AnimeSuki Forums

Craymel · 2008-07-19, 22:42

Okay, here's the deal. My Nvidia Geforce 5500 has gone and died for some reason. So I thought If I was gonna replace it, might as well get something better. I have a few questions though. I like to watch fansubs in the highest quality possible. So I usually get 720p fansubs if available. Playback was never exactly smooth with my graphics card. If there were hundreds of tiny details on screen it would lag and become out of synch till it was over. My desktop is 2 years old.

3.00 GHz pentium 4 processor
512 Mb of memory
graphics card nividia geforce(R.I.P.)
Don't know what the other video card on the desktop is, but it is not as good as the dead one was.
OS Ubuntu 8.04

My question is can a good graphics card improve playback of 720p fansubs. Would I possibly be able to play it back with no lag what so ever?

Claies · 2008-07-19, 23:37

I guess you'd want it cheap, because the rest of your desktop isn't that powerful.

This would be fine. If you have extra budget, I'd up the system RAM to 1GB on the side.

EVGA GeForce 8500GT 256MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130293

Furuno · 2008-07-20, 00:21

I'd suggest you wait until ATi released their brand new Radeon HD 4450. That card should be comparable to those of mid-low-end card nowadays, even tough that card is low-end card. Or, if you are not that patient, just go get the Radeon HD 3450.

Installing Radeon driver on Ubuntu should be easy. I'm personally using a Radeon HD 2400 Pro here and have no problem with even 1080p video, mine also able to play Crysis with medium spec.

For the brand, I think Sapphire, ASUS, or PowerColor is a nice Radeon brand.

Uh, oh wait, 2 years old desktop? Do you have PCI-Express slot? I guess no... So, I think it's better for you to upgrade your PC entirely...

Craymel · 2008-07-20, 00:37

Hmmm... I think it has the option for pci but I guess my best bet would be with agp? I think it was. I'm not sure. Is there a way to check if I had a pci express slot?

Furuno · 2008-07-20, 01:00

Well, open your case...

Anyway, PCI is totally different with PCI-Express, and what's bad is AGP is now almost completely abandoned. Even they already have PCI-Express 2.0 (luckily it is compatible with normal PCI-Express). Because of that AGP card is hard to find and tend to be expensive. So, I really suggest you to upgrade your entire system, if you can. It won't cost that much and I'm sure there's a whole lot people in here that willing to help you choose what parts should you use (including me)

But if you insist of only changing the graphic card, here's something I will choose if I'm you...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102756
Sapphire ATi Radeon HD 2600 Pro. The 3650 is too expensive. Even this is overkill for only watching videos. I bet this can run Crysis with all High settings (at low res, if your processor and system memory (RAM) is high enough)...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161152
Or this, the cheapest AGP Radeon available. This is my old graphic card. It performs quite good at that day...

Potatochobit · 2008-07-20, 01:35

you need to purchase CoreAVC if you want to watch 720p.

your graphics card doesnt matter too much when watching fansubs.

your computer sounds far far older than 2 years. my computer is an AMD dual core and it is about 4 years old now. AGP cards should be real cheap. you can still find some decent ones around.

Claies · 2008-07-20, 09:12

Yeah, hate to say it, but your computer sounds comparably at least 5-6 years old. I completely neglected the fact that it probably wouldn't have PCI-Express, I'm sorry.

Well...since I usually track the newer things, I don't know what to suggest. Good luck, though.

Craymel · 2008-07-20, 09:30

Yeah, It's confirmed. I need a card that works with agp. My price range would be up to $115. I do want a graphics card that performs much better then my old one. Not just a replacement. Thanks for the help guys. I don't think I can manage any form of upgrade on my computer right now.

Ledgem · 2008-07-20, 16:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Potatochobit

your graphics card doesnt matter too much when watching fansubs.

This is true. Newer graphics cards do have support for H.264 video decoding and I've heard that it does make a big difference, but you'll need software that can shunt the work to the graphics card. It won't happen automatically. In the past, the only playback software that could make use of graphics cards were DVD player software. I've heard that people now are using certain decoders that can make use of the graphics cards, but I don't know the details.

