[Revol]

I recently build myself an HTPC:

Athlon 2.6GHz Dual Core
XFX 8200 GeForce Motherboard
2GB RAM
1TB HDD

I'm running XBMC XVN 22278 (downgraded from 22294 because of passthrough audio issues) on Ubuntu 9.04. I'm using the stable release of the 185 NVidia driver. I use this machine on a 32" Samsung LCD TV. While it only goes up to 720p, which is perfectly fine for me, some of my videos can only be found in 1080p resolution. So, while I don't feel the need to be able to play 1080p... I certainly should be able to with what I've built, yes?

I've never been able to get 1080p playback working well, even when I was using other videocards. But this IGP is the best I've had yet, and I have VDPAU turned on. But I can only average out to 17fps.

For this test I used the killa video - http://pastebin.com/f44f72ae0

I've gone through everything I can think of. I've turned off interface enhancements in Ubuntu. I've tried with vsync on and off, it seems to make no difference. I run XBMC at 1360x768, same as my Ubuntu desktop, which I believe is the native resolution for my TV. (It looks so much crisper this resolution than normal 720p.)

One thing I notice is weird is that the three options I have to run at 768, the three differnt hertz refresh rates (that's what they are, correct?), 50, 51, and 70-something. I have to use the 74-ish or whatever, because if I turn it down to the 50s, the resolution inside XBMC blows up HUGE, but just gets cropped offscreen. Meanwhile, my TV reports that it's running at 60Hz.

I've checked my BIOS, I have my IGP RAM set at 512. This RAM is a bit cheap, I have one stick of I think DDR2 800 2GB... maybe the RAM is too slow? I dunno, I'm getting to the point where I'm debating trying to overclock the GPU... which would go against the reason I built this machine, to run cool.

[motd2k]

My guess would be the fact that you're running a single stick of DDR2. That'll only give 50% of the memory throughput that'd you'd get from running 2x1GB sticks, and be the cause of your trouble.



motd

[Revol]

Yeah, makes sense. Bummer, and I had just thrown away the packaging to this stick, I coulda returned it to CompUSA. Guess I'll just keep it and get another stick.

Would getting a stick of 1GB make any difference from another 2GB stick? I mean, I don't see me needing 4GB RAM over 3GB, so why not go cheaper?

[vexation]

Yeah, makes sense. Bummer, and I had just thrown away the packaging to this stick, I coulda returned it to CompUSA. Guess I'll just keep it and get another stick.

Would getting a stick of 1GB make any difference from another 2GB stick? I mean, I don't see me needing 4GB RAM over 3GB, so why not go cheaper?

IIRC they have to be matching sticks to take advantage of dual channel.

[Revol]

Well, I just threw one of my desktop PC's sticks in it, and it made no difference. While it wasn't the same make, it was the same speed and size (800mhz 2GB), and I saw in debug that XBMC was using more RAM than before.

Here's a thought: I've installed XBMC multiple times, but have used the same .xbmc folder to keep me from having to re-setup the system. This includes back when I was using completely different hardware. Could this be a conflict? If so, how would I make a new, fresh .xbmc folder? (And if I do, is there ANYTHING I can save from the old?)

[Revol]

It was suggested to me that I try running XBMC Live and see what I can get from there, but after running it successfully once, it has not booted for me again. It will either freeze on black screen after the splash, or freeze on the splash. I've reinstalled it on my 2GB USB drive several times.

Ugh. I'm seriously out of ideas on getting 1080p to work. And now, after using the HTPC on my parent's TV, I've lost access to my 1360x768 resolution, but that's an Ubuntu problem.

[motd2k]

I'd just go ahead and buy the proper 2x1GB sticks. Dirt cheap, and if you're getting problem freezing during boot, 9/10 times i'd tell you to switch the memory anyway.

[Revol]

Worth a try.

I'm truly blessed that my CompUSA store is still open. It's so weird; it used to be the most expensive place around, but now that TigerDirect owns it, it's the cheapest. Of course, that means could be buying cheap shit, too, so you gotta know better. Maybe that's what I did this time.

But if the two sticks don't help, I can always return them.

[shassino]

Try also to set the cpu at maximum speed to maximize the memory bandwidth.
On my nv8300ipg + athlon 64 5200+ X2 at 800MHz i was unable to run 1080p smoothly.

[Revol]

Nope, the two 1GB sticks didn't work. Guess I'll try overclocking now...

[Revol]

Well I'll be dipped, it worked. All I had to do was increase the CPU frequency from 200 to 210. That brought me from 2.6-something GHZ to 2.7-something. killa video ran perfectly, only dropped three frames when it loaded the video, which is not an issue.

[Jikyo]

Hey Revol. As you have a pretty similar MoBo to mine. I wonder if you could help me out:
http://www.xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=58125