Hello everyone! I've got a slightly aged computer I have hooked up to a 1080p HDTV that my family use to watch shows and such over the internet. It struggles to play video at that resolution, EVEN with the Radeon HD 5450 we bought for it. The weird thing is, it stutters the same amount whether I have it at 1080p or 360p, so I don't think it's just the hardware, but that's what section of the FORUM we're in so lets start there:

Here's the specs:

It started out as a Dell Inspirion 530s.

Processor: Intel Pentuim E2160 1.8Ghz
Mobo: Dell Inc. ORY007
RAM: 2 sticks, a 1GB and a 512MB
HDD:Western Digital WDC WD3200AAKS-75U4A0
Graphics: XFX Radeon HD 5450
PSU: 250 Watt
OS: Win Vista SP2 32bit
It's hooked up to a SHARP HDTV through HDMI


Thanks in advance!I'd launch task manager and watch your Memory and CPU usage when trying to play videos etc. This will show you were the system is starving for resources, if that is causing the issue.

I would upgrade to 2GB RAM, as well as find a more powerful CPU to stuff into it if the RAM upgrade doesnt fix this. 1GB is light for Vista for what you want it to do. Also I assume your Videocard is 512MB or more dedicated GPU memory and not a lower end 256MB video card.

 Below is copy/pasted from: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19372573.aspx

Quote

The Inspiron 530s has a FoxConn G33m02 motherboard made to Dell's specifications and will support the following Socket LGA 775 processors:

Intel Celeron processor 430                                       
Intel Celeron Processor 420 (1.6 GHZ, 800 FSB)
Intel Pentium Dual-Core 2140 (1.6 GHz, 800 MHz FSB)
Intel Pentium Dual-Core 2160 (1.8 GHz, 800 MHz FSB)
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200(2.5 GHz, 800 MHz FSB)
Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 (1.8 GHz, 800 MHz FSB)
Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 (2.0 GHz, 800 MHz FSB)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6320 (1.86 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 (2.13 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 (2.33 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 (2.66 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB)
Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 (2.66 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB)
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 (2.80 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB)
Wolfdale Core 2 Duo, E8400, 3.0GHz, 6MB, 1333FSB, 65W, E0
Wolfdale Core 2 Duo, E8500, 3.16GHz, 6MB, 1333FSB, 65W, C0
Wolfdale Core 2 Duo E8500 (3.16 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB)
Wolfdale Dual Core Kit, E8600, 3.33GHz, 6MB, 1333FSB, 65W, E0

Also, the Intel Pentium E6500 2.93 GHz dual core processor.

 Prior to installing the processor you need to check that you have BIOS Version 1.0.15, or higher, when support for new Intel CPU's was added.

Note: Core 2 Quad processors are not supported by the Inspiron 530S [Slimline]

RAM: 2 sticks, a 1GB and a 512MB