How to Play HD Video Smoothly on OLD PC (Pentium 4 or older) with GOM Player

HD video with resolution 720p or higher tends to be choppy when played on some old systems, for example on one with an old generation of Pentium 4 CPU or older with an onboard graphic card . Especially HD video encoded with new codecs, e.g. H.264 codec used within MKV (Matroska) file. H.264 codecs are very CPU intensive, at some point, it even make those old systems went BSOD or hung.

Using GOM Player, We have the option to downscale video size from its original resolution, which mean, less load on our old CPU and the video will play less choppy.
- Right click on the main window, select "Preferences". (or just push F5 on your keyboard)
- On "Preferences" window, click VIDEO section, then clik SCREEN SIZE tab.
- Activate "Change the screen size".
- On "Original Screen Size" section, choose "If larger than selected resolution" option and 640x480 as selected resolution. (You may have to choose lower resolution if your system is very very old)
- On "Changed Screen Size" section, choose "New Size" with resolution of 640x480 (or whatever your pick above) , and "Keep aspect ratio" checked.

- Close the Preferences window
- Now Open your HD video and enjoy. Of course with lower details, but at least no BSOD or system crash

Download GOM Player here