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[garath]

What would be nice is if they offered a significant discount to get people to upgrade. Paying $120+ for an OS sucks when you already have a perfectly functional one.

Over the long run, they'd save more money not having to support legacy systems than they would pushing the full priced OS to get people to upgrade.

 

[CentroXer]

In which games is this the case?

I can't find benchmarks that show a clear advantage for 8.1

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Windows 10 will be the next great version of Windows, so all is good.

 

[Painguy]

There is nothing wrong with windows 8. Its exactly the same. Just press the windows button to switch between metro and desktop. Its that easy.

 

[Syphon Filter]

Very minor difference there. It also depends on the game,some have the exact same like the other poster noted.

 

[Bsigg12]

What would be nice is if they offered a significant discount to get people to upgrade. Paying $120+ for an OS sucks when you already have a perfectly functional one.

Over the long run, they'd save more money not having to support legacy systems than they would pushing the full priced OS to get people to upgrade.

It was like $40 to upgrade to 8 when that came out. I sort of expect the same thing for a limited time for 10.

 

[Guri]

By the time DirectX 12 is officially released, Windows 7 will be 6 years old. I'm sorry, I understand why many of you still want to use it for a while, but the same complaints we had back in the XP era that MS was taking a while to update the systems are the reason why I believe it's a good choice now. Very different from the decision of making DirectX 10 exclusive to Vista because it was a bad system. But Windows 8 is really good and W10 is getting great first impressions so far. Focusing on more modern systems will make DirectX 12 better in terms of technology.

 

[garath]

In which games is this the case?

I can't find benchmarks that show a clear advantage for 8.1

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/11/24/battlefield_4_windows_7_vs_81_performance_review/

Conclusion page says it all:

Is there a performance advantage in Windows 8.1 versus Windows 7 for BF4? The answer is, "Yes." We consistently found that under Windows 8.1 BF4 performed faster than Windows 7 on both AMD and NVIDIA hardware. Both GPUs, from both vendors, had a consistent performance advantage in every test we performed. More importantly, in the real-world multiplayer gaming session that matters, there was a performance advantage.

Are there gameplay experience advantages under Windows 8.1 versus Windows 7 in BF4? The answer is a, "Big YES."

Under Windows 7, we experienced choppiness as we played. This was felt both in the "Test Range" map, and in multiplayer gaming sessions. The choppiness was more pronounced on the GeForce GTX 780. We could get on a straight path, in the "Test Range" and move down a straight road. As we did this, there would be a pause, or chop, in the frames randomly. It was like the game was hitching for no reason. This happened more on the GTX 780. This is under Windows 7.

When we tried this on Windows 8.1 the pausing, or hitching, or chop (however you want to describe it) was completely gone. Moving was smoother with no hitching in the game on the GTX 780. This affected both the test range and the multiplayer gaming session.

Therefore, the gameplay experience advantage under Windows 8.1 is a smoother gameplay experience in BF4 on both video cards.

 

[zma1013]

Wait, am I missing something? Did they skip Windows 9?

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Or devs, in that case.


At least, not in a meaningful capacity, or for a while.

 

[Bsigg12]

Wait, am I missing something? Did they skip Windows 9?

In terms of naming, yes. Windows 10 is the new OS coming out next year.

 

[LeleSocho]

I can't tell if you're pulling my leg here. The translucent GUI was worst decision to hit the Windows interface.

I'm serious.
I really think that Win7's GUI is the best even if you compare it to most modern stuff like iOS7 (which is really close in terms of beauty) and Yosemite, i think all computer should look like W7 sincerely.

 

[Qassim]

Wait, am I missing something? Did they skip Windows 9?

Yes

 

[CentroXer]

Very minor difference there. It also depends on the game,some have the exact same like the other poster noted.

I wouldnt call free 5-8 fps minor.

also, Win 8.1 has better SSD support.

 

[garath]

It was like $40 to upgrade to 8 when that came out. I sort of expect the same thing for a limited time for 10.

That would be great. I hope they do something similar again. Else I'll probably be rolling reddit for a cheap shady key.

 

[Visualante2]

Or devs, in that case.


At least, not in a meaningful capacity, or for a while.

You'll get some token effects as a result of those Nvidia/AMD partnerships. But it's unlikely to be very meaningful sadly.

 

[shacklesmcgee]

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/11/24/battlefield_4_windows_7_vs_81_performance_review/

Conclusion page says it all:

The conclusion says there is an increase for Battlefield 4, nothing else. The graph shows no significant increase for Metro Last Light, Thief and Hitman so that doesn't say much.

