Zeealex Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 I woke up this morning, and thought to myself "i'm going to install windows 8.1"so I kinda did...and you know what, it's not that bad, anyone fence sitting on the idea, i'm writing up a review, just a small one, that gives the perspective of a more open minded user. I don't have a lot installed at present, but once i've got Arma and whatnot installed i'll give you the lowdown on gaming performance, i've heard DX11.2 provides some decent performance upgrades.the resource management has improved and the CPU seems to downclock to lower frequencies as well, windows 7 the lowest clock speed i saw was 1440Mhz across all cores when idle, this has it running at 1200Mhz while running firefox, steam, clipgrab, paint and other stuff lower clock speed=cooler CPU and it's certainly a lot cooler.it the startup is fingersnap quick, and i don't even remember seeing the shutdown screen But i'm curious to see how long that lasts. windows 7, following 3ds installation was really sluggish it annoyed me after a while, one of the reasons i thought i'd try windows 8. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blame Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 I've been considering getting Windows 8.1 with the new rig I'm expecting to get within the next 2 month (birthday in 60 days exactly), but with Windows 8 being a failure, it sort of pushed me away in the beginning and I'm more of a Windows 7 fan and some games don't really like to work with 8.1 anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mexicobob Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 I have been using 8.1 for a while now and everything runs a lot faster. Boot up times are faster ans shutdown is really fast. No problems with GRAW2, Hawken, Warface, Elite Sniper 2 or Planetside 2. Never use the Metro screen, boots direct to desktop like in Win 7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted July 15, 2014 Author Share Posted July 15, 2014 I'll admit, i'm a sucker for metro at the moment, I can see what Microsoft were trying to do with it, but it wasnt executed as well as it should be. Its good to see compatability hasnt been knocked too badly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted July 16, 2014 Author Share Posted July 16, 2014 Note for AMD users:DISABLE FAST BOOT UP.it mucks up cool 'n' quiet, just got the fright of my life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twcrash Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 (edited) I find my Windows 8.1 to be the fastest and most stable OS I have used. Faster than my Windows 7. I don't care for the metro UI but I use Start Menu Reviver and It works perfectly for what I need. I never understood the hate for Windows 8. I ran it from Day 1 of the free preview and (despite a couple games not working til it went RTM) I have had a great experience. I also believe that Windows 9 from what I am reading will be offered as a free update for 8.1 users. I use an OEM version I purchased online and cost me 99 or 89 U.S. dollars ​ Edited July 17, 2014 by twcrash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted July 20, 2014 Author Share Posted July 20, 2014 well, windows explorer takes up 90% of the disk when I'm not actually using it, that's one way to shorten a hard disk's lifetime, it's a bit annoying when i'm trying to multi task.Balanced power mode seems to send my processor into overdrive, and my temperatures skyrocket.but yeah so far it's pretty stable, I've had no other issues, and when i get used to the temperature jumps i'm sure i'll settle back in. it's just unnerving when I install or run something, i've always been of a nervous disposition when it comes to my CPU temperature.apparentlt Windows 9 is meant to be a free base operating system, you just pay for extra stuff, i just hope they don't go over the top with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petsfed Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Unless you're using a solid-state drive to boot from, most of the boot-speed improvements are illusory, from a hack that will occasionally break in a panic inducing way. Basically, when you click "shut-down", Win8 hibernates. You may have noticed that, when you've got updates pending, you can shutdown, or you can "update and restart", but you can't tell it to just install the updates over the next time you cycle the power. This is why. Unfortunately, sometimes it will forget how to wake up, and you'll end up with a black screen upon wakeup, with no way to fix it short of pulling the battery (for laptops) or pulling the power cable (for desktops). I work in a computer shop, and I've dealt with enough of this problem to not even bat an eye over it anymore. The solution is to turn off the fast-boot option. Otherwise, I love win8. Its faster and more stable, and all of the little tools of the OS are much easier to get to now. I just hate that the fast-boot-workaround basically admits that their OS doesn't really boot quickly, so they implement a buggy solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted July 21, 2014 Author Share Posted July 21, 2014 (edited) Yeah, I disabled fast boot following a processor overheat, my old pc did the same when I put it to sleep, thats what made me think fast/hybrid boot was to blame. I have a feeling the kernel session restoration doesnt call the cool n quiet functions properly. Its all good stability wise other than that, the nice people at the answer desk clarified that the disk usage was normal, and restarting file explorer normally settles it. I still find Windows 8 boots up very quickly even with fast boot disabled. But it is quite buggy, while a hybrid state is a good idea, there are perhaps better ways of making boot up quicker Edited July 21, 2014 by Zeealex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squad_e Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Windows 8 ain't to bad on laptops and