Best way to upgrade this computer for under $100?

December 31, 2009

I’ve done quite a bit of research on this before asking, but I’m still a little stumped as to the best way to upgrade this computer for around 0 or less, (besides the RAM which I’m planning on upgrading anyways). Its an AMD Sempron 3400+, VIA MS-7181 Motherboard, 1 gig of ram, and Asus Radeon A9200SE 128MB Video Card.

Now I don’t do any gaming on this computer, and so far it has always been more than fast enough for everything I’ve wanted to do, except for one thing that’s giving me problems. Watching some HD videos. Especially these 720P h.264 .mov files that my Kodak Z1485IS camera, and Aiptek HD camera take. They play very poorly and choppy. When I monitor my CPU usage playing a 720P mov file, or a 1080p wmv file, it shoots up to a constant 100%. So the biggest point of this upgrade is to be able to play these HD videos fine.

My first question, I checked the ram that’s already in there, and it was labeled PC-3200 DDR SDRAM 128Mx64 1GB. I’m planning on buying another 1gb of pc3200 ram, however I see both high density and low density ones for sale and despite reading the specs on my motherboard many times, I can’t figure out if I want the high density or low density, and which is compatible.

Also, I had some primary ideas for upgrading the computer, but I’m not sure if they will work for the purpose I’m looking for (playing those h.264 HD videos)

1) I could upgrade my old 128mb video card listed above, to the best one I could find under 0. Something like a 1GB HD Radeon, or maybe some 512mb card if its adequate. The problem is the best media player that I’ve found and like using for playing those HD 720P h.264 .mov files is VLC media player. I like if because of its great functionality and also I can take screen captures that turn out good. However I’ve heard it "does not support gpu acceleration", so does that mean that a new video card wouldn’t help since its all done by the cpu?

Or perhaps there is another media player that still allows screen captures and plays the h.264 .mov files fine and would work with a new video card?

2) I could upgrade the CPU, from the amd sempron 3400, to an amd athalon 3700 or 3400. I’ve searched on ebay and found some new 3400’s with fan for around , as well as used ones for cheaper, and some new and used 3700’s that mostly don’t include the fan though, so I’d have to figure out what fan to buy. But would that CPU upgrade be enough to be worth it? The specs I’ve read online for the sempron say its 1.8ghz, although my diagnostic software says its 2ghz. The specs on that athalon 64 (both the 3400 and the 3700 give the same ghz), is 2.4. I’m worried that the extra .4 or .6 ghz might not be enough of an upgrade to make them play correctly

3) I could overclock my sempron, I’ve heard its very easy, although I’ve never done overclocking and it makes me nervous that I might fry it.

4) maybe you know of something better than any of these.

Thanks.
Thanks for the answers so far. I did post it in the VLC forums, amazing that the second answerer found it.

Anyways, I’m really hoping not to have to replace the motherboard, I don’t want to have to reinstall windows or anything. I do plan to buy a whole new motherboard/cpu/ram in a year or two, but right now I’m just hoping to get enough of a boost out of what I have to be able to play the HD videos, since my PC works fine for everything else I need.

I have heard mentions of video cards that support h.264 acceleration, but I’m having a tough time figuring out which cards will work.

My Motherboard says it supports up to 8x agp, so I’ve been looking at 8x agp such as Radeon HD4650 1GB or the cheaper Radeon HD 3650 512mb. But I’m unable to figure out if they will help for watching those h.264 videos (preferrably in vlc media player, but if not then some other one that allows screen capture. Does anyone know, or could you recommend a particular card that would work?

Thanks.

Can anyone tell me ways to make my computer faster?

December 30, 2009

Can anyone tell me ANY ways, free programs, guides, or tips to make windows vista home premium, internet explorer, firefox, windows mail, limewire, itunes, aim6,windows searches, or any other virus/spyware removal programs , or any other big memory usage or slow programs faster! Also, any ways to make any programs use less memory or ram, and improve overall ram usage and memory usage!

The person that tells me the most ways that work gets ten points. Any and all tips or tricks, tweaks are appreciated!

I have 2 gigs of ram, i disk defrag/ cleanup/ registry clean,virus and spyware scan all the time!

Also, any tips on lowering cpu usage???

Computer slow a few days after restore (Hardware or Software problem)?

December 23, 2009

I run a windows XP (SP2) desktop, it is about 2 years old.

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 4400 @ 2.00GHz

So instead of reinstalling my windows, I used repair which just restores the system. After repair, my pc runs very fast, but after using it for a few days, it starts gradually slowing down until it reaches a point where even typing or moving my mouse is laggy. However, this only happens when im multitasking on my windows. If i end all the big processes (antivirus, downloading programs, MSN, etc.), then my computer runs normal again. Another thing i’d like to mention is when im watching a youtube video and I try to open a program, it lags insanely bad for a short amount of time. When I watch a video, even if its loaded, it still lags. I do not use my PC 24/7 but sometimes I leave it on, for downloads. My CPU usage is not necessarily high when my computer is lagging so its probably not a RAM problem. I also have over 50% of free disk space on all local disks.

My PC does not have any viruses, I use Rogers Online Protection, and i am not experiencing any other difficulties except for multitasking slowdown. I’ve tried many things already, I’ve tried to cancel windows updates, stop using anti-virus, I’ve checked all my running processes (searched them on internet) and they were fine, I’ve recorded all the running processes of when my pc was slow and i’ve checked them after repairing my windows. None of these solutions worked. Is this happening to anybody else? Is my PC too old? Could it be a hidden virus? Should I stop downloading and see what happens? Is this a case of software or hardware?

I don’t want to use my computer without being able to download and use the internet at the same time, or cancel antivirus. And I don’t want to repair it every few weeks/days. I am not a pro at these kind of things, so plzz help!

My mouse takes 3 or 4 clicks to activate a button in any window. I ran spyware, virus scan, registry cleaner?

September 8, 2009

I’m at my wits’ end with my stuttering mouse! Anything else I should try?
I also checked my CPU usage in task manager and it is generally running between 90-98, so nothing I can see is readily hogging up my resources…what else can I try?
Also, the problem is intermittent but frequent…so I don’t think it is a faulty mouse, but I am digging around to try to find another one to test just in case…
So far, none of these answers has helped. I do not have anything hogging my CPU resources, spyware software has been run, registry has been cleaned, removed all add-on toolbars, upgraded to IE 7, tried changing the mouse/checking cable…it still intermittently (i.e. not every time) but frequently takes 2-3 mouse clicks to activate a button in any window…any more "answers" out there?