win 7 or win 8

[polatok]

windown 7 64bit or windows 8 64bit for gaming ?

[joelthezombie15]

from what i hear windows 8 is a little difficult to get games working on so i would go 7 also i dont like windows 8

[GoodBytes]

Wrong! Everything that works on Windows 7 works on Windows 8.

Every version of Windows, it's always the exact same story. Just for a color change, people are calling doom, and how it is now impossible to use, whine all day long.

Exactly like this:

Windows 8 has a higher than normal learning curve, but everyone, without exception, that pass through it, now all prefer Windows 8 over Windows 7.

Really the only big visual change in Windows 8, is that the start menu is now full screen.. and it's fully customizable. You can place anything you want in there, group things, and pin any folders. You are no longer limited to the folder selection in the Start Menu. What is reocmmended is to position things that you most used to the bottom left corner of the screen, and least use the farthest. And of course, like the Start Menu, type to search anything.

Here is my start screen in Windows 8 on my desktop:

And no it's not true that it's designed only for touch. It works perfectly well, and fast with keyboard and mouse. You also have a new keyboard shortcuts to make things go even faster.

Windows 8 has many cool features on the desktop, and lots of improvements over Windows 7, including performance improvement.

Is it perfect? No. But with new telemetry data that Microsoft has been collecting, they are improving a lot of things with the coming up update Windows 8.1 (They are no more service packs. Because technically speaking, service packs is suppose to be update regroupement only, and large bugs fixes and general light improvement. Now Microsoft is really adding new features and really improving things, so they go by version numbers). Will it be free. While not confirmed as its not out, it is expected to be free, yes. Public beta is rumored to be out in June at the Microsoft BUILD event.

Anyway, if you don't get WIndows 8 and decide to stay with WIndows 9.. then I can assure you you will be like XP users. Now XP users have trouble using Windows 8, as they are so behind the time. And when they say cool thing about Windows 8 on forums... several times they are Vista features, which they refuse to switch because of this, just because idiots can't stand what was essentially a background color change (or running Vista on a computer that can barely run XP in the first place).

If you have a last gen hardware, it means that you could have full UEFI support. And you can enjoy cool new WIndows 8 feature like fast boot:

As for game performance, its similar to Windows 7. Old computers and GPUs are the ones that benefit the most out of Windows 8 with some bump in performance. New more modern and powerful GPU's, not so much. Nvidia has more polished drivers than AMD currently. But AMD is active in catching up to their Windows 7 drivers

[mozoa]

Wrong! Everything that works on Windows 7 works on Windows 8.

Every version of Windows, it's always the exact same story. Just for a color change, people are calling doom, and how it is now impossible to use, whine all day long.

Exactly like this:

Windows 8 has a higher than normal learning curve, but everyone, without exception, that pass through it, now all prefer Windows 8 over Windows 7.

Really the only big visual change in Windows 8, is that the start menu is now full screen.. and it's fully customizable. You can place anything you want in there, group things, and pin any folders. You are no longer limited to the folder selection in the Start Menu. What is reocmmended is to position things that you most used to the bottom left corner of the screen, and least use the farthest. And of course, like the Start Menu, type to search anything.

Here is my start screen in Windows 8 on my desktop:

And no it's not true that it's designed only for touch. It works perfectly well, and fast with keyboard and mouse. You also have a new keyboard shortcuts to make things go even faster.

Windows 8 has many cool features on the desktop, and lots of improvements over Windows 7, including performance improvement.

Is it perfect? No. But with new telemetry data that Microsoft has been collecting, they are improving a lot of things with the coming up update Windows 8.1 (They are no more service packs. Because technically speaking, service packs is suppose to be update regroupement only, and large bugs fixes and general light improvement. Now Microsoft is really adding new features and really improving things, so they go by version numbers). Will it be free. While not confirmed as its not out, it is expected to be free, yes. Public beta is rumored to be out in June at the Microsoft BUILD event.

Anyway, if you don't get WIndows 8 and decide to stay with WIndows 9.. then I can assure you you will be like XP users. Now XP users have trouble using Windows 8, as they are so behind the time. And when they say cool thing about Windows 8 on forums... several times they are Vista features, which they refuse to switch because of this, just because idiots can't stand what was essentially a background color change (or running Vista on a computer that can barely run XP in the first place).

If you have a last gen hardware, it means that you could have full UEFI support. And you can enjoy cool new WIndows 8 feature like fast boot:

As for game performance, its similar to Windows 7. Old computers and GPUs are the ones that benefit the most out of Windows 8 with some bump in performance. New more modern and powerful GPU's, not so much. Nvidia has more polished drivers than AMD currently. But AMD is active in catching up to their Windows 7 drivers

High five for actually promoting Windows 8

[Broseephus]

Windows 8 pro 64 bit with downgrade rights.

[Zims]

Win 8 with the "startisBack" or "Start8"

That`s what I would do.

[onionring]

win8 is faster in everyway.

