Windows 8 for gaming?

[cronos]

I'm building a new system this week, just a standard budget gaming build (Asrock Z77 Pro3 + i5 3570k + HD 7850 + Kingston HyperX 3K SSD).

I logged in to my MSDNAA (Dreamspark) account yesterday and noticed that Windows 8 Professional is available for download already. This looks like the final version as it doesn't say that it's a developer/community preview (all these pre-release versions used to be available as well). I am intrigued.

Now, I do have a Windows 7 Professional retail box with a license that are currently unused, and I was planning to use it for this new build. However the media was from release day of Windows 7 so it doesn't have SP1 on it. Considering the pain to get a freshly installed Windows 7 updated to the latest patch, even already having SP1, it's probably going to take a whole day to get this one ready.

If I have to pay for it, I'm definitely not going to bother. But this Windows 8 iso image is just sitting there, ready to download. I'm not worried too much about the new metro interface, different ways to do things, etc. I'll learn to deal with those. I am building this system mostly for gaming, so all I'm concerned about is hardware (drivers) and compatibility with games (mostly Steam).

So what do you guys think? Anybody tried seriously gaming with Windows 8 yet (preview version or otherwise)?

 

[Barfo]

Considering the pain to get a freshly installed Windows 7 updated to the latest patch, even already having SP1, it's probably going to take a whole day to get this one ready.

wat?

Do you download the updates with a 56K connection and put them in floppy disks?

 

[cronos]

wat?

Do you download the updates with a 56K connection and put them in floppy disks?

It was a bit of exaggeration, but when was the last time you did a Windows 7 fresh install? Until about a month ago I did at least 2-3 times a month (other people's systems, not mine).

It's not the downloading, but it takes about 2-3 hours from the first boot to update - reboot -update - etc. to get everything up to date.

 

[darkewaffle]

I don't know what the driver situation is like for Win8 yet but if they're caught up then you should be fine. By most accounts Win8 is faster and uses fewer resources than Win7 in just about every scenario, however I wouldn't expect that to translate to noticeably more FPS. Probably be ok either way.

 

[ViviTheMage]

If you do indeed have a legit copy/ley, you can download the ISO of win 7 sp1 pro 64bit or 32bit

http://www.mydigitallife.info/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-from-digital-river/

 

[thespyder]

From personal experience, I never early adopt to a new Windows version. There are always issues that need to be worked out and unless you want to be one of the (retail) Beta testers, I would personally hold off for 6 months - year minimum.

Drivers are a big reason for this as there generally is a lag between when a new version gets released and when the hardware folks build/test out new drivers. Also, the new architecture may cause compatibility issues with games. Until we know how that will impact, you may be upgrading to a new system that simply won't run games until they get patched.

It's your call, but probably best to hold off till some of the grosser bugs get stomped. Just my opinion based on MS track record over the last 20 years or so.

 

[cronos]

If you do indeed have a legit copy/ley, you can download the ISO of win 7 sp1 pro 64bit or 32bit

http://www.mydigitallife.info/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-from-digital-river/

Thanks for this Vivi! I'll definitely go this route.

From personal experience, I never early adopt to a new Windows version. There are always issues that need to be worked out and unless you want to be one of the (retail) Beta testers, I would personally hold off for 6 months - year minimum.

Drivers are a big reason for this as there generally is a lag between when a new version gets released and when the hardware folks build/test out new drivers. Also, the new architecture may cause compatibility issues with games. Until we know how that will impact, you may be upgrading to a new system that simply won't run games until they get patched.

It's your call, but probably best to hold off till some of the grosser bugs get stomped. Just my opinion based on MS track record over the last 20 years or so.

I totally agree with you. I too usually never immediately update to a new OS version for the very reasons that you described. I'll stick with Windows 7 for now. Hopefully the image that Vivi linked above will work with my license (from a retail box of Windows 7, instead of digitally downloaded from Digital River).

 

[power_hour]

Easier decision is if your cards have the drivers for Windows 8 or not. If yes, I would go for it. What's the worst that can happen? There enough feedback that if something ain't right MS will patch it. Interface is the only ugly part but you already said it doesn't bother you.

Windows 7 is a no brainer so it comes down to your risk tolerance / tweak skills.

 

[BladeVenom]

From personal experience, I never early adopt to a new Windows version. There are always issues that need to be worked out and unless you want to be one of the (retail) Beta testers, I would personally hold off for 6 months - year minimum.

I agree. Let some other suckers find the bugs.

 

[jsedlak]

I'm running W8 w/ Battlefield 3, Skyrim and F1 on a 2700K and a GTX680.
Everything runs smooth, 60fps+.

 

[olds]

I am having lots of PunkBuster issues on 8. Get kicked from a lot of COD4 servers.
Been fine on BF3.

