Windows 8 Versus Windows 7: Game Performance, Benchmarked

Page 7 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Hardware community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Status
Not open for further replies.

_Cosmin_

Distinguished
Jan 19, 2006
424
9
18,865
USELESS !

They test how the new OS behave on very high end system! There will be little difference there, but just try to test average 3year old computers (or at least on a system that is at minimal system requirements)!
For your information the same was with Vista / Windows 7 and on old computers where Vista struggles - windows 7 works flawlessly (of course that high end computers wont see the difference)!
 
[citation][nom]Avus[/nom]Get Windows 8 if you want a full screen start menu (aka Metro)... That's all about it...[/citation]

That makes no sense. If you want Metro, then you can simply get it through a third party program if you already have Windows XP, Vista, or 7 just as easily as you can get a legacy start menu in Windows 8 through other third party programs.
 
G

Guest

Guest
So you tested some recent games but what about 10 year old games or even older. DX7/DX8 and DX9 games. Do they work on new system? I have really large catalog of games on my steam account and I don't want to end up not to be able play them when I switch to newer OS. I hoped to see that kind of testing more than performance testing.
 
[citation][nom]Saintbrox[/nom]So you tested some recent games but what about 10 year old games or even older. DX7/DX8 and DX9 games. Do they work on new system? I have really large catalog of games on my steam account and I don't want to end up not to be able play them when I switch to newer OS. I hoped to see that kind of testing more than performance testing.[/citation]

What you ask for is irrelevant for this article. This is a performance comparison article and that is the point of it. It's not fair to be disappointed in an article for not covering a whole other topic than what it is meant for. What you might want to do is ask Tom's to do a different article on the subject that you're talking about.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Microsoft should have made Windows 8 for tablets/touch screen only! I know it's mainly geared for tablets/touch screen, but having Windows 8 available for traditional PC's isn't the best because the whole interface is simply built for tablets/touch screens.
Two things Microsoft could have done...
1. Windows 8 roll out = tablet/touch screen specific, and an improved Windows 7 service pack roll out.
or
2. Windows 8 (tablet/touch screen edition), and Windows 8 (desktop/notebook edition), with the main difference of the Start menu crap.

But I guess Microsoft did what they did to follow and compete with Apple's "Average joe-User-friendly" approach to the consumer electronic market.
Now enthusiasts will have to tinker around with Linux if they're looking for that geeky style computing.

End of the day, I'm keeping and holding on to my Windows 7 Ultimate!
 

unknown9122

Honorable
Jun 2, 2012
136
0
10,680
People have to understand that at some point, game developers are gonna test their games and optimise it for the latest and greatest Windows 8. So at this point, apps are optimised for windows 7, but in a year or 2, as drivers and software evolve for the new OS, we will see more optimization. I think it is bold of MS to push a touchscreen platform through, but I still think it isnt time for that just yet and they should have made a refined Windows 7 with all the great improvements in Win 8 like the new task manager, but with a flat metro interface and a start menu for the desktop, and a seperate version for the tablet. they are too ambitious and it is taking over patience.
 
[citation][nom]pcuser2[/nom]Microsoft should have made Windows 8 for tablets/touch screen only! I know it's mainly geared for tablets/touch screen, but having Windows 8 available for traditional PC's isn't the best because the whole interface is simply built for tablets/touch screens. Two things Microsoft could have done...1. Windows 8 roll out = tablet/touch screen specific, and an improved Windows 7 service pack roll out.or2. Windows 8 (tablet/touch screen edition), and Windows 8 (desktop/notebook edition), with the main difference of the Start menu crap.But I guess Microsoft did what they did to follow and compete with Apple's "Average joe-User-friendly" approach to the consumer electronic market. Now enthusiasts will have to tinker around with Linux if they're looking for that geeky style computing.End of the day, I'm keeping and holding on to my Windows 7 Ultimate![/citation]

Why should MS have done anything like that? The whole interface most certainly is not built just for tablets and other touch screens. The Windows 8 desktop, with the exception of the missing start button and menu by default (which takes less than two minutes to get back if you want it anyway), is pretty much identical to the Windows 7 desktop. If you don't like Metro, then simply don't use it. However, Metro is not the OS no matter how much you want to treat it as such.

If you want Windows 7 with the Windows 8 improvements, then get Windows 8 and don't use Metro. It's that simple. There's no reason to get Linux right now unless you specifically want to.

Besides, name one thing that you can do in 7 with the start menu and such that you can't do in Windows 8. Looking at my start menu, there's nothing that is not available in Windows 8 to be used in the same amount of time and even if there was, I'd simply use Classic Shell or another such program to get a start menu in Windows 8 and there, problem solved.

If you already have Windows 7, then I see no reason to upgrade to 8, but I'd say the same so long as any OS tyhat you have suits your needs. Upgrading an OS is rarely important. For example, nothing newer than XP SP3 is generally worth upgrading, if even XP SP3. However, that doesn't make Windows 8 a bad OS, it's just another OS. When has there ever been a particularly important reason to upgrade your OS unless you're running something that's ancient? At least with Windows, there hasn't been such a *need* in less than a decade as far as I'm aware unless you count XP x64.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Thank you for this 13 page mega expose. May your dropdown page selector never change, and god bless all of you.
 

Christopher1

Distinguished
Aug 29, 2006
666
3
19,015
Try playing Batman: Arkham ASYLUM on Windows 8 and ask that question. I am very pro-Windows 8, but the idiots never fixed the GFWL thing with older games like Arkham Asylum.

