Which OS to install?

[marcusy20]

Hi there guys, I am just building my very first gaming rig and have ordered up the following components:

EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2048MB GDDR5
Intel 3rd Generation Core i5-3570K CPU (4 x 3.40GHz, Ivy Bridge, Socket 1155, 6Mb L3 Cache, Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0)
RAM 4 x 2gb at 1600mhz DDR3
HDD 1tb at 7200rpm
GIGABYTE GA-Z77-DS3H
Antec Nine Hundred Two V3 Midi Case
OCZ ZS Series / 650W / PSU PC Power Supply

I am unsure as to which OS to install once I have built this rig. I have an MSDN account and have access to all operating systems, including Windows8 Preview. I am not sure about the metro UI with win8, and whether the drivers are any good for my graphics card. I have to keep in mind that I will be getting an SSD in the future, and if i go for windows 8 I will have to re-install windows when it is officially released.

 

[rpg_poser]

Windows 7 is the best all around OS for PC games at this time. XP is good if you need backwards compatibility for old games, but support is just about done for it. I usually don't get into new Microsoft OS's until the 2nd major service pack is released.

 

[Gallarian]

My two cents:

a) Why only 4GB in that high end rig? 8GB would cost only a tiny bit more and will give you some extra head room and future proofing.

b) As for your OS, go Windows 7 64bit. Windows 8 is primarily for touch screens, all-in-one's and tablets. To quote Valve (the makers of steam and various games) - 'Windows 8 will be a catastrophe for gaming'

 

[marcusy20]

kk i'll stick to win7. Gallarian- 4 x 2GB = 8GB

 

[Gallarian]

Ah right! Only saw the 4GB haha

You included a lot of detail for the other components I kinda just skim read the rest 😛

 

[marcusy20]

haha nw this is all new to me, just copied and paste off the sites i bought off of 😛 yeah i saw that thing about Valve, so that gives me a good indication to keep to win7 since i will be playing all my games off of steam! thanks for the help

 

[Gallarian]

Fair enough 😛

No problem mate

 

[jaguarskx]

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit is the best one to go with. There's the Pro and Ultimate versions as well, but most people will not be using the extra features they have to offer.

Windows 8 is not final (to the best of my knowledge) so there may or may not be stability / performance issues with games.