Worth upgrading Sager from Windows 7 to Windows 10?

[Shmee]

Hello, I have a Sager NP8170 I believe, currently running Windows 7 Pro. 8GB of RAM, a 500GB 850 Evo, sandy bridge i7 2630QM, and a GTX 560M (Fermi I believe.)

I have held off on upgrading it to Windows 10 as I felt it would not be a huge improvement due to being a lot less powerful than my desktops. So, before the window expires for the free upgrade, does it even make sense to upgrade, considering things like DX12 and game performance under 7 vs 10? Does my GPU even benefit from/support DX12?

Thanks in advance for input.

 

[jaydee]

Hello, I have a Sager NP8170 I believe, currently running Windows 7 Pro. 8GB of RAM, a 500GB 850 Evo, sandy bridge i7 2630QM, and a GTX 560M (Fermi I believe.)

I have held off on upgrading it to Windows 10 as I felt it would not be a huge improvement due to being a lot less powerful than my desktops. So, before the window expires for the free upgrade, does it even make sense to upgrade, considering things like DX12 and game performance under 7 vs 10? Does my GPU even benefit from/support DX12?

Thanks in advance for input.

One question you need to consider, is everything (driver-wise) on W10? I have seen on Dell's website that the Sandy Bridge era Latitude line is not tested for W10, but the Ivy Bridge is. Obviously that doesn't mean it won't work at all, but there's likely to be some issues, (though its likely minor).

 

[dave_the_nerd]

One question you need to consider, is everything (driver-wise) on W10? I have seen on Dell's website that the Sandy Bridge era Latitude line is not tested for W10, but the Ivy Bridge is. Obviously that doesn't mean it won't work at all, but there's likely to be some issues, (though its likely minor).

For a system that new, I'd expect that the individual components (wifi chipset, etc.) will have generic drivers available, even if Sager isn't validating the complete machine with Win10.

More than likely, the generic drivers will work better anyway.

 

[Shmee]

Ya, I figure drivers should'nt be too much of a pain, I figure most will be included in Windows 10 as generic. I am just wondering if there would be a significant performance boost in games over windows 7.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I'm torn on upgrading my gaming (desktop) PC since I keep reading about glitches here and there with games in W10 and there are no DX12 games I want to play yet.

I'm very tempted to gamble on MS deciding to extend the free upgrade offer.

 

[JWade]

upgrade it, then you can always re-install windows 7/downgrade back to windows 7 if you don't like it

 

[kenzz]

upgrade it, then you can always re-install windows 7/downgrade back to windows 7 if you don't like it

Perhaps this should be in the OS forum but it seems relevant here. I have been thinking about upgrading my windows 7 PC to windows 10 and then reverting back to windows 7 so that I can take advantage of the free upgrade if I want to re-install windows 10 in future e.g. perhaps when extended support for windows 7 runs out in less than 4 years.

I know that upgrading to windows 10 does not give me an individual windows 10 product key ... the license is tied to the hardware I upgrade on. However (probably a dumb question) does anyone know if that license is permanently embedded in the hardware for future re-activation of windows 10 or would it get deleted if I did a clean re-install of windows 7 using my original windows 7 product key?

 

[frozentundra123456]

Ya, I figure drivers should'nt be too much of a pain, I figure most will be included in Windows 10 as generic. I am just wondering if there would be a significant performance boost in games over windows 7.

I have a sandy bridge era Dell desktop and have serious driver problems with win 10. Everyone else I know who has switched to win 10 loves it, but they have newer hardware. Personally, I much prefer Win 7, but I kept win 10 installed too long and cant revert to 7. Basically the intel RST driver causes greater than 30% cpu usage at idle. There are numerous threads about this on the internet. I can turn it off but every time i restart the computer it starts up and I have to manually turn it off. I also just hate the ugly interface of Win 10 compared the the aero look of 7.

 

[frozentundra123456]

upgrade it, then you can always re-install windows 7/downgrade back to windows 7 if you don't like it

Just dont wait too long. After a certain period the restore partition is automatically deleted. I kept delaying reverting thinking MS would solve the issues, but they still havent and now i am stuck with win 10.

 

[XavierMace]

I have a sandy bridge era Dell desktop and have serious driver problems with win 10. Everyone else I know who has switched to win 10 loves it, but they have newer hardware. Personally, I much prefer Win 7, but I kept win 10 installed too long and cant revert to 7. Basically the intel RST driver causes greater than 30% cpu usage at idle. There are numerous threads about this on the internet. I can turn it off but every time i restart the computer it starts up and I have to manually turn it off. I also just hate the ugly interface of Win 10 compared the the aero look of 7.

Have you tried just uninstalling RST?

 

[frozentundra123456]

Well, I dont like uninstalling parts of the OS. Besides, I cant even find the program to uninstall it. There are protocols on the internet to uninstall it, but when I follow them, the program does not show up. I have also tried disabling it in start up, but every time I restart, the program is enabled. It also causes the cpu to idle at 3plus ghz instead of powering down to the usual 1.8, thus wasting power. Turning it off manually is no big deal I guess, but the bigger problem is if the computer restarts after updates, I may not know it and the problem could go on for a long time.

There are a lot of threads about it on the internet, so I keep hoping a patch will fix it, but so far, no luck.

I have to say, in contrast to nearly everyone else, I hate win 10 with an absolute passion. I even had fewer problems with the much maligned Vista.

 

[XavierMace]

Intel RST isn't part of the OS. It's an Intel driver and if it's not working properly that sounds more like Intel's problem than Microsoft's. I don't have RST running on either of my Ivy Bridge systems running 10 nor did I on my Gulftown/Westmere EP rigs.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...chnology/e3c4b6d6-56ba-4ac5-be50-89843c9d9b22

It should be about the same process on Win 10.

 

[frozentundra123456]

It runs on Win 7 without any problem. Dell did recommend not upgrading to win 10 for my system, but unfortunately I did not find that information until it was too late.

 

[Shmee]

Perhaps this should be in the OS forum but it seems relevant here. I have been thinking about upgrading my windows 7 PC to windows 10 and then reverting back to windows 7 so that I can take advantage of the free upgrade if I want to re-install windows 10 in future e.g. perhaps when extended support for windows 7 runs out in less than 4 years.

I know that upgrading to windows 10 does not give me an individual windows 10 product key ... the license is tied to the hardware I upgrade on. However (probably a dumb question) does anyone know if that license is permanently embedded in the hardware for future re-activation of windows 10 or would it get deleted if I did a clean re-install of windows 7 using my original windows 7 product key?

This is actually a very good point. Once I upgrade, I have the entitlement, and can reinstall either windows 7 or windows 10 later if I choose. I will do this then for all my PCs, I can always reinstall windows 7 if something doesn't go well. So far my 2 main desktops have worked fine with it.

 

[Voxata]

Depends on your usage, around the OS and surfing Windows 7 has been faster/snappier for me. Windows 10 is better for gaming now with DX12 etc in the pipeline, nvme support etc. point being is that I have the hardware that makes 10 a requirement. Considering the machines age, I'd just stay on 7 if I were in your shoes.