Upgrade advice

Bewerten

New here but I'm a long time reader!
Looking for advice about upgrading a hp m7525.uk desktop. From what I gather it has all original parts - intel pentium d 820 2.8Ghz, 2GB Ram, GeForce 7500LE graphics card and is running xp .Just looking for advice about upgrading anything really to bring it a bit more up to date.

challengemaster

What's it used for and what's the budget?

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challengemaster wrote: »

What's it used for and what's the budget?

streaming, playing music, movies... probably htpc like. The hp doesn't handle streaming that well. Was watching videos on a friends macbook and they played far better than on the hp so i know the computer needs improving not the internet.
Couple of hundred would prob be pushing it as its quite old.. but it depends.

Serephucus

That setup should handle movies fine. I'd suggest maybe cleaning up your OS first. Run a few virus and malware scans. I'm sure with a machine that old there are more than a few gremlins lurking around.

Bewerten

Have done but still the same.. It's not really slow but the picture quality in videos doesn't seem up to scratch. Is this to do with the graphics card?

Bewerten

Anybody think a radeon 5450 will make a difference?

Bewerten

Think a new psu might be needed for that graphics card but im not sure? Would a fresh os install help?

ED E

Bewerten wrote: »

Was watching videos on a friends macbook and they played far better than on the hp

This may well be the screens? The MBP has a great panel while chances are if you got yours with that machine its muck by todays standards.

Bewerten

Nope, don't think its the monitor, got a new one last year.. and its the same when i output to the tv...

ED E

What the difference? Is yours choppy, does it stutter?

Are you using VLC?

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ED E wrote: »

What the difference? Is yours choppy, does it stutter?

Are you using VLC?

Not using vlc. Videos don't really stutter but for example if I was watching football the whole top half of the pitch would be kinda blurred and pixelated and the colour of the grass would be off on that side. It happens with other videos aswell And I know it's not the stream cuz it doesn't happen with the MB.

Bewerten

Still haven't figured this out...

ED E

Sounds like its failing to keep up with the decoding.

Watch a dvd with it, see if you have any problems and come back to us.

marco_polo

Do local media files play OK, or is it just streamed media?

I just don't think anybody can say with any certainty that is the GPU. I'd certainly hate to recommend that you go out and spend 30-40 euro only for it to make no difference.

Bewerten

marco_polo wrote: »

Do local media files play OK, or is it just streamed media?

I just don't think anybody can say with any certainty that is the GPU. I'd certainly hate to recommend that you go out and spend 30-40 euro only for it to make no difference.

Yeah, local files play perfectly, it just seems to be streamed media..

ED E

Run tests at speedtest.net and pingtest.net and post the results here.

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Speedtest

Pingtest

Lu Tze

Try using the onboard graphics instead of the graphics card, if the same problem is there we can rule out the card as the cause.

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Lu Tze wrote: »

Try using the onboard graphics instead of the graphics card, if the same problem is there we can rule out the card as the cause.

what do you mean?? I only have the onboard graphics?

Bewerten

Right so what's the cheapest graphics card i can get that will make a difference??