Windows 7 or 8?

Pokecix

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Thinking of getting a Gaming Computer and not sure which is best for gaming.
I dont really care about price since i care about performance at most
I know Windows 7 is very known and with lots of tweaks

Which is best for gaming?IS there a big difference?
 

FAST6191

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Windows 8 is set to be the only one to get DirectX11.1 http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/1...dows-8-is-microsoft-forcing-gamers-to-upgrade
How much that will trouble things remains to be seen- DX11.1 is not a great leap from straight DX11 and though DX9 stuck around for ages it was probably because the PS3 and 360 were limited to hardware that would otherwise be DX9 hardware, I am still inclined to thank vista for failing a bit there.

On the flip side there have been a few issues with 8 compared to 7, however I am more inclined to call initial teething issues and driver companies and MS and those that like to tweak operating systems will certainly jump to it.

Basically if you are buying a machine then unless you especially need the features of a better version of windows (and that amounts to domain joining and RDP clients** being things not easily replicated otherwise) I would not worry whether it still comes with 7 or comes with 8*. Either way I would probably opt for the 64 bit versions though.

* Classic Start is great ( http://www.classicshell.net/ ), it is an option for https://ninite.com/ too.

** VNC in various forms works fine, RDP is quite useful if you have to do things on a LAN though.
 

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There's no denying that Windows 8 is slightly faster than Windows 7.
The metro ui doesn't shove itself into your face and it's pretty good once you get used to it, which only should take less than a week.
 

Pokecix

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Thanks for all replies!
Not sure whats the big difference between 7 and 8 except that fancy Metro UI
Are all the programs/games compitable with it?I started to play old games these days and it wont work on my computer mostly.
And there is a selection of Win8 when buying my new PC which is an Alienware
And like Firegrey said if Win8 is faster than 7 why should i get 7?
Sorry for all the questions lol im still at learning stage :P
 

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It has same compatibility with programs and the UI doesn't effect gaming...

Though some hardware drivers are flaky on 8 compared to 7. I never had any issues at all with Windows 7, not sure what people are complaining about. Windows 8 isn't that bad, nothing can ever be as bad as Windows Mistake Edition of Vista were. It's nice having an MSDN license to get free stuff.
 
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raulpica

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I'm using Windows 8 right now and it feels snappier and faster with Windows 8.

Rocking it since almost one month and I haven't had a SINGLE issue, when compared with Windows 7.

Everything that is made to work on Windows 7 will also work on 8. Don't listen to the naysayers, there's no reason to choose an old operating system over the new thing.
 

FAST6191

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7 vs 8 other the the UI which is easily reverted or tweaked either way the only difference I really care to note at this point is the DX11.1 being windows 8 exclusive thing but again I am not sure that will matter for many years yet.

Faster is fairly subjective and varies wildly between what is a cooked test, what is a test that only matters in a lab, what is the fault of drivers (either being badly written and crashing but maybe gaining a few extra FPS here and there* or being unoptimised seeing a loss of them) and there is always the "what is it like on a machine after 6 months of general use (after you have installed all your printer stuff, added stuff for your phone and watched the drive fragment up a treat).

*for my money this is all games graphics cards but CAD graphics cards and their drivers, which are designed for stability, are not that good for games so stick with the games stuff.

By and large the 64 bit versions of windows dropped the 16 bit subsystems but most people had been on dosbox or actual vintage machines for old games for years now anyway, many DOS era games you might want to play have been remade/had source code released.
For the "post dos" stuff it always fun to try to get working as game coders have some very interesting ideas and newer versions of windows are trying their best to be half secure and streamline their coding/processes. Granted other coders have some very interesting ideas as well but games are not immune. Still dosbox, Windows' own backwards compatibility options, various implementations of WINE and co do well and I reckon virtual machines might soon be there as far as 3d goes (as it stands it is at the "give it a go" stage, especially if it is a not an old FPS/twitch game).
Equally it is always worth checking forums and developer websites to see if people have released patches, workarounds.
The short version of that is - windows 7, windows 8, windows vista or possibly even windows XP - you are equally screwed either way when it comes to the older games but you can usually get around it if you try.
 
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Isnt 8 essentially 7 with features from Windows RT added in? I mean, most things that work on 7 work fine on 8 the only really annoying thing about Win8 is Winkey doesnt let you tab out. Oh and on some PCs, if you start up in UFEI mode the OS cant shut down the computer.
 

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How much that will trouble things remains to be seen- DX11.1 is not a great leap from straight DX11 and though DX9 stuck around for ages it was probably because the PS3 and 360 were limited to hardware that would otherwise be DX9 hardware, I am still inclined to thank vista for failing a bit there.
I'd cite the lack of demand as the big thing. Even games that were "DX10" actually ran on a DX9 engine with optional DX10 shaders on top for a while there before games started splitting into DX9 and DX10 binaries (and then finally just devving for Dx10). I remember Crysis was supposed to be a DX10 flagship title, but then people found out they could force the DX10 options on anyways and called DX10 fake and stuff (without actually checking to see if the effects were enabled in-game, which of course they weren't due to lacking hardware).

It has same compatibility with programs and the UI doesn't effect gaming...
Depends on the programs. Programs that run in usermode only work fine, but programs that interface with windows itself (DRM, debuggers, etc.) are hitting issues and need to make changes to account for it (like they would for any OS change). The question with this category of programs is how long it's taking these things to update. Some are hobbyist programs and so won't update until the dev actually has a Windows 8 machine to build on, some are by big corporations that refuse to pay devs enough (and give them enough time) to change the program (Korean MMOs are guilty of this, still using Windows 98 file writing guidelines), etc.

Everything that is made to work on Windows 7 will also work on 8.
This post is an important distinction, pay attention to Raul's wording. "Made to work on Windows 7" is not the same thing as "it still works on 7" (Korean MMOs again being the big easy example, what with installing to C:\whatever\ and doing whatever they feel they need to).

By and large the 64 bit versions of windows dropped the 16 bit subsystems but most people had been on dosbox or actual vintage machines for old games for years now anyway, many DOS era games you might want to play have been remade/had source code released.
And if you're lucky sometimes just the installer is 16-bit and you can just extract the game files and run it.
 

ov3rkill

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If you already have windows 7, just stick with it. No need to upgrade to Win 8. If you don't have a windows OS yet, go get windows 8 since basically it's newer and has the same compatibility with windows 7. This is of course considering your hardware is windows 8 compatible.
 

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AFAIK, Windows 8, 7, and even Vista use the same drivers. So hardware shouldn't be an issue.
Windows 8, outside of gaming, feels much quicker and more responsive compared to Windows 7 (the UI is subjective, personally I like 8 better than 7. Either way, there are ways of reverting it). Gaming-wise though, you won't see much of a difference between the two.
 

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I'd get windows 8, i've recently upgraded to 8 and it took a week or so to get used to the new ui, but its great now i'm used to it.
I've also been getting old games running and the only probs i've had are old games with 16-bit installers and i've got around that, so no major compatibililty problems i've come across. Also the DirectX 11.1 stuff and that in the long term, 8 will be supported for longer than 7.
Stick with the newest version of windows i say.
 

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