If you do know of software that can make use of the graphics card, then just getting any graphics card that supports H.264 decoding, even a low-end one, would probably suffice. I don't think anyone has benchmarked graphics cards for video playback, but I was under the impression that even a low-level graphics card by today's standards can make a huge difference. Higher-level cards would probably just be wasted.

hobbes_fan · 2008-07-20, 22:25

Ledgem/potatochobit is correct. The one I use is powerDVD ultra for BD playback. But keep in mind that for coreavc/video card support the file you are playing has to meet certain criteria. ie h264/x264 profiles which there are many. Some of which are unsupported by videocards/coreavc. In that case it's all up to your processor.

Also note most of the videocards advanced decoding features are not available under Linux. Last I checked ATI's UVD feature was windows only. Not sure about Nvidia's purevideo

Try to run a lean system, no other open apps in the background, to free up your processor.

I don't know really whether it's advisable to spend more than $ 20-$30, when you consider a cheap dual core, a cheap motherboard,2gb ram and a cheap pcie vid card can be done for $150-$200. (well if you're capable of installing an agp card you're capable of building a pc) and realistically you could get close to 1/2 that for your motherboard processor and RAM if you ebay'd, craigslist them.

eg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135083
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103221
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820178154
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127300

or even just get a 780g motherboard which has an ati 3200 onboard video chipset so it's a far more economical choice and purpose built for hd playback. Even at $115-130 I think you can do it

yep just had a look
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135075
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103232
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227120

Intel is about the same but I'm not really up to speed with their chipsets anymore

Just an idea? Better value IMO if you are reusing a lot of your existing gear ie hdd case psu drives etc etc, even the lowliest dual core will have no issues with 720p

Lelouch · 2008-07-21, 15:31

I agree with hobbes with building a new PC.
I suggest you move away from AGP altogether as it's being phased out.
Besides there's alot of staisfaction with building your own PC.

RE: Answering your problem

This is an Asus ATI GPU, which is a strong brand, this is below your budget but will perform well for your needs (maybe a bit of an overkill.) BUT it's silent, all you need is a little bit of airflow e.g. your power supply fan to remove the heat.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121260

Craymel · 2008-07-21, 18:02

That does sound like a good suggestion... I'll probably look into it. Also about utilizing graphic cards for video play back. Could mplayer possibly pull it off?

hobbes_fan · 2008-07-21, 20:10

No Mplayer will not. There are hacks but its still extremely unstable and only under a xp/vista environment. I'd like to say try coreavc first but to date I know of no way of making it run under Linux

I find ind it strange though that my 1.7ghz Pentium m/1gb ram laptop running xubuntu has no issues with 720p. the processor is roughly equal to your processor.

Also I might add that a replacement upgrade processor as it sounds like it is a socket LGA775 that either a Pentium D (no longer made but should be very cheap and easy to find 2nd hand don't pay more than $50usd though) or a low end Core 2 duo maybe available to you as the cheapest upgrade BUT before I get your hopes up it depends on your motherboard chipset. If you know your motherboard name and model no it'd be a great help. If it's a 965 chipset (top of the range around 05/06) or newer YAY for you . If not you're SOL unfortunately

Craymel · 2008-07-23, 12:50

I Kinda wanna see the options of getting a new motherboard now. I currently have this:

http://www.wwf5.com/comprack/wecs.ph...5S800-VM-UAYGZ

What would the minimum requirements be for a mother board that can handle 1080p?

martino · 2008-07-23, 13:14

That does not depend on the motherboard, but on the CPU.

hobbes_fan · 2008-07-23, 13:33

Motherboard? None. As long as your processor is fast enough.

The entire process is CPU/GPU bound. The best value right now for the purpose you describe is either the older AMD 690g or the newer 740g/780g chipset. The onboard GPU is powerful enough to help decode (with certain conditions as previously stated) and is HDCP compliant. But you will need an Amd processor of which the dual core x2 4400 and higher will do 1080p

There isn't a lot you can do with that board - it severely restricts your options.

here think about this

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...802&CatId=2329

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...174&CatId=2320

Intel I don't think realy has anything that represents any better value.

As a last resort you could try overclocking your processor although the SiS chipset will make it difficult

Craymel · 2008-07-23, 14:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by martino

That does not depend on the motherboard, but on the CPU.

Yeah, I worded that wrong.

Edit: thanks hobbes that looks like a good deal.

Furuno · 2008-07-23, 22:12

Some addition to hobbes_fan's post :

First, wow, that's a great CPU deal !! $60 for an 5000+ and 1 gig nice ram? I'd (no I don't) kill for that...

