[Sunflux]

I'm looking to replace my existing first-gen i3 NUC with a spiffy new i5 one that doesn't have the 23.976 bug, and since it's my primary entertainment system will be going 8gb, 120gb SSD, Windows 7, and so forth.

While I'm blowing money on that system, at the same time I'd like to build the cheapest NUC (Celeron) for a secondary television that doesn't need incredible performance. 4gb, smallest SSD possible... basically way less than half the cost of the i5 system, which is why I really can't see spending $100 on a copy of Windows 7. While I could go the OpenElec route, I do have unused copies of Windows Vista laying around, meaning free to use.

Reading through the Wiki, I see that Vista is supported, but am concerned about performance. In particular, there is conflicting information - some parts say that Hardware Video Decoding works on Windows Vista and up, and other sections say Windows 7 is required for Hardware Decoding.

Which is it?

Also, has anyone crazy like me actually tried running Vista on a NUC? Any reason why that would be a bad idea? Should I spend the money on W7... or just go for OpenElec?

[.:B:.]

Unless there is something Windows-specific you'd need, spare yourself the trouble of setting up Windows and grab OpenELEC.

[teeedubb]

Vista is a steaming pile of crap, I'd avoid putting that on my htpc at all costs... Try OE first, you have nothing to lose.

[Sunflux]

Meh... there's a reason I ended up skipping Vista altogether (these were "free" copies sent as a bonus near the end of official XP sales), but I'd kind of hoped all the patches would have made it a bit better this many years later, at least for a media center where you'd only ever see XBMC.

I've experimented with Openelec vs Windows XP on the old AOpen system, and at least as regards running GMA950 (minimum spec), Openelec had visibly worse performance on the GUI and demanding 1080p files than XBMC on Windows did. Probably not an issue with a system that has more guts - although I do hope they've got that Intel black level issue corrected finally.

I've got a pretty nice Windows XBMC config going now... customizations to the Confluence main menu, custom remote button/function mapping, few choice plugins for automation... hope that's transportable to OE.