[Lonman]

I honestly think the bare minimum is usually good enough as far as what is required. It's what else is done with the computer that usually brings up issues. My show computer only has XP and 2 gb ram, smaller processor than some run (great video & sound card added to it) & has never hiccup'd, however it is never used for anything else BUT Hoster, exclusively built for shows - never see's internet except for the occasional update when I get a chance to pull it out of it's cage and nothing else has ever been run on it except for WMP for my slideshow in between songs.
My test computers are used for anything & everything. Sometimes I even try to purposely go against certain recommendations just to see what will happen, so far I have no negative reports to push so I don't know what to make of that.