So I finished my new ITX build over the weekend to replace my aging ITX box. I think its pretty sweet for my needs:
ASUS H87I-PLUS, 8GB DDR3, i3-4330, Notcua NH-L12, 120 GB SSD (OS drive), 2 GB 2.5″ WD Green, PC-Q12B Lian Li case. I use 2 OTA network tuners and 3 CC network tuners and have 12 TB NAS with media an whatnot. The HTPC unit I am replacing is used primarily on my family room TV, running WMC on Win7. I use one 360 extender and run plex media server to serve up movie on my NAS to iPADs, etc.
I’m ditching a removable media drive, which on my old box is a blu-ray drive. I’m just getting a standalone blu-ray player.
But I’m sitting here with two thumb drives with Win7x64 and Win8x64pro trying to decide if I should fire up Windows 8, 8.1 and give WMC a try or just go back to my default Win7 deployment. In the past, I’ve always liked to tinker with new shiny things, but my Win7 setup has always been a stable setup…just needed a new hardware refresh, hence the new build, and I got some crazy good Black Friday/Monday deals.
So which pill do I choose???
I’m tempted just to give Win8 a spin on the new box while my old box still pulls its usual duty for the time being. On the other hand, I could configure Win7 on my new box and call it a day.
Or I’ll open another beer and worry about it tomorrow 😉
Anyways, that’s my new toy. A nice matte black box (I have to admit, this case is really nice) begging for an OS.
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