So I suspect I have some minor OCD issues as after posting in this thread I started thinking about installing win8 at home ... and the idea became a broken record in my head and the only way to appease it was to try it out
So friday did a CLEAN install since upgrade seemed foolish. I will outline the results below. However I ended up putting win7 back on because I could not get Skyrim to run ... and it is the only game I playing now so was kinda pointless having a great gaming rig where I couldn't even play my current game. Will explain after my summary.
PROS:
- Smoothest install for an OS I ever have done. Not only did everything run out of the box (except skyrim) but it properly found all the drivers for all my hardware - something windows 7 couldn't do and I had to have drivers on disk for. It also found updates for my video and sound drivers that matched. I popped in the DVD, ran set up, selected some options and I was ready to go in about 45 minutes (not counting patches afterwards).
- Fast. Boot up times was incredibly fast compared to windows 7. Most programs also started much faster. Photoshop, Adobe Pro, Dreamweaver CS6, full Office - all ran quickly and smoothly.
- Customizable once you find your way around. There is an app to make a "start" menu if you really want it. I just created my own toolbar instead. Ignoring metro I just worked on the desktop.
CONS:
- metro aspects a waste on a PC
- couldn't run Skyrim
Skyrim:
So not sure what the issue is but I suspect it had to do with skyrim being more Dx9 focused then Dx11. Win7 has better Dx9 support then Win8 is my guess based on some web browsing. When I first loaded up skyrim I got an error about a missing DLL file. Searching on it I found it was a Dx one and so I installed the DirectX drivers from MS.
That semi-solved the issue. I was, an hour later, able to run Skyrim VANILLA and ONLY in window mode - which is not very immersive (like watching a movie in a window on your PC versus full screen).
Most mods were okay. However the second I enabled either SKSE or ENB I would get a CTD as soon as I got to the main menu in Skyrim ... which is when they load. Disable them and things would run. I suspect it has to do with the fact that they use DLL files.
Some quick searching gave mixed results - some folks said they had problems with SKSE on win8 and other said it worked fine.
Regardless being in IT for most of my life I knew two things 1) Given enough time, research and fiddling I could probably solve all the problems. 2) The time it would take to do so could be anywhere from a lucky web search and a quick fix to weeks of frustration trying tons of solutions.
I spent 90 minutes (was close to midnight at this point and I had been up for 20 hours) searching and all I found was mixed information. So I said screw it, put win7 in, started setup and went to bed.
So staying on Win7 until I am sick of Skyrim
Maybe try again this spring, especially if I can find out how to get SKyrim with all its mods, ENB and SKSE aspects working smoothly, and in full screen mode.