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opisafaggot · 2015-08-12, 13:46

So I've managed to find my old R3610 and booted up W7 on it the other day. It is, as I remembered it, painfully slow.

My first step in attempting to address this issue was to find a clean copy of W7 Home Premium Edition without all the Acer crap loaded with it. Found that and did a clean install but the machine still crawls even when idling.

So next up I plan on bumping up the RAM to the maximum of 4GB and replacing the 256GB HDD with a 128GB SSD.

Given how much it's struggling at the moment I'm wondering what my best approach for installing Kodi is? The obvious choice is the Windows installer but I would have assumed that if Kodi is launched on a poorly running W7 then I can expect Kodi itself to also run poorly.

I'm open to installing Linux and running it on that or even OpenELEC...the fact is that I don't know which approach is the best to get the maximum performance from the 3610.

Any input would be appreciated.

grumpygamer · 2015-08-12, 14:01

I am currently running XBMC (Gotham) on that exact machine via Openelec.
Not really very nippy, but I'm sure it's much better than running under windows.

At this point I don't even bother with installing other OSes, just go with openelc, you'll be fine.

opisafaggot · 2015-08-12, 14:08

(2015-08-12, 14:01)grumpygamer Wrote: I am currently running XBMC (Gotham) on that exact machine via Openelec.
Not really very nippy, but I'm sure it's much better than running under windows.

At this point I don't even bother with installing other OSes, just go with openelc, you'll be fine.

Thanks for the response. Have you also installed the upgraded SSD and RAM? How do you find W7 runs. For me, without the upgrades at the moment, it's unusable - that's not an overstatement. Quick to boot up but programs are constantly hanging any time i interact with them. I know it's got a shit processor but I think the hard drive might also be on its way out.

grumpygamer · (This post was last modified: 2015-08-12, 14:36 by grumpygamer.)

The machine was running w7 when I first bought it IIRC.
I was unimpressed with the performance (really didn't care about it either) and wiped it off.
From that day my revo has never seen anything else BUT the most minimal installs of XBMC.

No I have not upgraded it at all.
I have nearly finished building a more powerful machine before de-commissioning my Revo

Don't get me wrong it's very good when you use the ION GPU, but as soon as processor is involved everything goes downhill.
10 bit encoded anime's - that rely heavily on the processor - are a no go.
Struggles with some high-end emulators

Even the news ticker stutters when system is loaded up, and stutters even more while scanning for new content.
Interface is also a bit sluggish for some reason (running Aeon Skin), scrolling though a wall view won't be nice and smooth.

You might be able to squeeze a bit of extra juice with upgrades (SSD mainly - ram will make almost no difference), but the processing power isn't worh it IMHO.

opisafaggot · 2015-08-12, 16:03

Cool. After you wiped the machine what did you find the best way to get all the latest drivers was? Currently having a bit of trouble with that at the moment.

grumpygamer · 2015-08-12, 17:13

Well having wiped it and only having had Openelec installed since then, I never had the need to go and search for drivers as Openelec takes care of that.

If you are referring to the windows graphic-card drivers I would probably go here:

http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverRes...2467/en-us

shabuboy · (This post was last modified: 2015-08-12, 19:14 by shabuboy.)

Consider the cost of upgrading RAM/HD vs a new system.

If you have spare RAM and HD is not brainer. If you do not, you will probably spend $80-$100.

For a bit more or even less, you might be able to get a complete new system with better Kodi performace.

voochi · 2015-08-12, 19:08

I run Openelec on some Atom/Ion machines with similar spec to the Revo. One boots from cheap SSD, one boots from a flash drive. Both run fine, boot fast, good performance, no lag.

I have not run Windows on an Atom/Ion machine for many years. My recollection is that Win7 was reasonably usable - not fast by any means but certainly not hanging every few seconds like you describe. Windows 32-bit is generally smoother on very low-powered systems.

Win10 runs even better on slow machines, especially with an SSD.

The other thing I would do is check the fan and heatsink. Maybe your system is slow because it's clogged up and throttling down.

TwilightZone · (This post was last modified: 2015-09-01, 00:37 by TwilightZone.)

I run one of these with few issues, no windows though XBMCbuntu. My ram is maxed out at 4gb but I got a cheap SSD in it and it flies can't stress how much of a difference the SSD makes to these little guys.. My libraries are rather substantial as well 4600 movies and 15,000 songs. Plus mine torrents, runs a radius server, Plex, irc client and has run 24/7 for the last 5 years.

trogggy · 2015-09-01, 01:05

I have two 3610s, both running windows 7. Kodi isn't a great experience on a revo in windows. I've set them up to boot from the sd card into openelec, using a partition on the end of the hard drive as storage. Running openelec vs kodi on windows is like night and day, on openelec they work well, I've no desire to upgrade them anytime soon.