Please help to find the bottle neck.

[paulcheung]

I got this old desktop Gateaway computer, I try to put a little life on it by doing a minor upgrade, I put a 60gb ssd and Ge force 520 1gb video card in it. upgrade ram to 2 gb and installed windows 7. The computer is perform much better.

But I try to play a video file which was ripped from a blueray disk. it is 9gb large and 1080p. this computer still can't play it smooth, it lags. Can any one point out to me which part is the bottle neck? cpu, gpu?

Thank you.

http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/R/3724/3724sp25.shtml

 

[Ken g6]

That is, overall, not a great machine. However, the GPU should be the main factor in whether it can play a video file like that, and it should work. What software are you using to try to play back the file?

If that doesn't fix it, is there space to temporarily put the file on your SSD? Just in case the hard drive in that machine is too slow, or dying from bad blocks or something.

 

[lehtv]

If that doesn't fix it, is there space to temporarily put the file on your SSD? Just in case the hard drive in that machine is too slow, or dying from bad blocks or something.

Should the video file be cached in RAM and page file (SSD)?

 

[Ken g6]

Should the video file be cached in RAM and page file (SSD)?

Partially, but it does start reading it linearly. Stopping and restarting the video should play it smoothly for awhile if this is the problem. But I doubt this is the problem.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Sounds more like whatever software the OP is using isn't utilizing hardware acceleration from the GPU, or even just having the GPU do most of the work. That or the P4 just can't process the data fast enough for the GPU to do its thing, what kind of the quality are the video files you're trying to watch? (bitrates and other factors can change system requirements drastically for Blu-Ray/1080p rips)

 

[paulcheung]

I use VLC 2.01 player with hardware acceleration enabled. I guess is the p4 cause the problem. Is there any better cpu I can put in this computer? it has P4 540 run @3.4ghz. but it is single core with hyperthreading.
Any dual core processor can work with this mainboard?
It is Intel D915GAG board with version number AAC77881-303, it use LGA775 socket?

The file is in the usb drive and is perfectly fine when I play on a Dell Inspiron 1420 which I upgraded the cpu to T8300. When the old cpu T5500 in there it lags also.
Thanks.

 

[Ken g6]

I use VLC 2.01 player with hardware acceleration enabled.

That's the problem. VLC doesn't do hardware acceleration like other media players. It's more like it uses GPGPU to help the CPU do the decoding.

Try Media Player Classic instead, for instance.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Ah well if the file is on a USB drive and you're trying to play it back from there, the CPU has to take on a bit of extra load just to handle the file transfer from a much slower source. Try copying it to any of the hard drives on the machine, as Ken said the SSD would be preferable. It may not be seamless but it should improve the smoothness of the playback at least a little bit.

 

[richaron]

Bring up Task Manager & check the CPU usage. If it's ~100% you need:
a) better processor
b) better (more optimized) software

I would assume a p4 can handle it with GPU help... but a modern 9G BRay rip is kinda hardkore.

 

[paulcheung]

That's the problem. VLC doesn't do hardware acceleration like other media players. It's more like it uses GPGPU to help the CPU do the decoding.

Try Media Player Classic instead, for instance.

You are right, I download Media Player Classic and it play profectly without any lags at all.
Thank you.

I have two laptop which will play it without video lag but it break out the audio and sometime it audio is muted for couple second and comeback. Any fix for that or the machine is just too old to play hd videos. the laptop is Dell XPS M1710 with dual core run @2.00ghz come with 128mb video memory.
thanks again

 

[mfenn]

You are right, I download Media Player Classic and it play profectly without any lags at all.
Thank you.

I have two laptop which will play it without video lag but it break out the audio and sometime it audio is muted for couple second and comeback. Any fix for that or the machine is just too old to play hd videos. the laptop is Dell XPS M1710 with dual core run @2.00ghz come with 128mb video memory.
thanks again

An old laptop with an old Intel IGP probably doesn't have much hope of playing back 1080p Blu-Ray rips I'm afraid. You could try using a more optimized codec like CoreAVC and seeing if that helps though.

 

[paulcheung]

An old laptop with an old Intel IGP probably doesn't have much hope of playing back 1080p Blu-Ray rips I'm afraid. You could try using a more optimized codec like CoreAVC and seeing if that helps though.

Actually the dell M1710 come with Geforce go 7900GS 256mb video ram. after installed coreAVC, it run ok now, just that when I play that file I can't do anything the sametime.
The Toshiba p105 come with Intel IGP GMA 950 chip with 256mb video ram, this laptop play with no video lag but the audio is keeping break every 2 seconds. any idea?

Thanks

 

[mfenn]

The IGP in the Toshiba isn't going to be helping you with the decode at all. If all the processor's attention is focused on video decode, it will not be able to keep up with audio decode, especially if it is encoded with a variable bitrate codec.

 

[paulcheung]

I know that Intel GPU is not good enough for HD playing, how about the nvidia geforce 310m gpu? I have this asus ul80j-a1 laptop which come with optimus feature with intel hd2000 and Nvidia geforce 310m. I try to play new bluerayrip file which has 16gb size. The desktop with the gt520 pentium 4 play it ok, but the asus with the 310m play with problems. is there a way to check if the media player classic is using the 310m and not the intel gpu? when I look at the graphic it seem that the play is using intel gpu, if so is there a way I can change that to geforce 310m?
thanks.

 

[mfenn]

How many laptops to you have??????

Anyway, the ASUS should play a Blu-Ray rip no problem even without any sort of GPU acceleration. What kind of problems does it exhibit?

 

[paulcheung]

How many laptops to you have??????

Anyway, the ASUS should play a Blu-Ray rip no problem even without any sort of GPU acceleration. What kind of problems does it exhibit?

1 Asus g53sx
1 asus ul80j-a1
1 dell xps m1710
1 toshiba p105
1 toshiba a215
1 dell inspiron 1420
1 msi U100 netbook
1 gateway 6124 laptop
1 gate way 508ge desktop just install ssd and geforce gt520 with p4 540 cpu
1 gateway 6214 laptop (just dead few month ago)
Lots of old machines.

The Asus g53sx is ok to play this new file without any problem with any player.

the desktop play the new file no problem with media player classic. but can't play with other player.

the Asus ul80j-a1 lags very bad with vlc player, the media player classic has freeze effect there.

All other laptops can't play it without bad lags or audio problems.

Thanks.

 

[paulcheung]

Just scan the Asus ul80-a1 and found some infection, clear it up with combofix and download the vlc 2.01, it play now without problems. I guess the virus must cause the problem.
Thanks.

 

[paulcheung]

Got the Dell XPS M1710 work too, Using vlc 2.01 play with out any problem, it come with Nvidia GeForce go 7900gs 256mb vido ram cpu@2.0ghz. But the Dell Inspiron 1420 come with Nvidia 8400m 128mb video ram, Is the 8400m is weaker than the 7900gs? I have upgrade the Inspiron 1420's cpu to t8300 @2.4ghz. The inspiron play with heavy lags.
Anyone can confirm that?
Thank you.

 

[mfenn]

Yes, an 8400m is weaker than a 7900gs.