Finally upgraded - Windows 8 to Windows 7, a gamers point of view

After using Win8 as a daily OS on my rig since launch day, I like MANY users found it to be annoying. It was meant for a touch screen, and using it on a PC for any length of time proves that.

But I dealt with it. I adapted to it. But when it came to gaming, that was the last straw.
I disagree but apparently I'm in the minority. Metro ui is designed for touch screen but the desktop mode is identical to my windows 7. The few and far between times I use the metro ui the mouse scroll wheel makes navigation easy but this isn't really about windows 8 ui, what problems does windows 8 give you gaming?
 
Honestly, I built a win8 box for one of my friends and he hasn't had any trouble with games as of yet. I'm not using it myself, but I haven't really seen anything that would dissuade me from eventually getting it.

I agree. I don't use WIndows 8 on my main gaming rig, but I bought a Gateway with Intel HD 3000 graphics and Windows 8 for like $380 and i'm really surprised how it has been able to play some of my older games like UT2K4, Hitman 1 and 2, and a lot of older games that I didn't think would be compatible. That's a nice surprise, but I am not quite ready yet to completely upgrade to Windows 8 on my main rig.

I actually don't understand what all the complaining is about from gamers involving Windows 8. If there were massive compatibility problems with games I would understand but I haven't yet run into any. If the new start screen is annoying somehow, i would heavily disagree mostly because it actually is more useful than it used to be. I only put on the start screen what I use. I personally hated desktop gadgets, and I think the new start screen with the new animated tiles to show me news and weather is great and convenient. Not to mention the incredibly quick access I have to what I use the most. i can get to what I need a lot quicker. Before I had to go to click on start, find manufacturer, and then click on the program if there aren't more sub-folders to navigate through. Now I just press the start button on the keyboard and click on the app.

Not to mention that search is a lot easier since 8.1. So I really would like to hear what complaints there are against Windows 8 when it comes to "gaming" as opposed to regular usage of Win8.

We'll see what happens with Windows 9... which is not that far out.
 
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I've set 3 people up with gaming computers running windows 8 in the last year. They have low to no technical skills. If there was an issue with Windows 8 gaming I would have heard about it by now.
 
When Vista came out, going from XP to Vista was a downgrade and Vista and XP an upgrade. Unbelievable how many naive, ignorant, and arrogant people there were. Back then, the masses thought that new Windows release must mean it is better than the previous OS! By now, people have learned and on top of that Microsoft has overdone the releases. It used to be that it would be "the talk" amongst even computer illiterate common people when Microsoft was about to release an OS -- nowadays its like an everyday thing for Microsoft to release a full blown brand new OS every 2 days.

I really liked Vista with my Q6600, 8GB DDR2, 8800GTS 640MB.
 
Doesn't windows 8 have a desktop mode so you can get rid of the smartphone style interface?
 
I gave Win8 a try as well when it was first released on Technet. I really tried to like it, and kept it on my main gaming rig for nearly two months.

Finally after similar issues to the OP's with games, I gave up. The metro interface just sucks for non-touch devices in my opinion as well. I tried to adapt, but I just couldn't get there. Haven't regretted going back to win7 ultimate at all - it's still my favorite O/S of all time.
 
I'm curious to know what problems you were having, guess it isn't a huge deal since you switched back already, but every single problem I've trouble shot on Windows 7 or 8 had to do with drivers, admin mode, or in the case of The Walking Dead I had to track down a .dll file for Windows 8.

Nothing at all has ever been related to incompatibility with the OS itself and what works on Windows 7 should also work on Windows 8 considering they're using the exact same driver model.
 
... after six months of patches and video driver updates.

If you owned an NVIDIA card ya, cause NVIDIA screw the pooch on Vista, not MS.

Vista out of the box fine for me with my ATI card, windows 8 fine, and 8.1 fine on my current rig (7950, i7 3770k)

currently got.. 19 steam games installed and also League of Legends.


It's funny, cause i am sure many of you remember how crap XP was when it came out... how many games did not work.. how many drivers didn't work and caused BSOD's.. and look how that ended up....
 
