Battlefield 4 CPU performance: Win 7 vs Win 8.1, up to 50% more fps

[ElFenix]

This is the reason I like windows 8 a lot. I think the keyboard shortcuts are really good actually. It's MUCH faster for me to load stuff on Windows 8 than Windows 7 now that I'm used to it and if I had touch, windows 8 is nice too. Using it on the laptop, sometimes my sister or dad will be doign stuff and instead of being frustrated telling them where to clickk, i just touch the screen!

they invented a gui so bad that people were forced to learn the keyboard commands

 

[CHADBOGA]

they invented a gui so bad that people were forced to learn the keyboard commands

 

[sniffin]

they invented a gui so bad that people were forced to learn the keyboard commands

I found hitting he keyboard shortcut and selecting what I wanted from the fullscreen start screen is actually faster than the old start menu anyway.

The start button menu isn't good, it's just familiar. They aren't the same thing.

 

[2is]

I found hitting he keyboard shortcut and selecting what I wanted from the fullscreen start screen is actually faster than the old start menu anyway.

The start button menu isn't good, it's just familiar. They aren't the same thing.

I'd love to see how fast you can find what you're looking for when you've got a hundred programs installed. I mean, all you're doing is essentially nothing more than putting shortcuts on the desktop and clicking on them.

I mean, i'm not a Windows 8 hater, I have it on all my desktops now but the start screen GUI is pure shit for desktop use.

 

[sniffin]

I'd love to see how fast you can find what you're looking for when you've got a hundred programs installed. I mean, all you're doing is essentially nothing more than putting shortcuts on the desktop and clicking on them.

I mean, i'm not a Windows 8 hater, I have it on all my desktops now but the start screen GUI is pure shit for desktop use.

If it's something I haven't got tiled, I press the Windows key, and type in the first 3 letters of the programs name and hit enter. Still much faster than scrolling through giant lists in the corner of the screen with a mouse.

I used to use Start8 but I pretty quickly realized after trying W8 without it that the new start screen is easily better. Not because it's amazing, but because the old start menu is garbage. We got used to a crappy way of doing things but it really doesn't take long before you realise the new way is much better. When 8.1 hits I won't be reenabling the start button, I'll probably look at what they've done to improve the customization of the tiling though.

The W8 "apps" suck though. They don't feel fluid at all so I basically never use them. What's good about W8 is the start screen and the various other interface changes as well as the technical advancements. Not a massive upgrade but I much prefer it over 7 now.

 

[ChronoReverse]

You know, while I don't hate on the Start Screen, you're not strictly correct.

For example:

If it's something I haven't got tiled, I press the Windows key, and type in the first 3 letters of the programs name and hit enter. Still much faster than scrolling through giant lists in the corner of the screen with a mouse.

This was invented for Vista and is available in 7 as well by default.


In fact, when Windows 8 first came out, there was concern that this was removed (but it turned out the typing part was just hidden).

You're right that it's an improvement over the XP menu which _was_ strictly inferior.

 

[2is]

If it's something I haven't got tiled, I press the Windows key, and type in the first 3 letters of the programs name and hit enter. Still much faster than scrolling through giant lists in the corner of the screen with a mouse.

I used to use Start8 but I pretty quickly realized after trying W8 without it that the new start screen is easily better. Not because it's amazing, but because the old start menu is garbage. We got used to a crappy way of doing things but it really doesn't take long before you realise the new way is much better. When 8.1 hits I won't be reenabling the start button, I'll probably look at what they've done to improve the customization of the tiling though.

The W8 "apps" suck though. They don't feel fluid at all so I basically never use them. What's good about W8 is the start screen and the various other interface changes as well as the technical advancements. Not a massive upgrade but I much prefer it over 7 now.

This feature you're so fond of exists in windows vista bro. And with 100 programs you're not going to even remember all the ones you have installed. Not an issue when it's properly organized in a start menu.

Start screen isn't better, even if you keep repeating it. If it were, we'd never have movies away from windows 3.x

 

[nico9]

It will be interesting to revisit some of these topics after the game has been released for a bit and patched well.

 

[Jdmathew]

I ran the Battlefield 4 Beta on Windows 7 64-bit (DirectX 11.0) and Windows 8 64-bit (DirectX 11.1) and I can confirm that DirectX 11.1 DOES provide very noticeable benefits both in frame rates and lower stutter, etc. It felt like my processor was simply being used more efficiently. I was getting 50 FPS @ 2560x1440 Ultra settings initially (W7 DX11.0). I was dissappointed because I spent $1,300 on SLI GTX 780s and wanted to make use of my 120Hz Korean 2560x1440. In W8 (DX11.1) I was getting more like 70-80 FPS. It was really noticeable on my 120hz Korean monitor.

