Better cpu or better graphics needed?

Hi everyone, this is my first post, i hope someone can help me with my problem. I have recently started to download .mkv video files to watch, i have tried several different players and codec packs but none of which will play several of the files smoothly. My cpu power meter is at 100% also which i imagine there is more power required to play the movie files. Although i also wondered if it was the lack of a decent graphics card as mine is only 128mb. I was looking into buying one of the GeForce 1GB models, either the 9500 or the 9800, would this be a waste of money as it may be my actuall cpu that is letting me down?

I have a dell dimension 5150 with an intell P4 @ 2.66 GHz with 3GB of RAM

it is prolly a combination of both..... how much would you like to spend on upgrades?

Well i was looking at cards on play.com and was going to go for something up too about £60-£70, i dont really want to go further with upgrading the cpu to be honest as im happy with it the way it is, i only thought the graphics card upgrade would be a good idea as it was only 128mb.

i suggest to buy a graphic card,cheap 256ram and then a better cpu. duo core. it should add up. but it worth it. also why do u have so much ram.
wha is importatnt is

ram,cpu, graphic card

I bought the pc from a friend that was using it for music purpose's, so the cpu and the ram etc was what was in the machine when he sold it to me. Why would i buy more ram, wouldnt 3GB be sufficent? If its going to cost more of an out set of say £70 all in then i wont really bother with the added card upgrade or cpu, it was only so that i could play .mkv files smoothly anyway as i dont really play games on the pc. I tried copying the .mkv files to my ps3 but it says even small files such as 200mb mkv files are 94GB for some reason, i take it the ps3 doesnt support every aspect of the mkv files.

you can get a cheap processor and gpu all for under....... 100 i think depending on what you get

u can.

512MB Pcie nVidia Geforce 9400GT Video Graphics Card GF - eBay (item 250362347885 end time Feb-22-09 16:01:00 PST)

and cpu o fur choice

i would not buy a used gpu or cpu because even if it does work you never know what its been through with the last owner
so try to get a new one

hmm, im a little unsure what to do, as i say, i imagined a better graphics card would do the trick, but with the added expense of a new cpu on top, its maybe not worth it just to watch some video files of HD content.

well just a new gpu will help but not as much as both would

Thanks, i will have a browse on a few sites and see if i can see some reasonable prices for both upgrades. Cheers

For HD (.mkv) video files, it's the CPU that's doing the majority of the work and is the bottleneck.

To upgrade that computer's CPU to anything from a modern CPU line, you would also have to replace the motherboard because the chipset only supports older Pentium 4 processors rather than the new Core 2 series. I really doubt upgrading the video will help you decode that format better since it seems not to be a gpu-accelerated format.

shae said:

To upgrade that computer's CPU to anything from a modern CPU line, you would also have to replace the motherboard because the chipset only supports older Pentium 4 processors rather than the new Core 2 series. I really doubt upgrading the video will help you decode that format better since it seems not to be a gpu-accelerated format.

Click to expand...

+1

Aside from this, chances are your Power Supply is not going to be capable of powering many of the new GPU cards and inesting on a GPU card that doesn't need power direct from the PSU is just a waste of money... up to a certain point of course.

If you want to game with it with Medium to High specs, my sugestion is to save some money and build your own Gaming rig. If, on the other hand, you don't mind playing games with Low-end Resolutions, then, go ahead and buy a PCI-e card that doesn't require power direct from the PSU.

Decisions, Decisions... we all have been there!

It's a Dell... You won't be able to do anything with it.

Option 1 - Idiot proof - The cheapest alternative is to stop downloading MKV files and stick to AVI.

Option 2 - Costly but 'guaranteed' - Buy a new computer from a company sych as Dell, HP (I can't think of any more)

Option 3 - Most fun (If you know what to do) and you know exactly what is in it - Build your own computer

EDIT: I thought it was pretty clear that the GPU is not the bottleneck. The GPU is FINE. It is the CPU that is creating the problems.

My 3.6GHz Core 2 Duo hovers just below 30% playing a 2160x1080 HD MKV. A single core 2.66GHz P4 is pretty underpowered.

P4's had similar (if not higher) power comsumptions to today's Core 2 Duo's and some Quad's.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-cpu-power-consumption,1750-9.html

true.. u can always get a new graphic card...

Thanks for the replys guys, as a newbie to building or upgrading certain parts of the internal organs of a pc i think i will go with the mildly idiot proof option and not download high end video files untill i have the proper means and power to play them. Also i noticed the power supply was only of 305w capacity so that would have needed an upgrade too. On the flip side, i have purchased a ps3 and samsung 32" HD lcd tv, i stumbled accross a great piece of software for the pc that streams all sorts of video files through the pc, so i managed to stream the mkv files at good enough resoloution to watch them on the HD TV. The Pc buffers the frame rate rather well and doesnt attack the cpu power so badly and i can now watch those mkv files (almost) as intended.

I got my pc from a friend last year, so i would say its nearly a year and a half old now, and wasnt exactly high end or anything back then, but it was a vast improvement on the P3 i had previously so i was happy with what i was buying.

Thanks for all the imput guys, you certainly saved me from just ordering a new graphics card for the sake of trying it out to see if it worked.

Perhaps later this year i will look into a dual or quad core pc that can handle some of the files im trying to have fun with. I also tried playing the latest edition of GTA for the pc, but i think the card wasnt up for displaying the game what so ever.

steaming video is a god idea. i wouldn't do it because i have slow internet

I'm glad you solved your problem.

kiddieboy12, skywatcher77 means streaming over LAN not Internet.

um..lan??isnt it the same?