Should I go with Win 8 for my new upgrade?

I was going to start a new thread about Windows 8, but I figured I'd just necro this one instead.

Since I'm about to upgrade my system, I'll no doubt have to reformat my hard drive, and I need to decide what I'm going to intall as my new OS

I currently have a Win 7 Pro 64bit - Win XP Pro dual boot setup.

I almost never use Win XP anymore. In fact, I think I might have booted it once or twice over the last year. I kept it around because I thought I'd use it for older games, but I never do. I'm just going to go with 1 OS this time so I need to decide between Windows 7 or 8.

For those who went from Windows 7 to Windows 8, was there any noticeable performance difference either way? I'm not talking about boot times or opening programs, I'm talking about gaming performance. What about compatibility issues? Is the Pro version worth the extra $50?

I won't be that much help because I don't have any experience with Win8, but I've heard enough and seen enough issues for games not running properly on it as I was searching for an issue I had with a game, etc. I also have Win7 64-bit Pro and it's perfect for me.

That said, you might want to go with Win8 simply because it's newer and that's where the focus is going to be going forward. I personally would stick with Win7 pro.

I would wait till Win 9 comes out so stay with Win 7 Pro. I only say this because Microsoft is adding back a few features they cut out from Win 8.

Link- http://www.techradar.com/us/news/sof…s-1029245#null

I wouldn't upgrade to W8 if I was to do it all over again. I had a nightmare time with drivers in the beginning though now it seems to be running fine. Though a lot of shaking my head and more than once I had my w7 disc in my hands to go back.

I should also mention that I'll have to pay for a copy either way. The installation of Win 7 I'm using now was a gift and I don't have an install disc.

Microsoft has announce that they're stopping mainstream support of Windows 7 next year though so that's something I'm also taking into consideration.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
I would wait till Win 9 comes out so stay with Win 7 Pro. I only say this because Microsoft is adding back a few features they cut out from Win 8.

Unfortunately, waiting that long is not an option. I'm upgrading within the next 30 days.

Originally Posted by JDR13
Unfortunately, waiting that long is not an option. I'm upgrading within the next 30 days.

Most of the drives now are up to date to work with W8 and if you are upgrading I don't see you have many choices.

I am holding off until Dec to upgrade….

I'm tempted to try to just plug my existing hard drive into my new system without reformatting and see what happens.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I'm tempted to try to just plug my existing hard drive into my new system without reformatting and see what happens.

Nothing bad will happen as I have done it before myself. It's just not recommended. As Drithius wrote below you will have to edit and fix your registry.

Windows registry would be a mess with all the old hardware entries.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I'm tempted to try to just plug my existing hard drive into my new system without reformatting and see what happens.

Nothing bad happens. Accessing might take longer because it won't be optimized.

Also win 7 support might end 2015, but extended support (if you have service packs) is actually 2020.

Example.. XP official end date was april 2009. Yet it didnt hit news until Jan this year because extended support end date was April 2014.

Win7 has a lot of life left. Dont make that your determining factor to try Win8

Originally Posted by Drithius
Windows registry would be a mess with all the old hardware entries.

Forgot about that. Yes, installed programs that require interfacing with registry will be messed up. But for most programs, data, games, etc you will likely have no issues.

My current install is already a mess. I haven't reformatted in nearly 3 years.

It's almost like an experiment at this point.

Originally Posted by Wisdom
Also win 7 support might end 2015, but extended support (if you have service packs) is actually 2020.

Yeah, I read up on it. Extended support only covers the bare basics. Microsoft will still provide free security updates but that's about it. Anything more requires a paid subscription after January 12, 2015.

Most people's complaints about Win 8 seem to be about the interface. I'm not worried about that because I already know what I need to do to make it more PC-like. I'm more worried about older games having possible compatibility issues with it.

Roll the dice, worst think that can happen is you have to buy 8 or 7, format(which you haven't done anyways in years) and start over.

I just re-installed the witcher 2 and did some running around and it is working great now that I have all the drivers updated with windows 8.