 

[MadGear]

But Mantle being a crossplatform solution is just bullshit.
It's specifically written to support an AMD chipset and what AMD actually means with that claim is more or less "Oh, you know, we'll release some code so if you want you can take it as a track and write your own Mantle-inspired API.

So its just the interface specification that is open but they wont share the implementation? Never read much into it but yeah, thats shitty.
Still, Nvidia wouldn't support it either way just like they wont support FreeSync (don't know if the situation there is similar).

 

[coughlanio]

7 is better than 8 for gamers. w8 is cancerous if you want to play a lot of games from different years.

And XP is better than 7 for older games.

I play plenty of old games on 8.1 just fine.

 

[Quixz]

We still had a lot of XP machines at my work place till they ended support earlier this year. They're in a hurry to kill 7 and I can understand why.

 

[coughlanio]

That would be great. I hope they do something similar again. Else I'll probably be rolling reddit for a cheap shady key.

If Windows 10 isn't free (as an upgrade), I'll eat my hat.

I have an MSDN account, so I'm guaranteed it for free, but in this day and age, Microsoft can't charge for something that's essentially an incremental upgrade. Now that OSX upgrades are free, I'd be very surprised if Microsoft doesn't go down the same route.

EDIT: Added 'as an upgrade'

 

[D3RANG3D]

With Mantle being an open and (soon to be) "crossplatform" solution i wish Nvidia would stop being butthurt about everything AMD does and simply start supporting it. Rather they choose to wait more than a year for something that could be achieved today but isn't done by AMD.

Mantle is a thing because AMD cannot into making drivers so their solution is mantle, I mean it's telling when an Intel I3 and a Nvidia 750 GTX TI can run games better than the PS4.

 

[Squishy3]

Windows 10 better be out by the time people start using DirectX 12, then.

 

[CentroXer]

And XP is better than 7 for older games.

I play plenty of old games on 8.1 just fine.

yes maybe some people missed that there are compability settings.

 

[massoluk]

Wait, am I missing something? Did they skip Windows 9?

In the same way that they skipped Xbox 2, 3, 4, 5... 359 then magically went back to One.

 

[CentroXer]

Mantle is a thing because AMD cannot into making drivers so their solution is mantle, I mean it's telling when an Intel I3 and a Nvidia 750 GTX TI can run games better than the PS4.

Mantle is a thing for AMD because Nvidia turned down the idea. DICE pitched Mantle to Nvidia before AMD, but only AMD showed interest in it.

 

[garath]

The conclusion says there is an increase for Battlefield 4, nothing else. The graph shows no significant increase for Metro Last Light, Thief and Hitman so that doesn't say much.

Yup, at the time it was just BF4. That article was a year ago. I don't know if anyone has benched Win7 vs Win8.1 since then to be honest. Thief, Hitman and Metro aren't exactly cutting edge games anymore. I'd be curious to see if the next round - Unity, GTAV, Mordor, Dragon Age, Witcher 3 have 8.1 improvements. Given they are all DX11 games, I'd venture they might.

Either way, to the original post of this quote train who claimed Win 7 was better for gaming, it's just untrue today. At best, it's equal to Win 8.1. In some cases it's worse.

 

[KePoW]

Actually I'm surprised Windows 8.1 has even 22%

That's higher than I would have thought

 

[Leafhopper]

What does that mean? No more security updates in 2 months?

Nah, just means no new features as other posters have said. I think security updates are until 2020.

 

[CharmingCharlie]

Yup Microsoft being Microsoft. Looks like I will be locked out of Directx 12 then since I was unimpressed with win 8 and Win "10" isn't really floating my boat either. Depending on adoption rates for windows 8 and "10" this could really hurt Directx 12's implementation with people choosing to stay with legacy systems. But hey who at Microsoft gives a fuck they aren't exactly fans of PC gaming no matter how much the keep bleating and promising bullshit.

 

[ashecitism]

I was hoping I could transition from Windows 7 to Steam OS eventually. I would love to get out of Microsoft products entirely. Not looking good at the moment. Maybe in another year or two things will change.

That's not going to happen anytime soon yeah.

 

[Momentary]

I wasn't planning on putting 7 in my next build anyways. Sucks for those who refuse to leave the OS.

 

[KePoW]

Also I hate to pull the cheapskate criticism... but can some of you explain the following:

Why exactly are you opposed to paying $100 -- *given the fact the OS is by far the most important (and complex) piece of software on your computer, and it lasts several years*

You really think it's unreasonable to pay 100 bucks every 5 or 6 years for the most used software on your system??

