Hello all,

I am preparing to upgrade my old PC for the last time.

My current system runs FS decent, at 10-15 fps in heavy areas like cities at low alt. However, I want to get a little bit more out of it. Would upgrading to a P4 3.06 gHz Northwood chip help any? That's the fastest chip my older Gigabyte motherboard can handle. It's an old socket 478 agp board.

The main reason I am consider this upgrade, however, is to prepare the computer for use as a media center.

The specs are:
2.4Ghz P4
2gigs ram
400 gig total hdd sapce
450 watt PSU
nvidia 7600GS AGP

and possibly the above mentioned processor.

Would the 3.06 gHz P4 I'm looking at help with the playback of HD  (720p) video? Right now it's pretty hopeless, cause it maxes out the processor, causing the video to hang or be slower than the audio.

Any thoughts? I am moving towards replacing this rig, but one more $100 upgrade is reasonable.

I don't remember mentioning changing screen resolution...or are you referring to the high resolution of the video?

As for resolutions and monitors, I am running at 720p on a 50in Panasonic "monitor"  . My 720p "monitor" is quite capable of HD display, I'd think. 

Doesn't DVI and Component video (both on my card) support HD well?

Thanks for the reply! It forced me to ask some more critical questions, but what I really need to know is whether or not the chip will improve the PC's playback performance of the media.

Thanks waspi!