Upgrading for HD Video

[Tank]

Good day all. I hope all is well for everyone's first day of 2011!

Ok, down to business.

My current system is making me question whether or not I can smoothly play Blu-Rays/HD quality youtube videos with my current hardware.

My current system is:

OS: XP 64 bit.
CPU: Athlon 64 3800+, orleans core.
RAM: 4GB DDR2 @ 402MHZ (this is 2x2GB sticks, shows up as single channel, should be running dual, both sticks are in the same colored slot, any help here?)
MB: MSI K9N Platinum
VIDEO: ASUS GeForce 7900 GT/GTO 512MB

Obviously I think my biggest problems lie within still running a single core CPU, and that video card is 3 years old now, or maybe it's 4?

Any idea's if this is enough?

Thank you!

 

[captaincranky]

You should be able to play hi-def content with the 7900, it's not really not that big a chore. I'm not sure whether the need for a HDCP compatible video card might factor into it. In other words, you can play hi-def content even with today's integrated graphics, but they do have HDCP. Heck, even boards with integrated graphics, (as well as Intel Core "i" CPU graphics), have HDMI out.

OK, single core CPUs don't do anything that well anymore. You need the AMD fanbois to point you at what might be a better CPU.

I'm going to suggest a trip to the mobo's site for the manual for your board about the memory issue. http://us.msi.com/index2.asp Your arrangement sounds about right, (?), but it wouldn't hurt to do a little light reading, now would it?.

 

[Tank]

I should have mentioned, I am running a 27 inch ASUS monitor. I realize resolution is resolution regardless of monitor size, but thought I would mention it, in case it matters.

I can play 720P video files just fine, but 1080P on youtube is jumpy and laggy. 720P on youtube is smooth as can be. The 1080P on youtube is laggy even in a small window size. What would cause that?

 

[mailpup]

RAM: 4GB DDR2 @ 402MHZ (this is 2x2GB sticks, shows up as single channel, should be running dual, both sticks are in the same colored slot, any help here?)

Unlike most motherboards and contrary to conventional and intuitive thinking, MSI boards require the DIFFERENT color DIMMs (DIMM1 & DIMM2) to be filled for dual channel mode.

In one of my old PCs I have an MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum motherboard (similar enough to the K9N) and it requires the green and purple DIMMs to be filled for dual channel. These two different color DIMMs are right next to each other. I'm not sure what color yours are but follow the same pattern and I'm sure you'll solve the dual channel problem.

Your Youtube videos are laggy probably because your connection speed isn't fast enough to keep up with the higher resolution stream.

 

[Tank]

Definitely not my connection being the problem for 1080P youtube content. It loads the video way ahead of where it is playing. When I am playing 1080P youtube videos, my CPU usage is always 97-100%, so I am guessing the single core just can't do it fast enough.

Interesting about the Dual channel colors on MSI boards, thank you, I didn't know that.

My system is so old I just don't see much point in upgrading anything with a end goal. I will slap in at least a dual core CPU, and maybe a 1GB video card, and leave it as a storage/network unit. It's also always good to have a PC guests can use when they come over to the house, one you don't care so much about.