Windows 8.1 vs Linux

[Giggidy25]

I am building a pc and I do not want to spend a lot. First off if someone could send me a link to a safe cheap windows 8 key. Secondly, windows vs Linux will Linux be fine for gaming vs windows. Will it play games just as well, or is windows worth the money. And how easy is it to navigate and install. Thanks!

[Cyrus49]

If you need it free,there is a guide on how to install windows 10 and an iso download in my signature.

EDIT: note there might be some compatibility problems

[Joshndroid]

If you want to game, go windows installation without a doubt. If your a student you can get a discount on windows keys that are legit and straight from microsoft

[lx_srs]

I am building a pc and I do not want to spend a lot. First off if someone could send me a link to a safe cheap windows 8 key. Secondly, windows vs Linux will Linux be fine for gaming vs windows. Will it play games just as well, or is windows worth the money. And how easy is it to navigate and install. Thanks!

Installation is stupidly easy for both.  A monkey could do it.  Linux will play games just as well as windows does, given you installed your graphics drivers.  The only problem with Linux is the fact that only around 1200 games are available from Steam, and a lot of AAA titles aren't playable in Linux.  Finally, you can get cheap Windows keys here.

[lx_srs]

If you need it free,there is a guide on how to install windows 10 and an iso download in my signature.

unfortunately, some games have compatibility issues with Windows 10 at the moment.

[smeek14]

There are programs for linux to make it run windows software.

[Cyrus49]

unfortunately, some games have compatibility issues with Windows 10 at the moment.

Tru, Tru

[smeek14]

Tru, Tru

Right. Especially since it is a new operating system.  It should be changed in the future.

[You_are_a_cunt]

Gaming rig? Windows.

Code monkey rig? Linux.

Both? Dual boot (You can actually install Ubuntu from within Windows, for easy removal and such. Just make a partition for Ubuntu, download Wubi and an Ubuntu .iso and follow the instructions on their wiki/site)

[Kodiack]

Gaming on Linux depends on a variety of factors, such as what games you play, what hardware you have, which distribution you choose, and what your expectations are.

 

While gaming on Linux has improved tremendously in the last couple of years alone, it's sadly still a sub-par experience overall. Many developers fail to release particularly optimised games, and AMD's display drivers are notoriously horrendous at times, although they have improved markedly and continue to get better.

 

If gaming is your primary use case, then I must recommend Windows in all good conscience. However, I adore the Linux platform and its community. Seeing how rapidly Linux continues to evolve is really exciting. You should allocate some space on a separate partition for a Linux desktop and play around with it. You'll need to get your hands dirty at times, but it's well worth it. A finely-tuned Linux experience is like no other, plus Linux skills are highly valued by many employers.

[evilarceus]

If you haven't built it yet, you could wait for Windows 10 if you reserved a copy. You can use Ubuntu with most games on Steam.

[Pinguin]

Certainly not most Steam games. Yes, more and more games run on Linux, but there is still no point in using Linux for a gaming rig. A lot of games won't run as good as on Windows or not at all. Windows isn't that expensive and will save you a lot of trouble.

[Burusutazu]

If the games you want have linux support go linux, if not the windows route is better for your uses. I've always found Linux easier to install, but I still have not gone past Ubuntu based systems.

[GoodBytes]

I am building a pc and I do not want to spend a lot. First off if someone could send me a link to a safe cheap windows 8 key. Secondly, windows vs Linux will Linux be fine for gaming vs windows. Will it play games just as well, or is windows worth the money. And how easy is it to navigate and install. Thanks!

Windows will give you the easiest, near guaranty smooth installation and ready to go experience. This is due to the wide variety of hardware manufacture support and software support, and excellent support you can find online for any odd unexpected problems that might occur to you if you are unlucky.

Linux based OS, you have look into which distribution is best for you. Usually, Ubuntu is recommended for new comer, for a Windows-like install and ready to go experience. It is widely supported (for a Linux distro), and you should have no problem. However, if you want support, I would recommend to stick under the Ubuntu support forum. Let's just say that Ubuntu is hated by many in the Linux community as they highly modified Linux experience to achieve this "Windows-like" experience. You'll be quickly told how awful Ubuntu is, and you should use XYZ then, ignoring all upsides of Ubuntu in their bias view.

