Windows 7 - Upgrade what HW for Window 7

Too much hype about window7, so i downloaded window7 RTM ultimate and installed it on my second disk partition. My first partition has window xpsp3.
Now if i compare performance of both the OS XP seem to be really faster despite the hype that window7 is faster than xp. Movie files donot play smoothly in window7
But still i am interested in using window7. Please suggest what i should do, like add a PCI graphic card etc. I am not interested in upgrading my motherboard.

My H/W is as:-
Processor 2 MHz (celerone)
motherboard 845GL
RAM 1.5 GB
Motherboard has only PCI slot (no PCI express or AGP slot)
Sound Driver AC97
Graphic driver intel 82845

Mate, I have 90% of the same setup as yours on a test machine out here (P4 2.4Ghz, Gigabyte 845, 512MB RAM) and the video display is pretty good. Have you installed the Intel 845 graphics drivers?

Besides that, I can think of a couple of other solutions:
1. Check the refresh rate of your monitor. I'm assuming you have a CRT and those units are particularly choosy about the Hz rate.
2. Try installing better codecs - something like the K-Lite Corporate pack should suit you just fine.
3. Use VLC rather than WMP.
4. Use full hardware acceleration under Display properties - advanced settings.

Failing all of that, maybe you could buy yourself a cheap P4 3Ghz or a Radeon 9xxx PCI based card off eBay. Nobody seems to want them any more but these components make for some bargain basement priced test machines and music servers at home or in your case, a pretty significant upgrade.

I would upgrade your CPU, video card and memory.

If you buy used, or even new really, this would cost you between $100-$150 ... less if you purchased used.

Files not playing smoothly is probably a problem with the display driver or resolution. Make sure you are running whatever resolution is "native" to your display driver. Also try a new driver

hey guys thanks for your tips, really appreciate

VLC uses its own built-in codecs, it does not use other codecs installed on your computer. To use a codec pack, its best to use "media player classic" (which comes with most codec packs)