# Upgrade: RAM or Video Card? Or?



## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

Hi, I've begun watching more program material via internet and recorded on my hard drive. The picture on my 50" 720p plasma is blurry during some scenes, akin to wavy water, and I would like to improve the picture, if possible.

My desktop runs Windows 7 and the performance index states the following:
4.5 experience index
processor 4.5
memory 5.6
graphics 6.7
hard drive 5.9

The computer is a pentium dual 2.8Ghz, 64bit, 2x2GB DDR2 RAM
Funds are limited, so until I can upgrade the whole computer, I do not want to invest much more into this one.

Perhaps rather than upgrading hardware someone knows a 'tweak' I can do?


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

What do you have for a video card?


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## Infrasonic (Sep 28, 2010)

Does this only happen when you area streaming content from the web? It could be a slow connection to the source (Netflix etc.) that is causing it to drop the quality to maintain a smooth framerate. You could try playing a movie locally to see if you have the same issues.

Clearing out your internet cache can help sometimes, the free version of CCleaner works great.


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## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

tonyvdb said:


> What do you have for a video card?


GT 450 1 GB video card (I think)


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

ironglen said:


> GT 450 1 GB video card (I think)


Hmmmm, thats should be plenty.


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## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

Infrasonic said:


> Does this only happen when you area streaming content from the web? It could be a slow connection to the source (Netflix etc.) that is causing it to drop the quality to maintain a smooth framerate. You could try playing a movie locally to see if you have the same issues.
> 
> Clearing out your internet cache can help sometimes, the free version of CCleaner works great.


The quality has sometimes been sub-par for streaming (e.g. Hulu) , but appears worst for HD programs movies/tv recorded on the hard drive playing with Windows Media Center. It seems to be the worst when playing movies that have CGI backgrounds, where the background has a 'wavy ocean' effect.

I might try that CCleaner, if it can't hurt.


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## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

tonyvdb said:


> Hmmmm, thats should be plenty.


What do you think about the 2x2GB RAM? Possible processor limitation?


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## Infrasonic (Sep 28, 2010)

It doesn't seem like a hardware issue so buying a better videocard or more RAM wouldn't help.

Do you only have the TV connected to the computer or are you also driving a monitor? What kind of cable are you using between the computer and TV?

Check the resolution the TV is receiving and make sure it's 1280*720. If you haven't already go to nVidia's website and download the latest drivers and run Windows Update to be sure 7 is updated. Something is off but it's fixable.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

2x2 meaning you have 4GB in total? that should also be fine. Make sure you have the latest drivers for the video card and the latest Dir X


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## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

Infrasonic said:


> It doesn't seem like a hardware issue so buying a better videocard or more RAM wouldn't help.
> 
> Do you only have the TV connected to the computer or are you also driving a monitor? What kind of cable are you using between the computer and TV?
> 
> Check the resolution the TV is receiving and make sure it's 1280*720. If you haven't already go to nVidia's website and download the latest drivers and run Windows Update to be sure 7 is updated. Something is off but it's fixable.


:doh: When I turn on my receiver and tv, my tv is set up as a duplicate of my monitor. I use the tv often, so I set it up that way as I did not want to go into the Nvidia setup every time to switch between the two. 

Can you tell me the best way to configure that?


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## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

Infrasonic said:


> Do you only have the TV connected to the computer or are you also driving a monitor? What kind of cable are you using between the computer and TV?
> 
> Check the resolution the TV is receiving and make sure it's 1280*720. If you haven't already go to nVidia's website and download the latest drivers and run Windows Update to be sure 7 is updated. Something is off but it's fixable.


I have an Integra DTC 9.8 processor between, using high quality hdmi cable for all.

I switched the resolution from 1080p 1680x1050 (recommended by Nvidia) to 1280x720 and the tv screen looks good, but the monitor now has black bars displayed on the top and bottom. I'm guessing that I left it on the previous setting because of that? :whistling:

I'll view it a bit more, and perhaps update drivers before posting back here.

Thanks guys!


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## Infrasonic (Sep 28, 2010)

That's your problem - you were pushing the wrong resolution to the TV. 

Driving the monitor at the same time is usually not a good idea either; you can right click on the desktop and go into the nVidia options then under Setup Multiple Displays select only the TV. I don't know of a quicker way to do that unfortunately.


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## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

Alright. It now looks SO much better. Sometimes I forget just how little I know :rofl:


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Look at it this way it didn't cost you a dime to fix so thats good


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## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

tonyvdb said:


> Look at it this way it didn't cost you a dime to fix so thats good


That's REALLY good! Joining HTS has definitely been one of my best choices I can remember. I've joined a few other forums when doing specific jobs or trade-work (e.g. setting floor tile) and I have yet to experience anywhere near the helpfulness I've received on HTS: simply amazing. My experience has been that the members on this forum are some of the best _people_ around. I wish we could all 'chip in' somehow and surprise Sonny and perhaps the rest of the moderators sometime, but they would catch on immediately because they are all so active on here, especially that Mike P guy :unbelievable:


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## Infrasonic (Sep 28, 2010)

Great, I'm glad it's working!


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## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

Infrasonic said:


> Great, I'm glad it's working!


Working like a champ now- thanks!


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## 8086 (Aug 4, 2009)

ironglen said:


> What do you think about the 2x2GB RAM? Possible processor limitation?


You are CPU limited. But replacing the processor would mean you must also replace:

The motherboard
new DDR3 RAM (old stuff cannot be reused)
a new copy of Windows
and while you are at it, you may as well drop in a newer, bigger, faster hard drive for $50-75

Your GPU is adequate. I would recommend moving up to 8GB of R.A.M.; the stuff is super cheap these days.


