OT-ish? PC specs and my new DVD writer

[Lobster]

If people don't mind PC problems here? (I'm d-i-y'ing after all)

I've just got round to fitting my new DVD writer, and have rather stupidly and belatedly discovered my PC doesn't match the minimum requirements specified by the DVD mfr. I have only 384Mb RAM and 64Mb video memory; stated requirements are 512Mb and 128Mb respectively. (I was all set to order a new stick of RAM just now when I sussed the video memory wasn't up to scratch either, so have held back!)

Having spent under 40 quid on the DVD writer it looks like the real cost is going to be more like 140 quid, which was not on my agenda! I don't want to spend loads more dosh if it's not worthwhile upgrading an ageing PC.

Questions -

If I don't upgrade and it doesn't work, will I know whether it's the lack of system and/or video memory that's the problem?

If I don't upgrade, is the system likely to work slowly/inefficiently, or not at all?

Is it possible to upgrade the video memory without buying a new card (NVidia GeForce4 MX420, 64Mb?)

Thanks David

[Grunff]

Your DVD writer won't know or care how much video ram you have. The requirement is proabably there because that's what's required by some bundled DVD player software (WinDVD, Power DVD or whatever).

As for the ram requirement, it's very likely it'll work with your current setup, but you won't be able to do much else at the same time. If you can, up the system ram a little.

I don't know if that card has free memory sockets - but it's unlikely.

[Set Square]

It sounds to me as if they have picked some arbitrary figures based on their notion of what constitutes a current spec "entry level" machine. I would be

*very* surprised if it didn't work on your machine as is. Have you tried it?

What do you want to use it for? I can't think why it would need *any* video memory for *writing* DVDs. *Playing* commercial DVDs may be a different matter - and that may not work very well, or may not support the max resolution.

Not sure whether video cards have spare sockets into which you can plug additional memory. Someone here will probably know. Or you might find some information about your video card's expandability - or otherwise - on the manufacturer's website.

I'd be inclined to suck it and see. It's not going to *break* anything - even if it it doesn't work.

[Adrian C]

FWIW I'm using a 350MHz Pentium II (an IBM 300PL) with 256MB with an LG

4x DVD writer on Windows 2000 Server to burn and edit DVD's. Using nero 5.5 burning rom. No problem at all with this spec.

-- Adrian C

[Lobster]

That sounds quite encouraging then. It does seem to work fine playing commercial DVDs; I haven't actually got as far buying any writable DVDs yet so haven't tested that aspect.

I want to use it mainly for storage/backup of data files, but also for playing around with creating DVDs for use on the living room DVD player (from net downloads and the PC's TV card).

Will do!

Thanks a lot David

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've got a DVD writer on my Acorn with only 64Mb RAM. ;-)

But it's used purely for data.

I'd guess that spec is for playing commercial DVDs at their native resolution.

[dave stanton]

I think you will find that those specs are most likely to do with any software that came with the writer. Is there a cd full of software you can do without?

Dave

[John Cartmell]

That rather exceeds my under 200MB RAM and 2MB VRAM! ;-)

It shouldn't matter. I presume that you are running a Windows system where it's always possible for some program to demand far more memory than is really required - but there is no real reason for it not to work.

[Lobster]

Well I'd have thought so to, except that the writer wasn't bundled with software, and the specs were printed in the manufacturer's own user manual (which doesn't mention any software)!

David

[dave stanton]

Ok, I'll get me coat....

Dave

[Bob Smith (UK)]

My DVD writer works perfectly at 16x and plays DVDs perfectly. I have 512MB RAM and a really old 32MB GForce 256 video card (that still benchmarks twice as fast as the on board "steals 64MB of main RAM" video card).

384MB should be fine (not much smaller than my memory). If you run many large programs at once, and then try to write a DVD, you may get some disk thrashing. The drive should slow down the writing speed to stop buffer underruns.

Bob

[John Rumm]

Na, 433MHz Celeron and 64MB RAM, 2MB video RAM will do that (not anything else at the same time though!)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

That's interesting. Seems there's a chance my old Acorn will manage it when someone gets round to writing the software.

[Michael Mcneil]

A lot depends on what you want to do with the machine. I doubt there is much more demanding of a computer's resources than some of the things a DVD may be asked to do.

Bear in mind that it can be used to edit cinema quality film and etc.

You would need the minimum memory for that. With a fairly (not all that) modern computer, sticks of 1/2 a GB memory are quite cheap. With older machines, you might find the memory costs a lot more and you get less of it.

Something on graphics cards:

But the market of enthusiasts who are prepared to shell out around $1,000 for this kind of visual experience in computer games is relatively small compared to the potential audience of people who could benefit from a massive boost in overall computing power in their PC.

Moves are afoot to repurpose the massive processing power of modern video cards for general (non-graphic) computing tasks.