Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

[Florian Philipp]

Am 19.10.2010 14:23, schrieb Dale:
> Florian Philipp wrote:
>> Am 19.10.2010 09:45, schrieb Dale:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I am thinking of upgrading from a FX-5200 with 128Mb video card to a
>>> GeForce 6200 with 512MB.  It will be AGP since this is a older rig.  My
>>> system is something like this:
>>>
>>> Mobo:  Abit NF7 2.0
>>> CPU: AMD 2500+  No overclocking
>>> Memory:  2Gbs of 333Mhz.
>>> Monitor:  Gateway 19" running 1280 x 1024
>>>
>>> I think my memory is fine, it never uses all of it, or even half of it,
>>> except for caching stuff.  I may try to get a 3000+ or 3200+ CPU if I
>>> can run up on a good deal.  I'm thinking of doing the video card first
>>> because it is cheaper.  I have also noticed that playing movies on here
>>> is getting a bit slow if I go full screen or close to full screen.   I'm
>>> bad to download from youtube and then play them locally full screen or
>>> as close as it will allow.
>>>
>>> I do use the nvidia drivers.  Currently:
>>>
>>> nvidia-drivers-173.14.25
>>>
>>> I'm on that one because I think I need to upgrade my kernel to use the
>>> latest one that was recently put in the tree.  I'm looking at this card:
>>>
>>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133328
>>>
>>> What kind of improvement can I expect from this video card upgrade?
>>> While I am at it, the CPU upgrade won't make that much difference
>>> right?  Maybe 20% or so faster or something like that?
>>>
>>>
>> Hi Dale,
>>
>> first and foremost, a newer card will allow you to use the newest driver
>> series (195.*.*) which is always a good thing ;)
>>
>> It also gives you more texture units. You can use these to transfer more
>> work to your GPU (mostly scaling and such). Take a look at `man mplayer`
>> section '-vo gl' for a list of options.
>> VLC has similar options, I think. I don't know about gstreamer or xine.
>>
>> I could be wrong but I don't think that adobe-flash uses these options.
>> That is probably part of the problem why flash is so much slower on
>> GNU/Linux than on Windows. If my assumption is true, you are better off
>> buying a faster CPU.
>>
>> You could also test how gnash performs. Since it uses ffmpeg (AFAIK) it
>> might be worth a try.
>>
>> Please take my advices with a big dose of salt. While I still run an old
>> desktop with nearly identical specs, I almost never use Youtube and
>> therefore have no experience with that.
>>
>> Hope this helps,
>> Florian Philipp
>>
>>
>
> This particular card I think uses the latest 260.* drivers.  That's
> according to the nvidia site but sometimes that is not correct either.
>
> Anyway, I always download the videos off youtube or where ever and then
> watch them with smplayer locally.  It generally works better for the
> most part.  I just have the slow DSL so it skips a bit on some if I
> don't download it first.  I do need a faster CPU but want to get the
> card first.  I do sometimes max out the CPU when watching a video but I
> think most of the time it is the card that is just getting old and needs
> a new one that is a little faster at least.  For the price, I was going
> to get a card that is a good bit faster.
>
[...]

Ah, in that case tweaking your mplayer config might really help. Look at
the man page for options (-vo gl:...).

You really have to try every option and sometimes reasonable
combinations. I've found that even if the man page says it is a slow
option, sometimes it's the fastest. As I've said before, you will reach
the maximum number of texture units in your card, therefore certain
options will not work together but the man page tells you how many
texture units each option needs. With that info it should be easy to
tweak your settings.

To get you going, try mplayer -vo gl:yuv=2:lscale=1:cscale=1 <file>
Don't forget to test it in fullscreen mode.

You can later apply these options either in /etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf or
in ~/.mplayer/config like this: "vo=gl:yuv=2:lscale=1:cscale=1"

Hope this helps,
Florian Philipp