notebooks, not sure on desktop pcs or phones lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shakealeg1212 Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 How's compatibility with older games and programs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted July 23, 2014 Author Share Posted July 23, 2014 just like windows 7, barely any issues with compatability so far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twcrash Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 I haven't had any compatability issues so far and I have tried some very old games.Ravenshield, GR, Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior Prism, Full Spectrum Warrior and and bunch of others Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted July 24, 2014 Author Share Posted July 24, 2014 OFP/Arma Cold war assault also works fine. it's more newer games i'm getting problems with, arma 3 just sits there like a melon. the compatibility is the same as windows 7 as far as i know. in other news, Upgrade 1 has been downloaded, no I keep booting into the desktop as a default, even though my metro has been configured so I can just sit there and get on with it the second i boot up. but I finally have more accessible power button on the interface now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shakealeg1212 Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 windows 8 is inevitable it looks like, i try to hold out on the next versions of windows because i hate compatibility issues Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petsfed Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 The only compatibility issues that I've run into are with games designed to run under e.g. Windows ME, or on a 32-bit system. Max Payne and Max Payne 2 have been particularly problematic, as well as Freespace 2. I haven't gotten all the way through the workarounds for the last one. By and large, I don't run into problems with Win8. The big difference is the change in how you interact with the start menu, but if you ever pinned something to the left column of your start menu in Win7, you already know how the start screen works. The only thing I sincerely dislike about Win8 is that I prefer Aero over Metro, and wish there was a built-in way to get that back (think the Classic theme for win7). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted July 26, 2014 Author Share Posted July 26, 2014 (edited) yeah, over time though you grow to expect that, however, it's lasted longer than the backward compatability line of any console, so i suppose we should be thankful of that I've not had problems with 32 bit games as of yet, but i've not tried single core only games other than ghost recon, which for the most part works fine. I don't run into as many noticable problems in windows 8 as I did with Windows 7, Windows 8 seems to handle my graphic drivers better, I was constantly getting screen artifacts in windows 7 when I wasn't doing anything fancy, in fact screen artifacts and flickering would occur when i wasn't gaming. something to do with the idle clock speed being too low I think. The CPU clock/temp issue I was having was down to AMD cool n Quiet and Firefox, it seems the latest version isn't coded very well and it's constantly and unneccessarily drawing resources it doesn't need, most notably RAM, so i can't really blame windows 8 for that, I remember a warm CPU around the time of the update to firefox when I was on windows 7 as well. its handling of data and mass storage seems greatly improved along with power management, i notice my external hard disk no longer temporarily shorts out all I/O on my PC when i plug it in another issue that plagued my experience in windows 7. updates are handled a lot better too, very discreet background downloads that don't bug you, and deciding what programs run on startup is a lot more simple. like i said, i personally prefer metro over aero, as it's much more suited to what i need to do on a daily basis (AKA the same old ######) so having the programs there straight up when the PC boots is much more beneficial to me than the old start menu. But yeah, i see what you mean by having a classic interface built in, it would've perhaps brought in quite a few more adopters. Edited July 26, 2014 by Zeealex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twcrash Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 ArmA 3 runs just fine here (besides the usual Bohemia hiccups) I haven found a game yet that won't run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted July 27, 2014 Author Share Posted July 27, 2014 I think its because i'm in power saving mode. I'll try it in balanced mode once i'm satisfied this heatwave is over Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share Posted July 30, 2014 (edited) I pulled the PC out of power saving mode and ran Arma 3, it booted, and ran flawlessly. I'm now getting pretty much constant 60FPS in a loaded virtual reality map with maxed out MSAA and all on maximum settings where I felt it appropriate, (low bloom, no blur etc) it would only run at around 45fps with lower settings on windows 7. I think I'm going to try and get the CPU on a liquid cooling system over the coming months just to shut the computer up and give me a little closure, it's pretty loud in there in balanced mode. my case fans arent exactly tip top condition either. but it only just hit 49c when I tried Arma 3 out, which is cool, I'm pretty sure with all of the gaming I did the CPU probably ran hotter than that previously, and the AI weren't doing anything fancy. so I'll try and play one of the preview missions and see what sort of temps I'm looking at on average. but for mod testing it seems I'm in the clear. it's funny to note though I never heard my graphic card once... normally my GPU goes crazy when rendering the Main menu. Edited July 30, 2014 by Zeealex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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