System Good Enough?

[Atif]

I've got an old PC laying around in my hom e that I wanted to convert into a dedicated HTPC. I just want to be sure that it can handle DivX and XViD playback before I buy a new videocard and more memory for it. Here's what the system will look like when I'm done:

Intel Pentium II 300
Intel AL440LX Motherboard
96MB PC66 SDRAM
3dfx Voodoo3 3500TV
52x CD-ROM
4.3GB HDD
Windows 98SE

Will it be able to handle DivX 3.11, DivX 5 and XViD content? Any experiences shared will be appreciated.

Peace

[ignignot]

I had a simillar system, and it was capable of handling DivX/XViD, but as I recall it would occassionally have to skip frames at times of high motion.

[Atif]

^ Was that in Win98SE or another OS?

I appreciate the feedback

Peace

[ignignot]

I always use Windows 2000

[Soulhunter]

Depends on the content...

- Resolution...

- Bitrate...

- Extra stuff like QPel...


Even for crappy 1CD encodes I would recommend at least a 500MHz CPU !!!

If you wanna use post-processing (de-blocking etc.) better buy a AthlonXP...


Bye

[anonymez]

i got an AMD K6-2 500MHz, 64mb ram, 32mb nvidia TNT2, and it cannot not run 1 CD rips well. it only ran low res stuff, like 320x240... with win98SE by the way.... but then again, K6-2's are really slow

by the way, i found that ffdshow and bsplayer gave the best results(fastest playback).

[tigerman8u]

Try ffdshow, it uses less resources. You can also try vlc (video lan) it uses it's own codecs and plays most any type of video.

[Atif]

I appreciate the help everybody. Here's what's happened since I last posted:

I ditched the PII 300 rig in hopes of something faster for my dedicated HTPC project. Here's what I've got:

Intel Celeron 667
ECS P6STP-FN Motherboard (SiS Chipset, EVERYTHING integrated)
256MB SDRAM @ PC66 Speed
32MB of Shared Video Memory @ PC66 Speed
4.3GB UDMA/33 HDD
52x BTC CD-ROM
Windows 98SE

Unfortunately, video stutters, even on 2 CD movies, encoded at approx. 640x480 viewing. It drops a BUNCH of frames, though the audio plays just fine

I'm also having problems with the floppy and PS/2 ports on this motherboard so I'm going to trade it with the gentleman who sold it to me for another setup. If anybody can comment on whether or not the following setup will be able to handle DivX, please let me know:

AMD Duron 700
ECS K7S5A
256MB PC100 SDRAM
4.3GB UDMA/33 HDD
52x BTC CD-ROM
Windows 98SE

THE QUESTION NOW IS: What cheap video card should I get that will run DivX and XViD files without error on the above configuration?

Peace

[Soulhunter]

I have still a old Pentium III '933 MHz with a GF2MX 32MB card...

For content with a resolution not higher than a DVD movie (720*) a 32MB card is enough !!!

But for fancy HiDef content even my XP2600 is only just enough...


For the Duron setup...

Duron 700 sounds ok, but the RAM could be a bottleneck !!!

Not sure, cant remember, how fast is PC66 RAM...

If this CPU/MoBo combo supports faster RAM, buy it !!!


Bye

[Atif]

I will be running the memory at PC100 speeds on the Duron setup. Also, I will be receiving a GeForce4 MX card (which is the crappy version of the GeForce, I realize this) that has 64MB of memory, so it meets the 32MB requirement you have suggested.

I guess the rest of the system is okay then? (I use Media Player Classic by the way to play all files)

Peace

[Soulhunter]

Yes, but make sure you use ffdshow for decoding...


If the video still stutters...

- Disable post-processing in ffdshow

- Make sure your drives DMA mode is enabled

- Raise the drives buffer to the maximum


Bye