Success

Took 30 minutes this time. Here's the rig breakdown this time:

Athlon64 3200+ @ 2.0Ghz
1GB DDR 400
ATI x1600PRO 512MB
80GB 7200RPM IDE HD
Sony 16x IDE DVD+-RW
generic 500W PSU
17" LCD @ 1280 x 1024

Not what you'd call "top of the line" eh? Runs really well. Shockingly well. Aero works, the peek function works. Suprising, I thought those things needed DX10. Anyway, the Experience Index on this machine is a 3.8

Processor: 3.8
Memory (RAM): 4.1
Graphics: 4.2
Gaming graphics: 4.4
Primary hard disk: 5.1

And this time the processor is my bottleneck. A single core Athlon64 @ 2.0Ghz isn't a fire breathing dragon these days. Runs nicely though. It seems to be as snappy as XP in common tasks. Again, haven't tried any games or media so I can't remark on that point yet. I have a few more computers to try this build on, but they aren't much different than the ones I've already tested so I'll have just one more. A laptop for my last test.