[ashlar]

Actually, I just tried LiveXBMCV2 on that same PC and was blown away by the performance. I tested the 'birds' clip and for the first time I had no dropped frames. The linux version also displays the CPU utilization for each core in the info screen. I was getting 70-80% on each core. I get ~15-16 fps using XBMC under Windows. Even the Cabac patch doesn't make a diff for me. I wouldn't have thought such a difference would be possible. Especially considering how mature the Windows OpenGL drivers are.

You mean you lost no frames and sound was good while playing the killer BBC Planet Earth sample? With no multicore usage it should be impossible!