is my pc too old to play some divx avis?

[deh707]

everytime i playback an avi encoded with divx/xvid with a bitrate higher than 1000, it's really laggy. i play the same avi on my brother's pc, it plays fine.

i tried windows media player, wmp classic, and vlc media player on both pcs. the lag was less noticeable with vlc on my pc, but it was still annoying.

my pc:

compaq presario (purchased in 2001)
amd duron 800mhz
40gb hard drive
8mb nvidia vanta lt

brothers pc:
sony vaio (purchased in 2004)
intel p4 with hyperthread 3ghz
180gb hard drive
128mb nvidia geforce 6600



my pc is probably too slow to handle playback of higher bitrate divx/xvid videos, but is there anything else i can do?

thanks

[JimboS]

You'll probably do OK, if you turn off ALL the programs you don't need running...
Your CPU is "old"

[redwudz]

What OS are you running in it? How much memory does it have? If it has less than 256MB and you are running XP, adding another 256MB may help a little. Other than that, try shutting down a few background processes. Monitor how much CPU power you are using. If you have XP, look in the Task Manager for that.

Other tricks: What resolution are you running at? Drop down a setting, say from 1024X768 to 800X600. If you get a speed gain, consider upgrading your video card. If your video card is on board, then a RAM memory increase may help that also. Check your hard drive freespace. If it is really low, less than 25% of the hard drive size and your computer is using your hard drive for temporary memory, then clean out some old junk, and defrag it. Every little bit can help with a slower CPU. You can tell if your computer is using your hard drive for memory by watching the drive light. If you see a lot of access, even when playing a CD, then you may not have enough RAM.

[guns1inger]

The Vanta was an awful chipset - one of the few Nvidia mis-steps.

Are you playing from the HDD or the CD drive ?
Have you defragged the HDD lately ?

[celtic_druid]

Disable post processing if it is enabled. About the least resource intensive player is mplayer (preferably under linux).