I still cannot save while playing Arkham Asylum on Windows 8 because the GFWL overlay doesn't properly work.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Hating on windows 8 without trying it shows just how many people are nothing but mindless sheep.

Win8 is easily, far and away, the best OS ever released by microsoft.
 

Oli999

Honorable
Nov 2, 2012
12
0
10,510
These bench marking test are all well and good but the main problem with windows 8 is older games that don't work at all.
 

twelch82

Distinguished
Dec 8, 2011
182
0
18,680
Gabe was not talking about performance. It's about Microsoft trying to take over more of the Windows pie. Previously, they were content to just provide you with the operating system, and you basically had the freedom to get everything else however you wanted.

With Windows 8, they've shown they are trying to move toward a model where the hardware is locked down and can only run Windows 8, MS is the only source for Windows apps (via the Windows store), and eventually when the app support is there, in some future version of Windows they'd like to get rid of the traditional desktop interface entirely in favor of Metro.

That's what you can read between the lines about Windows 8. I don't think that's actually going to happen though, because I think that the customer response to Windows 8 is going to cause them to reconsider their course for Windows 9. People who don't mind having one company carefully control everything about the platform probably already have a Mac, and they're not going to switch regardless. PC users are a different breed, and they are not going to quietly accept Windows turning into a Mac clone.
 

marokas

Honorable
Dec 3, 2012
1
0
10,510
I'm using Win 8 and I don't find any disadvantages. I got used to new interface really quick and then you understand it, it's better that Win 7. Win 8 improved multiple monitor support, that is big plus for user like me. In my opinion Windows 8 in just a little better, but maybe in future we will see more futures. If you like Win 7 - use them, you won't lose anything "big" like changing from vista to Win 7.
 

szalkerous

Distinguished
Jul 14, 2006
21
0
18,510
[citation][nom]spookyman[/nom]Microsoft is not that stupid. Outside Development is what drives Windows. There will always be third party apps and other things avail outside of the Microsoft App store.[/citation]

You say this now....

Microsoft sees the licensing fees that Apple pulls in because of their app stores, Rumor already has it the Mac is going to go "walled garden" as well... What is stopping Microsoft from doing the same and cashing in like Apple does?

But they're not stupid. To force this all at once would alienate their demographic. It will be a slow, sneaking process..... The store already exists in Windows 8. Who's to say every Service Pack doesn't tighten the grip a little more?

No thanks.
 

fvargase

Honorable
Dec 16, 2012
5
0
10,510
Hello Don, and thak you very much for your review, it was really interesting.
I think that it was not possible to see a significant change on the performance of the games between win7 and win8 OS because the hardware that you used is really powerful.
What can you tell us of the performance between OS on a less powerful computer, like a laptop?
what do you think of a laptop with a dual coreCPU i5 with 2.4 GHz, 8Gb of memory and a mobility Radeon HD with 512 MB of memory?
Do you think that we could see a better performance on a computer like that with the new OS win8?

I think that many people will be happy if you could help with this question.
 

cleeve

Illustrious
[citation][nom]fvargase[/nom]Hello Don, and thak you very much for your review, it was really interesting.I think that it was not possible to see a significant change on the performance of the games between win7 and win8 OS because the hardware that you used is really powerful.[/citation]

Hi Fvargase,

Well, if there was a different load you'd see a difference with high-end hardware, just on a smaller scale. Since most differences were within the margin of error I don't think there's a lot more to see here.
 

Alex Atkin UK

Distinguished
Jun 11, 2012
51
2
18,545
So, it seems that Windows 8 has no immediate value at all for gamers.

I upgraded my relatively low powered convertible laptop to Windows 8 and have only seen negatives since doing so.

At first the WiFi was unreliable, a windows update seems to have fixed that recently, but the supposed power management improvements do not seem to do anything for me. If anything, I find the battery life is worse than it was on Windows 7, at best its identical.

Boot time is no better, as I am using an SSD. If anything its quicker with hybrid boot off rather than on, but no faster than Windows 7.

The only compelling feature for me is Xbox Live, as I am one of the few people who LIKED Game for Windows Live functionality. However as I suspect games will remain far cheaper on Steam to Windows Store anyway, its not likely to be worth it unless Steam versions also support the Windows 8 exclusive functionality.

Now if they had done cross-buy like the PS3/Vita, where the games I already own on Xbox (eg Pinball FX 2) I get for free on PC, that would be different. I would upgrade to Windows 8 in a heartbeat for that.

Overall it just seems Windows 8 is a bunch of missed opportunities.
 
G

Guest

Guest
My problem with my Windows 8 is the constant restarts while ingame and it seems there is no way around it :|
 

Alex Atkin UK

Distinguished
Jun 11, 2012
51
2
18,545
Not seen that, other than the usual Windows Update trying to apply updates in the middle of a game and restarting.

That has been an issue on Windows since Vista, maybe even XP, where you have to set it to manual updates which is less than ideal. I wish Microsoft would have a semi-automatic setting where it always downloads all updates but only applies them on shutdown.
 

Tanquen

Distinguished
Oct 20, 2008
256
8
18,785
WHAT ABOUT XP?

I have a dual boot with 7 and XP and there are still many new games that play or start faster, crash less in XP. I know it's old and I can only use 3.5GB of my 64GB but it's just so sad that this long after Vista and Windows 7 and now Windows 8 that games still seem to work better on XP.

And for the most part DX10 and DX11 games are still a joke. A lot of venders are still using DX9 and mostly what you get for that in Vista, Windows 7 & 8 is a performance drop and or compatibility issues.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.