![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
… You've ever seen, and can you still get it? 
So I'm trying to recycle my ~10 year-old Prescott HT 3.2ghz into something to watch streams (and .mkv) on, along with the big CRT in the living room. Well, still trying, actually …
When I first started, there was this phase of using FireTune, CachemanXP, and a RAMDisk for the page file (and the TEMP directories, and the browser cache), in that order, just to get streams from various news sources to play well. That all worked out pretty well, all told.
Then I wanted to watch files. Somehow, a Pentium 4, a 6800 Ultra, and mere DDR memory didn't cut the mustard. I did some looking around, and learned what PureVideo was, and got it in my head "a 8400GS would be just the thing" to do all that I wanted. The search for just the right card became an adventure in and of itself, but I now have one, a G98 core, hanging off a PCI slot in the old rig … 'cause there's jack-all in AGP out there. I can say there was one file that played better this way, but I lost the subtitles to it. I'd imagine there where more knobs I needed to tweek to address that …
Then I head about madVR …
If I'm reading things properly, then the 8400GS is a mistake, as the G98 core is not Teh Beef, and I should use something with more shaders. I think I still have time to return the G98, which would be a big help with affording this next mod. I don't really have the cash to build a new box … Or replace the TV.
So: While the plan is very much "new card", other suggestions are welcome. Am I using the "wrong" codecs? Should I get something without a s-video patch, and use one of the funny boxes for translating VGA/ DVI output into s-video/ component signal? Do I give it all up as a bad job, and hold by breath, saving up for some Pentium G/ GTS 550 Ti combo?
And before you ask: Yes, my scientific method ain't so hot.
So I'm trying to recycle my ~10 year-old Prescott HT 3.2ghz into something to watch streams (and .mkv) on, along with the big CRT in the living room. Well, still trying, actually …
When I first started, there was this phase of using FireTune, CachemanXP, and a RAMDisk for the page file (and the TEMP directories, and the browser cache), in that order, just to get streams from various news sources to play well. That all worked out pretty well, all told.
Then I wanted to watch files. Somehow, a Pentium 4, a 6800 Ultra, and mere DDR memory didn't cut the mustard. I did some looking around, and learned what PureVideo was, and got it in my head "a 8400GS would be just the thing" to do all that I wanted. The search for just the right card became an adventure in and of itself, but I now have one, a G98 core, hanging off a PCI slot in the old rig … 'cause there's jack-all in AGP out there. I can say there was one file that played better this way, but I lost the subtitles to it. I'd imagine there where more knobs I needed to tweek to address that …
Then I head about madVR …
If I'm reading things properly, then the 8400GS is a mistake, as the G98 core is not Teh Beef, and I should use something with more shaders. I think I still have time to return the G98, which would be a big help with affording this next mod. I don't really have the cash to build a new box … Or replace the TV.
So: While the plan is very much "new card", other suggestions are welcome. Am I using the "wrong" codecs? Should I get something without a s-video patch, and use one of the funny boxes for translating VGA/ DVI output into s-video/ component signal? Do I give it all up as a bad job, and hold by breath, saving up for some Pentium G/ GTS 550 Ti combo?
And before you ask: Yes, my scientific method ain't so hot.