AW: [MPlayer-users] k62/500 / 256mb ram not enough for dvd-playback?

[justin case]

> > hi,
> >
> > i am having trouble getting mplayer with -vo vesa:vidix (ati
> rage 128) to
> > play dvds flawlessly. i am using a k6/2-500 with 256mb ram, dma
> is active.
> > it plays mpeg4-files with up to 60% cpu-usage, so i actually thought, it
> > should do the job.
> >
> > am i wrong?
>
> Huh? More ram does not make your computer faster!!

surely not. i just put 256mb in there, since i happen to have several gigs
of old 100mhz ram lying around, and i thought it couldn't harm..

> Actually, in your case, it may make it slower... Most Super7
> motherboards (used with K6) have an idiotic design flaw where they
> cannot cache memory above 128 megs, so your system would probably get
> a lot faster if you dropped down at only 128 megs of ram instead of
> 256.

i wasn't aware of that, so that might be a really good hint. thx, i'll
surely try what happens when i take out one row of ram.

> Also, keep in mind that your system is *very* borderline for playing
> DVDs to begin with. Most mpeg4 files you'll find are 512x256, 512x384,
> 640x288, 640x304, or at worst 640x480; on the other hand, DVDs are
> 720x480, and that's a lot more pixels!

decoding mpeg4 and mpeg2 is a very different job, though. i remember that
back in the days windows could play dvds just fine with my old k6/2-400 but
didn't manage to play all my mpeg4-clips (datarate was an issue as well as
resolution). i used the same ati-card as my mplayer now uses and it might
be, that windows was simply capable of using some mpeg2-decoding features,
wich i think to remember were introduced around that time for ati-cards.
since i didn't have any experience with dvd playback under linux yet, i
kinda took for granted that my system would do..

> You can try dropping to 128 megs, using -framedrop, or perhaps
> clocking up to 550 if it's stable... My K6-3+ can play DVDs now at 500
> MHz, but just barely, and it has a much better on-chip cache than the
> K6-2.

so i will try the ram-decrease.
i still have an old PII-233 to play around with. any comment on this one? to
me, 233mhz sounds way to little, but i remember always being quite slower
with my k6 than about any PII. the question simply is, if it is worth
putting a different mainboard etc. into my mplayer-case.

btw i got mixed up with my email-accounts while sending (outlook..) in the
first place.. its still me ;)

regards,
/jc