Which OS?

davewhite04

davewhite04

davewhite04

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I'm getting a few crashes in games plus some apps using Windows 10 64bit and I'm in 2 minds whether or not to use Windows 7.

I have a i7 Devils Canyon, 16gb 1600 ram, 1070gtx.

Is there any advantage to having Windows 10? I hate the OS for a start and much prefer 7 but am unsure how compatible and stable 7 is with the latest games and Office 365?

Any help appreciated :)
 
In my experience the struggle is getting it installed. Windows 7 has some odd foibles when it comes to USB3 and NVMe drives which require workarounds and bodges to get it to install.

Once installed though, it's fine and apart from hardware support, a far better OS than Windows 10 (in my opinion).

[Edit] Devil's Canyon is 4000 series right? In which case I think you should be fine with support, as long as you watch for the above.
 
I've never had a single issue in W10, it's proven to be pretty solid. Sure you don't have hardware or driver issues?

W7 is awesome but it is old now and I think it does give some limitations in some games (dx12??)
 
I've been using Windows 8 / 8.1 since 2013, the longest I've used an OS. It's subjective though in that my vision impairment prefers the full screen metro start menu to the old pull-out sort, and of course you still have the normal desktop with the Windows 7 taskbar-quicklaunch hybrid.

I use Windows 7 at work and not as keen on that. Constant balloon pop-ups by the clock. Yes I can turn it off in regedit but it's a work's PC and thus locked down. Also when typing in the Windows password, it doesn't tell you if caps lock is on. Then a few layout issues that look better to me in 8 over 7. Again visual impairment issues.
 
Tute said:
In my experience the struggle is getting it installed. Windows 7 has some odd foibles when it comes to USB3 and NVMe drives which require workarounds and bodges to get it to install.

Once installed though, it's fine and apart from hardware support, a far better OS than Windows 10 (in my opinion).

[Edit] Devil's Canyon is 4000 series right? In which case I think you should be fine with support, as long as you watch for the above.
Click to expand...

My Devils canyon is about 3 years old, got it before Windows 10.

I'm going to try Windows 10 as all of my hardware was bought before Windows 10 I think so maybe I won't have many issues.

Thanks :)
 
andy_mk3 said:
I've never had a single issue in W10, it's proven to be pretty solid. Sure you don't have hardware or driver issues?

W7 is awesome but it is old now and I think it does give some limitations in some games (dx12??)
Click to expand...

I agree, Windows 7 is the last decent Microsoft OS. 8 was awful, and 10 isn't much better, along with the latest Office software which is awful too. I have Office XP Professional which cost me a fortune back in 2001! But it blows Office 365 out of the water(Plus I can deploy Access databases with relative ease) Office XP crashes on Windows 10 which is why I bout 365.

Only Xbox anywhere games require Direct X 12, other games will probably not have Direct X 12 only compatibility until 2020ish. Windows 7 doesn't support Direct X 12. I reckon it'll be fine till Windows 7 is officially unsupported in 2020.

I never had an issue till now, just don't like the OS, I prefer using something smoother and which you have more control 2 button clicks away.

I'm wondering if AVast tuneup(which I didn't start, it did so automatically) has messed things up.

Anyway, I'll update this thread with the conclusion of this dilemma :)

Thanks :)
 
Pawnless Endgame said:
I've been using Windows 8 / 8.1 since 2013, the longest I've used an OS. It's subjective though in that my vision impairment prefers the full screen metro start menu to the old pull-out sort, and of course you still have the normal desktop with the Windows 7 taskbar-quicklaunch hybrid.

I use Windows 7 at work and not as keen on that. Constant balloon pop-ups by the clock. Yes I can turn it off in regedit but it's a work's PC and thus locked down. Also when typing in the Windows password, it doesn't tell you if caps lock is on. Then a few layout issues that look better to me in 8 over 7. Again visual impairment issues.
Click to expand...

I just hated 8, for me it was the start of the downfall in quality and lead to the slightly better but still dodgy 10. Everyone is different, maybe I'm just old fashioned!

Thanks for your input mate, really appreciated :)
 
As much as I don't like Windows 8 - the UI/aesthetics is meh, lack of proper start menu is meh, etc. it does at least leave things properly in the control of the end user as it should and personally I've not had any updates that break things, etc. and under the hood its relatively robust and fairly decent performance wise.

Windows 10 I'm on edge every time it updates - which without taking drastic measures you've little proper control over and I've had more things broken in a couple of years or so of Windows 10 than almost a 10 years of using Windows 7. I've lost count as well of the number of times after awhile the start menu will stop responding or explorer won't update (display) properly, etc. etc.

EDIT: Pretty much all the machines I actually want to use where possible are either still on Windows 7 or back on Windows 7 - unfortunately some of my tablets are only supported on Windows 10 or they'd be on 7 or 8.1.
 
I didn't like 8 but 8.1 is fine. The only downside for me is that AMD no longer support it but that's not an issue for you with your nvidia card. I'm stuck with drivers last updated in July of last year. Luckily I only play one game (GTA5) and I've not been affected. I expect I'd be stuffed trying any new games.

