Need Advise on running HD on a low end system

[mjm1_1]

I have a AMD 1.9GHz processor with 512K RAM (I know, pretty low end system) with a HVR1600. I currently have a NVidea 4200Ti video card. My ATSC HD channels come through choppy and i am wondering if I can fix this by upgrading the video card or if my system is just hopelessly underpowered. My CPU runs near 100% when I am watching live HDTV. Low def stuff runs/records just great. Any suggestions on a CHEAP graphics card that might help or other experience with runing HD on a low end system would be appreciated. I do not want to spend much money but am hoping I can get HD to work.

[observer_11]

I would suggest trying the ATI Radeon HD 2400 and 2600 Pro family of AGP cards (available for under $100 USD). Your system probably doesn't have enough CPU power for smooth 1080p content but if you buy somewhere you can return easily than no harm in trying...

[Deusxmachina]

I have a AMD 1.9GHz processor

An old Athlon XP 1.9ghz? Sounds a bit rough for 1080. Some people play 1080 on their Pentium4 2+ghz, but I don't know how that compares.

Considering that you could put together a brand-new Core2Duo system with the new onboard-graphics chip motherboard, with case, with memory, for about $200, I wouldn't put too much money into buying an AGP card unless it's really cheap, and I wouldn't put much faith in a new video card helping a whole lot. Don't shoot the messenger! :eek:

[wtg]

It's possible on a low-end system, but like Deusxmachina said, you may want to think twice about throwing much money into an AGP card. The 2400 and 2600 are promising, but there sure are a lot of people having trouble with the AGP variety. Do your research first if you go that route.

That's said I can run 1080i on my AMD 2500 with an agp ATI x1600 Pro very well, at between 20-25% cpu in overlay mode. I haven't had near as good of luck with low end NVidia cards - I believe because the NVidia drivers try and make heavy use of SSE2 - but that's just my theory. I have however found the NVidia PureVideo decoder works the best with my ATI card. I get much lower CPU utilization with it than with ATI's own decoders.

VMR9 mode is much more CPU intensive and it's probably not possible to get good results with such a low end CPU, but pvrx2 supports overlay now so there's little reason to try.

Finally, you might need to watch your memory. 512 is pretty marginal, and if your run comskip and do transcoding, every process takes more memory when processing HD. I saw a big difference in system performance going from 512 to 1 meg.

[ToughRowToHoe]

I would recommend going with the 2600 for the ATI video card route. The 2400 is really only just powerful enough for descaling 1080i. Maybe that is enough with overlay but it is probably worth the extra cabbage for the 2600. As noted the agp drivers have been a bit of work. It really depends on the card manufacturer since ATI isn't supporting the agp versions.

[mjm1_1]

Sounds like I am on shaky ground here trying to get HD to work with such a low end system. As pointed out by Deusxmachina spending too much is not worth it but I may give one of the recommended cards a try, sounds like ATI is better to go with than Nvidea.

If I did try to go to a new inexpensive system suggested does anyone have a recommendation on an integrated video chipset that would come on the motherboard that works well for HD? Thanks for all the help!

[mikiem]

FWIW I was just reading in another thread that HD hardware accel doesn't work with AGP, so using your set-up would be out in any case if that's correct.

Advice on a new system? The AMD Athlon X2 5000 Black Edition is on sale relatively cheap (~$80 US) & being unlocked can come close to a pretty decent core duo in performance. For cheap graphics cards, ATI I think has the edge for hardware HD accel in either their 24 - 2600 or their new 3xxx equivalents which are close in price -- the mid range (2600 or equiv) seems preferred in reviews for HD playback. That said, Google on reg settings to make sure hardware accel is enabled -- apparently you can't rely on CCC. AMD/ATI is bragging about their new on-board graphics, but I'd want to read a few hands on reviews before taking a chance.

[Deusxmachina]

I'm not a big fan of onboard graphics for one reason being the boards tend to not overclock very well, and with a Core2Duo's potential you want a nice board. I haven't kept up on AMD for awhile so don't know about those.

Newegg has been having the BFG 8500GT for $25 after rebate. Seems fine with HD. Certainly more powerful than a 2400pro. The fans on them are junk, though. Ask me and my currently ziptied new fan how we know.

Otherwise look for threads on the new 780(?) board with built-in video that just came out.

I had forgotten the new GBPVR can do Overlay mode now until WTG mentioned it. If his 2500+ can do 1080i at 25%, which seems crazy low, I would think yours should still be adequate.

Hmm, a 2500+ is I assume a Barton, and that's only at 1.88ghz. What kind of 1.9ghz Athlon is that, exactly?

[wtg]

I had forgotten the new GBPVR can do Overlay mode now until WTG mentioned it. If his 2500+ can do 1080i at 25%, which seems crazy low, I would think yours should still be adequate.

Hmm, a 2500+ is I assume a Barton, and that's only at 1.88ghz. What kind of 1.9ghz Athlon is that, exactly?

Yes, my 2500+ is a Barton. And while I'm quite happy with it right now, it was tough to find the right combination of decoders and modes to make it workable.

VMR9 is unusable except in FSE mode, whether it's with my little ATI x1600 Pro or an NVidia 7800 GS I popped into the machine for testing. VMR9 or VMR9 Custom always results in jittery playback of HD content, where FSE mode works well, at about 40-50% CPU usage, if memory serves.

Interestingly, the x1600 Pro uses less CPU than the 7800 GS in all modes. Using the PureVideo decoder and checking the properties, I can see that the ATI card is using Mode C dx harware acceleration, where the 7800 only shows Mode A. Again, my theory is that the NVidia drivers require the SSE2 instruction set for the higher end modes where the ATI drivers don't, and thus why even some pretty beefy NVidia cards don't work well in low-end HTPC's - but that's just a theory.

Re: the ATI 2600 series, the AGP results many see are disappointing. While sub and a few others see phenominal acceleration, it seems to only come from registry hacks and other things to get the drivers to work properly, and not everyone has success. All the more reason to reconsider sinking money into an AGP card.

[wtg]

And I meant to add, without the PureVideo decoder my x1600 Pro doesn't have nearly as good of numbers. The AVIVIO hype didn't live up to it's expectations... CPU usage is significantly higher using the ATI decoders. Again, perhaps it's the lack of newer instruction set support in my old processor.

Whatever the case, the PureVideo decoder combined with my ATI card has been a great if unlikely pairing. And now being able to go back to Overlay mode in pvrx2 instead of VMR9 just means I have more CPU left over for comskip, transcoding, etc.