 

[imaheadcase]

If you can iso of win7, and depending on net speed, take a hour to install.

Win8 really offers nothing over win7 for gaming, actually win 7 is better since out longer naturally.

 

[destrekor]

From personal experience, I never early adopt to a new Windows version. There are always issues that need to be worked out and unless you want to be one of the (retail) Beta testers, I would personally hold off for 6 months - year minimum.

Drivers are a big reason for this as there generally is a lag between when a new version gets released and when the hardware folks build/test out new drivers. Also, the new architecture may cause compatibility issues with games. Until we know how that will impact, you may be upgrading to a new system that simply won't run games until they get patched.

It's your call, but probably best to hold off till some of the grosser bugs get stomped. Just my opinion based on MS track record over the last 20 years or so.

That's generally only a major issue between major Kernel releases, as opposed to point releases.

XP -> Vista probably remains the most painful reminder and the reason so many ignorantly found Vista to be a mess. Going from the 5.x kernel to 6.0 naturally means drivers and whatnot need to be reworked, especially since so much of the kernel stack was completely changed.
Going from Vista to Win7 was cake (6.0 to 6.1), imho, and I really didn't find any problems. Even with crazy configs, it was stable from day 1 in my experience. Of course, if you had the most random, barely supported device/piece of hardware with slowly-developed drivers or whatever, it could lead to instability. That's what happened with Vista, but if you got good drivers in time, it became a stable OS. 7 was nice because it improved memory handling and helped make a system even snappier on the same hardware, but overall Vista was quite nice from my experience. Definitely prefer 7, but what has made Win7 that much better is because of developer experience from years of working on the 6.x kernel.
You got that, to some degree, with XP (5.1, 5.2), since developers had time with Windows 2000 (5.0), though I still found Vista, overall, to be far better than XP in terms of stability.
Windows 8 shouldn't bring about much pain at all, in the grand scheme of things, considering it's NT 6.2. Developers will have the better part of a decade on the main aspects of the kernel architecture. I wouldn't expect stability to be that much of an issue, even at launch. Minor user-experience issues/bugs stemming from the new interface, probably... but I wouldn't expect bugs and driver issues producing BSODs or crashing games to be anything more than a rarity. Probably occurring about as often as they currently do with Win7 - which is to say, either often or rarely, depending on your specific hardware configuration and installed drivers. Most new drivers for Win8 should work fine, but there will always be specific driver combinations, or a single specific driver, that breaks a game or two. I already had that experience with BF3 on a system that was quite established as stable.

 

[thespyder]

So the big reason why Win7 was so smooth was that it was Vista, fixed and rebranded. Of course everything ran on it. people had been trying to get stuff to work on that heaping pile that was Vista.

As for Win8, I don't know all of the ins and outs of it. But I do understand that, aside from the kernel architecture, there is also a change in the directory structure. This can also cause problems with games. Particularly older games that were never programmed for MS to go F-ing around with the base directory structure every few years. I am not conversant enough to know if it will definitely cause a problem, but if the OP has the chance to wait, where is the harm?

 

[destrekor]

So the big reason why Win7 was so smooth was that it was Vista, fixed and rebranded. Of course everything ran on it. people had been trying to get stuff to work on that heaping pile that was Vista.

As for Win8, I don't know all of the ins and outs of it. But I do understand that, aside from the kernel architecture, there is also a change in the directory structure. This can also cause problems with games. Particularly older games that were never programmed for MS to go F-ing around with the base directory structure every few years. I am not conversant enough to know if it will definitely cause a problem, but if the OP has the chance to wait, where is the harm?

Saying 7 is a fixed and rebranded Vista is a major disservice to 7. There were quite a few changes.

That's like saying XP was a fixed and rebranded 2000. Just because it's not a sweeping change including a major kernel overhaul, doesn't mean it's just a dressed up service pack with shell changes.

If someone decides to wait it out, I don't care. I still haven't decided if I even want it on my PC. I'm just providing my opinion in response to your points.

 

[thespyder]

Agreed that Win 7 wasn't merely a coat of paint. But from everything I heard, it was a glorified Vista 2.0 with a new name. Sure they overhauled the architecture a bit but that was primarily because one of the biggest complaints about Vista was because it was so heavy a platform to begin with.

But more than that, I have been through Win 3.1 launch and Win ME and 2000 and XP and 7 launches. In every single case, I always found that waiting 6 months minimum until all of the bugs got shaken out was always a wise move.

I stand by my assessment of Vista being a steaming pile though.

 

[Mem]

So the big reason why Win7 was so smooth was that it was Vista, fixed and rebranded. Of course everything ran on it. people had been trying to get stuff to work on that heaping pile that was Vista.

