rate, memory is cheap, couple good sticks of PC3200 won't cost all that much and will be the best thing for your computer. True, if it was DDR2 memory we were talking about. DDR memory is actually more expensive right now, but I guess buying some new RAM is still cheaper than doing a whole MB/CPU/RAM upgrade - assuming it fixes the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phill Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 True, if it was DDR2 memory we were talking about. DDR memory is actually more expensive right now I guess we define expensive differently, considering the age of DDR, $30-60 for 1GB to 2GB of RAM really isn't that bad. Its not like you need high performance RAM for you HTPC so you could save cash by not buying something with heat spreaders and pimped out timing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razumen Posted February 3, 2009 Author Share Posted February 3, 2009 I guess we define expensive differently, considering the age of DDR, $30-60 for 1GB to 2GB of RAM really isn't that bad. Its not like you need high performance RAM for you HTPC so you could save cash by not buying something with heat spreaders and pimped out timing. Oh no, it's not that I consider ~$60 for 2GB to be expensive, in fact that's a pretty good price, it's just relatively more expensive that DDR2 where I could get twice the amount of GB for the same, even half the price. I guess I'm just a little hesitant to lay down more money for an aging system as this, but I'm going to give it a try regardless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phill Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 Its not that your computer is all that bad, it should handle HD content just fine, its the crappy memory in the box that is the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 did no one mention that that p4 is a piece of crap and is probably choking on the higher cpu demands of larger HD content? seriously, get process explorer and watch your cpu get thrashed within five seconds of opening a full 720p or 1080p trailer, and you'll understand what i mean. the ram can't help, but i'm willing to bet that the biggest bottleneck will be in the cpu, not the ram. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dhsu Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Yeah I've got a C2D and it still struggles with 1080p. Good thing I usually can't tell a significant difference from 720p! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Effef Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 did no one mention that that p4 is a piece of crap and is probably choking on the higher cpu demands of larger HD content?seriously, get process explorer and watch your cpu get thrashed within five seconds of opening a full 720p or 1080p trailer, and you'll understand what i mean. the ram can't help, but i'm willing to bet that the biggest bottleneck will be in the cpu, not the ram. this not to mention the slow ass frontside bus that the p4s used a 1080p video puts about a 30% load split between the two cores on my Athlon X2 6000+ with no vid card acceleration, and id put that as too much for a p4 to handle it just goes to show how awful the p4 was Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 p4 wasn't awful, it was just rushed out into production. it was pretty killer at the time (except for the ridiculous amount of heat it generated). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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