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.