Help - HTML5 & Flash = 100% CPU, low GPU usage

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Nerdherder

27 posts

Geek

#173294 18-May-2015 13:19

Hi there,
I'm mediocre at PC stuff, but better than my mate with this issue.

3Ghz p4, 3.5gb 667Mhz DDR2 RAM, 750Gb HDD
Recent install of Asus GT610 GPU.
Samsung 32" at 1024 x 768 res (per manual)

Streaming youtube (html5) and skygo (flash), the cpu is up to 70-100% in smallest size (can just run 1080p, with dropped frames), then jumps to 100% and jerky at full screen.

This happens on chrome and firefox. Don't try IE as the pc is XP Pro, so only up to IE8 or whatever he said.

But the GPU is only at 10% or so?

QUESTION - I can't figure out why the pc seems to still want to run video through the onboard graphics (128mb shared RAM, and CPU processing only)? How can we get the GPU more involved?

I have tried:

Switching on and off hardware acceleration in the browsers, and in the flash right click menu. Also in the Windows Display options/troubleshooter
Installing latest GPU drivers (XP specific!) from NVidia website
Adobe says latest version installed, but have tried switching on and off the plugins in each browser - should try uninstall and reinstall?
I don't even know where to look for HTML5 acceleration?

Clearly the GPU is found by the system, as it is being used, but only a little, but is there anything I can do to check it is working correctly software wise?

The CPUZ report is showing that despite the mobo being 667mhz, some of the RAM (3 x 512mb 667mhz and 1 x 1gb 800mhz)
is running down to 333mhz or so? I'm not sure that is the problem with the streaming, but what can I do to fix that?

I can post a report for that if it would help?

Thank you all again for any help you can give me. I know the answer is buy a new PC, but I wouldn't be asking the questions if that was an option for him :)

Nerdherder

27 posts

Geek

#1307181 18-May-2015 13:37

P.s. I did do a search and the threads didn't cover off this particular OS etc, and also please feel free to shift the thread to a more relevant subforum if required, as this is essentially an HTPC I thought this is the best place. Cheers!

macuser

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#1307187 18-May-2015 13:47

Think your friend should just get a newer PC, the P4 is over 10 years old, he could pick up a cheap Chinese atom machine for $150ish and have a far better time, or pick up something on Trademe

I'm not sure how great XP GPU acceleration is as well, but the GPU that was installed is very weak

Inphinity

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#1307194 18-May-2015 13:57

Many browsers and browser plugins (particularly the older versions you'll find on WinXP), as far as I've seen, don't make significant use of the GPU for hardware video acceleration. Suggest upgrading to something less than a decade old, or accepting that newer technologies like HD streaming are not going to be a reliable, fun experience.. That said, presumably the GT610 is actually being used for the video out, and not an onboard display adapter?

Dairyxox

1595 posts

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#1307224 18-May-2015 14:31

The CPU sounds too weak. There's only so much the GPU can do.
You could try updating the graphics drivers.

I had a friend with a P4 and geforce, it was rubbish at 480p youtube. I swapped in a newer P4 (prescott) and it actually made a big difference. I believe this is attributed to SSE3 instruction set which the older models don't support, but are used for streaming video.

geocom

597 posts

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#1307237 18-May-2015 14:52

I would also be in the camp of get a new pc. Get like a $300-$400 windows laptop or a chrome box if you can get away with chrome os.

As for things you can try with the current one(Big Warning this may trash chrome and require you to reinstall it).
In chrome go to chrome://flags/ and you will see a Override Software Rendering List option.
This should force chrome to try hardware acceleration on HTML5 Content. If it fails to work you will end up with no content in chrome and have to reinstall or try and disable this flag(Not Easy)

Even with you doing this Flash will still try to use the CPU. It is flash after all(and flash sucks)

And even then it may not work.

Geoff E

Athlonite

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#1307287 18-May-2015 16:06

The CPUZ report is showing that despite the mobo being 667mhz, some of the RAM (3 x 512mb 667mhz and 1 x 1gb 800mhz)
is running down to 333mhz or so? I'm not sure that is the problem with the streaming, but what can I do to fix that?

CPUz shows the actual bus speed not the double data rate speed which is 667MHz so ram is running at it's correct speed (333MHz x2 = 667MHz)

what mother board are you using by knowing this we can help a lot more

Lego

Shop now for Lego sets and other gifts (affiliate link).

Ragnor

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#1307901 19-May-2015 18:06

Chrome will not do hardware acceleration on anything older than win 7 (ie: vista and xp) anymore (they disabled it because of too many bugs/issues).

Firefox should work I think, could be XP is using the first gpu it finds not the best gpu, ensure the monitor is plugged in to the GT610 then go into bios and disable the onboard gpu and see what happens.

Nerdherder

27 posts

Geek

#1308873 20-May-2015 21:15

Athlonite: The CPUZ report is showing that despite the mobo being 667mhz, some of the RAM (3 x 512mb 667mhz and 1 x 1gb 800mhz)
is running down to 333mhz or so? I'm not sure that is the problem with the streaming, but what can I do to fix that?

CPUz shows the actual bus speed not the double data rate speed which is 667MHz so ram is running at it's correct speed (333MHz x2 = 667MHz)

what mother board are you using by knowing this we can help a lot more

Thanks for that! Learning all the time.

Motherboard is HP 09F8h. CPU is a P4 Prescott, chip set is 945g.

I checked the bios and it seems the onboard GPU is correctly removed, as according to the manual when a pcie GPU is inserted, it automatically locks the integrated graphics out.

I ran a driver sweep, and it says a bunch of PCI drivers need updating. Requires payment to automatically update them, and I haven't been able to find them on HP site yet. Not sure that would be problem though.

Did some elimination work last night. Firefoxffses less CPU than chrome. Both reduce when you navigate to another tab in the browser, and both increase when you go full screen.

I don't understand players and codecs at all well. Some how I convinced myself to install silver light and divx10. Doesn't seem to make any difference, or maybe worse.

Pc is running directx 9.

Not sure if adding coreavc or ff mpeg codecs would help, as again, I don't really know if they'd affect flash or html5.

Uninstalled and reinstalled flash plugins in the browser's, and the flash application in the PC, no difference when turning them on and off in the browsers (forcing to use the system flash).

Thanks again for all your help and opinions!

toejam316

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#1308938 20-May-2015 22:40

Honestly, you're putting a lot more effort than it's worth into trying to fix the thing. Back up everything of value on to a flash drive, throw the thing out, and replace it with an Intel Compute Stick, USB Hub and a HDMI Monitor.

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