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drabina · (This post was last modified: 2011-09-21, 20:15 by drabina.)

I am currently using XBMC Live (Dharma) on an Atom 1.6 dual core (330 processor), 2GB RAM, Zotac board, ION graphics and 1.5TB hard drive. I would like to move to Windows 7 platform because I am way more familiar with it than I am with Linux. My questions to you guys is: Is the low powered Atom processor and 2GB or RAM enough to run Windows 7 and XBMC? Also, if I were to upgrade to Windows 7, should I go with 32 or 64 bit version?

Any input or tips are appreciated.

Thanks.

seand · 2011-09-21, 20:59

Yes it plays fine. The CPU usage is a little higher so maybe its a tad laggier on switching menus and such but you can still play 1080p fine. If there is a difference its not reflected in video playback but more on snappiness of the machine generally. Despite needing to change my sig I recently switched to Windows 7 just because for the limited PVR I do Media Center is so dead easy to use and both Myth and TV Headend were too much of a wrestling match with my HD Homerun in Linux.

Rather than the whole Event Ghost business I use the simple WMC plug-in called XBMC integration to switch between WMC and XBMC.
http://xbmcwmc.teknowebworks.com/

Was using a similar WMC plug-in for Hulu Desktop integration for a bit but then upgraded to a pre-Eden nightly to make use of bluecop's Hulu plug-in for XBMC.

seand · 2011-09-21, 21:07

For a very simple rule of thumb, with 2 GB Ram I guess you would stick with 32-bit for 4GB go with 64-bit. There are technical reasons and arguments for 64-bit beyond that but I leave that for others to sort out.

drabina · 2011-09-21, 21:12

Thanks for replying.

So lets say I upgrade RAM to 4GB, would 64-bit be better for simple HTPC or should I stick with 32-bit version? I am only using XBMC to watch movies, TV shows and play music. No other fancy plugins or features like NAS, wireless streaming, etc.

seand · (This post was last modified: 2011-09-21, 21:20 by seand.)

I don't think 32-bit, 64-bit makes much of a difference for an Ion HTPC except 32-bit won't let you actually use the the full 4 GB of RAM and of course you need to use the appropriate Flash drivers for whatever system if you use Flash.

When last I left Linux land I was not entirely happy with the 64-bit Flash driver for Linux as opposed to 32-bit but that may have been upgraded by now. Driver for both in Windows play fine.

mrfatboy · 2011-09-22, 01:04

I got a Acer 3600 (atom 320 single core) win7x64, Darma 10.1. Plays 720p fine. 1080p not so much. I just built my buddy a xbmc with an acer 3700. Works great.

Also, I believe you can overclock that zotac board to 2.0ghz. I built one of those for another buddy. it was just one setting in the bios.

drabina · 2011-09-22, 02:56

Thanks for the feedback. I think I am ready then to switch to Windows 7. I have nothing against Linux (XBMC Live) but it took me a while to get everything configured and still have few things that are beyond my abilities like wireless networking, etc.

**Beer40oz** · (This post was last modified: 2011-09-22, 03:17 by Beer40oz.)

Just do 64 bit and stick your 2 gigs in.... that way if you feel down the road you need 4 gigs then you already have your OS at 64 so no need to re-install. You will like it. I had an atom 330 with 2 gigs and everything played on it with win 7 /64 ....... really love the atoms 330... but if I was you and you do stuff on windows I will get 4 gigs in. And remember that in bios you are going to share memory with the GPU so changed it to full 512MB..... unless the GPU comes with it's own memory.

mrfatboy · 2011-09-22, 04:18

I'm using 2gigs and it's just barely cutting it. With the price of ram at an all time low I would get the 4gig.

WisdomWolf · 2011-09-22, 09:50

mrfatboy Wrote:I'm using 2gigs and it's just barely cutting it. With the price of ram at an all time low I would get the 4gig.

I suppose you can get 4GB if you want, but I have a stock Revo 1600 w/1GB of RAM running Windows 7 and XBMC nightly 091711 and it plays even 1080p MKV fine. Although I haven't yet tried a full BR rip, but still 1GB is adequate for most uses. I've considered upgrading to 2 or 4GB, but not sure it's even necessary.

isamu.dragon · 2011-09-22, 20:05

It works perfectly, read my specs in my signature.
A little slow changing from tv shows to movies, and vice versa.
But all and all a dependable machine

drabina · 2011-09-29, 21:07

I just wanted to write an update. I have installed fresh copy of 32-bit Win7 and XBMC Dharma. All works beautifully. So far no problems with performance though just in case I have disabled all the UI fancy features (round corners, wallpaper, sounds, etc). Even with the full UI on it was working fine. I have played some 720p trailers off thumbdrive and playback was smooth. My TV is 720p so I can't test 1080p content.