Try the metro interface for 1 day and you ll see it isn t that bad.

if you don t like it just use one of those addons to make win8 look like win7

[Huntsman]

it's a good OS, just dont like the Modern UI start page. Installed classic shell instead. Other than that, its good enough for gaming. I dual boot between windows 8 and ubuntu. Windows 8 only for games(duh) and ubuntu for everything else

[nishank93]

I haven't had any trouble with Windows 8 if that is what you're worried about. Everyone has drivers for windows 8, and even windows 7 ones work just fine. It is faster and uses less memory. Games work on it just fine. I don't see why you would want windows 7 if you're building a rig now.

[Zims]

I haven't had any trouble with Windows 8 if that is what you're worried about. Everyone has drivers for windows 8' date=' and even windows 7 ones work just fine. It is faster and uses less memory. Games work on it just fine. I don't see why you would want windows 7 if you're building a rig now.[/quote']

I agree.

I have tried both and would switch if I didn`t have a lot of programs installed.

But I don`t like the Metro interface. Maybe you will like it.

[GoodBytes]

You should try the metro interface. Do like I did (see picture on previous post), you'll love it, and prefer it over the Start Menu.

[Link4]

I have had Windows 8 since I bought my laptop (Asus N56DP) and it works great. Sure there are sometimes issues with Windows Updates freezing the system but that's true for anything Windows. Nothing a quick restore previous to the update can't fix, and Windows 8 seems to be much better at detecting issues. My last system was running on Vista but it was quite old so I didn't bother upgrading to 7, also Aero in Vista looked really good. I still used Windows 7 a lot though, mostly in college, but I prefer 8. It's so much easier to access programs and you can make a computer shortcut for anything else.

As for games I heard it is much better than 7 especially for minimum frame rates. Games feel so much smoother than average framerates might tell you. My laptop has Radeon 7730M and even with that Assassin's Creed 3 runs smooth at 1080p and max settings (as far as I remember and I think there was even 4X AA forced on in Catalyst). Also Windows 8 is much better for AMD systems, since mine runs on A10-4600m, I noticed it makes much better use of threading. Again not so much a factor on average framerates, but minimums are way better.

[amintha1992]

from what i hear windows 8 is a little difficult to get games working on so i would go 7 also i dont like windows 8

i play all my games on WIn8 64bit just like win7 with out any problem.

[ClutchHunter]

Does Windows 8 have tabbed browsing in Explorer yet?

[DJ46]

This is interesting. Even Linus said games run better on 8 but they had some weird issues to make them work. Last time I used 8 was a pre-release version on my single-core 1GB RAM laptop and it wasn't a good experience. Also many people complained about having to use xbox live even with some Steam games. I'm planning to change a motherboard in an OEM system and I will have to use my copy of Windows 8 I won, so if it works good, i will gladly do it. I am just scared of issues with games, because that's what I use my PC for.

[SbroCali]

If I remember correctly Linus's review said that in most of the test they ran the games ran slightly better in Win8. Now, I'm not a big fan of Win8, I like 7 way better, 8 seems like a downgrade to me, but I think they ran slightly better in 8. My grandmother bought a computer with 8 in it, and when I was setting it up for her, it bsod'd straight out of the box! And, there was a little time a few months ago that it was randomly restarting A LOT! I restored to an earlier time, and it fixed it, as far as I know it hasn't happened again. The message said something to the extent that the computer might not have shut down all the way and needed to restart & I looked it up on the internet and it said it's a common problem with win8 64bit... But it's fixed now. I still REALLY like win 7 more, win 8 seems like a downgrade to me.

[Toby]

If I remember correctly Linus's review said that in most of the test they ran the games ran slightly better in Win8. Now, I'm not a big fan of Win8, I like 7 way better, 8 seems like a downgrade to me, but I think they ran slightly better in 8. My grandmother bought a computer with 8 in it, and when I was setting it up for her, it bsod'd straight out of the box! And, there was a little time a few months ago that it was randomly restarting A LOT! I restored to an earlier time, and it fixed it, as far as I know it hasn't happened again. The message said something to the extent that the computer might not have shut down all the way and needed to restart & I looked it up on the internet and it said it's a common problem with win8 64bit... But it's fixed now. I still REALLY like win 7 more, win 8 seems like a downgrade to me.

So wait, Windows 8 seems like a downgrade to you because it BSOD'd for your granny and you buggered it one time a few months ago?

[Scia]

I have recently made the switch to Windows 8 and I must say I like it a lot better than Windows 7.

Once you have installed StartIsBack [Like 1-2$] you have a perfectly integrated Start Menu [Not like most solutions that run as a service and can crash] and it will boot directly to desktop without any Metro flashing or what ever.

You can disable the touchy-stuff, like the Charms-menu and have it hotkey only if you so desire.

 

As far as I know, Win7 might have slightly higher max. FPS, while Win8 seems to have pretty consistantly higher Min. FPS which at the end of the day matter more than max. [140 vs 138 doesn't make a difference while 22 vs 26 do].

 

It's a lot faster than Win7 over all and the design is much nicer in my oppinion.

 

I could recommend this video:

 

And I have not had any troubble running games yet. Playing old ones like Max Payne 2 or Lineage II to playing new ones like Crysis 3, all flawlessly.