I've tried 10 loads of times but I can never stick with it. Even when you get used to the forced updates etc, I just don't like where it's going from a usability point of view - especially the removal/obfuscation of classic control panel items with their new settings dialogs. Why is everything so bloody narrow regardless of screen size? It's infuriating. :mad: :p
 
Rroff said:
Windows 10 I'm on edge every time it updates - which without taking drastic measures you've little proper control over and I've had more things broken in a couple of years or so of Windows 10 than almost a 10 years of using Windows 7. I've lost count as well of the number of times after awhile the start menu will stop responding or explorer won't update (display) properly, etc. etc.
Click to expand...

One of the many issues I've had. It took about 8 hours to get an alienware laptop to update 10 when I bought it, and had no end of problems after it updated so returned it. My Dell laptop is okay on 10 now, the only problem is it's running 10! I've had all the problems you had and more!
 
marc2003 said:
I didn't like 8 but 8.1 is fine. The only downside for me is that AMD no longer support it but that's not an issue for you with your nvidia card. I'm stuck with drivers last updated in July of last year. Luckily I only play one game (GTA5) and I've not been affected. I expect I'd be stuffed trying any new games.

I've tried 10 loads of times but I can never stick with it. Even when you get used to the forced updates etc, I just don't like where it's going from a usability point of view - especially the removal/obfuscation of classic control panel items with their new settings dialogs. Why is everything so bloody narrow regardless of screen size? It's infuriating. :mad: :p
Click to expand...

Wow no updates since last year! You must like GTA 5 a lot! :)

I'm the same as you, there is only 1 thing I like about 10 and that is you can play xbox games on it, considering I don't own an xbox now but have many xbox digital games it is tempting to install 10. I have tried to install 10 again to give it one last chance, as I want to play Forza Horizon 3 and Gears 4, but it won't install now because a device needs fixed and it has no repair tool to do it. It looks like I'm forced to install 7 now, if that has a problem then maybe I do actually have a hardware problem, which I very much doubt(no problems with any other games, I've tried about 20).

I'll keep this thread updated.

Cheers!
 
The funny thing is, windows 8.1 is supported by microsoft until 2023... but AMD gave up last year. I guess I'll be forced on to 10 sooner or later but I'm clinging on for as long as I can.
 
Amazing... I tried to install Windows 10 again but it just failed to boot 3 out of 4 times so I got fed up and installed 7. I got the same problem(AV Receiver switching off with Metal Gear etc), guess what it was... two speaker cables touching each other was switching the receiver off making it look like a crash! Why just Metal Gear, I have no idea! But what a stupid fool! Anyway, installed Windows 7, spent about 40 minutes setting up drivers and everything is running sweet :) forgot how good it is! Much smoother and responsive compared to 10, things open instantly, lightening it seems, so pleased I went back to it, unless I get issues as I haven't tested it much. Windows 10 is officially a pile of dogs poo as far as I'm concerned. No idea why I got boot-up problems after I installed it again, Windows 7 just worked.

Thanks for everyone's input, it was all useful :)
 
I generally stick with 7. I prefer the look and feel of it, but I do have a tendency to install Windows 10 every major update they release and try it for a few days. After a few days I'm back on 7, where everything just feels right. The UI is consistent and I just don't have any use for the app side of things that 10 offers.

I wish 10 allowed me to customize the start menu more thoroughly. I look down the list and I see crap like Get Help, Xbox blah and Windows Tips and I just want to put them a folder lol. As for the tiles themselves they are so inconsistent. Even some of Microsoft's own tiles are locked in colour such as onenote. 32bit apps of course look awful on there too.

I wish a true desktop OS was on the cards of Microsoft. None of this one size fits all thing they have going on. Who cares if desktop numbers are down. I'm sure a a great desktop focused OS would sell well
 
RumbleBee said:
I wish 10 allowed me to customize the start menu more thoroughly. I look down the list and I see crap like Get Help, Xbox blah and Windows Tips and I just want to put them a folder lol. As for the tiles themselves they are so inconsistent. Even some of Microsoft's own tiles are locked in colour such as onenote. 32bit apps of course look awful on there too.
Click to expand...

It really annoys me as the new start menu approach in 10 would be a nice step forward from 7 - but they've done such a haphazard job on it and keep changing it around like they have no idea what to actually do with it or any direction while it is lacking many basic features of customisation - I mean after all this time it doesn't even have proper group management for tiles - the whole thing is tragic and often just looks awful sometimes as simply because you can't change the tile background colour/opacity.
 
Cripes, I've forgotten the last time I used the start menu. I now just type my program in the search box and pick it out from there. No need for faffing about with the tile locations or anything like that.
 
^ Same for me, I've not used the start menu since prior to Vista. I actually quite liked Windows 8.1 as I found the start screen more useful than a true start menu. I'm stuck with 10 now as I have modern hardware, and fortunately have the Pro edition and therefore a degree of control over updates etc.
 
I'm the opposite - a well organised traditional style start menu is far more efficient for my approach to using the OS than any other method.
 
All those forced updates hosing your rig every 5 minutes must be fun (have a read https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/windows-10.18627218/page-577), i'll stick to 7 thanks, its rock solid, and plays the same games as 10, and just as well, barring about 2/3 that are 10 only, that is a really massive amount to be bothered about, and as for Dx12, yep, absolutely knee deep in Dx12 games, theres bloody thousands out im missing out on :p
 
It's really about time we moved away from DirectX to Vulkan anyway. Having Microsoft able to hold PC gaming to ransom doesn't do the industry any good at all.
 
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