I had tried it a while back and couldn't get the graphic's card to work right(very choppy), all sort of issues with my touch pad etc. Right now it is running great with 8 if that helps.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I'm more worried about older games having possible compatibility issues with it.

Follow up to my last post, I did just finish a replay of the Witcher one and had zero issues. Not sure how far back in old games you are playing to go.

Edit..Sorry I did have to add -don'tforceminreqs to get it run on my system with windows 8
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\The Witcher Enhanced Edition\System\witcher.exe" -dontForceMinReqs"

Actually got my first hands-on taste of Win8 today, oddly enough. It was someone else's computer, so I couldn't really install the old (non-idiotic) shell. It was annoying to say the least, everything being hidden behind a cumbersome layer. Win7 is far better out of the box; nevertheless, they're likely similar with the optional shell download.

As to more precisely address the question, I often read forum posts (not necessarily here) commenting on game issues w/ Win8 , but it's hard to tell whether it's the OS or the stupidity of the users.

If you have to buy a new OS then get 8 with start 8 and call it a day.

Honestly with start 8 I haven't even seen the metro interface in months and you couldn't tell that it's windows 8. I had 1 friend over using my computer ask me if I was going to get 8 when he was using it. I had to show him the metro interface before he would believe me.

The metro interface is just a giant start menu that runs apps. it's annoying and useless but it functions as it should if you care to use it.

As for compatibility, My 2 sons and i all have 8 and have yet to run into a game that ran on 7 that won't run on 8. I'm sure they exist but we've yet to see one and we have about 500 games between us. Of course we haven't tried them all.

I haven't played a ton of older games in the past few years but off the top of my head i've played the witcher, risen, BG1 EE, wiz 1 and 8, Gothics, Drakensang's, fear's, original Deus Ex and KOTOR.

My son actually is in to older games as well and has played Ulitima 1-4 ( i haven't even done that), BG 1&2, NWN, morrowind and he just finished ES Arena.

I'm sure there are others but you get the point. Also haven't had any problem running any modern games either.

If you can get a friend to loan you a win 7 disk and just use your code then I'd do that but if you have to buy an OS it might as well be 8. If you ignore metro it's every bit as good as 7 and boots much faster. ( but you don't want to hear that.)

Really most people I hear whine about 8 have limited or no experience with it. I'm an early adopter of tech and have been using it since the preview version and it's been rock solid.

Originally Posted by sakichop
As for compatibility, My 2 sons and i all have 8 and have yet to run into a game that ran on 7 that won't run on 8. I'm sure they exist but we've yet to see one and we have about 500 games between us. Of course we haven't tried them all.

I haven't played a ton of older games in the past few years but off the top of my head i've played the witcher, risen, BG1 EE, wiz 1 and 8, Gothics, Drakensang's, fear's, original Deus Ex and KOTOR.

My son actually is in to older games as well and has played Ulitima 1-4 ( i haven't even done that), BG 1&2, NWN, morrowind and he just finished ES Arena.

Thanks. I was leaning towards going with Win 8 anyways and that definitely seals it. I'm gonna grab the Pro version along with that Start 8 app you pointed to.

My thoughts:

The Metro UI is horrible, but you can get rid of it almost completely by using the free Classic Shell.

The most notable improvement, for me, would be faster boot times - and not in a "cheaty" way - meaning you can start using your computer almost immediately upon seeing the desktop.

Beyond that, I really like a few of the minor improvements - like the new "file copying" overview and the changes to the folder UI.

The potentially biggest advantage would be DirectX 11.2 - but AFAIK, only Battlefield 4 takes advantage of it right now, but I could be wrong. Obviously, DirectX 12 will also be a potentially big deal when it comes out.

Overall, it's nothing major - but if you're re-installing, why not go for it? Once you get Classic Shell, the downsides are pretty minimal.

You haven't re-installed in 3 years? That's a big mistake for gaming, if you ask me. Unless you're incredibly anal about keeping it clean.

I re-install at least once every 6 months - because I hate the feeling that everything is not optimised. So, to me, it's a trivial process. The longer you wait, the worse it'll get