Flash 10.1 help on older systems using AGP

[Bendy]

My kids visit a lot of flash websites like PBSKIDSGO and
such and, similar to the issues plaguing YouTube HD and Hulu
videos, no matter what computer I try them on, there are major
dropped frames when the animation gets going hard. I've tried
these sites on brand new Lenovo workstations at work with Q9400s with
G41 integrated graphics and it is still the same as my old home
P4 2.6 HT system with a GeForce 440MX. So the Flash 10.1 stuff
has me excited. Smooth animation on an Atom makes me think I
can also obtain this level of performance on my 6+ year old P4
system as well. I look at the supported vid card list and the
only ones I can find that's available as an AGP card (my
MSI-6788 ain't new enough to have a PCI-E slot) are the ATI 4650
and 4670 series cards. I think these would be a worthwhile
upgrade for those of us with P4 and older systems that have an
AGP 8X slot who want the capabilities Flash 10.1 and beyond
would provide. What do ya'll think of this idea? Doable? or is my system just so old that I just need to bite the bullet and build a new system with a Flash 10.1 supported GPU? FYI, I didn't find anything on the NVIDIA supported list with an AGP interface which is why I must consider ATI.

 

[0roo0roo]

sure if you feel like spending money just to watch hulu. it should work. but for every other use the system will be slow as ever. so its up to you whether you want to invest more into a dead tech system.

shoulda bought those black friday cheap mb/cpu combos!!

 

[Bendy]

The computer is pretty much just used for internet browsing, so it performs just nicely with XP and 1GB RAM. I'll author the occasional DVD on Pinnacle Studio 8 from a birthday or Christmas, and that will take several hours to process, but I just let it do that overnight on that rare occasion. I don't have any problems with the performance at all. The only games I have on there are Ur-Quan Masters and stuff on DOSBox - just old school stuff. All other gaming is on consoles. The ONLY issue with performance is Flash stuff on kids' websites and Youtube/Hulu, and a new computer won't fix this either, without possibly a Flash 10.1 accelerated video card. So however much fun it would be to build a new rig, I don't see a reason to spend the extra money beyond the video card.

Actually, what I should do is spend the $30 on the Windows 7 student upgrade I have available (now that I'm back taking a few classes) and see how she runs. THAT may be the reason to upgrade - operating system pending obsolescence. If I buy an AGP card now, I won't be able to use it on a new system.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Is Flash 10.1 released yet even?