For motherboard I'd preferred this :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135076
Cheaper than the BioStar one with the same specification, unless, mine's only got 2 memory slot, but if you don't need 4 slot it doesn't matter. Anyway, I'm just an ECS fans for they low-mid end motherboards. They perform great and cheap, and they also have 5 years warranty and nice customer service (in my country). And I'm also have a lot of bad time with BioStar motherboard (the Intel one).

And, only as a side note, maybe you want to try AMD's new line of Athlon X2 processor, the Athlon X2 4XXXe series. They only use as little as 45 W of power. Like this one :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103257
BUT, nevermind that (at least for now), the processor deals in hobbes_fan post is great! I'd get that if I can get that deal...

The previous Athlon series (Brisbane core, number is XXXX+) already run amazingly cool and fast. And the new 4XXXe will definitely run much cooler... My 4000+ is idling at 14 C and full load never get pass 40 C.
Click Here to know more about my processor temp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hobbes_fan

Intel I don't think realy has anything that represents any better value.

Nice. Agree...

Westlo · 2008-07-25, 04:05

Since this thread is here I might as well post in it instead of starting a new one, I'll like to get a graphics card for my comp so I can run WOW at max settings and have a frame rate that stays over 20... also more importantly I want to be able to play Dawn of War 2 when it comes out, same with Diablo 3 and Starcraft II when they arrive in 2015!

This is my motherboard

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?mo...01&l3=345&l4=0

And my cpu is a AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual 4200+

Only have a gig of ram but that's no real issue, will probably buy another gig with the graphics card. I was thinking of going with a Saphire ATI HD4850 512Mb DDr3 Graphic Card. Any recommendations?

Furuno · 2008-07-25, 05:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Westlo

Only have a gig of ram but that's no real issue, will probably buy another gig with the graphics card. I was thinking of going with a Saphire ATI HD4850 512Mb DDr3 Graphic Card. Any recommendations?

Well, I think 1 gig of ram is quite an issues there. I have a friend with X2 3800+ with 1 GB RAM and GeForce 7200 GS. Then he upgrade into HD 3650. It still can't plays Crysis at all high settings. Then I've told him to upgrade to 2 GB. Now he's playing Crysis at all high.

For your new GPU, I think Sapphire 4850 is a great choice. I've bet you can maxed out everything. But again, the your motherboard chipset can only support half speed of PCI-Express (x8), while the new 4850 is using PCI-Express 2.0, which runs at double of the speed of standard PCI-Express, thus four times of your supported chipset. It's not that you can't plug the card into your motherboard, you can use that card but your card bandwidth will be limited.

And don't forget to check your PSU, if your PSU already have one 6-pin PCI-Express connector with 450W+ of power, it's all good. If not, you should buy a new one with those features.

If you have high budget, I suggest you upgrade your board, RAM, and get yourself some 4870 / 4870 X2 / two 4870 X2. If not, the it's all good, grab that 4850 and collect some money to upgrade your systems when someone released Crysis 2.

2008-07-19, 22:42	Link #1
Craymel Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008	New graghics card Okay, here's the deal. My Nvidia Geforce 5500 has gone and died for some reason. So I thought If I was gonna replace it, might as well get something better. I have a few questions though. I like to watch fansubs in the highest quality possible. So I usually get 720p fansubs if available. Playback was never exactly smooth with my graphics card. If there were hundreds of tiny details on screen it would lag and become out of synch till it was over. My desktop is 2 years old. 3.00 GHz pentium 4 processor 512 Mb of memory graphics card nividia geforce(R.I.P.) Don't know what the other video card on the desktop is, but it is not as good as the dead one was. OS Ubuntu 8.04 My question is can a good graphics card improve playback of 720p fansubs. Would I possibly be able to play it back with no lag what so ever? __________________ For proper anime playback use: CCCP--Mplayer--Perian

2008-07-20, 00:21	Link #3
Furuno Fuwaaa~~~ IT Support Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Indonesia Age: 34	I'd suggest you wait until ATi released their brand new Radeon HD 4450. That card should be comparable to those of mid-low-end card nowadays, even tough that card is low-end card. Or, if you are not that patient, just go get the Radeon HD 3450. Installing Radeon driver on Ubuntu should be easy. I'm personally using a Radeon HD 2400 Pro here and have no problem with even 1080p video, mine also able to play Crysis with medium spec. For the brand, I think Sapphire, ASUS, or PowerColor is a nice Radeon brand. Uh, oh wait, 2 years old desktop? Do you have PCI-Express slot? I guess no... So, I think it's better for you to upgrade your PC entirely... __________________ Check my Blog / Thread / Twitter for some random stuffs...

