RAM increase - help video performance?

[cosmichobo]

G'day,

I have a G4 1.5GHz Mac Mini with 512MB of RAM, running 10.5.8 as a HTPC (frontrow primarily).

Performance wise it can handle playing "standard definition" video files, but anything larger and it drops frames/freezes like crazy.

Some files are stored locally (ext USB hdd), and some are connected to my Airport Extreme and accessed by Wifi. The local files usually play without much hassle at all, but the Wifi ones will either play perfectly, or with lots of stuttering/freezing - depending on the day.

(I know - this sounds more like a Wifi issue, and probably is, but...)

Looking in Activity Monitor, the machine looks like it could use more RAM - page ins/outs are fairly high...

I am pretty sure i have a 1GB stick in my old eMac that should suit... but before I dig it out of storage, I was wondering if this would actually improve the video performance, or not..?

Thanks,

cosmic

 

[Meister]

512mb should work for just playing videos.

It does sound like a wifi issue.

Stick in 1gb if you can and see if it works better. i dont think it will make a difference.

I had the same problem on one of my windows laptops and I upgraded to 1gb.
It made no difference ...