As for Win8, I don't know all of the ins and outs of it. But I do understand that, aside from the kernel architecture, there is also a change in the directory structure. This can also cause problems with games. Particularly older games that were never programmed for MS to go F-ing around with the base directory structure every few years. I am not conversant enough to know if it will definitely cause a problem, but if the OP has the chance to wait, where is the harm?

Win7 had 2 years of polish over Vista,not to mention more modern hardware was available and drivers were refined and available thanks to Vista.

Win8 for gaming well we have yet to see what will appear,drivers can get better for Win8 but don't think we will see much improvement speed wise,as to store well again what will that offer for the gamer?..I like Windows 8 but don't see what advantage 8 will offer over 7 for gaming unless you take battery life into account for laptops/notebook users inbetween gaming.

Btw I still think Vista was a very good OS and in my top 3,unfortunately a lot of FUD will always appear ,FUD will appear for Win8 mark my words.

 

[BladeVenom]

That's generally only a major issue between major Kernel releases, as opposed to point releases.

XP -> Vista probably remains the most painful reminder and the reason so many ignorantly found Vista to be a mess. Going from the 5.x kernel to 6.0 naturally means drivers and whatnot need to be reworked, especially since so much of the kernel stack was completely changed.

What? You are blaming the users for MS releasing Vista before the drivers were stable?

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Vista was a massive pain because the driver model changed significantly between XP and Vista, not only that but x64 became popular for the first time ever and x64 drivers were few and far between.

The move from Vista to Win7 was much nicer because not much changed so old code base for Vista drivers more or less work on Win7 without much fuss, and x64 is well established and supported now.

Back to the Ops question, I think the better question is really why would you move away from Win7 in the first place, it's a really solid OS.

 

[Texashiker]

I would stay with windows 7 until windows 8 has been out for at least 1 year, or around there.

Everytime a new version of windows hits the market there are all kinds of driver and program issues.

 

[Mem]

Back to the Ops question, I think the better question is really why would you move away from Win7 in the first place, it's a really solid OS.

We all agree Win7 is a fine OS,however Win8 does have some advantages ie better battery life for laptop/notebook users,improved security,obviously tablet users will be fine with Win8,faster start up and shutdown,native USB 3.0 support,I could list more but you see my point.

You could argue companies like AMD/Nvidia will also start optimizing drivers for Win8,especially from next week when it gets officially released,longer life span as well then Win7.

 

[Texashiker]

We all agree Win7 is a fine OS,however Win8 does have some advantages ie better improved security,.

Improved security?

You are going to say an OS that has not been tested in the wild has improved security?

Only after an OS has been hacked, patched, hacked, patched, hacked, patched,,, can it be considered secure.

 

[Mem]

Improved security?

You are going to say an OS that has not been tested in the wild has improved security?

Only after an OS has been hacked, patched, hacked, patched, hacked, patched,,, can it be considered secure.

Improved security is one of th new features it has,read more info here http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/security/what-windows-8-has-done-to-improve-security/8269 ;

Takeaway: Windows 8 is getting mixed reviews but there’s no doubt that Microsoft has taken significant steps to improve security. Patrick Lambert describes the new features.

 

[Texashiker]

Improved security is one of th new features it has,read more info here http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/security/what-windows-8-has-done-to-improve-security/8269 ;

I remember microsoft saying vista and windows 7 was supposed to be secure against malware, and we saw where that went.

Microsoft has been bragging about windows security since the mid-1990s, its all smoke in mirrors.

Sure people claim windows 8 is secure, but until it hits the market, we will have to wait and see.

There was once a time when windows xp was called "battle hardened" because it had been hacked and patched so many times. Which is something windows 8 has not been through.

 

[Mem]

I remember microsoft saying vista and windows 7 was supposed to be secure against malware, and we saw where that went.

Microsoft has been bragging about windows security since the mid-1990s, its all smoke in mirrors.

Sure people claim windows 8 is secure, but until it hits the market, we will have to wait and see.

There was once a time when windows xp was called "battle hardened" because it had been hacked and patched so many times. Which is something windows 8 has not been through.

I think its safe to saying Microsoft are trying to make Win8 more secure then previous operating systems.

End of the day you also have to take pricing into account as well and Win8 will go on sale far cheaper then Win7,I know I would pick 8 over 7 due to pricing and all the above features etc...Win7 is an excellent OS but I have no issues with my Win8 pc either,found all the drivers etc and not crashed once yet,(had RTM since August).

I'm lucky in a way since I have Linux,Win7,Win8 PCs,even Android tablet etc so best of all worlds.

Also remember with security its never ending ie you will always have hackers etc trying to find ways in ,weak holes etc...security is always ongoing and changing with new features/improvements etc...