2008-07-20, 00:37	Link #4
Craymel Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008	Hmmm... I think it has the option for pci but I guess my best bet would be with agp? I think it was. I'm not sure. Is there a way to check if I had a pci express slot? __________________ For proper anime playback use: CCCP--Mplayer--Perian

2008-07-20, 01:00	Link #5
Furuno Fuwaaa~~~ IT Support Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Indonesia Age: 34	Well, open your case... Anyway, PCI is totally different with PCI-Express, and what's bad is AGP is now almost completely abandoned. Even they already have PCI-Express 2.0 (luckily it is compatible with normal PCI-Express). Because of that AGP card is hard to find and tend to be expensive. So, I really suggest you to upgrade your entire system, if you can. It won't cost that much and I'm sure there's a whole lot people in here that willing to help you choose what parts should you use (including me) But if you insist of only changing the graphic card, here's something I will choose if I'm you... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102756 Sapphire ATi Radeon HD 2600 Pro. The 3650 is too expensive. Even this is overkill for only watching videos. I bet this can run Crysis with all High settings (at low res, if your processor and system memory (RAM) is high enough)... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161152 Or this, the cheapest AGP Radeon available. This is my old graphic card. It performs quite good at that day... __________________ Check my Blog / Thread / Twitter for some random stuffs... Last edited by Furuno; 2008-07-20 at 01:19.

2008-07-20, 09:30	Link #8
Craymel Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008	Yeah, It's confirmed. I need a card that works with agp. My price range would be up to $115. I do want a graphics card that performs much better then my old one. Not just a replacement. Thanks for the help guys. I don't think I can manage any form of upgrade on my computer right now. __________________ For proper anime playback use: CCCP--Mplayer--Perian

2008-07-19, 23:37	Link #2
Claies Good-Natured Asshole. Join Date: May 2007 Age: 34	I guess you'd want it cheap, because the rest of your desktop isn't that powerful. This would be fine. If you have extra budget, I'd up the system RAM to 1GB on the side. EVGA GeForce 8500GT 256MB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130293

2008-07-20, 01:35	Link #6
Potatochobit Certified Organic Join Date: Dec 2005	you need to purchase CoreAVC if you want to watch 720p. your graphics card doesnt matter too much when watching fansubs. your computer sounds far far older than 2 years. my computer is an AMD dual core and it is about 4 years old now. AGP cards should be real cheap. you can still find some decent ones around.

2008-07-20, 09:12	Link #7
Claies Good-Natured Asshole. Join Date: May 2007 Age: 34	Yeah, hate to say it, but your computer sounds comparably at least 5-6 years old. I completely neglected the fact that it probably wouldn't have PCI-Express, I'm sorry. Well...since I usually track the newer things, I don't know what to suggest. Good luck, though.

2008-07-20, 22:25	Link #10
hobbes_fan You could say..... Join Date: Apr 2007	Ledgem/potatochobit is correct. The one I use is powerDVD ultra for BD playback. But keep in mind that for coreavc/video card support the file you are playing has to meet certain criteria. ie h264/x264 profiles which there are many. Some of which are unsupported by videocards/coreavc. In that case it's all up to your processor. Also note most of the videocards advanced decoding features are not available under Linux. Last I checked ATI's UVD feature was windows only. Not sure about Nvidia's purevideo Try to run a lean system, no other open apps in the background, to free up your processor. I don't know really whether it's advisable to spend more than $ 20-$30, when you consider a cheap dual core, a cheap motherboard,2gb ram and a cheap pcie vid card can be done for $150-$200. (well if you're capable of installing an agp card you're capable of building a pc) and realistically you could get close to 1/2 that for your motherboard processor and RAM if you ebay'd, craigslist them. eg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135083 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103221 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820178154 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127300 or even just get a 780g motherboard which has an ati 3200 onboard video chipset so it's a far more economical choice and purpose built for hd playback. Even at $115-130 I think you can do it yep just had a look http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135075 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103232 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227120 Intel is about the same but I'm not really up to speed with their chipsets anymore Just an idea? Better value IMO if you are reusing a lot of your existing gear ie hdd case psu drives etc etc, even the lowliest dual core will have no issues with 720p __________________ *Before you ask "How do I convert fansubs to...." see the following* MP4 - http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=47693 Convert AVI/MKV/MP4 to DVD http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=26308 Last edited by hobbes_fan; 2008-07-21 at 05:44.