 

So, if you are about to get a new OS or what ever, get it, it's worth it and certainly no Vista!

[Sharp_3yE]

Does Windows 8 have tabbed browsing in Explorer yet?

There are two explorer windows. One that runs on the modern ui and the desktop version. Both have tabs but the modern ui one the tabs are hidden. You have to either right, or swipe if its a touch screen or touch pad to get the tabs to show. Otherwise use explorer on the desktop for a regular browser.

[nishank93]

Just get Windows 8. There is absolutely nothing about it that I don't like, even the Modern UI. Even Linus's "reasons" are excuses. On a live stream, he said there is more mouse movement involved to get to apps (agreed! so just type in the name of the application right?), and he said that you need to know that application's name to type it in (wow). Seriously, excuses.

[GoodBytes]

This is interesting. Even Linus said games run better on 8 but they had some weird issues to make them work. Last time I used 8 was a pre-release version on my single-core 1GB RAM laptop and it wasn't a good experience. Also many people complained about having to use xbox live even with some Steam games. I'm planning to change a motherboard in an OEM system and I will have to use my copy of Windows 8 I won, so if it works good, i will gladly do it. I am just scared of issues with games, because that's what I use my PC for.

Using alpha or beta version of an OS is not a good way to know if something is good or not. Also Windows 8 has greatly improved between the public beta's and final release.

You don't need XBox Live account to use Windows 8. That's the most BS crap I ever heard. Sound like the lies of XP evengilist are spreading about Vista, Windows 7... and now 8, where they look at screen shots and spread crap. You have to be careful on what you read.

 

As for Linus, like all new OSs you are bound to have driver issues. This time, it looks like it's AMD graphic card that causes issues with some games. But AMD is activelly trying to fix this with every version. Juts make sure you have the latest beta drivers of AMD, and you should be fine, if you have such card.

 

If I remember correctly Linus's review said that in most of the test they ran the games ran slightly better in Win8. Now, I'm not a big fan of Win8, I like 7 way better, 8 seems like a downgrade to me, but I think they ran slightly better in 8. My grandmother bought a computer with 8 in it, and when I was setting it up for her, it bsod'd straight out of the box! And, there was a little time a few months ago that it was randomly restarting A LOT! I restored to an earlier time, and it fixed it, as far as I know it hasn't happened again. The message said something to the extent that the computer might not have shut down all the way and needed to restart & I looked it up on the internet and it said it's a common problem with win8 64bit... But it's fixed now. I still REALLY like win 7 more, win 8 seems like a downgrade to me.

So the image or hardware is faulty, and you have not bothered returning it to the store for an exchanged? BSOD's occurs due to hardware fault. All drivers are no longer (since Vista) tied to the OS, and Windows can activelly unload and reload crashed drivers. And the way the OS was done, when an error is created, even critical, it doesn't interrupt the system (BSOD) anymore. So, all is left is hardware fault or corrupted system files.

 

 

I have recently made the switch to Windows 8 and I must say I like it a lot better than Windows 7.

Once you have installed StartIsBack [Like 1-2$] you have a perfectly integrated Start Menu [Not like most solutions that run as a service and can crash] and it will boot directly to desktop without any Metro flashing or what ever.

You can disable the touchy-stuff, like the Charms-menu and have it hotkey only if you so desire.

 

As far as I know, Win7 might have slightly higher max. FPS, while Win8 seems to have pretty consistantly higher Min. FPS which at the end of the day matter more than max. [140 vs 138 doesn't make a difference while 22 vs 26 do].

 

It's a lot faster than Win7 over all and the design is much nicer in my oppinion.

 

I could recommend this video:

 

And I have not had any troubble running games yet. Playing old ones like Max Payne 2 or Lineage II to playing new ones like Crysis 3, all flawlessly.

 

So, if you are about to get a new OS or what ever, get it, it's worth it and certainly no Vista!

But then you loose XBox Music service which is free unlimited music streaming. It is the second biggest music library of any music stores/streaming service.

[rcdevils]

I would say go with windows 8, 

i have been using it during launch and had no problems with games and you get used to the interface after while.. if you dont you can use one of those ad-dons that make it look like win7 or older

[Night]

Win7, 64bit. I know it works and I dont have a touch screen moniter. Not much point in changing to Win8 without a touch screen moniter.

[Lyons]

Win7, 64bit. I know it works and I dont have a touch screen moniter. Not much point in changing to Win8 without a touch screen moniter.

 

You must spend an awful lot of time in the start menu then. Just like W7, W8 is/can be used entirely in the desktop environment, it just has a better start menu. Yes; the W8 start menu is functionally superior, and contrary to many people's ignorance, can be navigated with a mouse. People who downplay W8 need to actually use it.

[GoodBytes]

Win7, 64bit. I know it works and I dont have a touch screen moniter. Not much point in changing to Win8 without a touch screen moniter.

This is so not true.

It works beautifully with a mouse and keyboard. I don't have a touch screen either on both my laptop and desktop, and Windows 8 is simply awesome, once you pass the learning curve.