I had some similar experiences. I didn't mind using Windows 8 but I had two main problems. The first was hibernate didn't work for me. The second was gaming performance. I even upgraded to a new video card thinking that my old 4850 just couldn't drive the new 1080P monitor that I had picked up with my current CPU and everything, but I was seriously dropping to 30 to 45 fps regularly in CS GO (which isn't a tough high end game) with features turned down. I had the equipment to play with the settings cranked up but I just couldn't get it resolved.

On a whim I tried 7 and the hibernate issue was fixed, but even better the performance went up real high in games. Now I am playing with settings cranked and AA enabled and sitting at 150fps easily. I'm surprised too given how efficient Windows 8 seemed to be, as it seemed to use less resources than 7 from what I could tell.

Jason
 
Isn't that big October update...basically Windows 8.1...about to come out? I wonder what that will do.
 
I've set 3 people up with gaming computers running windows 8 in the last year. They have low to no technical skills. If there was an issue with Windows 8 gaming I would have heard about it by now.

You must not use steam much, or have a very big library of games.

I have a library of 200+ games, and I have had plenty of issues.

After going back to Win 7, not a single issue. Just my experience. This thread was made pre patch though (pre 8.1)
 
You must not use steam much, or have a very big library of games.

I have a library of 200+ games, and I have had plenty of issues.

After going back to Win 7, not a single issue. Just my experience. This thread was made pre patch though (pre 8.1)

Or, maybe just maybe, you have problems for some other reason. That or you have an ulterior motive since you seem to accuse everyone else of having some strange reason for having problems, while claiming that it is "just your experience". Look man, you experience is NOT the norm. If you want to try and fix the problem, then maybe people here can help. But if you just want to whine that is a little silly. If you honestly believe that you are the only person who has tried a lot of software on 8, that is stupid.

I don't have any issues with it (I'd switch off if I did) and I run tons of stuff. I have 178 games in my Steam library, and games aren't all I do on it. So far between work and home I have used and not had problems with programs including, but not limited to:

Dishonored, Skyrim, Fallout New Vegas, Gunpoint, Shadowrun Returns, Terraria, Supreme Commander 2, Xcom, Mark of the Ninja, Sleeping Dogs, Alpha Protocol, Black Ops 2, Endless Space Evochron Mercenary, Oil Rush, Strike Suit Zero, Total War: Shogun 2, Trine 2, Battlefield 3, Red Alert 3, RPG Maker VX Ace, The Witcher 2, Guild Wars 2, Rift, Teamspeak, Ventrilo, Sonar Producer, Eastwest Play, Native Instruments Komplete, Celemony Melodyne, Winamp, Steam, Origin, GameFly, IE, Firefox, Chrome, Emeditor, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Adobe Acrobat, Sony Vegas, Matlab, HFSS, VMWare Workstation, Textpad, Visual Studio 2012, Dragon Naturally Speaking, Nmap, IMGburn, the Windows AIK and MDT.

I'm sure there are plenty I forgot, those are just the ones I notice on my systems and that I can remember off the top of my head. At home I play games, and play with audio production, at work I support engineering programs. In both cases, Windows 8 works without issue. I've yet to find a program that ran correctly in 7, but does not run in 8.

For that matter it's server kin, Server 2012, runs out infrastructure. We run Hyper-V on server 2012 at work and run about 55 VMs on it, ranging from Server 2003 to Sever 2012, and various Linux systems. Our domain controllers, web server (RHEL running Apache), license servers, puppet server, shell server, all that jazz run on Server 2012, and run solid.

I have more than a little experience with it, probably more than you do. So perhaps you should stop telling people that they don't use it much. Accept that you had problems for some other reason. If you want to fix that then cool, ask people for information and try a reinstall. If you don't, that's fine too, but then don't go and keep pretending that only you have used a lot of stuff with it and everyone else who hasn't had issues must either do nothing or be crazy.
 
Surely not a majority opinion ;)

I have been using win 8 since its release with stardocks start 8

and have had no problems with any games so far, i have nearly 200 games on steam with about 30 to 40 installed atm and all work just fine, I do use an Nvidia card, I hear ATI/AMD cards have some drivers problems though
 
I have been using win 8 since its release with stardocks start 8

and have had no problems with any games so far, i have nearly 200 games on steam with about 30 to 40 installed atm and all work just fine, I do use an Nvidia card, I hear ATI/AMD cards have some drivers problems though

Same here but without Stardock. Network/USB/HDD speeds increased. Most people bashing it are dickwads who haven't used it. If you don't like the Start Screen use classic shell, it's free.
 