2008-07-21, 15:31	Link #11
Lelouch Phaeton Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: England Age: 34	I agree with hobbes with building a new PC. I suggest you move away from AGP altogether as it's being phased out. Besides there's alot of staisfaction with building your own PC. RE: Answering your problem This is an Asus ATI GPU, which is a strong brand, this is below your budget but will perform well for your needs (maybe a bit of an overkill.) BUT it's silent, all you need is a little bit of airflow e.g. your power supply fan to remove the heat. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121260

2008-07-21, 18:02	Link #12
Craymel Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008	That does sound like a good suggestion... I'll probably look into it. Also about utilizing graphic cards for video play back. Could mplayer possibly pull it off? __________________ For proper anime playback use: CCCP--Mplayer--Perian

2008-07-21, 20:10	Link #13
hobbes_fan You could say..... Join Date: Apr 2007	No Mplayer will not. There are hacks but its still extremely unstable and only under a xp/vista environment. I'd like to say try coreavc first but to date I know of no way of making it run under Linux I find ind it strange though that my 1.7ghz Pentium m/1gb ram laptop running xubuntu has no issues with 720p. the processor is roughly equal to your processor. Also I might add that a replacement upgrade processor as it sounds like it is a socket LGA775 that either a Pentium D (no longer made but should be very cheap and easy to find 2nd hand don't pay more than $50usd though) or a low end Core 2 duo maybe available to you as the cheapest upgrade BUT before I get your hopes up it depends on your motherboard chipset. If you know your motherboard name and model no it'd be a great help. If it's a 965 chipset (top of the range around 05/06) or newer YAY for you . If not you're SOL unfortunately __________________ *Before you ask "How do I convert fansubs to...." see the following* MP4 - http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=47693 Convert AVI/MKV/MP4 to DVD http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=26308 Last edited by hobbes_fan; 2008-07-22 at 05:36.

2008-07-23, 12:50	Link #14
Craymel Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008	I Kinda wanna see the options of getting a new motherboard now. I currently have this: http://www.wwf5.com/comprack/wecs.ph...5S800-VM-UAYGZ What would the minimum requirements be for a mother board that can handle 1080p? __________________ For proper anime playback use: CCCP--Mplayer--Perian

2008-07-23, 13:14	Link #15
martino makes no files now Join Date: May 2006	That does not depend on the motherboard, but on the CPU. __________________ "Light and shadow don't battle each other, because they're two sides of the same coin"

2008-07-23, 13:33	Link #16
hobbes_fan You could say..... Join Date: Apr 2007	Motherboard? None. As long as your processor is fast enough. The entire process is CPU/GPU bound. The best value right now for the purpose you describe is either the older AMD 690g or the newer 740g/780g chipset. The onboard GPU is powerful enough to help decode (with certain conditions as previously stated) and is HDCP compliant. But you will need an Amd processor of which the dual core x2 4400 and higher will do 1080p There isn't a lot you can do with that board - it severely restricts your options. here think about this http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...802&CatId=2329 http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...174&CatId=2320 Intel I don't think realy has anything that represents any better value. As a last resort you could try overclocking your processor although the SiS chipset will make it difficult __________________ *Before you ask "How do I convert fansubs to...." see the following* MP4 - http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=47693 Convert AVI/MKV/MP4 to DVD http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=26308 Last edited by hobbes_fan; 2008-07-23 at 13:45.

2008-07-25, 04:05	Link #19
Westlo Lets be reality Join Date: May 2007	Since this thread is here I might as well post in it instead of starting a new one, I'll like to get a graphics card for my comp so I can run WOW at max settings and have a frame rate that stays over 20... also more importantly I want to be able to play Dawn of War 2 when it comes out, same with Diablo 3 and Starcraft II when they arrive in 2015! This is my motherboard http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?mo...01&l3=345&l4=0 And my cpu is a AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual 4200+ Only have a gig of ram but that's no real issue, will probably buy another gig with the graphics card. I was thinking of going with a Saphire ATI HD4850 512Mb DDr3 Graphic Card. Any recommendations? Last edited by Westlo; 2008-07-25 at 04:22.