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## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

8086 said:


> You are CPU limited. But replacing the processor would mean you must also replace:
> 
> The motherboard
> new DDR3 RAM (old stuff cannot be reused)
> ...


Replacing the whole is what I ran into not so long ago. I looked and now DDR3: cheap, DDR2: not so cheap, so I'll get by until I can replace it all. 

After I got the Nvidia options figured out, everything works fantastic! The audio goes out to my Integra processor when I turn it on along with my tv and my desktop is visible there, meanwhile my computer monitor goes off and saves processing power. I don't even have to change settings anymore. To be honest, I don't know how I set it up that way :blink: but it works! :bigsmile:


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## 8086 (Aug 4, 2009)

ironglen said:


> Replacing the whole is what I ran into not so long ago. I looked and now DDR3: cheap, DDR2: not so cheap, so I'll get by until I can replace it all.
> 
> After I got the Nvidia options figured out, everything works fantastic! The audio goes out to my Integra processor when I turn it on along with my tv and my desktop is visible there, meanwhile my computer monitor goes off and saves processing power. I don't even have to change settings anymore. To be honest, I don't know how I set it up that way :blink: but it works! :bigsmile:


Depending on your chipset, you may be able to drop in a used Core2Duo or Core2Quad from ebay. Those chips are far faster and far more energy efficient than your old dual core Pentium. Keep your existing 4GB and add and another 4GB, it's not as good as 4gbx2 but 2gb x 4 will get the job done with 90-95% of the same memory performance.

The P4 architecture is memory bandwidth hungry, I'm not sure what type you have but adding newer faster ram will be a huge boon to your overall performance. As a cheap alternative, depending on your bios/motherboard you could overclock the RAM (and possibly the cpu) for extra bandwidth.


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## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

Thanks Guns. I looked up my motherboard and it seems there is a lot of improvement possible in the cpu, not so much for RAM as it only has two slots (2x4GB being the maximum). Perhaps I will keep an eye open for an Intel E8300-8600 as the chip RAM would increase form 2 or 3MB to 6MB, and the FSB from 1066 to 1333Mhz and still use 65W. Not sure what differences there are between 8300-8600, but they have the same primary specs.


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## 8086 (Aug 4, 2009)

Your FSB will only operate as fast as your memory will allow it. Your chipset must also provide support for the CPU you wish to use. So you may need new RAM to get 1333MHz. But the good thing about a CORE2 over the old netburst architecture is that the Core2 and later chips do not require much memory bandwidth to keep the CPU satisfied. 

*Which motherboard do you have? Brand and model?*


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## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

I'm running a Gigabyte ga-g41m-es2l rev1.4


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## 8086 (Aug 4, 2009)

Your motherboard should support Core2 chips built on a 45nm process, Which is, Wolfdale and Yorkfield XE, both chips are of the Penryn design. But I would look for the later Generation Yorkfield. And in all honesty, Don't go spending more than $80 on an upgrade; because for $350 or so, I could assemble you an upgrade built around an AMD APU (CPU-GPU hybrid).

When I have time tomorrow or this weekend, I will further refine this search (based on part numbers) so only Intel CPUs of interest show up. 
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trk....TRC0&_nkw=intel+yorkfield&_sacat=0&_from=R40


Interesting deals-
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-...ELL-/330912714575?pt=CPUs&hash=item4d0bef4f4f


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## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

I looked at Gigabyte's chart for the 775 socket, G41 chipset. It looked like good bang for buck might be intel E8400 for perhaps $20-35 used. 

Would the E8400 require upgraded RAM as you mentioned to work better, or would just the processor improve performance? I believe it is currently 800Mhz RAM and I'd rather not drop $100 on both a processor and RAM to see noticeable improvement when it all basically works without problems as is.


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## 8086 (Aug 4, 2009)

ironglen said:


> I looked at Gigabyte's chart for the 775 socket, G41 chipset. It looked like good bang for buck might be intel E8400 for perhaps $20-35 used.
> 
> Would the E8400 require upgraded RAM as you mentioned to work better, or would just the processor improve performance? I believe it is currently 800Mhz RAM and I'd rather not drop $100 on both a processor and RAM to see noticeable improvement when it all basically works without problems as is.


A new current (2013) generation CPU would require a new motherboard, ram, and OS. As long as you stick to a chip designed for LGA-775 and is compatible with the G41 chipset and is supported by your BIOS, then with 99.9999% certainty you should be okay. And while you are at it, I would move up from a dual core to a Yorkfield based Quad like the Q9400, Q9650, etc. and pick one with the later stepping revision like E0.


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## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

ironglen said:


> My desktop runs Windows 7 and the performance index states the following:
> 4.5 experience index
> processor 4.5
> memory 5.6
> ...


And after installing a used core 2 duo E8400 3.0Ghz for $26 off ebay:
*6.6* experience index
processor *6.6*
memory *6.6*
graphics 6.7
hard drive 5.9

We'll see how it goes, and how much difference between 4.5 and 6.6 on the windows index. Interestingly, the memory index improved too. Thanks for the help!


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## 8086 (Aug 4, 2009)

ironglen said:


> And after installing a used core 2 duo E8400 3.0Ghz for $26 off ebay:
> *6.6* experience index
> processor *6.6*
> memory *6.6*
> ...


It's not much of a surprise your memory index improved too. Thats because the Core 2 has a better memory intergrated controller than the chip it replaced. It's the lowered latency and increased bandwidth which boosted your score.


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