No issues here with any of the games I own using Windows 8. I use Classic Shell to launch straight to the desktop. I am on Nvidia if that makes any difference.
 
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You must not use steam much, or have a very big library of games.

I have a library of 200+ games, and I have had plenty of issues.

After going back to Win 7, not a single issue. Just my experience. This thread was made pre patch though (pre 8.1)

Again, the issues are yours not windows 8.
 
I upgraded to Windows 8.1 from Windows 8 and... yep, still no issues with games. Been playing Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, a console port, and it's solid as a rock.
 
I upgraded to Windows 8.1 from Windows 8 and... yep, still no issues with games. Been playing Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, a console port, and it's solid as a rock.

See what I mean? Lol! People actually say this. XD
 
No issues either, with a mix of old and new games with steam and without. Battlefront 2, which I had problems with on Windows 7, now works flawlessly. Interesting, but I don't think it's a Windows 8 problem
 
I was planning to stick with with windows 7 for quite some time, until I started playing BF4. The performance difference is staggering between the two. I'm on win 8.1 now and not looking back. My game library is fairly extensive, well over 100 games and while I haven't played all of them, I have t had any issues with the ones I have played under 8.1.
 
Again, the issues are yours not windows 8.

Never had the issues before windows 8, and never after I went back to windows 7.

Search win 8 game issues and you will find MANY more threads and sites detailing issues than you will finding praise for windows 8.

I am FAR from alone with this experience and opinion. ;) glad you enjoy windows 8.
 
Ive used Windows 8 since it was released, have not had a single issue. I didn't like the start screen so I installed Pokki which works fine and skips the start screen, no issues what-so-ever.

All games work great;

Star Citizen Hanger Module
BF4 Beta
Team Fortress 2
Sim City
Any game on Steam or Origin has been working fine, I have 200+ in steam and like 10-15 in origin, and all games work just fine when I play what I want.
 
Never had any game issues with my Windows 8. Once I customized my metro and got it sorted. I'm very happy with it also. No complaints at all really.
 
Never had any game issues with my Windows 8. Once I customized my metro and got it sorted. I'm very happy with it also. No complaints at all really.

Yeah, no complaints with Windows 7 either and I didn't have to customize anything. Also, if someone thinks BF4 alone is going to magically get everyone to upgrade to Windows 8 they might need a reality check.
 
So you are saying you don't customize anything on your pc when you use it? I thought that was the whole idea. To change and customize to how it fits your needs. If you are happy then that is all that matters.

Yeah, no complaints with Windows 7 either and I didn't have to customize anything. Also, if someone thinks BF4 alone is going to magically get everyone to upgrade to Windows 8 they might need a reality check.
 
Never had the issues before windows 8, and never after I went back to windows 7.

Search win 8 game issues and you will find MANY more threads and sites detailing issues than you will finding praise for windows 8.

I am FAR from alone with this experience and opinion. ;) glad you enjoy windows 8.

On this forum you are apparently. Search win 7 game issues and you will find just as many issues relating to gaming. You never once described your issues or sought help so we'll never know but generally gaming issues are not generally the fault of an OS.

So for shits and giggles I googled win 8 gaming issues. Uh no problems there except for people bitching about metro. According to tom's hardware
windows 8 architecture is slightly different than windows 7 so if a game runs in windows 7 it is highly unlikely it won't run on windows 8. However, in the rare case it doesn't windows 8 offers compatibility mode which will solve your problems getting it to run"

Just ran through the first 3 pages of google search on windows 8 gaming issues and didn't see a single thread where windows 8 was the culprit behind someones gaming issues. Non updated drivers, failing to reinstall steam, and not updating the c++ library were the major culprits of any gaming related issues. The same would happen if you upgraded from xp to 7.
 
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So you are saying you don't customize anything on your pc when you use it? I thought that was the whole idea. To change and customize to how it fits your needs. If you are happy then that is all that matters.

That's the thing, I didn't have to customize it to fit my needs. Although I guess you could customize it like Windows 8, in fact probably even more so. To each their own.
 
Just upgraded for a fresh build. Not a single problem and everything runs great. W7 was rock solid for me too.
 
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