Any performance gain with Windows 7?

[GunnDawg]

I was thinking about finally upgrading to Windows 7 as my faithful windows XP is being discontinued and losing its updates and support in the next month.

 

Is there any performance gain with Windows 7? performance loss?

 

About the only thing I can see switching from windows xp 32bit to windows 7 64 bit is that I will actually get to use all 4gb of my ram instead of the 3gb or whatever XP allows ya.

[GunnDawg]

I also might add that the only reason I have waited this long to switch to Windows 7 is because of all of the horror stories I heard about Windows Vista (the two look very similiar to me).

[Steel Jaw]

IMHO the only real performance gain will be if you have 64 bit hardware.

[GunnDawg]

Yes my hardware is 64bit compatible. Though its a bit dated its still 64bit compatible.

 

The game ran just great on medium/high settings on XP 32bit. Here are my specs.

 

AMD Phenom Quad-Core 2.4GHz

4GB DDR2 RAM

Nvidia 9800GTX+

 

Again like I said yes its rather dated hardware but it ran this sim (and blackshark) just fine on medium to high settings. So switching from a 32bit OS to an 64bit OS might improve it even further?

 

EDIT: Mower, I see you have an 9800GTx+ as well, so you know what im talkin about. Still a pretty beasty card, plays all the latest titles without a hitch.

[sobek]

You might see a performance increase, not due to 64bit architecture but due to the fact that win7 is directx 10/11 compatible, and these are a bit more efficient at distributing load among CPU cores. There was a lenghty discussion in the black shark forum where people measured their performance gains. Might be worth a read.

 

You might nonetheless want to go for a 64bit OS, as it will enable you to fully use the 4GB RAM in your system.

[Arclight]

You might see a performance increase, not due to 64bit architecture but due to the fact that win7 is directx 10/11 compatible, and these are a bit more efficient at distributing load among CPU cores. There was a lenghty discussion in the black shark forum where people measured their performance gains. Might be worth a read.

 

You might nonetheless want to go for a 64bit OS, as it will enable you to fully use the 4GB RAM in your system.

This. Actual performance depends on the type of application and implementation. Some speed up quite a bit, others are slower. As far as gaming goes (and as far as I know), no one has ever proven that there are any real gains to be had.

[sobek]

This. Actual performance depends on the type of application and implementation. Some speed up quite a bit, others are slower. As far as gaming goes (and as far as I know), no one has ever proven that there are any real gains to be had.

 

You might want to have a look at the thread in the BS forum, because for the TFCSE it does make a measurable and perceivable difference, the magnitude varies, but it is percievable.

[Fimble]

I was thinking about finally upgrading to Windows 7 as my faithful windows XP is being discontinued and losing its updates and support in the next month.

 

Is there any performance gain with Windows 7? performance loss?

 

About the only thing I can see switching from windows xp 32bit to windows 7 64 bit is that I will actually get to use all 4gb of my ram instead of the 3gb or whatever XP allows ya.

 

Should be able to get Windows Updates through 2014 on XP.

http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?LN=en-gb&C2=1173

[Arclight]

You might want to have a look at the thread in the BS forum, because for the TFCSE it does make a measurable and perceivable difference, the magnitude varies, but it is percievable.

I'll see if I can dig up that thread. :thumbup:

 

Not that there are that many games that offer a 64b executable, but seeing any actual gains would be a first for me.

[nemises]

for what it's worth, moving last week from Xp sp3 -> Win7 x 64 has had a considerable increase in performance for me, so I would say, yes you are also likely to see improvements (I'm guessing up to 50% improvement in some very busy missions)

[WarriorX]

I went from XP to 7 (64 bit), and I never looked back.

 

The only thing that I would do if I were you is keep XP on your HDD. Set up a "dual boot" between Win7 and XP, which might be helpful if you want to run an older game.

 

(Open Falcon comes to mind...it runs on XP but has direct X problems on Win 7)

[GunnDawg]

I have made the jump to Windows 7 64bit :)

 

Haven't had any time to test the game yet though as I am still doing some windows updates, driver updates, etc.

 

For some reason my system reads 4GB RAM (3.75 usable) why is this?

[Mirtma]

Some RAM is used by system. Windows reserves some of high address RAM for its own use. I think.

[GunnDawg]

Makes sense, thanks.

[GunnDawg]

Real quick and this may be off topic but could someone suggest a good virus scanner for a 64bit system (if that even matter). Feel free to suggest ones you need to pay for as I am not afraid to pay for one.

[MadTommy]

Real quick and this may be off topic but could someone suggest a good virus scanner for a 64bit system (if that even matter). Feel free to suggest ones you need to pay for as I am not afraid to pay for one.

 

MS security essentials is good imo. Light weight on resources, works well for me.

 

And on topic.. Win7 (64) is soo much better than Vista.. its well worth the upgrade. Never had any issues with it running games well.

[Distiler]

Going from XP to Vista/W7 is like buying a new computer. Night and day in DCS/FC2 perfomance.

[Steel Jaw]

The only thing that I would do if I were you is keep XP on your HDD. Set up a "dual boot" between Win7 and XP, which might be helpful if you want to run an older game.

 

(Open Falcon comes to mind...it runs on XP but has direct X problems on Win 7)

 

The new BMS will run in W7 64 bit along with the IVC.

 

Expected public released date of BMS...

 

 

 

[Arakahn]

I have to agree with everybody here; Vista will bring noticeable performance improvements, especially if you go in 64bits, at the minimum from the extra GB of RAM or so you will be able to use.

 

I would advise against setting up a dual boot though, for 2 reasons:

 

1- After 10+ years, the Windows compatibility mode finally works much better than in previous windows versions

 

2- You have a free Windows XP virtual machine that comes with vista. It's not part of the installation, but you can download it for free from MS website (the Virtual Machine and the XP image). It is 100 times better than VM Ware, for the fact that there is pretty much no installation, except the VM (which takes 60 seconds to install), and the XP installation is actually a pre-installed VM file, so you just need to unzip it and you are good to go (total time took me 15 minutes from downloading to having XP running). Also it uses all the capabilities of your hardware, unlike a regular VM

[Mirtma]

Real quick and this may be off topic but could someone suggest a good virus scanner for a 64bit system (if that even matter). Feel free to suggest ones you need to pay for as I am not afraid to pay for one.

Also good a/v for home use http://www.avira.com/en/avira-free-antivirus

[TwoLate]

Bit Defender has been good to me. With one purchase you can put it on 3 machines.

Edited October 19, 2010 by TwoLate

[sobek]

Sorry to quote myself, but you totally misread my post. I was talking about performance gains moving from XP to 7, not from 32 to 64 bit. :)

 

Not that there are that many games that offer a 64b executable, but seeing any actual gains would be a first for me.

 

You might see a performance increase, not due to 64bit architecture but due to the fact that win7 is directx 10/11 compatible, and these are a bit more efficient at distributing load among CPU cores.

Edited October 19, 2010 by sobek