Keep in mind, that was only when all my games weren't crashing. And I mean everything was crashing, BF3,BF4,Far Cry 3, Blacklist, Steam, Origin, in Uplay...everything was crashing. Sad Face Screen of Death, freezes, Memory faults, driver faults, raid 0 array faults, unpaged_area faults. Windows 8 and drivers are like oil and water. It wouldn't even let me upgrade from a fresh reformatted copy of W8 to W8.1. Junk. I went back to W7 just so I could play at all.

Here is my system:

Software:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit/Windows 8 Pro 64-bit
NVidia (Tried both 327.23 and 331.40 (beta now) in both W7 and W8)
Battlefield 4 Beta (@Ultra Settings minus Ambient Occlusion/Blur), BF3

H12ardware:
i7 2700k @ 3.5Gz/4.0Gz
QNIX 27" 2560x1440 120hz
p8z68 Deluxe Gen3
EVGA GTX 780 SC SLI
16GB RAM
2 x 128GB SSD RAID 0



UPDATE: Now that Battlefield 4 is out, I have the R331 (331.65) drivers from NVidia and in W7-64bit I'm getting decent frame rates: 0Avg ~65-70 @ Ultra settings 2560x1440 (Minus Ambient lighting, and only 1 of 4xMSAA or Differed HIGH). I do see large variation in framerates and I know DirectX 11.1 REALLY helps with that so if no one else is having issues with W8/8.1 than I'll switch to it soon since I have the discs already.

 

[Owls]

I did an upgrade from w7 to 8 without any driver issues. On a g1 sniper board with 3x hrs 680s and a Lsi 9207 sata hba

Did the windows upgrade advisor tell you about incompatible programs and drivers?

 

[2is]

No w8 issues here on my sig machine and 2 others

 

[Brahmzy]

You guys are straying from the thread. This is about 8.1, not 8. 8.1 is quite a bit different than 8. There are some bugs in 8.1 and some apps are broken. I've seen more issues going 8 > 8.1 than I did 7 > 8. IE11 needs a LOT of work too.

 

[TechFan1]

I've seen more issues going 8 > 8.1 than I did 7 > 8. IE11 needs a LOT of work too.

I've had the opposite experience with IE11, haven't had a single problem loading any web page, while IE 10 on win 8 (maybe only preview?) used to have compatibility issues at times.

 

[inf64]

No issues here with 8.1. Smooth as silk on overclocked 750K.

 

[Brahmzy]

Mine's smooth as silk too, but there are a number of apps that simply broke in 8.1. Perfectdisk being one, which they thankfully issued a patch. BF3/4 plugins don't work with IE11. Some other glitchiness on certain websites in IE11. Some Flash issues.

 

[dualsmp]

Wouldn't Mantle level the playing field between Win7/Win8.1? I know many don't have a 7xxx or higher AMD product, but since Battlefield 4 will include support for Mantle eventually it could tighten the gap considerably for people with 7xxx (or higher) since DX will not be in the equation.

 

[2is]

You guys are straying from the thread. This is about 8.1, not 8. 8.1 is quite a bit different than 8. There are some bugs in 8.1 and some apps are broken. I've seen more issues going 8 > 8.1 than I did 7 > 8. IE11 needs a LOT of work too.

The aren't that much different. I have 3 gaming machines, 2 are in 8.1 one is on 8. The only appreciable difference is battlelog doesn't work in the latest version of IE in 8.1 easy enough workaround to use a different browser until support is established.

 

[Medikit]

I really don't mind and actually enjoy Windows 8 after getting used it. I actually like the search feature. Windows 8.1 allows you to modify it to behave more like windows 7 (boot into your primary OS instead of the start screen, ignore some of the hot spots).

My wife doesn't like the Windows 8 screen at all and I installed Classic Shell and now she doesn't really notice a difference. http://www.classicshell.net/

 

[sniffin]

This feature you're so fond of exists in windows vista bro. And with 100 programs you're not going to even remember all the ones you have installed. Not an issue when it's properly organized in a start menu.

You'll remember them if you need them. I don't see the point in listing 100 apps on the screen when you're only in the start menu to open up what you want in the first place.

Start screen isn't better, even if you keep repeating it. If it were, we'd never have movies away from windows 3.x

I said it once and responded to the other guy, I'm hardly repeating myself. If you don't think it's better then ok! I'm not a Microsoft salesman, I'm participating in a discussion

I've seen more issues going 8 > 8.1 than I did 7 > 8. IE11 needs a LOT of work too.

