[bepps]

I recently purchased a new graphics card (AMD Radeon HD6450) for my HTPC. I'm using an old eMachines computer I had lying around. Before installing the graphics card, XBMC worked great, I could watch movies on XBMC through my Xbox or I could just watch the movies on my computer screen. I wanted to be able to do everything through my 46" Samsung LCD TV, so I looked into getting an HD graphics card. Once I installed the graphics card XBMC wouldn't work, so I wiped everything clean and started from scratch (Installing XBMC as the only OS). Once installed, XBMC moves unbearably slow and I'm not sure what to do. It seems I have all the requirements for the graphics card to operate correctly but still, I have trouble. Here are the specs of my eMachines computer:

-CPU: AMD Sempron™ 3300+ Processor (64-bit)
(128KB L2 cache, 2GHz, 1600MHz System Bus)
-Memory: 1.5 GB DDR (1 × 512MB) (1 x 1 GB), 400MHz (PC3200)
-Hard Drive: 100GB (7200rpm, 2MB cache)
-Video: AMD Radeon HD6450 1GB DDR3

I know it's not your ideal machine for this purpose, but I was trying to make something I had no use for, useful again. Also, I apologize if I'm missing something obvious as this is fairly new to me. Thank you in advance for ANY help.

[jawilljr]

Return the ATI graphics card and get an Nvidia GT430 or equivalent.

Jerry

[bepps]

Is that pretty much my only option? Or is there a way this graphics card could do the job?

[.:B:.]

Make sure you're using the ATi Catalyst driver, and if you want hardware acceleration, you'll have to set that up yourself (VAAPI).

[bepps]

I read something about doing that, but I'm not sure how. I have downloaded the "ati-driver-installer-11-8-x86.x86_64.run" file on to my mac and burned it on to a CD but I don't know what to do next or if I should do it another way. I also found this page: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/ATI but I'm having trouble understanding the instructions, am I supposed to somehow install the driver before XBMC loads up, or do I do it from within XBMC somehow.

[wsnipex]

This forum is full of guides on how to get ATI cards running with vaapi. Just look around.