XBMC HTPC using the oldest/crappiest hardware

(2012-08-06 16:42)GomezAddams Wrote:  I'm running on Windows XP SP2.

I'm not bragging, I'm just trying to point out to anyone reading the forums that XBMC runs just fine on hardware that can be had for next to nothing, and they shouldn't be put off from trying it out because of all of the quad-core 8GB build threads around here.

Seriously, if you are reading this, and you haven't tried XBMC, give it a shot on whatever you have laying around.

BTW, the reason I'm running the existing setup is that when I took Morticia to look at nice big LCD TVs, and told her we could get rid of the huge old entertainment center in the living room, she decided that would trigger a complete living room remodel. Paint, new carpet and new furniture.

I'll just watch the 27" TV...

Well spoken,..and I totally agree!
I did that very thing myself. I installed XBMC on an old workstation I had,..and it worked fine.
Fortunately I had some spending money and could afford to build a new system.
There are those that see all of these discussions as a pipe dream in respect to their finances.
I agree 1,000% on trying XBMC on whatever you have,..you might be pleasantly surprised.

By the way,...you have an awesome sense of humor.
You had me rolling when I read that a new TV meant a new living room.
It's amazing how they see the big picture when all we want to do is hunt the animal.

I have dharma currently running on a 1.3 Ghz P4 with 384 MB ram. with an Nvidia 8400GS PCI graphics card, which is the key for hardware accelerated video decode. Its running the Livecd version installed to the HDD using a shared mySQL library. It works pretty well. video playback is flawless, although there is a little stuttering while navigating the library. Ive even had XBMC installed on Pentium 3 systems. As long as you have a gpu capable of hardware decode (and an OS that supports it, xp wont) it runs decently on very minimal hardware.