Win98SE or Win2K + More RAM

[VIBM]

I just did a clean install of Win2KPro on my TP which is PII 233Mhz and only has 64MB ram. I am using Opera which is working much faster than Firefox.
I have Flash 8(since going to 9 or above, really slows things down).
For youtube, I wait for the full redline (download completed) before hitting play. The video is really choppy.

So my question is:
Will youtube playback performance be better improved
-by reinstalling Win98SE using current 64Mb RAM,

OR -by adding more RAM(128Mb?) to the current Win2K?

OR -adding the DEVA card for 770E with current Win2K with 64Mb ram?

OR -since this is only a PII 233Mhz, there will be negligible or no noticeable improvement, so just don't waste my time?

I appreciate any advice.

[Neil]

Well, I'm inclined to say option #3. I just don't think you have the CPU power for smooth YouTube. The DIVA card only accelerates MPEG, so that won't help. And while I like Win98SE better than 2K on my 770, I don't think it's going to help much with YouTube video playback. Just my $ .02, YMMV of course.

[pkiff]

I agree with Neil: you probably just can't get Youtube videos to play smoothly on your PII 233 Thinkpad. However, you may be able to get them to play better, if not quite smoothly, if you use a download service like KeepVid or something similar that downloads the Flash-based Youtube videos into another format altogether. Then you can try playing the downloaded file with something like Media Player Classic or VLC. If you are waiting until the file downloads completely before playing it anyways, then it shouldn't make much difference to you in terms of web activity.

I used to use KeepVid, though it looks like you have to allow it to load a Java applet to use it now, so maybe there is a better download service instead.

Phil.

[Unknown_K]

You need more RAM AND a faster CPU/Video chip for Youtube.

[VIBM]

Thanks for all the information.
I made a mistake in the processor speed, it's 267Mhz and not 233Mhz, but probably not much difference, right?

I tried a ton of flv file players, including FLV Player 2.0.25 and 1.33, Flash_Movie_Player 1.5, and Media Player Classic 6.4.9.1.
VLC Media Player and Wimpy FLV Player would not work, since they were generating errors, even though I have SP4 and all updates.
The best I found was KMPlayer. It played smaller flv files reasonably well, but if they were too large, the sound and video would get out of sync.

So now, I just need a way to download youtube flv videos, so I can
watch them in KMP.
I had tried vixy.net and keepVid, but both sites kept giving me errors,
and wouldn't work. I had first downloaded and installed the Java that the sites recommended, but it slowed things down too much,
so I deinstalled the Java.
Firefox is just too slow, which is why I am using Opera.
Any other suggestions for downloading youtube videos?

[Sandstorm83]

Would it be possible to upgrade your CPU to at least a PII-400 or even an early PIII?
I thought the 770 series were capable of such upgrades.

[pkiff]

Would it be possible to upgrade your CPU to at least a PII-400 or even an early PIII?
I thought the 770 series were capable of such upgrades.

The 770E can be upgraded to a PII 400 max. This is a significant upgrade from a PII 266 (I've done it on my 770E), but it is not an upgrade for the faint-of-heart. Also, it can cause some over-heating issues in some machines, and the PII 400 on an MMC-1 board (which is required) used to be a bit rare and therefore cost more than they should. And after all is said and done, my 770E with a PII 400 (and with a DEVA board added) still had difficulty playing Youtube videos directly. It did much better playing mpegs, after conversion through KeepVid.

Phil.

[VIBM]

The 770E can be upgraded to a PII 400 max. This is a significant upgrade from a PII 266 (I've done it on my 770E), but it is not an upgrade for the faint-of-heart.

Thanks for the info, Phil. But changing the processor, at least for me, is just something I couldn't do (since it would give me a heart attack).LOL
On my PII 266Mhz, I have given up on watching youtube directly,
and just wanted a way to download the flv files, and watch using KMPlayer.
I found a "widget" for Opera called Video Downloader 2.0, but it
unfortunately, caused Opera to crash, so I had to uninstall it.

That said, I think I will upgrade the ram by adding a 128Mb stick, so
I will have 192Mb (= 64Mb + 128Mb)
I only found this on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/128MB-RAM-Memory-IB ... 4aa0545a16
and it seems a bit much for just a 128Mb stick.
Does anyone know where I can get them for a better price, and if not, perhaps a detailed description for the search engine?
Thanks for any suggestions.

[Neil]

This seems to be the lowest price on ebay right now, search for 128MB PC66 sodimm.

[VIBM]

This seems to be the lowest price on ebay right now, search for 128MB PC66 sodimm.

Thanks much Neil.

[Unknown_K]

I would get PC100 if it is cheaper, should be 100% compatible with PC66 and you can reuse it in another thinkpad down the road if needed. PC133 is where high density troubles started to come out.

[virge]

That said, I think I will upgrade the ram by adding a 128Mb stick, so
I will have 192Mb (= 64Mb + 128Mb)
I only found this on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/128MB-RAM-Memory-IB ... 4aa0545a16
and it seems a bit much for just a 128Mb stick.
Does anyone know where I can get them for a better price, and if not, perhaps a detailed description for the search engine?
Thanks for any suggestions.

You might want to fill out the "location" field in your profile with a city and state. Helps us know approximately where you're located. Given that, are you in the US? I have a 64MB stick sitting in front me and can probably dig up another if I look. If you can use them, they are yours for the cost of shipping. I may be able to dig up a 300Mhz MMC-1 CPU too, but I'd have to look harder. Its been a while since I worked on my older machines.