Need expert feedback on ATI video features

[winterlude]

Hi all,
I?ve got an older system (Celeron 466, 256 sdram, 4 meg ATI rage, 4 gig hard drive, Windows XP) that I?m using in the basement to play movies on a projector. It plays DVD?s with a little chop, and highly compressed Xvid, mpeg4, divx etc. sometimes have a lot of stuttering (in the video smoothness, not the sound). In these cases, the CPU hits 100% usage and can't handle the job.

I'm interested in buying the ATI 9550 because it has Videoshader technology. From what I've read, Video shader helps with mpeg 1/2/4, which is great, but how much does it help offset the strain on the CPU? And will that hardware acceleration help with DIVX and Xvid decompression?


ATI?s Fullstream claims a smoother image for streaming video without a CPU hit, but what about DVD and mpeg 4 video?

From the info I can find, it says the cards are optimized for 3D Now and SSE2, neither of which my Celeron has. Does that mean the mpeg decodes won?t work?

What?s the difference between a 9200 and a 9200se anyway? Just speed, or features too?

Would I be better off seeing if I can find a second hand P3 processor that can work on my motherboard (maybe a 933 PIII?). These P3?s have a lousy price/performace ratio though. I?d feel like a sucker buying one now.


Thanks in advance

 

[SonicIce]

You current CPU is really holding you back, man. Do you need a new case or hard drive?
CPU: Sempron 2400+ $60
Motherboard: Shuttle "AN35N-Ultra" $52
Hard drive: Western Digital 80GB $58
Total: $170

This setup would be much faster than your current setup and any PIII. Plus it's socket A so you could upgrade it further. The 80GB hard drive should serve you nice and you can acually store movies on your hard drive now! You may want to consider upgrading your RAM to this $69 512MB stick.

 

[saltedeggman]

you will get a much better overall performance from replacing it

 

[winterlude]

I don't want to buy a new system just to show movies. I'm on a tight budget (starving artist). My current system is fast enough for my purposes, it's just the old one in the basement that needs a bit of a boost. Eventually, I'll buy a new system, but not for a year or more.
Anyway, I'm still curious about ATI's features. Reviewers hardly ever mentioned them. I figure that at least one person on this forum is willing to share his/her experience with ATI's video shader i.e. how much does it free up the CPU etc.

Thanks for the prices on the mini-system. I was checking a couple of local sites though e.g. ICCT, and the only micro case I can find on their site is $179. I don't get it? Don't people buy these things as budget/secondary PC's? There must be cheaper cases. Ordering from websites isn't much of an option for me because I'm in Canada. I get ripped off with the exchange rates and sometimes have to pay additional taxes as well as international delivery charges if the US site even ships to Canada.

 

[DaveSimmons]

No idea about that specific ATI, but the acceleration on older cards helped only slightly so I wouldn't expect much.

If your motherboard can accept it, putting in a faster CPU would make a huge difference.

 

[SonicIce]

Yeah, playing back or encoding movies is a real burdon on the CPU. Maybe you can just get a faster CPU for your current mobo. BTW, what kind of projector do you have?

 

[winterlude]

My projector is an Infocus X-1. I don't use it a lot, so I don't want to spend a lot of money upgrading an old computer. My basement is already a computer graveyard.
As I mentioned in my first post, P3 CPU's are not worth the money. It's a good chance they're used too. If I bought a card like the ATI 9550 for my old system, when I upgrade in a year or so, I can move the vid card to a newer system. If I go with a faster CPU for an older board (CUV4X), I won't have anything from that old system I can transfer that'd be of any use.
But if the ATI 9550 doesn't work out the way I hope, then I'd be stuck at square one and 100 CND in the hole.

 

[DaveSimmons]

It's going to be hard to find info because CPU load for playback isn't an issue for even 3-year old systems. Most owners of the card have at least a 1 GHz CPU and most reviewers wouldn't bother to test the decoding assistance part of the card.

Google is your only hope.

 

[winterlude]

Not much info at the ATI site. I've been googling around to see what I can find. I might take another look at the ATI enthusiast forums, but, more likely, I'll just leave the system as it is. When I buy my next system, I'll move my current rig to the basement.

I saw a dirt cheap add for a 2.4Ghz celeron system including a 17" mon, 80 gig HDD, 256 DDR ram, and Windows XP for $350 CND. I'm not a fan of celerons, but this sytem is great for the price.
SonicIce quoted some prices for an AMD setup in an earlier post. I think I'll take another look at the Anandtech budget system guide.

Thanks for your imput guys

 

[DaveSimmons]

Here in the US you can get an A64 2800+, Chaintech motherboard, and 512 MB DDR for about $275 USD, this would be a great gaming / general use system.

If you look at benchmarks, even the new celerons with 553 FSB are still lousy for gaming, a 2.8 celeron is much slower than a real P4 2.4 GHz, while an A64 2800+ is faster than a P4 3.0 - 3.2 in most games.