If you want the other extreme of Ubuntu, where you do a lot of the dirty work, by end up with exactly what you need, then look at Arch Linux. But you need a second system to continuous support as you set it up, and expect to spend a week-end to get something OK running. The advantage is that it will be very lean. Arch Linux is more for advanced, experience Linux users.

In between the 2, you have a wide variety of distros that might seam that it never ends.

So, as you can see, under the "linux-world", distros are everything, and it all varies in different way. Some gives you a more complete package, ready to go, but is bigger, bulkier, heavier, others does the same, but doesn't modify the Linux kernel, others are more server based, others are focusing on cores essentials for weak systems, and so on. And based on the distro you pick, software/game support will go with it. So you have to carefully research the distro you need to get started properly. But as Ubuntu is very popular in the Linux world, it is a "I don't want to break my head today" solution.

It must be noted, in order to have a proper "Linux experience" you need to make sure that all your hardware, and I do mean every little thing is fully Linux supported, for the distro you are looking at. If not, then you may experience performance issues, or loss of power saving features, making your system operate louder, waste more power, generate more heat, and if it is a mobile system, reduce battery life. So this is a very important step to make sure.

As said, under Linux you have to be sure that your game is Linux ready. While they are "run Windows programs on Linux" software like Wine, keep in note that it does a very poor job with many modern game and software. Things might be better with the fact that .NET Core is now open source, but don't expect any progress soon, and that affects only some Windows programs that you try to run under Linux. Games normally don't use .NET library.

If you are a student, you may be able to get Windows for free, legit, from Microsoft. To get it, your school/college/university or the department you are in, needs to be registered to MSDNAA or DreamSpark Premium. Contact your school IT department for more details. Depending on your educational institution, if you are out of the department that offers MSDNAA or DreamSpark Premium, you can request for it, if you are able to give a reason to why you need it for your studies. Contact your IT department of your school to know what you need. Sometimes it is just talking to them directly, or send an e-mail, or fill up a small form.

If you can't be part of DreamSpark Premium or MSDNAA, but you are a student, you can purchase Windows 8.1 Pro for cheap, directly from Microsoft online store (or Microsoft physical store, if you have one near by). http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Windows-8.1-Pro-for-Students/productID.288769600

If you go with Windows, and you are a student, you can get Office 365 subscription for free. That gets you the full Office suit for free for 5 PCs/Mac in your home, AND 5 licenses for your devcies (iOS/Windows Phone/Android), and also get 1TB of OneDrive space. So it is a very compelling offer.. and did I say it was free?

Contact your school IT department to see how to get it.

If you are in a College/ University you search online with Google, for: <your school name> + Office 365, and for sure you'll find a news post form your school on how to get it for free as a student. f not, then probably your school doesn't want to manage it. That is fine, Microsoft take shand to manage it. You can get it here: https://products.office.com/en-us/student/office-in-education

Keep also in mind that Windows 10 is coming out July 29th

Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users gets Windows 10 upgrade for free.

-> Windows 7 Home Premium and lower, and Windows 8.1 users will get Windows 10 Home

-> Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate and Windows 8.1 Pro will get Windows 10 Pro.

I personally believe that Windows is an excellent investment. For ~100$ you have Windows, which you use minimum 3 years, it is robust OS, that give you a good mixture of power, flexibility but ease of use. Easy to get support, and everything works.

Most recent AAA title game is poorly coded, full of bugs and issues, and cost 60$ and many of them have day 1 DLC which you essentially need if you want the whole story, costing you more, just for a couple of hours of work. Even if the game is 80h long, or 200h long, you still use Windows more than that, and it is only ~100$, and if you are a student, you have all these great offers. And if you are a developer, and not a student, then you still get other good offers, like Visual Studio Community for free (that is Visual Studio Professional, for free, if you are an individual or a company will less then 7 (or was it 5?) employees, to build any software you want, including commercial ones)