That's interesting as I had the opposite experience. I managed to break my first ever install of W8 (just after it was released) spectacularly. 8.1 has been alright so far, I haven't used IE in years though so I can't comment on that.

 

[2is]

You'll remember them if you need them. I don't see the point in listing 100 apps on the screen when you're only in the start menu to open up what you want in the first place.



I said it once and responded to the other guy, I'm hardly repeating myself. If you don't think it's better then ok! I'm not a Microsoft salesman, I'm participating in a discussion



That's interesting as I had the opposite experience. I managed to break my first ever install of W8 (just after it was released) spectacularly. 8.1 has been alright so far, I haven't used IE in years though so I can't comment on that.

There's been plenty of times where I needed a program that I don't use often at all who's name I did not remember. A perfect example was when I needed to take a MKV file and convert it to MP4 without re-encoding it. If it weren't for the stet menu I'd never have remembered I had xmedia recode. I would have had to search online for a utility that does this.

Sorry bud, but the simple facts of the matter is the start screen isn't better. And the reason I say this is a fact is because the features you're touting aren't new. Windows 7 has a search bar that does the same thing, in addition to a start menu. The only cool thing w8 UI has is live updates on the tiles, which goes completely unnoticed if you're spending most or all of your time in desktop mode. What that boils down to is W8 losing functionality in terms of the desktop UI. You really can't spin it any other way in a forum full of people who are familiar with both OS' Maybe you were unaware of how the search box worked in Vista and 7?

 

[sniffin]

There's been plenty of times where I needed a program that I don't use often at all who's name I did not remember. A perfect example was when I needed to take a MKV file and convert it to MP4 without re-encoding it. If it weren't for the stet menu I'd never have remembered I had xmedia recode. I would have had to search online for a utility that does this.

Sorry bud, but the simple facts of the matter is the start screen isn't better. And the reason I say this is a fact is because the features you're touting aren't new. Windows 7 has a search bar that does the same thing, in addition to a start menu. The only cool thing w8 UI has is live updates on the tiles, which goes completely unnoticed if you're spending most or all of your time in desktop mode. What that boils down to is W8 losing functionality in terms of the desktop UI. You really can't spin it any other way in a forum full of people who are familiar with both OS' Maybe you were unaware of how the search box worked in Vista and 7?

Fair enough. I never used the search box in 7 because everything was there anyway that I never felt I had to use it even if it in hindsight it would have been a faster way to do things.

I just don't miss the old start menu at all. The stuff I use most frequently I can open faster in 8. Re you're example, 8.1 has added a button that let's you go into full app list mode without having to search first. Granted it won't fit 100s of apps on the screen at once without having to scroll like the start menu though. In that respect it's still inferior but less so in 8.1

I guess it depends on how you use the PC. I don't use a wide enough range of applications for the new menu to be a problem. In your case maybe the old start menu is more suited. Unless whatever you're trying to do isn't tiled though, I feel like the new way will always be faster.

edit: Another thing is you can customize the tiles in 8.1 to be much smaller so you could actually fit alot of stuff in if you really wanted. The only problem there is you need to remember what the icons for everything are as theres no text except for on mouseover. I really don't think that would be much of an issue though tbh, especially for power users.

 

[Carfax83]

Keep in mind, that was only when all my games weren't crashing. And I mean everything was crashing, BF3,BF4,Far Cry 3, Blacklist, Steam, Origin, in Uplay...everything was crashing. Sad Face Screen of Death, freezes, Memory faults, driver faults, raid 0 array faults, unpaged_area faults. Windows 8 and drivers are like oil and water. It wouldn't even let me upgrade from a fresh reformatted copy of W8 to W8.1. Junk. I went back to W7 just so I could play at all.

Looks like you have some sort of hardware instability or conflict, because Windows 8 has been out for a while now and has stable drivers.

The only time I experience crashes or lock ups on my system is when I overclock too high..

 

[TechFan1]

The only appreciable difference is battlelog doesn't work in the latest version of IE in 8.1 easy enough workaround to use a different browser until support is established.

If you add "*.battlefield.com" to your trusted sites list under security battlelog will work.

 

[Brahmzy]

If you add "*.battlefield.com" to your trusted sites list under security battlelog will work.

Will the plugin install correctly and work?

 

[Acanthus]

Artificially low settings to accentuate the CPU/API overhead.

The difference will close with real settings.