I am looking to improve my machine's video performance. I use a Dell d8400 with 1.5GB Ram and a 3GHz Pentium4.
The card I have now is an ATI Radeon X300 w/ 128Mb which I got orignally because I wasn't overly concerned about video performance.
In general, the current card works decently, as I don't place huge demands on my machine in terms of video. However, I will occasionally watch a movie, or a video through iTunes or WMP or another player. What I have noticed, especially in iTunes, is that if the picture size is small, playback is quite smooth. However, if I expand the picture size to half-screen or, god forbid, full screen, playback deteriorates remarkably. Instead of a smooth video playback it resembles a series of (not so rapidly changing) still photos, assuming the playback doesn't slow to a complete standstill..
While I might be wrong, I assume that this is a function of the video card, as I don't seem to be using remarkable amounts of RAM or Processor capacity for playback. But I really am not in the mood to put up with it anymore.
So, what might be a good card to work with? As a base parameter, I would probably be comfortable going up to $300 or a bit more.
Thanks to anyone who can provide some feedback.
