Best OS for gaming

[fatherhudson]

This may sound like a noob question but i've been unable to find a satisfactory answer elsewhere. What's the best operating system for PC gaming right now? How many games will run on windows 7 but not on XP? Can 7 run all the old games made for XP? If anyone knows of a list of games that only work on 7/vista i'd love to see it.

Thanks

 

[WR2]

Hello fatherhudson;
Not all games that ran on XP will run on Windows 7 64bit. You have a slightly better chance with Win7 32bit getting older games to work especially those that used a 16bit installation program which will not run on 64bit Win7 (or 64bit Vista & 64bit WinXP).
Besides the 32bit/64bit divide there are several categories of older games trying to run on Win7. Those that do run fine. Those that can be upgraded or modded to run. Those that can run, but with significant issue or limited functions. And those that won't run.

If you have older games (especially Win95/Win98) games the ideal operating system(s) might be a dual boot setup where you can choose to run Win7 32bit or choose WinXP 32bit.
winXP & Win7 Dual Boot setup: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html

To know which games will run, or can be made to run, or won't work on Win7 the best guide is the Windows 7 Comparability Center.
There is a section for Games and it breaks them down by category and details the compatibility, any issues and/or problems.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/Default.aspx?type=Software

 

[fatherhudson]

Thanks, that site is really helpful. still have one more question though: what games will only run on vista/windows 7 and not on xp?

 

[clarkjd]

Any games that require directx10 or 11 will not be compatible with XP.

 

[WR2]

The only one I know for certain is Just Cause 2.
I'm sure there are others, plus a whole slew of new games out soon or in development that might not have XP support.
It's uncertain you'll be able to get WinXP driver support for the hardware in development.

 

[LordConrad]

I think Windows 7 32-bit is best for maximum compatibility. It can play newer DirectX 10 and 11 games, but still works with most older 32-bit and 16-bit software.

 

[fatherhudson]

'nother noob question: whats the noticeable difference between win 7 32bit and 64bit? I remember trying out xp 64 back in the day and the only difference i could see was that it was a pain in the ass finding drivers if i could find them at all. And one more question: does anyone know of any games other than Just Cause 2 that require win 7/vista or dx10 and above?

Thanks for all the advice

 

[WR2]

A 32bit OS can only handle an address space of 4GB. Since some address space must be reserved for hardware addressing if you have 4GB or more RAM installed the 32bit OS will only be able to use a bit more than 3GB of RAM - usually in the ~3.5GB range, depending on what hardware you have, especially the video card.

They're out there. Stormrise first DX10 only game - Interview with Lead Designer
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,677895/Stormrise-first-DX10-only-game-Interview-with-Lead-Designer/News/
Battlefield 3 is another: http://wccftech.com/2010/12/31/ba/

Many DX10/DX11 games will run on WinXP, just with reduced graphics options and sometimes with less than maximum performance in some cases.

 

[fatherhudson]

Thanks for all the help everyone

 

[fatherhudson]

Best answer selected by fatherhudson.

 

[n9zn]

I am curious if anyone tried the down loadable Windows XP mode designed to run in virtual PC. I have installed this and it comes up looking exactly like windows XP but I have not tried using it for gaming as of yet.

XP mode is very easy to switch back and forth to within windows 7 however I believe it only works with Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions.

The downloads can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

 

[jitpublisher]

There is no reason not to be running a 64 bit OS. If the game will run under windows 7 32 bit, it will run under Windows 7 64 bit. There is a misconception that 32 bit or 16 bit software will not run on a 64 bit OS, this is not true, it will run just fine. The problem is with the newer Windows kernel it's self, and some programs that work under XP will not run under Windows 7, but it has nothing to do with it being 64 bit. And there is always XP compatability mode you can use.

 

[fatherhudson]

There is no reason not to be running a 64 bit OS. If the game will run under windows 7 32 bit, it will run under Windows 7 64 bit. There is a misconception that 32 bit or 16 bit software will not run on a 64 bit OS, this is not true, it will run just fine. The problem is with the newer Windows kernel it's self, and some programs that work under XP will not run under Windows 7, but it has nothing to do with it being 64 bit. And there is always XP compatability mode you can use.

That's actually not true, at least if we go by what the windows compatibility center site says ( http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/ ). For example: according to the site Bioshock 2 will run on windows 7 32-bit but will not run on 64-bit. There are about 10 other games listed that run on 32 bit but not 64. Most of them are games i would probably never play but bioshock 2?! that sucks.

If anyone has had a different experience, specifically anyone that's gotten bioshock 2 to run on windows 7 64 bit it'd be happy to hear it. Also, does anyone have an answer for n9zn?

 

[affroman112]

I played Bioshock 2 on 64 bit windows 7. That list is not entirely accurate. The only game that i tried that didn't work for me was No One Lives Forever 1, number 2 worked fine.

 

[Zoron]

I tried Command and Conquer 3... the installer complains about it being 64-bit Windows, but once you've downloaded and applied all the patches, the game runs perfectly fine. Since Bioshock 2 is much newer, I really have to wonder about the accuracy of that list.

 

[seller417]

I have heard that games will play better with Windows 7 Ultimate than with Windows 7 Home. Is this the case? How about Windows 7 pro? I do not want to spend over $200 on an OS if i can avoid it. I'll go with Pro if it would make a difference.

 

[Zoron]

There is no difference in performance among the different versions. The ONLY thing Ultimate provides that the others don't is Bitlocker encryption. Not worth the extra money.

 

[fatherhudson]

There is no difference in performance among the different versions. The ONLY thing Ultimate provides that the others don't is Bitlocker encryption. Not worth the extra money.

so whats bitlocker encryption?

 

[clarkjd]

Bitlocker encrypts everything on your hard drive so if someone stole your computer they would not be able to read anyof your data without the password.