 

[Mohasus]

Windows 7 is better than 8 for gaming because there are framerate issues for older titles on the same exact machine. For example i can get 60 fps or more for UT 99 on the same machine with w7 and if i am on w8 with the same machine then its 30 or lower. It has been a huge issue that they never fixed for some reason.

Hm.

 

[Syphon Filter]

Hm.

You have it windowed,now try full screen ; )

 

[martino]

isn't the one api going to update to something that is pretty much directx12 ?
If yes it can force it even on pc.

 

[PanicFreak]

It was like $40 to upgrade to 8 when that came out. I sort of expect the same thing for a limited time for 10.

It's free for people with Windows 8.

Edit: I couldn't find a source so I could be wrong. I thought I read that somewhere.

 

[batteryLeakage]

Developers should follow Epic's lead and implement an OpenGL renderer for users of older Windows OSes. Those with Win10 could use D3D12 and Win7/XP could go OpenGL with all the modern DSA functionality and get a similar experience.

I was hoping I could transition from Windows 7 to Steam OS eventually. I would love to get out of Microsoft products entirely. Not looking good at the moment. Maybe in another year or two things will change.

Valve isn't really focusing on the desktop market with SteamOS but rather optimizing for the '10 ft' living room experience. There are a lot of great Linux distros that play the the same games just fine though. I don't really understand the mentality of "I would use Linux but games" though. You can always dual-boot and have both.

 

[SpecialAgentZ]

I don't get the hate for Windows 8.1...
I was on the bandwagon of the "wtf is that thing" until I tried it. It's basically Windows 7 with Metro UI.

That's the problem. Tried, hate it. Tried again and hated even more.
I don't like it, I'm not alone while disliking it and I don't want to crap on my system by installing mods to make it look like Win 7 if I can just keep using Win 7.

Thank Microgods Win 10 looks like a true sucessor for Win 7.

It's free for people with Windows 8.

That's really nice. I still have my Win 8.1 Pro license key.

 

[Mohasus]

You have it windowed,now try full screen ; )

Still 60fps.

 

[astraycat]

Mantle is a thing because AMD cannot into making drivers so their solution is mantle, I mean it's telling when an Intel I3 and a Nvidia 750 GTX TI can run games better than the PS4.

Not running better than the PS4 with that setup has anything to do with Mantle. The ICE team works on the GPU driver for the PS4, not AMD.

 

[MrCunningham]

Still the same. You probably chose the wrong 3D device at startup. I had to click Show all devices and choose OpenGL (this also happens in W7).

Yeah the framerate is buggered up for Direct X rendering in the original UT99 under Windows 7. I remember having framerate issues with it too. Switching to OpenGL does solve it though, and there are a few fan made patches that patch in DX10/11 rendering out there.

 

[Kayant]

Expected but what about DX11.3? At least with that Windows 7 users could get the new features expect the optimisation relating better to multi-core rendering.

 

[Nzyme32]

Thoroughly expected, but a nuisance none the less. I think it is likely that I will end up having to get Windows 10, so I hope it is a hell of a lot more usable than Windows 8.

I was hoping I could transition from Windows 7 to Steam OS eventually. I would love to get out of Microsoft products entirely. Not looking good at the moment. Maybe in another year or two things will change.

I'd guess that it will take at least 2 or 3 years for it to develop enough to be a good move. There is still much to be understood about where they want to take the OS in future. I hope it is something that is more viable eventually considering my PC is mostly just for gaming these days.

 

[krizzx]

I got a free copy of windows 8, but I refuse to use it. It provides no benefits over 7 as far as I can see, and makes things annoyingly more problematic.

 

[Syphon Filter]

Still 60fps.

Are you running it using directx or opengl?

 

[ArmsOfSorrow]

I'm fine with that.

 

[Occam]

Microsoft. I expected nothing else. It's their usual m.o.: Creating incompatibility in their old systems by arbitrarily not incorporating newer drivers and file types, thereby periodically forcing everyone to buy new versions of their OS and Office software.

I am using Microsoft's software as rarely as possible for this reason and introduce others to Libre Office and Ubuntu (or Debian) whenever I can. Hopefully Valve's Steam OS will make more people give Linux a chance. It's an awesome and liberating feeling no longer having to pay the Microsoft tax. Give it a try.

 

[Occam]

I'm fine with that.

Of course you are.

 

[PGamer]

It's free for people with Windows 8.

Source? As far as I know they have not said that.